本研究目的在于帮助中国英语学习者解决写作特定英语文体时可能遇到的困难，同时也为专门用途英语（外语）写作的教学和研究提供方法论的参考和借鉴。本研究以亚里士多德修辞体系为逻辑框架，以韩礼德功能语言学为参照，比较分析中国英语学习者与英语本族语者在英语求职信的内容要件、结构、语言及劝说策略使用上的异同。

CHAPTER 1 Introduction
1.1 Backgroundofthe Study
1.2 Purposes of the Study
CHAPTER 2 Literature Review
2.1 Contrastive Rhetoric (CR)
2.1.1 Background of CR
2.1.2 Development of CR
2.1.3 Aristotle's Rhetoric Theory and CR
2.2 Genre Analysis
2.2.1 Definition of Genre
2.2.2 Definitions of Move and Step
2.2.3 Features ofGenreAnalysis
2.3 Systemic Functional Linguistics
2.3.1 Theory of Context
2.3.2 System of Interpersonal Function
2.3.3 Hasan's Contextual Configuration
2.4 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
2.4.1 Principles of CDA
2.4.2 Methodology of CDA
2.4.3 Fairclough's CDA
2.4.4 Critiques ofCDA
2.5 Studies in Writing of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
2.5.1 Definition ofESP
2.5.2 Studies in ESP Writing
2.6 English Job Application Letters
2.6.1 Functions
2.6.2 Previous Studies
CHAPTER 3 Research Design
3.1 Participants
3.2 Instruments
3.3 Data Analysis
3.3.1 Analysis of Moves and Rhetorical Structures
3.3.2 Analysis of Linguistic Features
3.3.3 Analysis of Persuasive Appeals
CHAPTER 4 Results and Discussions
4.1 Analysis of Moves and Rhetorical Structures
4.1.1 Moves, Steps, and Sub-steps
4.1.2 Rhetorical Structures
4.2 Analysis of Linguistic Features
4.2.1 Statistics of Wordlists
4.2.2 Person
4.2.3 Mood
4.2.4 Modal Auxiliaries
4.2.5 Interpersonal Metaphors
4.3 Analysis of Persuasive Appeals
CHAPTER 5 Conclusions
REFERENCES
APPENDIX A Informed Consent Forms
APPENDIX B Task Assignment for Chinese College Students
APPENDIX C Examples of English Job application Letters in Corpora A, B and C
APPENDIX D Extracts of Concordance List
INDEX
EPILOGUE