In
our pragmatic approach to research articles (RAs), we take a look at one
of the main characteristics of academic writing: the use of modalized statements.
Modalization, in the form of modal verbs, has been extensively studied
by ESP researchers and practitioners. Most of their studies, however, have
slightly touched upon de distinction between epistemic modality, which
questions the certainty or probability of a statement, and deontic modality,
which lays obligations or gives permission to the audience. This dichotomy
is an important tool to describe disciplinary variations in academic and
professional writing. We contend that different disciplines favor different
types of modality. Results in this study indicate that health science RAs
mostly use epistemic modality, whereas literary criticism RAs combine the
use of both epistemic and deontic modality.