scholarly journals Structure of Research Article Abstracts in Political Science: A Genre-Based Study

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110407
Author(s):  
Hesham Suleiman Alyousef

The research article (RA) abstract is the first section researchers read to determine its relevance to their interests. Researchers need to possess an implicit knowledge of the rhetorical move structure and organization of this section. Unlike most scientific disciplines, political science RA abstracts are unstructured, that is, with no headings (or moves), which makes it more challenging. To the best of our knowledge, the rhetorical move structure in high readership political science RA abstracts has not been researched. This study investigated (a) the rhetorical move structure in 120 political science RA abstracts from six high-impact journals, (b) the most common move patterns, and (c) the move(s) occupying most textual space. The findings indicated the lack of obligatory moves. A move structure model for writing a political science RA abstract is proposed, comprising four conventional moves (Introduction [I]–Purpose [P]–Methods [M]–Results [R]) and two optional step/move, namely, Research Gap step and Discussion [D] move. The results also showed that the first most frequent move pattern is I-P-M-R-D, followed by I-P-M-R and the I-P-R-D. The fact that an RA abstract summarizes the whole RA results in move embedding, particularly in the four moves, I-P-M-R. The findings revealed the importance of the Results move as it occupied nearly one third of text space. The results may contribute to the fields of discourse and genre studies. They may provide invaluable insights for novice political science researchers attempting to publish their work in high-ranking journals. The proposed move structure model can act as a guide for English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/English for Specific Purposes (ESP) tutors and political science authors.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Mohammadi Darabad

<p>The present paper aims at investigating the formation of research article abstracts in terms of their rhetorical structure. To this end, three Applied Linguistics, Applied Mathematics, and Applied Chemistry journals have been selected. The main focus of the analysis was put on the rhetorical structure – the moves and steps employed in each specific abstract. The authors' self-mention, voice, and tense of the verbs included in each move were also inspected. Therefore, a total of 63 abstract (21 published abstracts from each field) from credited international journals were randomly selected and assigned for analysis. The Five-Move Model by Hyland (2000) was chosen as a basic model for the analysis. Accordingly, the constituent moves and steps were examined and recognized in the categories of selected abstracts. The obtained results were scrutinized and consequently the leading move patterns of each discipline, specific moves and steps, voice and tense of verbs hired in each move, and the authors' self-mention alternations were identified. Finally, the pedagogical implications for the expert teachers working in the fields of Discourse analysis (DA), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) are presented.</p>


RELC Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-396
Author(s):  
Reza Khany ◽  
Bahareh Malmir

While a wealth of research is available on the frequent multi-word units in academic genres, studies that exclusively link lexical sequences to the rhetorical moves in research articles (RAs) are fairly limited. This study involved compiling a corpus of 8,500 RA abstracts sampled from five disciplines of economics, law, political sciences, psychology, and sociology in social and behavioural sciences. Three to nine-word ngrams were generated using AntConc 3.4.4, which is a freeware corpus analysis toolkit. All the ngrams were studied in their contexts through concordance analysis and classified based on the rhetorical moves in which they occurred using the move structure taxonomy suggested by Hatzitheodorou (2014). Eventually, ngrams were processed at multiple levels and synthesized into 84 move-marker structures. This study offers insights into the linguistic realizations of moves in RA abstracts and introduces the concept of move-marker structures. In so doing, the potentials of positionally variable move-marker structures in improving English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners’ phraseological competence are suggested.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-52
Author(s):  
Hesham Suleiman Alyousef

The abstract is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) because it is the first section researchers read to determine whether it is relevant to their research. The abstract provides an overview or summary of the entire article. In the dentistry discipline, the RA abstract can either be structured using headings or written as a summary. However, subdisciplinary investigations of intradisciplinary (within the same discipline) variations of move structures in dentistry RA abstracts are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the prototypical rhetorical move structure realizations of 119 English RA abstracts in eight dentistry disciplines: Oral Sciences, Periodontics, Restorative Dentistry, Endodontics, Operative Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Orthodontics. It also aimed to investigate whether there are any intradisciplinary variations and/or similarities between the eight dentistry subdisciplines in terms of move sequence and length. The findings showed a lack of intradisciplinary variations in the rhetorical four-move structure (Purpose-Method-Result-Conclusion) across the eight dentistry subdisciplines. The Introduction/Background move was not present in all the dentistry subdisciplines; therefore, it is optional in five subdisciplines but conventional in the Oral Sciences, Endodontics, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery subdisciplines since its occurrence exceeded 60 per cent of investigated RA abstracts of those subdisciplines. The analysis of the move lengths indicated the importance of the Methods and the Results moves in dental research discourse because each move constituted over 25 per cent of text space. The findings revealed the importance of drawing learners’ attention to the research gap when establishing the context for a study. Future studies may employ the proposed move-analysis model for RA abstract analyses in other academic disciplines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Chinwe Ezeifeka

This paper analyses selected research article introductions of doctoral seminars in the Department of English Language and Literature, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, to determine how these academic writings follow specific formats characteristic of such genres. Specifically the work looks at the staged cognitive organisation of the selected samples in line with the requisite schematic or generic structure postulated in Bhatia (1993) and adopted by the University of Southern California (USC). Every genre is characterized by culture-bound unique structuring and communicative purposes that give it generic coherence. Research article introduction is an academic sub-genre with specified conventions characterising genres from the academic culture/community. A total of eighteen samples of research introductions were analysed, the aim being to determine whether the cognitive move structures in the samples conform with, or depart from, the conventionalized patterns of this academic sub-genre and how the pattern used in the samples enabled or militated against the writers’ achievement of the desired communicative purposes. A critical reading of doctoral seminars in the Department shows lack of knowledge of the unique formatting of introductions, making this work to be anchored on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) with particular emphasis on English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The baseline of the findings is to discover the present proficiency of these group of learners, enlighten budding academics on the move structure of article introductions in order to achieve generic coherence as well as target proficiency in that sub-genre of academic writing.


Author(s):  
Shurli Makmillen ◽  
Michelle Riedlinger

AbstractThis study contributes to research into genre innovation and scholarship exploring how Indigenous epistemes are disrupting dominant discourses of the academy. Using a case study approach, we investigated 31 research articles produced by Mäori scholars and published in the journal AlterNative between 2006 and 2018. We looked for linguistic features associated with self-positioning and self-identification. We found heightened ambiguous uses of “we”; a prevalence of verbs associated with personal (as opposed to discursive) uses of “I/we”; personal storytelling; and a privileging of Elders’ contributions to the existing state of knowledge. We argue these features reflect and reinforce Indigenous scholars’ social relations with particular communities of practice within and outside of the academy. They are also in keeping with Indigenous knowledge-making practices, protocols, and languages, and signal sites of negotiation and innovation in the research article. We present the implications for rhetorical genre studies and for teaching academic genres.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (01) ◽  
pp. 237-238
Author(s):  
David Laitin ◽  
Gary King

With assistance of the APSA, the political science members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) held their standing meeting at the annual APSA convention in Chicago. The purposes of these meetings are two-fold: First, as required, to discuss ways that political science can fulfill the NAS mission in providing scientific evidence to address consequential public issues that come from queries posed by various agencies of government; and second, to increase the presence of political scientists in the Academy, where membership from our discipline is, in our view, much lower than political scientists' contributions to the scientific community, and does not adequately recognize the many political scientists who merit election. While we have made some progress toward this second goal, it is a complicated battle: 2,179 members and 437 foreign associates across scientific disciplines have been elected to and currently serve in the NAS, but only 21 are political scientists. Although the science-based mission of NAS does not seek to represent all of the highly pluralistic discipline of political science, far more research relying on methods that are recognized in the natural sciences is produced in our field than is presently represented in the NAS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Yasir Bdaiwi Al-Shujairi

      The discussion section forms an integral part in the writing process of a research article (RA). Research authors find it difficult to write and produce a well-structured discussion for their findings. The reason could be due to the unawareness of the main components (rhetorical moves) that shape this section. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a review of the studies that have been done to analyze the discussion section of RAs over the last 36 years. Also, this review seeks to examine the discussion section of RAs across various scientific disciplines and different types of journals. The review showed that the rhetorical structure of RAs discussion section witnessed some changes over the course of time. New moves such as Research Implications and Research Limitations started to be parts of the discussion section of RAs. In addition, it was revealed that differences in writing the discussion section can be varied broadly across disciplines such as soft sciences (e.g., applied linguistics, sociology, psychology) and hard sciences (e.g., engineering, chemistry, biology) and slightly across types of journals such as ISI and local journals. In conclusion, this paper offered several suggestions for further research to be conducted in the area.  


Author(s):  
Ashish Dwivedi ◽  
Dindayal Agrawal ◽  
Ajay Jha ◽  
Massimo Gastaldi ◽  
Sanjoy Kumar Paul ◽  
...  

AbstractThe value chain refers to the source of competition to facilitate organizations to maximize and sustain value for their consumers. Value chain flexibility is necessary to build sustainable initiatives in addressing ambiguity. In the literature, there is a lack of framework to highlight the challenges to sustainable initiatives in value chain flexibility. This study fills this research gap by suggesting a framework for challenges to sustainable initiatives in value chain flexibility. In this study, thirteen potential challenges to sustainable initiatives in value chain flexibility are identified and an integrated model is developed. It adopts the modified Total Interpretive Structure Model and the Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification methodology. The mixed approach is used as the modified Total Interpretive Structure Model organizes the binary interactions among the challenges, while Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification analysis organizes specific precise assessments of the driving power and dependence of the challenges. The results of the study reflect that (i) lack of supplier commitment to sustainable products and (ii) lack of knowledge toward sustainability in value chains are the challenges that achieved the highest driving power. The challenge ‘inadequate communication among the suppliers in the value chain’ is at the highest level in the analysis. The proposed framework could help government and non-government bodies to formulate policies to efficiently address challenges to sustainable initiatives in value chain flexibility.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Gopal Prasad Pandey

English for academic purpose (EAP) emerged as a branch of English for specific purposes in the early 1980s. EAP grounds English language teaching in the linguistic demands of academic context, tailoring instruction to specific rather than general purposes. There is a growth of interest in EAP in the recent years. The interest in EAP developed in response to the growing need for intercultural awareness and of English as a lingua franca (ELF). EAP has become a major area of research in applied linguistics and focus of the courses studied worldwide by a large number of students preparing for study in colleges and universities. The increase in students’ undertaking tertiary studies in English-speaking countries has led to a steady demand for the courses tailored to meet the immediate, specific vocational and professional needs. Thus, most universities in the present day world prioritize the role of academic skills. The aim of the paper is to examine the key approaches to the teaching of English for academic purposes, current trends in teaching EAP, and to argue the centrality and significance of EAP in the academia. The paper concludes by arguing that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on methodology in EAP.


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