Hedging in Scientific Research Articles

The author argues that: hedges are employed to overcome the inherent negatability of statements and gain the reader's acceptance of a knowledge claim; hedges can emphasize an orientation to either the proposition or the reader; the epistemic and affective functions of hedges are often conveyed simultaneously and that this indeterminacy prevents the formation of discrete descriptive categories; and hedging in scientifc research writing is the product of informational, rhetorical and personal choices and cannot be fully understood in insolation from its social and institutional contexts.