How to Best “Sell” Your Work: Writing a Research Article (RA) Abstract

Irina V. NuzhaDepartment of Foreign Languages

National Research University Higher School of Economics St.Petersburg

Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2013

www.hse.ru

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Contents:

1. The Importance of Abstracts

2. “How to”… Guidelines or Four- A Approach?

3. Five Steps Towards a Successful RA Abstract

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Key functions of RA abstracts:

1.Mini-text, providing readers with a short summary of a study;

2.Road-map for reading;

3.Screening tool

Huckin, T.N. (2001)

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What abstract?

“Traditional” ?

Conference ? Extended ( structured) ?

Dissertation ?

Short Communications?

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• Do “How to Write an Abstract Guidelines” help?

• Research in disciplinary fields:

Achievement Analysis

Acquisition Awareness

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1. Key clause?

2. Length?

3. Most common verb tense?

4. Any citation?

5. Any first-person pronoun?

6. Acronyms and abbreviations

7. Move structure ?

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MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS1. Manuscripts should not exceed 6,000 words, excluding abstract and references. 2. Manuscripts must be written in English, double-spaced, including quotations and references, and employ a 12-point Arial (sans serif) font.3. American English spelling should be used, as should American punctuation conventions, including the placement of commas and periods before closing quotation marks ("like this," not "like this",) and the use of serial/Harvard commas ("a, b, and c" as opposed to "a, b and c").4. Use of personal pronouns ("I," "we," "our," etc.) is strongly discouraged in all but Position Papers and Instructional Design Notes. Use third-person (e.g., "the author" instead of “I”) or passive voice (e.g., “data were collected” instead of “we collected data”) whenever possible.5. All abbreviations and acronyms should be spelled out in full the first time they appear in the manuscript text.6. All manuscripts must include a brief but informative abstract. The abstract should not exceed 200 words and should describe the scope of the work and the main findings. References to the literature should not be included in the abstract. The abstract must be included in the manuscript file as well as on the online submission form within the MMS.7. A set of 5-10 keywords should follow the abstract to assist in indexing the article. These should not duplicate words appearing in the title and should be listed in order of importance. The keywords must be included in the manuscript file as well as on the online submission form within the MMS.

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Rhetorical Moves

Move Typical Label Implied questionMove 1 Background/Introduction What do we know about

the topic? Why is it important?

Move 2 Purpose of present research

What is the study about?

Move 3 Research design (methods/ materials/ procedures)

How was it done?

Move 4 Results/findings What was discovered

Move 5 Discussion/conclusion/implications

What do the findings mean?

Swales J., Feak C. (2012)

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Percentage of Abstracts Containing Particular Moves

Hyland, K. (2004).

1980 1997

1.Introduction/Background 33 47

2. Purpose/Objective 72 81

3.Method 48 49

4.Product/results 96 95

5.Conclusion/implications/discussions

7 22

Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2010

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Main Results in Traditional Abstracts

1. A general tendency across different disciplines is to present the general results first, followed by the specific oneSwales, J., Feak C. ( 2012)

2. That clause • occurred 1.2 times per abstract• give greater emphasis to the findings than noun-phrase equivalent

3.There is a strong tendency to use an inanimate subject (The results ….The findings…) rather than a human one (I…We…)

4. The choice of a reporting verb contributes to indicate the strength of claim from strong ( prove) to weak ( suggest)Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2005)

Higher School of Economics ,St.Petersburg 2013

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Concluding a Traditional Abstract (Move 5):

Descriptive ? or (positively) Evaluative?

General Implications? Recommendations? Discussion?

Hook the Readers!

(These are last words they will read in the abstract)

Higher School of Economics ,St.Petersburg 2013

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Self-Checklist:

1.My draft falls within the required word limit2.The number of sentences is appropriate3.The draft has expected number of moves4.I have considered pros and cons of an opening problematizing moves5.I have considered whether a purpose statement is necessary6.I have made sure that the methods move is not too long7.The main findings are sufficiently highlighted8.I have reviewed the main tense options of present ( Moves 1, 2, and 5) and past ( Moves 3 and 4)9.The main findings are sufficiently highlighted10.As for conclusions, I have followed typical practice in my subfield11.I have checked whether acronyms or abbreviations will be understood Swales J., Feak C. (2012)

Higher School of Economics ,St.Petersburg 2013

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References:

1.Huckin, T.N. (2001). Abstracting from abstracts. In M.Hewings (Ed.,), Academic Writing in Context, Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham Press2.Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. Michigan Classics Edition. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press3.Hyland K., & Tse, P. ( 2005). Hooking the reader: A corpus study of evaluative that in abstracts. English for Specific Purposes, 24(2), 123-1394.Langdon-Neuner, E ( 2008). Hangings at the BMJ: What editors discuss when deciding to accept or reject research papers. The Write Stuff, 17(2), 84-865.Swales J., Feak, C. ( 2012). Abstracts and the writing of abstracts. The Michigan Series in English for Academic& Professional Purposes. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

Any Questions ?