| Acknowledgement | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-6页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-10页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第10-13页 |
| ·General description of this thesis | 第10页 |
| ·Significance of the study | 第10-11页 |
| ·Structure of the thesis | 第11-13页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第13-35页 |
| ·Definition of key terms | 第13-22页 |
| ·Contrastive analysis | 第13-14页 |
| ·Text and textural analysis | 第14-15页 |
| ·Typology | 第15-16页 |
| ·Cohesion and coherence | 第16-19页 |
| ·Theme and rheme | 第19-22页 |
| ·Thematic progression | 第22页 |
| ·Previous studies of TP patterns at home and abroad | 第22-29页 |
| ·Studies of TP patterns abroad | 第22-25页 |
| ·Studies of TP patterns in China | 第25-29页 |
| ·Previous studies of thematic progression in texts of different genres | 第29-33页 |
| ·Operational TP patterns used in the present study | 第33-35页 |
| Chapter 3 Research design | 第35-45页 |
| ·Research method | 第35-38页 |
| ·Data collection | 第38-39页 |
| ·Analysis of two samples | 第39-45页 |
| Chapter 4 Results and Discussion | 第45-61页 |
| ·Employment of TP patterns in English scientific texts | 第45-46页 |
| ·Employment of TP patterns in Chinese scientific texts | 第46-47页 |
| ·Similarities and differences of TP patterns between English and Chinese scientific texts | 第47-49页 |
| ·Similar choices of TP patterns determined by the common rhetorical features of the genre | 第49-55页 |
| ·Employment of T1→T2 | 第49-50页 |
| ·Employment of R1→R2 | 第50-51页 |
| ·Employment of R1→T2 | 第51-52页 |
| ·Employment of R1→R1 | 第52-54页 |
| ·Employment of T1→T1 | 第54-55页 |
| ·Different choices of TP patterns determined by typological differences | 第55-59页 |
| ·Human-manipulated vs. Regulation - manipulated | 第56-57页 |
| ·Open beginning vs. Open ending | 第57-59页 |
| ·Summary | 第59-61页 |
| Chapter 5 Conclusion | 第61-64页 |
| ·Conclusions | 第61-62页 |
| ·Pedagogical implications | 第62页 |
| ·Limitations | 第62-64页 |
| References: | 第64-68页 |
| Appendix | 第68页 |
