@MASTERSTHESIS{ 2018:1236638262,
 	title = {Hedging in writing : an analysis of business-related scientific articles written in english by brazilians and native speakers of english},
 	year = {2018},
 	url = "http://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/7961",
 	abstract = "English has become crucial for success in publishing scientific articles within the globalized academic world. Although English has become a Lingua Franca and, therefore, has been used to speak among people with different mother tongues who share English as a second language, the same openness is not found within scientific articles – which have a specific structure, regardless of the nationality of the writer. In light of this multicultural process, this thesis aims to provide scientific article writers with a theoretical outline about the relevance of cross-cultural and pragmatic knowledge when writing, especially regarding the use of hedging. This thesis was developed based on the hypothesis that some pragmatic features, specifically hedging, might transfer from a writer’s first language (L1) to their second language (L2) and that such transfer would diminish their chances in successful publication of scientific articles in journals. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the following has been developed: first, a theoretical background has been presented, providing basis on pragmatic awareness, pragmatic transfer and multicultural communication. After, hedges and hedging strategies have been introduced and discussed, focusing on the differences between hedges and hedging, and the pragmatic effect that hedging causes. The following section describes the methodology and comprises the analysis of the introduction section of scientific articles produced by a native speaker (NS) and a non-native speaker (NNS), in this case a Brazilian. Both scientific articles are within the same area of knowledge, namely the business area. The aforementioned analysis and theoretical research support suggestions on how to rephrase categorical sentences found in the article written by a NNS. As a result, many instances were found where NNSs hedging is lacking, evidencing the necessity of an enhanced pragmatic awareness when a NNS writes a scientific article.",
 	publisher = {Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul},
 	scholl = {Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras},
 	note = {Escola de Humanidades}
}