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ve of linguistics.
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2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous Studies on Appraisal Theory
The research on evaluation phenomenon in discourse in linguistic field began in the1970s. If we regard the English Evaluation System published in 2000 as the sign ofappearance of Appraisal Theory, the development of the theory is only ten years of history. Inthese ten years, this theory has been widely spread and applied all over the world. Manyscholars of linguistics joined this field for study. In July 2005, the University of Augsburgheld a meeting named “International conference on evaluation and discourse types”, thisactivity promoted the research of Appraisal Theory, this theory applied to discourse analysisand critical discourse analysis widely and produced huge influence in the field of linguistics.Hood (2004) applied Appraisal Theory to the analysis of academic writing. Althoughthe terminologies used in the researches are not the same, they investigated the evaluationphenomenon from different angles. She also discussed how position of evaluation isconstructed in the introductory part of the thesis. The construction of a dialogue between thewriter and the reader's position plays an important role in this thesis. Iedama and White (1994)have ever conducted research on objectivity and subjectivity in journalistic discourse byengagement, their research results laid the foundation for later study on discourse analysisfrom the perspective of engagement. Martin and his colleagues categorized the evaluationresources into “Appraisal System” from the perspective of discourse semantics, and then theycreated Appraisal Theory, their effort makes the research more standardized and systematized.In terms of media discourse analysis, White (2001) investigated objectivity and subjectivity injournalistic discourse by engagement. His research provided various help for the discourseanalysis research later. Scholars then began to apply Appraisal Theory to the discourseanalysis. White (2002) also paid attention to the discourse analysis from the perspective ofengagement, and his research gave guidance to scholars to expand Appraisal Theory to furtherfields. Eggins and Slade (1997) studied the conversational modes of evaluation, and theyfound that in the speakers’ conversation styles, evaluation acts an important role. Hunston andThompson (2000) made a distinction between the entities and propositions, they noticed thatthe entities are lexical and the propositions are grammatical.
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2.2 Previous Studies on Biography
Before we step into the research, it is necessary for us to figure out the differencebetween the autobiography and biography. Biography is defined as the written history of aperson’s life, while the autobiography is one kind of the biographies, which is mainly thelifetime record of the writer himself or herself. Plutarch is regarded as the father of thebiographical literature and the first modern biographer in the western world.The study of biography abroad can be generalized as follows: Some biographicalreference books and researchers study the history and theory of biographical literature.Although the history of biography can date back more than two thousand years, thedevelopment of autobiography was more active than biography. The brilliant writer we arefamiliar with is Rene de Chateaubriand. In the western world, Plutarch, who is known as thefather of the biographic