Abstract:

Hedging is a significant resource for academics in anticipation of the reader's possible rejection of their propositions. Little is known about how hedging is expressed or the functions it serves in different disciplines or genres. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students are often advised to avoid hedges and to adopt a detached style in their writings. The ability to hedge statements appropriately is essential to effective academic success. In this paper, there is an exploration of the importance and frequency of hedges in scholarly articles in two different disciplines (business and social). It presents the results of a review of 40 scholarly articles, discussing the importance, frequency and realization of hedges in both business and social articles. Thirty business and thirty social articles are selected from ProQuest database and compared to identify the frequency of hedges used in both kinds of texts. The results show that it is the social texts which are mostly frequented according to the use of hedges in comparison with business texts. This study can, therefore, make an important contribution to the understanding of the practical reasoning and persuasion in business and social writing.