Journal Article Analysis

Not only getting knowledge from a journal article, but also for more about

writing a research paper in my discipline, I will analyze a specific article named

Changes to Bridge Flood Risk Under Climate Change, written by Roma Bhatkoti,

Glenn E. Moglen, Pamela M. Murray-Tuite and Konstantinos P. Triantis, from Journal

of Hydrologic Engineering published in 2016 [1].

Overall, the structure of the article is similar to IMRD, but not the same as

IMRD. After the part of introduction, there are two parts of model and method [1].

Following the part of result and discussion, authors stated that the changes of climate

will influence the standard of bridge design in Conclusions [1]. From my point of

view, this kind of writing is very practical to our future writing because it is so

flexible that author can modify the format of IMRD into the best way expressing the

research.

The type of this article is presented as analysis of existing data, which is very

common in the research of Civil Engineering [1]. Another interesting thing of this

article is that the school of citation is APA, though it is an article of Civil Engineering

[1]. In my opinion, there might be two reasons for that. Firstly, according to my EAP

class of Dr. P.J. Moore, the format of APA is becoming more and more popular and

acceptable. Secondly, the school of citation in my field is not so strict, so that the

scholar can use any format they want. Therefore, I need to learn the both formats of

APA and IEEE well for my future academic writing. Whats more, the author
demonstrated so much information using visual data by tables and graphs, which is a

significant feature of writing in my discipline [1]. By graphic expression, readers can

get information from authors more directly and efficiently, especially in the field of

Civil Engineering.

Next, I will introduce the Introduction of this paper based on the CARS model

[2]. In the first paragraph, the first five sentences are move 1a, where the author told

us basic background information about climate change [2]. In the last two sentences,

there are some connections demonstrated between the climate change and risk of civil

engineering, which should belong to move 1b [2]. In the whole second paragraph,

which should be move 1b, the authors provided more information about climate

according to previous research [2]. Except that the last sentence in the third paragraph

shows connection of research with background belonging to move 1b, the other

sentences, which seem as move 1a, are main give the information of future

precipitation [2]. In the fourth paragraph, the first three sentences, which are move 1b,

express the view that the urbanization has the similar stress storm water infrastructure

with the climate change [2]. But the rest of this paragraph shows the exigence of this

research belonging to move 2 [2]. The first four sentences of the fifth paragraph stated

the risks of climate changes to bridges and the last one stated the exigence that

existing infrastructure design standard may not be adequate to that [2]. So, this

paragraph should be move 2 [2]. In the sixth paragraph, the authors explained the

reason why they chose changes to bridge risk under the climate change as the object

of study with several examples, where should belong to move 2 [2]. By introducing

and reviewing previous research, the seventh paragraph indicates a gap between two

views of previous research to highlight the exigence of this study [2]. Thus, all
sentences in this paragraph are move 2 obviously [2]. At the beginning of the eighth

paragraph, the first sentence states the purpose of this study, which belongs to move 3

[2]. Then, the authors stated the value of the present research by the next five

sentences which should also be move 3 [2]. At last, the authors told us the way how

they could achieve their purpose by three sentences, which should belong to move 3

again [2]. In my opinion, the CARS model is a very practical writing guidance,

especially for my future paper of my field Civil and Infrastructure Engineering,

because the writing in my field does not only need logicality, but also need

understandability including background information and principle of the research [2].

Finally, I will summarize several rhetorical elements of this article. The object of

study in this article is changes to different-class-bridge flood risk under climate

change [1]. By researching that, the purpose of study in this article is to examine how

the margin of safety represented by a designed freeboard could be reduced under the

climate change in the future [1]. The exigence of this study was stated by Bhatkoti et

al. with two main parts in the section of introduction: First, though climate change has

been proved in many ways, the engineers of Civil Engineering pay insufficient

attention to that when they set policy and standard [1]. Second, urbanization,

considered as a range of hydrologic changes, which may have similar impact on

transportation infrastructures, is also a crucial factor that would be easily ignored by

some designers [1]. In the part of Conclusion, authors demonstrated the relevance of

this research to the field. First of all, the result is so significant that the engineers of

infrastructure must focus on the risk of future climate change [1]. Secondly, this study

provided much academic data in our field for the future scholars for this topic [1].

There are also many useful suggestions for me. As the climate changes with more
extreme weather, the standard and policy of bridge engineering should be changed as

proportional as the climate. To be a future engineer, I must consider the factors of

climate changes in order to guarantee the safety of infrastructure when I do my job on

engineering.

References

[1] R. Bhatkoti, G. E. Moglen, P. M. Murray-Tuite and K. P. Triantis, "Changes to

Bridge Flood Risk under Climate Change," Journal of Hydrologic Engineering,

vol. 21, no. 12, pp. 1-9, 2016.

[2] J. M. Swales and C. B. Feak, Academic Writing for Graduate Students, Ann

Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2012.