Objective　To get to know the genre structure of clinical medical papers in English and to improve the reading and writing abilities of medical workers. Methods　Fifteen clinical medical papers from New England Journal of Medicine

The Lancet

Journal of the American Medical Association and British Medical Journal were randomly selected and analyzed based on Swale's CARS model; with reference to the language clues

their moves and steps，as well as their language features，were recorded. Results　There were 10 common moves-presenting background information

reviewing related research

announcing present research

clarifying study design

performing data analysis

reporting objective result

highlighting overall outcome

explaining main findings

indicating limitations

stating conclusions-in English clinical medical papers

and each move had its own steps and language features. Conclusion　The English clinical medical paper has its common genre structures

and understanding their language features will help Chinese medical workers develop high-quality international academic exchanges.