초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Given that a research article (RA) abstract should include a summary of the study in a condensed way and also highlight the importance of the research, RA abstract writing can be challenging to novice academic writers. This paper is to examine the rhetorical moves and linguistic features of abstracts in published research articles. For this study, forty research article abstracts from two journals (TESOL Quarterly and Applied Linguistics) issued in 2012 were analyzed. The results show that most abstracts contain the obligatory four moves: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions (Move 2-3-4-5), and are characterized by the preference of this study/article, the use of present verb tense, active voice, and the use of that clauses in reporting findings. In order to produce effective texts, explicit genre-based approach to teaching writing can be applied for those who wish to be a member of academic discourse communities. The rhetorical variables from various academic fields should be noted.
