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    English 6th Semester PDF

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    Farhan Fadhliansyah

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    WRITING Abstracts and Bed cs ACADEMIC other summaries asle finite ‘There are many different kinds of summaries which you can write, depending on the audience and the purpose. Sometimes terms such as abstract, synopsis, summary, précis are used as synonyms, however, depending on the discipline, academics may have different expectations depending on which word they use. IFin doubt, ask for clarification, Summative and descriptive abstracts First, an important distinction. Library, bookstore and movie catalogues give descriptive abstracts, which outline the topics covered in a title, without giving any actual content away. The aim here is to get you to read or buy or see that item. This is usually not the kind of abstract an academic examiner wants. Your examiner wants a summative abstract, which condenses and extracts the essence ~ the most important message ~ of the ful text. ‘© The aim isto tell the reader the essence of your argument. A synopsis is neither a table of contents, nor a statement ofthe points you intend to address (History). ‘A summative abstract tests your ability to recognise the essential information. ‘Abstracts may also differ depending on, for example, whether they are witten for academic papers or conference papers, or whether they are written in scientific or non-scientific fields. Therefore, the context is very important in determining the kind of abstract you write, Length varies, but generally for a 3~4,000-word essay, you would write ‘not mote than half a page, which would be able to stand alone itis usually given on a separate page, but it should bbe able to communicate main points without relying on the actual paper). Below we outline common areas of confusion in telation to abstracts and summaries Generally, an abstract comprises: ‘* why you did it (introduce purpose and issue) ¢ how you did it (describe methadology) what you found (summarise results) © what you concluded (present conclusions). In other words: Introduction —» Methods — Results — Conclusion But abstracts differ according tothe context in which you are writing, and the ‘culture’ of the discipline in which you are writing. Scientific paper abstract In the context of» scientific poper, the purpose ofan abstract isto allow retrieval of te pape trough Horery searches and in cae the searcher cannot get acess to the whole article, to summarise the main findings. The abstract should therefore include: © why you did the experiment (restate the controversy addressed by the experiment) + how you did the experiment and to whom/what (paraphrase the ‘experimental procedures section of your materials and methods, or just give the name of a well-known procedure} ‘© your main results (the hypotheses to which you gave the highest privity in your results section) ‘© your principal conclusions from the results (those with the most important theoretical implications). (D. Lindsay, 1995, A Guide to Scientific Writing, Addison Wesley Longman, Sydney: 38-39) Abstract - Psychology ‘The purpose of the current study was to ascertain the effect of @ concurrent verbal task on unimanual skills. One hundred and eighty four undergraduate psychology students (102 females and 82 males, mean age 24.2 years) each performed a series of tasks requiring them to balance @ dowel rod on their right oF left index finger, with and without concurrently repeating a short phrase. The order of these tasks was counterbalanced, The hypothesis that right-handed males would experience shorter right-handed balancing times while verbalising, but that left-handed balancing would be unimpaired, was supported. The results also supported the prediction that right-handed females would experience little difference in balancing times for cither hand, whether they balanced while verbalising or in silence. It was concluded that males, presumably mote hemispherically specialised, experience interference effects which are not experienced by the less hemisphericaly lateralsed females. (B. Findlay, 1996. How to Write Psychology Laboratory Reports and Essays, Prentice Hall, Sydney: 85.) Note that this abstract has a statement of the purpose of the research ("The purpose“) and there isa very bret overview of the sample and method ("184 undergraduates.The order"). There isa statement of the research findings ("The hypathesis.was supported. The results also supportes...) and a statement of the conclusion ("twas concluded... Only the essential information is included. There is no literature review or discussion of the results. Writing abstracts The language used in an abstract includes technical terminology (eg, unimanual, counterbalanced, ateralised), because, for an abstract, the audience is assumed to be alrcady expert in the subject, and the use of jargon means ‘that the abstract will be found by keyword searches for those terms. Since abstracts and summaries must be very concise, jargon is also used to reduce the number of words. ‘The abstract is typically information dense. Words which do not contribute to the meaning are eliminated, although the sentences are grammatically complete, so you must not leave out the little words as you might for headings or boullet points. See the handout an writing concisely for further advice on shortening a text without changing the meaning. Abstracts compared to argument summaries ‘An argument summary is often required in disciplines such as Sociology, and means something quite different from an abstract, In the argument summary below, the main argument (‘This essay argues..") and the conclusions (Participation is secondary in importance. ..The social, cultural and familial norms .. are predominant’) are summarised, but the evidence and alternative contending arguments discussed in the essay are not: Argument summary ~ Sociology ‘his essay argues that dominant thought patterns are the most influential factor in the restriction of personal freedoms. The process of socialisation and internalisation of dominant thought patterns in any ‘socal world’ is fundamentally important tothe individual sel. The culture and society in which the individual elf exists is also of importance to the question of individual choice and freedom. Participation in diverse social roles is secondary in importance to that of the family role. The social, cultural and familial norms of rules and behaviour are the predominant thought pattern ofthe individual sel. Statement of the argument/thesis statement ‘© Very often you wl be asked to provide a ‘one sentence summary’ which conveys the main argument of the essay. In addition you wil be expected to provide an abstract which ‘provides a succinct statement explaining the purpose, coherence and main argument of the essay. It must refer to the argument and conclusions; it should not be 2 description of the material covered! - Sociology Sometimes you may be asked to write a statement of the argument {also krown as a thesis statement). You would bbe required to state your line of argument/point of view about the set topic, rather than describe what the essay is about. This statement of argument, unless you are directed otherwise, should be embedded in your introduction. For this purpose, iti important to distinguish thess from theme. (trom Bate and Sharpe ~ D. Bate and P. Sharpe, 1996. Writer's Handbook for University Students, Harcourt Brace, London: 10) In undergraduate essay writing, theme refers to the general subject of the essay, while thesis isthe point of view or stand taken towards the subject. The general theme of the fallowing isthe French Revolution, and mare spccifically, the pcople's cconomie, social and political grievances: Topie: Discuss to what extent the grievances of the bourgeoisie represented the grievances of the nation or of 2 particular class. Were these grievances more econamic than social or political? Your thesis is the position you take towards this theme. In other words, a proposition or point of view set out to be discussed, argued and defended. A thesis for the preceding topic might read: The grievances of the bourgeoisie represented the major problems besetting the nation and thus spoke or all classes. It cannot be said that these grievances were all economic because of the manner in which economic, social and political factors interrelated. Thesis statement: This essay will argue that the Second Republic was doomed from the outset by warring fections of socialists, and republicans whose antithetical politcal views would admit to no Compromise. Statement of what the essay is about: ‘This essay inquires into the reasons why the Second Republic fll in 1848, (C.E. Forth, 1999. Course Guide: The French Revolution, Dept. History, Australian National University: 7) (Note that this statement is descriptive, it does not actually tell you what these reasons are, as a summative abstract would.) Abstracts compared to introductions ‘Abstracts are different from introductions. Introductions generally include information which provides context ‘or locates the topic in terms of previous research and debate in that context, whereas abstracts generally do not. | Further, introductions also identity why the research is important and how the ensuing éiscussion may address a ‘gap in knowledge. In contrast, abstracts generally Include information about the aims, the methodology, the findings and conclusions reached, all of which are covered in the body of the text, rather than the introduction, Abstract ~ Psychology The purpose ofthis study was to determine whether the ‘eye movement theory’ adequately accounts for the Miller-Lyer illusion. It was predicted that subjects actively scanning lines of equal length would perceive them as unequal. Undergraduate students (N=20) acted both as subjects and experimenters. As subjects, they underwent ten trials of both fixating and scanning the figure Illusion was found to oceur in both the ‘Scanning condition and the Fixation condition which did not fully support the hypothesis It is concluded that extraneous variables could account for the results, based on the data Introduction ~ Psychology Distortions in visual perceptions of abjects referred to as ‘visual illusions’ have been of particular interest to psychologists. The Miller-Lycr illusion, for example, suggests that observers tend to perceive that two equally long fine scaments very in length when terminated by inward and outward facing atrowhead-shaped diagonal lines =the latter case being perceived as shorter (Sternberg 1998) {topic identification]. A number of theories rave been put forward to explain this ilusion, including the ‘sensory spread theory’ and the alse size~ constancy theory’ (Coren & Girgus 1978, cited in Sternberg 1898) [topic location) The ‘eye movement theory’, hich is central to this study, suggests that the excursion of the eye is shorter between the ends of the fines with inward pointing arrowheads when the observer actively scans them, thus pereciving them as shorter. ‘This experiment attempted to confirm the Miller-Lyer illusion effect and test the eye movement theory. It was predieted that the type of eye movement would influence a subject's number of errors in estimating the length of lines {hypothesis} Report abstract In a report abstract, besides the information given for a paper, you would generally include any recommendations ‘you may have made. Thus, the abstract would comprise: what you did (introduce purpose); how you did it (describe ‘methodology|; what you found (summarise results); what you concluded (present conclusions); and what your recommendations ae. Business reports may start instead witha needs or problem analysis, an exploration of possible solutions, cast-benesit analysis of likely outcomes for each and recommendations for different market situ Report abstracts compared to executive summaries Areport abstract requires the audience to be expert in the topic, however, reports often have both an expert and a more generalist or managerial audience. The latter is catered for by an executive summary, written in less technical fanguage and with the emphasis on implementation. Ths is often longer than an abstract, and will summarise the main arguments for each section in the same order 2s the full report, as well as give the recommendations, as its aim is to convince the exccutive or policy makers of the organisation that the recommendations should be adopted, while recognising that most managers will not read the full report {although their expert advisers wil) Executive summary This report presents the design of a temperature measurement and display system that uses the Motorolie HCTI microcontroller. This design makes use of the HC analog-to-digital converter and the serial subsystems. ‘Temperature measurement and display circuits were built and control software was written to use the added hardware. n this design, the overall objectives were met. By keeping track of the measured temperature, the HC1T is able to control a temperature display that uses light emitting diodes, Also, ifthe temperature becomes very cold of hot, an alarm message is sent to a host PC terminal This design has many potential applications, including tempereture control and factory automation. (M. Alley, ;L Crowley; J Donnell, C. Moore, 2002, Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students] Conference paper abstract Kaplan et al. note the ‘promissory’ nature of an abstract submitted for a conference program: ie the paper has not yet tocen written: «athe author must convince a group of expert readers that the paper represented by the abstract * falls within the dominant rescarch paradigm in the field; ‘© appears to be/is substantiated by key scholars working in that paradigm; ‘= discusses a significant isue which has not previously been focussed on; + gives promise of an interesting paper which fits the temporal constraints of the conference program; and ‘¢ falls within the more general thematic constraints of the conference. (R. B. Kaplan, S. Cantor, C. Hagstrom, L.D. Kamhi-Stein, ¥, Shiotani and C. Boyd Zimmerman, 1994. ‘On abstract writing’, Text, 14 (3): 408) Abstract ~ Conference Paper Over the past 40 years there has been a great deal of innovation in English Language Teaching (ELT). The method by which such innovation has been diffused in many parts ofthe world has been the project approach. This paper sets out to explore the sustainability and effectiveness of the approach as a model for the

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