The use of Intertextuality in Self-Improvement Books: A Discourse Analytic Study of Some Selected Texts

: Intertextuality and self-improvement books are two significant phenomena. They are considered a rich source for linguistic studies; yet, there is a lack of studies on this specific topic. Hence, this study aims mainly at investigating the use of intertextuality in self-improvement books viz: The power of positive thinking , the mindful path to self-compassion, How will you measure your life? These three books have been randomly selected from Liang’s list of the best 40 self-help books. The precise goals of this research are: Firstly, to Determine the intertextual strategies employed in the chosen texts of self-improvement books. Secondly, to Identify the types of intertextuality that are


The use of Intertextuality in Self-Improvement Books: A Discourse
Analytic Study of Some Selected Texts Assistant Lecturer Halah M.Sultan , 1 Assistant Professor Dr. Shameem A. Banani 1 English Language Arts Department, Bilad Alrafidain University College, Diyala, 32001, Iraq Yemen , 00967 Taiz, Taiz University, 2 drshamem@bauc14.edu.iq,halahsultan2014@gmail.comAbstract: Intertextuality and self-improvement books are two significant phenomena.They are considered a rich source for linguistic studies; yet, there is a lack of studies on this specific topic.Hence, this study aims mainly at investigating the use of intertextuality in self-improvement books viz: The power of positive thinking, the mindful path to self-compassion, How will you measure your life?These three books have been randomly selected from Liang's list of the best 40 self-help books.The precise goals of this research are: Firstly, to Determine the intertextual strategies employed in the chosen texts of self-improvement books.Secondly, to Identify the types of intertextuality that are Over the last few decades, self-improvement or personal development has become a widely spread phenomenon all over the world.Generally, self-improvement is defined in Dictionary of the English Language as "an attempt to improve one's condition through one's effort", and in Collins English Dictionary [1] as "the improvement of one's status, position, education, [and so forth], by one's own efforts" .So, as far as the definitions indicate, self-improvement concerns with helping people to improve themselves in all aspects of life.It helps them achieve "happiness and success in life" [2], which are considered the ultimate goals that everyone seeks in life.Thus, self-improvement -(SI) henceforth-is simply helping people to IMPROVE and develop THEIR SELVES by THEMSELVES.
The words IMPROVE, SELF, LIFE, HAPPINESS and SUCCESS mentioned above are frequently recurring words these days.Under various attractive titles, a lot of discourse is presented in books, articles, sermons, TV programs, life coaching programs and shows, Facebook posts and other social media.All of them come with the aim of helping people to improve themselves to achieve happiness and success in their daily life.This discourse is called self-improvement discourse (SID) or SI genre, or SIBs, which are -according to Liang [3]-"the books that contain discussions related to personal growth and development".This type of discourse simply aims at persuading and convincing the targeted audience.Thus, through reading and listening to SID in its different types, the researchers have noticed that most of SID or SI texts contain verses, sa yings, proverbs, aphorisms, quotations, stories, personal stories and incidents, and/ or other texts.This thing has made the researchers think about the purpose of using all or some of these texts in the main text of SIBs.
Once started reading on the issue of discourse analysis, the researchers came across a term called 'intertextuality', which is commonly known and used in the literary world.the term intertextuality in SID or SI texts opens a new horizon for the researchers to set up the current study and to try to investigate the use of intertextuality in such discourse and to what extent it can be used as a linguistic device.As a concept, intertextuality is defined by Bazerman [4] as "the relation each text has to texts surrounding it" and as "the explicit and implicit relations that a text or an utterance has to prior, contemporary or potential future texts" [4].Actually, this term is first coined by Kristeva [5].It is employed as a literary technique that links many texts together [6] .However, according to Mitošinková [7] who defines intertextuality as the mutual relations between texts, "the province of this phenomenon [Intertextuality] is not restricted only to literature".This idea means that intertextuality can be applied to linguistics.Thus, based on Mitošinková's idea and coping with Gee's theory of discourse analysis, the current research focuses on the use of intertextuality as a tool of inquiry [8]& [9] to analyze some texts from some selected SIBs in order to investigate the techniques, types, and functions of intertextuality in SID, or more precisely, in SIBs.

Statement of the Problem
Though self-improvement (SI) is a widely spread phenomenon, and though SIBs have an extensive section devoted to them in bookstores [10], yet there is a lack of linguistic studies on this genre of books and discourse.This is clear from what Liang [3] states -in his study on SIBs-that Numerous topics have been the subject of studies in the field of self-help, including politics and governance, religion, and so forth, and that no studies before his study have involved in conducting a detailed linguistic analysis of inspirational SIBs.Thus, the present study is an extension to Liang's study in the sense that it is based on discourse analysis to analyze intertextuality in the texts of SIBs.Since SIBs aim at persuading and convincing the targeted audience and attracting their attention, for this purpose, authors of these books or discourse use different texts which are intertextual zed in the main text.Thus, this research studies intertextuality -as one of the ways of persuasion-in some selected texts of SIBs.It uses intertextuality as a new linguistic tool or way of analyzing texts of SIBs.

Objectives of the research
The objectives of this research are: 1. Discover the intertextual strategies employed in the selected SIB texts.2. Identify the types of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs. 3. Investigate the functions of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs.

Research Questions
The following research questions are the focus of the current study: 1.What intertextual methods are employed in the chosen texts of SIBs? 2. What are the types of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs? 3. What are the functions of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs?

Objectivity of the Study
The significance of the current study comes from the fact that it is the first study from a linguistic perspective to look at and combine two significant phenomena: intertextuality and selfimprovement (SI); it focuses on text analysis.Firstly, it analyzes SIBs as a "new genre" as it is proved by Liang [3], focusing on intertextuality as one of the seven standards of textuality [11], and as a linguistic feature of this genre.Secondly, the present study takes intertextuality away from the literary context and applies it as an inquiry tool of analysis [8] on SIBs.In short, the present study is significant for the following reasons: 1.Its topic is related to a new genre, which is self-improvement books (SIBs).2. It uses intertextuality as a discourse analytic tool, that is, as one of the standards of textuality.It combines two important and argumentative phenomena: intertextuality and self-improvement (SI).3. It contributes to the body of knowledge; as there is a gap in knowledge regarding the topic of intertextuality in SIBs, as far as the researcher's knowledge goes this study seems to be the first study that investigates this specific topic.

Previous Studies on Intertextuality
The studies reviewed here have approached the topic of intertextuality from different perspectives: some of these studies have focused on the development of the postmodern concept of intertextuality, such as: [12], [13], [14], [15], and [7].Alfaro's essay, "Intertextuality: Origins and development of the concept", is concerned with the analysis of the concept and theory of intertextuality and its diachronic and historical development.Some others have focused on literature as Mitošinková's paper "Tracing intertextuality".This paper has discussed the phenomenon of intertextuality as a factor of literary criticism.Moreover, some have applied the concept in nonliterary fields, and some studies have dealt with intertextuality as a communicative language skill.For example, [16] employed the concept of intertextuality in investigating the discourses represented in implementation by teachers' SATs for Key Stage 1 reading.The relationship between these discourses was examined using the intertextuality notion.The emphasis in Lowndes's paper is on discussing the Key Stage 1 reading SATs' intertextuality in relation to student-teacher relationships and its application in a learning environment.Another study by Holy [17] considered intertextuality one of the "strictly linguistic terms" along with sign and allusion.In his thesis, he attempts to investigate the film Dead Man's allusions to significant works of art in "western (mainly literary) canon", and "references to some non-English written texts": Finding, identifying, and describing allusions in the film Dead Man were the goals of this study, (written and directed by Jim Jarmusch) was the aim of this study.Extra consideration is given to the western literary canon's intertextual influences on the structure and/or mode of storytelling in Dead Man.Among the studies that have applied intertextuality in the field of linguistics is Panayiotou's paper [18], "A cognitive approach to intertextuality: The case of semantic intertextual frames".The aim of this paper is to employ recent developments from cognitive linguistics and cognitive poetics in order to provide a cognitively informed account of how readers construct intertextual links and how this construction may affect the reading experience.Panayiotou's study opens up the possibility of examining intertextuality in an empirical way "by employing insights from the field of cognitive linguistics and cognitive poetics".It emphasizes semantic intertextual frames as being "the most idiosyncratic and loose way of bringing together two texts".

Regarding self-help books
The purpose of self-help books is always didactic [19].They provide a welcome resource for many contemporary educated Americans in one's personal endeavor to gain wisdom and lead a fulfilling existence [19].These books are published with the intention of teaching readers about some of the detrimental impacts of their culture and worldview and recommending new attitudes and behaviors that could help them lead more fulfilling and effective lives, as stated by Dolby [19].Thus, in addition to the self-help books' function as a remedy, Dolby argues that they function as an educational and perhaps inspirational resource [19].She assumes that people read and write these texts in order to develop their own particular philosophies.According to Wilson and Cash [10], numerous Americans read self-help books for guidance, understanding, and motivation in resolving their interpersonal and personal issues.
To accomplish the goals of their books, the authors of SIBs use different techniques and tools in writing to help them please, satisfy, engage, draw, persuade, and convince the targeted audience and attract their attention to this genre.One of the apparently used techniques by authors of SIBs is stories ( [19]; [2] & [20]; [3].Story writing -as stated by Effing [2]was "the method most self-help authors used, and still use, to communicate their messages best to a wide, mostly undereducated public.In fact, the style of teaching through stories is one of the characteristics of most self-help literature books throughout time" [2].Stories include snippy little anecdotes, personal anecdotes, and inspirational stories [3].These stories -as Lawler argues-"are not simple reflections of a set of 'facts': rather, they are organizing devices through which we interpret and constitute the world".Writers often put advice into language that most easily serves that purpose -into "poetic" language [20].This means the use of easy language as well as repetition of the ideas, as described by Effing [20] as characteristic conventions of self-help genre: Most authors of self-help literature popularize old (and not so old) philosophies and practices in order to make them more understandable to a broad audience.They frequently add or change some concepts while employing self-help conventions like simple language, repetition of concepts, or the use of stories.That means that the main texts of SIBs include other various texts.Thus, the researchers can claim that this genre is characterized by its intertextuality.To give an ancient example, Samuel Smiles [21] opens his book Self-help ~ National and individual, with this maxim -which is actually a type of intertextuality-"Heavens help those who help themselves".

Previous Studies on Self-Improvement and SIBs
In spite of being very popular phenomenon and genre, SI and SIBs suffer from lack of linguistic studies on them.Studies in this area have focused on many issues other than linguistics, such as: politics and government, religion, as argued by Liang [3].He has asserted that no studies before his study have involved in carrying out an in-depth linguistic examination of self-help books.Effing also has referred to the paucity of academic study in this area [20].Following this, a review of some studies that discuss SI and SIBs as a genre: Wilson and Cash's study [10], "Who reads selfhelp books?Development and validation of the Self-Help Reading Attitudes Survey SHRAS", deals with self-help viewed from a psychological perspective.Its primary goal is to better understand how individuals feel about and use psychological self-help books.For this purpose, Wilson and Cash developed a reliable and valid index of attitudes regarding self-help book reading.They created attitudinal items with consideration for cognitive beliefs, emotional responses, and behavioral acts and intents [10].According to the study, self-help book language and content are identical to mental processes and values such as the capacity to recognize connections between thoughts, feelings, and actions, and self-help reading attitudes reflect certain underlying personality traits such as the trait of psychological mindedness.Self-help books may therefore be appealing to people who are skilled at and interested in controlling their emotions and conduct.Wilson and Cash looked at how race, gender, and college major correlated with SHRAS scores.They found that women had more positive attitudes toward reading self-help material than did men.Compared to non-psychology majors, college students majoring in psychology expressed more favorable sentiments regarding reading selfhelp materials.However, no differences are observed as to the readers' race.
In his article, "If language is a gamethese are the rules", The purpose of Ask have is to identify and expose the sources of this emotive and intuitive rhetoric.He has examined the discourse of the spiritual self-help book in particular, as well as the impact of New Age philosophy on language itself.Allwood [22] uses analysis of self-help texts to address the critical problem of the complex relationship between notions of personal empowerment and self-regulation.Through the examination of self-help discourses, he examines a variety of concepts of 'depression', deconstructing them in an attempt to uncover some of the hidden issues around the ideas of help (medical) and self-help (personal).).Effing's study [2], "The origin and development of self-help literature in the United States: The concept of success and happiness", presents an overview on this genre.In his study, Effing also mentions that Self-help/improvement authors frequently utilize "oriental" speech that is philosophical, psychological, and spiritually oriented; they also use a rhetorical of science and technology to justify their method, in which success and happiness are understood to be achieved via inner mastery and self-knowledge.Effing [20] claims that despite the rapidly expanding collection of self-help texts in fields as diverse as education, health, psychology, stress management, psychotherapy, relationships, sports, and business, among others, it appears that few academics have examined self-help literature as a cultural phenomenon on its own.In order to research the subject of self-help, he has chosen the Cultural Studies method.[20] as these studies are "multidisciplinary" and "inter-disciplinary" [20].George [23], in her study, "Self-help as women's popular culture in suburban New Jersey: An ethnographic viewpoint", which looks at linkages between gender, identity, and the reception of self-help books, has used anthropological audience research to contextualize self-help reading.Self-help reading's social context is more complex than critiques of self-help ideology and consumerism currently permit.In George's study, a spiritual subculture is described in which reading self-help books both serves as a source of authority and a means of expressing one's social identity [23].In order to analyses the social and cultural settings of self-help reading, especially in relation to the genre's affiliation with women, it has examined the specifics of one women's group throughout their interaction with one book [23].In Liang's thesis [3], the genre-level analysis of these writings reveals the linguistic traits of SIBs.Liang refers to how-to books and self-improvement books collectively as "self-help books.".He points out that research on self-help have, up to this point, concentrated on a variety of topics, including politics and government, religious studies, discourse studies, the diachronic of self-help articles, the use of self-help books in psychological clinical treatment, and the efficacy of self-help books, attitudes towards self-help books, content analysis of self-help books.Liang adds that no studies before his study have involved in conducting a detailed linguistic analysis of inspirational self-improvement books [3].According to Liang, SIBs are a reader-oriented genre [3].Therefore, authors employ a variety of techniques to persuade readers of the need of improving oneself and the value of their advice in order to "sell" these ideas to them [3].One of those strategies is "engaging readers" [3].
After this review of literature and previous studies on both intertextuality and SI and SIBs the researchers tried to combine together these two topics into one topic constituting the subject matter of the current research.The researchers have found that intertextuality in SID or SIBs opens a new horizon for them to set up the current study and to try to investigate the use of intertextuality as a linguistic device in such discourse.From the previous studies, it has been perceived that Hopkins' study -based on Gee-has applied intertextuality as a tool of inquiry in discourse analysis, which means using intertextuality as a linguistic tool.Shaw and Pecorari [24] have examined the intertextuality in a non-literary genre, chairman's statement (CS).However, Liang's study on SIBs is the nearest study to the present study as it studies the linguistic features of SIBs.Thus, the present study has made use of these studies.It applies intertextuality as a tool of inquiry in discourse analysis, that means using intertextuality as a linguistic tool of discourse analysis, and studies intertextuality in much more detail as a linguistic feature of SIBs.This is by selecting some texts from three SIBs as a data for analysis.

Research Methodology
The study has followed the qualitative descriptive approach.In selecting the corpus for this study, the researchers have selected three books randomly from the dataset of the 40 SIBs built by Liang [3] in his study.After selecting the books, the first chapter from each of these three books has been selected for the purpose of analysis.But to save space and be precise we will display chapter one of the book "The power of positive thinking" written by N. V. Peale, as a model of our analysis of the three SIB books selected for this study.
Regarding the intertextuality analysis system, the researchers have designed and prepared a table to be used for analysis, based on the theories and elicited from the previous studies on intertextuality.The table contains the elicited techniques, types, and functions of intertextuality.Then the data collected have been analyzed on the basis of this table to reach the results.

Corpus of the Study
The subject of this study is analyzing intertextuality in some selected texts of SIBs written in English language.Thus, the corpus or population of the study is SIBs.As it is not possible -in terms of time and effort-to analyze intertextuality in all the SIBs in the world, and in order to be more focused, the researchers have selected a sample of these books.Then from these selected books, the researchers have chosen only the first chapter for the purpose of analysis.As mentioned above, the sample of the SIBs for the present study has been selected randomly from the dataset of the 40 SIBs built by Liang in his study [3].According to Liang, the books in this dataset has been chosen based on a number of criteria, which are: self-development topics, nature/ style of writing, and the general approach of these books [3].In his selection of the books, Liang has aided himself by using the amazon.combestsellers chart. of selecting the books and to ensure that these books are popular and prototypical for the genre, as Liang suggests [3] 8. Regarding this research only three books out of Liang's list of the 40 SIBs have been selected.These three books are: 9. 1.The power of positive thinking: A practical guide to mastering the problems of everyday living by N.
V. Peale.10. 2. the mindful path to self-compassion: Freeing yourself from destructive thoughts and emotions by C. K.
Germier.11. 3. How will you measure your life? by C. M. Christensen, J. Allworth, and K. Dillon from these three books, the researchers have analyzed the first chapter of each book.The chapters are: "Believe in yourself", "being kind to yourself" and "Just because you have feathers …", respectively.The reason behind selecting only three books is the similarity of these books as a genre.Thus, three books are considered a representative sample for this genre of books.To be more focused and avoid repetition only chapter one of the book "The power of positive thinking" is displayed as a model of analysis.

Scope and Limitations of the Study
The scope of this study is somehow limited, as the present study does not deal with all SIBs.Rather, it limits itself to and focuses only on analyzing the first chapter from only three selected SIBs.The present study is also limited in focusing only on the use of intertextuality as a linguistic tool in analyzing SI texts with no attempt to use any other linguistic tool or aspect of the texts, as this is beyond the scope of the study.Further, the present study analyzes intertextuality using a table designed by the researchers on the basis of some of the previous studies.This table contains techniques, types, and functions of intertextuality, as mentioned earlier.Moreover, the analysis displayed in this study will focus on chapter one of the first book from the three SIB books viz, "The power of positive thinking" written by N. V. Peale, mainly to save space and be precise.However, despite all these limitations, the researchers claim that the current study is more focused rather than limited.

Classification of Self-Improvement Genre:
SIBs between the Literary/ Non-literary Classifications According to Effing, "self-help literature is not part of any literary canon nor has any pretensions to be", he states that this literature of self-help "is worthy of study because of its cultural importance and its expansion as a socioeconomic phenomenon" [2] & [20].Dolby describes self-help books as works of nonfiction that are generally cast into what composition teachers would call "expository prose [19], whereas Allwood [22] describes these books as a popular literary genre.The researchers agree that self-improvement books should be classified under the umbrella of non-literary genre.They should be considered a distinct type of writing or discourse that is not necessarily literary.

Data Analysis
The researchers used content analysis for analyzing the selected texts.The data collected were analyzed in the form of answering the research questions and in accordance with the main purposes of the research which are: 1. Investigating the intertextual methods used in the chosen SIB texts.2. Identifying the types of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs. 3. Investigating the functions of intertextuality that are used in the selected texts of SIBs.
Talking practically, for the purpose of performing the analysis on the data collected, that is, the selected texts of SIBs, for investigating the intertextuality in them, the researchers have prepared a table as a tool of content analysis.The book's title, authors' names, the first chapter's title and page numbers were all listed in this table.In addition to this introducing information, the table contains a number of columns, the first one includes the instances of intertextuality extracted from the texts with the page and the paragraph that contains the instance.Under the second column, the techniques of intertextuality are listed.The third and fourth columns contain the types and the functions of intertextuality, respectively, and there is an additional column for any additional notes.
In designing this table, the researchers have made use of Bazerman's model [4] of analyzing intertextuality -as it is a practical model-and of Gee's [8] relation to intertextual representation approaches.The techniques of intertextuality, according to Bazerman [4], include direct quotation, indirect quotation, mentioning of a person, document, or statement, comment or evaluation on a statement, text, or other invoked voice, using recognizable phrasing, terminology associated with particular people or groups of people, or particular documents; and using language and forms that seem to echo certain ways of commenting, discussions among other people, or particular types of documents.
Regarding the types of intertextuality, the researchers have adopted the classification mentioned in Liu and Lee's article.These types are based on different theorists.The functions of intertextuality have been elicited from the literature review and the previous studies on intertextuality such as [25], [26], and [27],).Thus, the instances of intertextuality are highlighted and extracted from the text.Then they are inserted under the instance column of the table of analysis.After that, they are analyzed regarding the techniques, types and functions of intertextuality presented in the table of analysis.In the following part of the analysis, we will display the analysis of intertextuality in book (1) of the selected books as an example of our analysis of chapter one of the three books selected for this study: Analysis of Intertextuality in "Believe in yourself" Book1: The power of positive thinking Chapter I: "Believe in yourself" In this part, the researchers investigated the research questions by analyzing the first chapter entitled "Believe in yourself" of the book The power of positive thinking by Peale.The purpose of analysis is to investigate the use of intertextuality in this chapter which, consequently, gives an idea about the whole book.The chapter "Believe in yourself" introduces the idea of the book which seeks to encourage you to unleash your inner strength and confidence.The idea of this chapter can be summarized in the following points which form the main text: 1.The importance of having faith in your abilities and self-confidence for success and happiness.2. The inferiority complex and how it affects people badly.And the steps one can take to get faith in oneself.3. The different factors that lead to inferiority complexes, many of which have a childhood origin.4. The manner youngsters acquire the inferiority complex. 5.The key to overcoming the inferiority mentality is faith in God. 6.A specific kind of prayer that develops the kind of faith needed to eradicate inferiority.7. The technique of putting confidence-boosting ideas in your head works really well in building up the feelings of self-confidence.8.One of the major issues affecting people today is a lack of confidence.9.The essentiality of reappraising your personality assets to help you face difficulties of life.10.Attitudes and confidence levels are influenced by the kinds of thoughts that are frequently on your mind.11.The chapter concludes with a program of ten rules listed for overcoming inferiority and learning to practice faith.Each one of these ideas is displayed in the tables listed below: Analysis of Intertextuality in "Believe in yourself"

Functions of Intertextuality Notes
Inferiority inadequacy self-confidence selfrealization mental attitude (6-1) Using recognizable phrasing, terminology associated with specific people or groups of people or particular documents.
1. Persuasion by: Testifying the author's readings and preoccupations.2. Identifying that a text is a part of particular social worlds.

Introducing examples
The same table is continued to display the third paragraph and the paragraphs that follow, the author here starts inserting a text as an example about a story with one of the victims of this complex:  This idea is supported by inserting another text which is a story of the executive who has consulted the author:

Functions of Intertextuality Notes
An executive consulted me about a young man whom he wished to advance in his company.Mentioning of a person.

Micro Strong Manifest Specific
1. Persuasion by: Testifying the author's preoccupations.
2. Drawing readers' attention to the message.

A story of another person
He was on "the inside" in the industry, … .He reported just enough of his "inside information"… (9-3) Using recognizable phrasing, terminology associated with specific people or groups of people or particular documents.

Micro Strong Manifest Specific
1. Persuasion by: Testifying the author's preoccupations.
2. Identifying that a text is a part of particular social worlds.

Table 5:
The following examples illustrate the notion that having faith in God is the key to overcoming inferiority complex:

Functions of Intertextuality Notes
The inferiority complex which is another term for deep and profound selfdoubt.-Using recognized language and terms connected with particular people or groups of people or particular documents.

Micro Strong Manifest Specific
1. Persuasion by: Testifying the author's readings and preoccupations.
2. Identifying that a text is a part of particular social worlds.
The acquiring of dynamic faith by reading and mentally absorbing the Bible (11-5)

Mentioning of a document Micro Strong Manifest Specific
Persuasion by: Connecting the ideas in the text to the holy texts and to the audience.

Table 6:
A specific kind of prayer that develops the kind of faith needed to eradicate inferiority.This point has been dealt with using the following instances of intertextuality:

Functions of Intertextuality Notes
In

An example story
To one man who had been haunted by insecurities and fears I suggested that he read through the Bible underlining in red pencil every statement it contains relative to courage and confidence.Mentioning of a person and a document.

Micro Strong Manifest Specific
Persuasion by: a. Testifying the author's readings and preoccupations b.Connecting the ideas in the text to the holy texts and to the audience.The same procedure was followed in the analysis of chapter one of the other two books titled The mindful path to self-compassion: Freeing yourself from destructive thoughts and emotions by Germier and How will you measure your life?By Christener et al.
After analyzing the three texts (chapters) selected from three different SIBs, it has been shown that many texts are inserted and intertextual zed in the main text of each chapter in one way or another; that is, using different techniques of intertextuality.These techniques determine the types of intertextuality used.Accordingly, using intertextuality, the authors intend to perform one or more of the functions of intertextuality, namely: persuasion, illustration, making a connection between the past and the present, drawing readers' attention to the message, and identifying that a text is a part of particular social worlds.

Results of the Study
Relating to the research questions, and by analyzing the three selected chapters, the present study has yielded the following main results: 1. SIBs use the different techniques of intertextuality such as: direct and indirect quotations; addressing someone or something in writing; comment or assessment of a claim or other evoked voice; and explicitly or implicitly employing expressions and jargon connected to particular individuals or documents.
2. Various types of intertextuality are used in SIBs; the micro, strong, manifest, and specific types are used with the obvious explicit techniques of intertextuality, whereas the macro, weak, constitutive, and generic types are accompanied with the implicit techniques.
3. Intertextuality is a skill of writing that helps in persuasion, illustration, drawing readers' attention, making connection between the past and the present.Which are considered some of the apparent functions of intertextuality that confirm and conform with the objectives and goals of the authors of SIBs.
Additionally, along with these results and from the literature review, the researchers have come up with the following results, as well: 1. Intertextuality is not only a literary tool, it is mainly a linguistic tool.Accordingly, this means that all texts -being literary or non-literary-can be analyzed for their intertextuality.In other words, intertextuality can be considered a neutral tool that takes the nature of the text it is used to analyses; if it is used to analyses a literary text, it will be considered a literary tool, but if it is used to analyses a non-literary text, it will be considered a non-literary tool.2. Self-improvement books are considered a rich genre for reading and analysis.

Conclusion
Conducting this study, the researchers have found that intertextuality is used in SIBs in its different techniques and types to perform a set of functions.The purpose of them is to achieve the objectives of the SIBs authors in persuading the receivers/ readers, or drawing their attention to the message of their books.Last but not least, This was only an effort to clarify the subject. of intertextuality in SIBs from a linguistic perspective using a qualitative approach.The researchers hope that this modest effort has been a successful step on the right way, widening the horizon for more use of intertextuality in the world of linguistic studies, that is, for doing more researches on intertextuality, SIBs and DA.

Table 2 :
The second paragraph presents the idea of the inferiority complex, how it affects people badly, and that it can be overcome by taking some proper steps

Table 3 :
Another idea presented by the author is that there are factors that lead to inferiority complexes, many of which have a childhood origin.

Table 4 :
The author used a personal example from his own life to demonstrate how many young people develop inferiority complexes:

Table 7 :
The technique of putting confidence-boosting ideas in your head works really well in building up the feelings of self-confidence:

Table 8 :
One of the major issues affecting people today is a lack of confidence:

Table 9 :
The essentiality of reappraising your personality assets to help you face difficulties of life:

Table 10 :
Attitudes and confidence levels are influenced by the kinds of thoughts that are frequently on your mind:

Table 11 :
The chapter concludes with a program of ten rules listed for overcoming inferiority and learning to practice faith: (Luke 17:21)