Types of abstracts

Section 6: Traditional and Structured

 Compare these two abstracts. What similarities and/or

differences can you spot?

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(8)
Gender Bias in Lebanese Language Classes

Mougharbel, Ghada M.; Bahous, Rima Prejuicio

Educational Forum, v74 n3 p198-212 2010

Gender bias, though often implicit and unnoticed, exists in many forms and in
different situations. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether gender
bias exists in Lebanese language classrooms. Semi-structured interviews,
questionnaires, and nonparticipant observational techniques were used for
data collection. Results reveal discrepancies and similarities between
participants' responses to questionnaires, interviewees' standpoints, and
researchers' observation reports. Results show that, though gender bias exists
in Lebanese language classrooms, it is hidden and inconspicuous.

 Read abstract 8 and highlight with different colours the

different moves: sentences with a specific communicative
function.

 Focus on moves

……………………………………

In a study of research abstracts within the field of applied

linguistics, Santos (1996) identified a pattern consisting of five moves.
These moves constitute the transitions between the different stages of
the abstract, each fulfilling a communicative purpose.
 1. Situating the research: background
2. Presenting the research: aim
3. Describing the methodology: method
4. Summarising the results: results
5. Discussing the research: conclusion

This pattern highlights the transitions of the text. Not all stages will be
found in every abstract (see Figure 1), and the order of the moves may
vary. Still, this list of moves can be used as a kind of template for
abstract writing.

Figure 1: Results of a study on abstract patterns.

Watch the video to revise abstract moves.

 Based on abstract 8, answer the following questions.

1. How many sentences are there in each move?

2. Are lexical markers that singpost each move or a typical lexical chain ?
Mark with an X
 Move Yes No

Background
Aim
Method
Results
Conclusion

 Highlight the different moves in the following abstract.

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Education and Children's Literature in the Argentine Context.

Kravetz, Nathan

A study examined the conditions of education and the status of children's

literature in Argentina, a country currently ruled by a military junta.
Specifically, the study investigated how children's literature affected school
curriculum; what themes were considered to be important; the roles of ethnic,
female, and historical characters; and how teachers were prepared to
introduce and make use of children's literature in the schools. The procedures
used in the study included interviews with staff members of teacher training,
curriculum development, and research at the National Ministry of Education
and the Ministry of Education of Buenos Aires province; interviews with
individual authors, editors, and publishers of children's books; and visits to
teacher training institutions. Among the findings of the study were the
following: (1) the children's literature showed little evidence of
racism--however, the indigenous peoples of Argentina were rarely mentioned
in the works; (2) in most books for children, boys were predominate as heroes
and doers, while girls were shown as sisters, mothers, and teachers and were
usually depicted as passive; and (3) historical characters were often shown to
be "larger than life." Overall, the literature displayed much art, craft, and skill,
with only occasional excursions into controversial social topics.
On your own

 Activity 1 Complete the blanks with the following. There are

two extra options:
Then, classify it.

implications – results - conclusion – recommendations – limitations –

methodology – objective - background

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………………………. Previous research with structured abstracts has taken

place in mainly medical contexts. This research indicated that such abstracts
are more informative, more readable, and more appreciated by readers than
are traditional abstracts.

……………………… The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that
structured abstracts might also be appropriate for a particular psychology
journal.

………………………. 24 traditional abstracts from the Journal of Educational

Psychology were re-written in a structured form. Measures of word length,
information content and readability were made for both sets of abstracts, and
48 authors rated their clarity.

……………………… The structured abstracts were significantly longer than the

original ones, but they were also significantly more informative and readable,
and judged significantly clearer by these academic authors.

………………………. These findings support the notion that structured

abstracts could be profitably introduced into many journals.

……………………….. A structured abstract should be used wherever

appropriate for S&G articles (not 'papers').

This is a …………………………………. abstract

 Activity 2 Highlight the different moves in this abstract (11)

and then classify it.
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Fostering H.O.P.E.: Helping Overcome Poverty through Education for

Teen Moms

Angela Cunningham and Sherrill Sellers (Mentor), Social Work

This program was designed to address the prevalent issues of teen parenthood
and poverty. The idea was to introduce and reinforce the importance of
obtaining a post secondary education to teen mothers in their junior or senior
year of high school. The program ran for eight weeks during the summer of
2003. Participants met once a week to participate in group building activities,
get insights to what it will take to finish school, and receive information on
services that are available to help them along the way. The young women
also had the opportunity to tour the UW and MATC campuses. The participants
walked away from the program with a sense of hope that they are able to
pursue their dreams despite their difficult situations .

This is a …………………………………. abstract

 Activity 3 Identify the head nouns and write these phrases in

Spanish (Abstract 9)

1. the conditions of education and the status of children's literature in

Argentina, a country currently ruled by a military junta
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. the roles of ethnic, female, and historical characters
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. The procedures used in the study
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. the findings of the study
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. occasional excursions into controversial social topics
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
6. interviews with individual authors, editors, and publishers of children's
books
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Activity 4 Match the moves of this abstract (12).

 Are Structured Abstracts Easier to Read Than Traditional Ones?
James Hartley, and Matthew Sydes

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Background These studies suggest that structured abstracts may be easier to read
than traditional ones – sometimes!

Aim Eight studies were carried out. The first two compared the Flesch and
the Gunning readability scores of traditional abstracts that were
published in particular journals with those of structured ones that were
published in the same journals after these journals had moved to
using structured abstracts. The next two examined the Flesch and the
Gunning readability scores of traditional and structured abstracts when
they were written by the same authors. The next two examined the
ability of readers to re-construct scrambled versions of abstracts to
see if it was easier to re-construct structured abstracts than it was to
re-construct traditional ones. The last two examined readers’
judgements of the readability of pairs of traditional and structured
abstracts.

Method The first two studies showed that there were no significant differences
in the readability scores of the earlier and the later abstracts. The next
two studies showed, however, that when authors revised traditional
abstracts to produce structured versions then the structured abstracts
had higher readability scores. The next two studies showed that when
readers were asked to re-sequence sentences taken from traditional
and structured abstracts, they sometimes found this harder to do with
traditional abstracts. The last two studies showed that readers rated
structured abstracts more readable than traditional ones.

Results Structured abstracts (which contain sub-headings such as this one)

have replaced traditional abstracts in most current medical journals.
Evaluation studies have shown that such abstracts usually contain
more information, are of a higher quality, and facilitate peer review.

Discussion The aim of the studies reported here was to investigate an additional,
but as yet unexamined, feature of structured abstracts – namely
whether or not they might be easier to read.

 Activity 5 Underline the different verb phrases in each

sentence and think of the equivalent in Spanish.