Genre Analysis of Research Dissertation Abstracts

hwsy@overseaen.comISSN 1009- -5039htp://ww.overseaen.comOverseas English海外英谓Tel:+86- 551- -56908115690812Genre Analysis of Research Dissertation Abstracts刘军华(河南城建学院外语系.河南平顶山467036)Abstract: Genre analysis has become one of the most important approaches to text analysis, especially in the field of English for SpecificPurposes. Abstract is the essential part of the paper, which helps the readers get initial impressions. Because of its particular the usage of com-munication, it has its special rules and mode. The purpose of this paper was to present the 5- move model characteritic of research disserta-tion abstracts, and explore the linguistic characteristics of each move. The analysis started from the macrostructure, i.e from the text as awhole, towards the microstructure which included linguistic description (syntactic and lexical). The results showed that most abstracts fol-lowed 5-move model and the linguistic features of this genre.Key words: genre analysis; disrtation abstracts; 5-move model中图分类号:H059文献标识码:A 文章编号: 1009 -5039(2011)12 -0240 -03The abstract of the paper is usually placed immediately underof the chosen corpus would be examined on the basis of thethe title, outside the article, and ineludes the analysis of the resuls five- -move modelas follows: Move 1: Background Information;and the conclusion. In terms of the communicative purposes, the ab- Move 2: Purpose; Move 3: Methodology; Move 4: Results; Move 5:stract presents a faithful and accurate summary.It commonly con-Conclusion.tains information on the following aspects of the research that it de-The following text is a typical abstract showing the five- -movescribes: I)What the author did; 2)How the author did it; 3)What the model:author found; 4)What the author concluded. The abstract of re-Abstractsearch paper is being treated as a genre and has its special rules{Insulin resistance is a cardinal feature of type 2 diabetes andand mode. Bhatia (1993) described: "The researech abstract is a rec-is characteristic of a wide range of other clinical and experimentalognizable genre and has emerged as a result of a well-defined and seltings. Litle is known about why insulin resistance occurs in 90mutually-understand communicative purpose that most abstracts many contexts. Do the various insults that trigger insulin resistancefulfll, irespective of subject- discipline they serve".act through a common mechanism? Or, as has been suggested, dothey utilize distinct cellular pathways?}Move 1 {Here, we report agenre analysis of paper abstracts for years. Based on 77 medical ab- genomic analysis of two cellular models of insulin resistance, in-stracts, Salager- Meyer (1990a) established a five- -move structure of duced by trealment with tumor necrosis factor-[alpha} and dexa-the abstract: Purpose-Method -Result- -Implication-Conclusion.methasone. Gene expression analysis suggested that reactive oxy-Weissbery and Buker (1990) also defined the five- -move structuregen species (ROS) levels were elevated in both models, and this wasof the abstract: Background Information-Purpose- Methodology-Re-confirmed through measures of cellular redox state. ROS have beensults- Conclusion.However,the dissertation is often a high stakespreviously proposed to be involved in insulin resistance, althoughgenre: at the top of the "academic genre ladder*"( Swales, 1990), theevidence for a causal role has been scant.}Move 2 {To test this hy-present study would come up with an analytical framework for thepothesis, six treatments designed to alter ROS levels, including twogenre analysis of experimental PhD dissertation abstracts.small molecules and four lransgenes, were lested in cell culure; all1 Methodologyameliorated insulin resistance to varying degrees.)Move3 {One treat-Weissbery and Buker (1990) described "An experimental re-ment was tested in obese, insulin resistant mice and was shown toimprove insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis.}Move4 {Our re-search report is a paper written by an investigator to describe a results suggest that elevated ROS levels are an important trigger forgearch study thal he/she has completed." From this, we can under-insulin resistance in multiple settings ) Move 5. .stand that the organization format for the experimental research re-2 Analysisport and experimental dissertation is basically the same.The presentstudy therefore ttempted to use Weissberg and Buker's five- -move2.1 The length of the abstractmodel to do genre analysis of dissertation abstracts, which was usedThe abstracts are usually written to be as brief and concise aso analyze the abstracts of research reports in their popularpossible. It is necessary to express the essential points without re-genrgenre- -based textbook, W riting Up Research,dundant words or expressions. The number of words in this corpussertations which was selected from PreQuest Dissertations,includ-ranged from 190 to 455.ing chemistry, physics, medicine and biology. The macrostructure2.2 Move struectureAs shown in Table 1, not all of the five moves were occrred in中国煤化工MYHCNM HG收稿日期:2011-10-18修回 日期:2011-11-20作者简介:刘军华(1976-),女,河南平顶山人,讲师硕士,2008年8月毕业于香港浸会大学,研究方向为英语语言研究。240 /廳/11111/8 。$栳目责任编辑:谢嫒嫒.2011年12月Overseas English 湍外关海the dissertation ahstracts and some of them were often omitted main-the abstract and thatly due to the word limits in the abstract. 9 out of 20 abstracts were the main part Was a description of the procedural steps used in thefull-structured (five- -move abstacts), 13 out 20 had no Move 1, andresearch and the materials employed at each step. The procedures9 out of 20 had no Move 5. It seemed that Move I and Move 5 werethat the authors used in carrying out the study were usually de-nonesential moves in the chosen dissertation abstracts, whileseribed in the simple past tense.Moves 2, 3 and 4 were essential. And it showed that Move 4 andMove5 could be used as one, since in some abstracts, these two present tense, past tense, and the future tense, respetively. Themoves were mix used. The research also showed that the longer thechoice depended on whether the explanation for the specifie find-abstract was, the more complex the structure of the abstracts was.ings is restricted to the study (past) or general condition (present).Tablel Tbe structure of researchedabstractsWhen comparing the findings to other researchers, they used theSrructureMovcI Moc? Move3 Novc4 sove5 E州Sructurepresent tense.SunbersTable2 The tense of researched abstractsciseProcnt tanse2.3 Language featuresPresent perfect tease2.3.1 Verb tensePasi cneThe verb tenses used in writing sentences in the abstract were2.3.2 Active and Passive Voicediretly related to those the author used in the corresponding sec-tions earlier in the report, W eissberg & Buker (1990) suggested thein order to depersonalize the information, allow the authors to omittense usage in the research abstracts: Move 1: Background informa- the agent, placing the emphasis on the procedure and now it wastion (present tense);Move 2: Purpose (past tense/present perfeetdone (Swales, 1990), Active and passive voice were both used in thetense); Move 3: Methodology (past tense); Move 4: Results (pastabstracts in this study, active VS passive voice was l:15. The fol-; tense). The abstract must telllowing were the samples:readers what was done in the research undertaken, what was discov-Sample 1: Furthermore, we present an eficient heristic..ered and why and how the research was done. Differenl tenses wereSample 2: Since single molecules can be stretched in AFM..used in relation to different points in the abstract.The choice of the voice was mainly due to the subject. Such aTable 2 shows the tense of researched abstracts in our corpus.direet expression of ideas can help produce relatively simple sen-Overwhelming majority of Move 1 (17 out of 20) and Move 2 (16 outof 20) employed present tense. Only 3 out of 20 in Move 1 and 2 out and more precise. And, the use of passive voice was signifcantly吧of 20 in Move 2 employed present perfect tense. Move I generallylated to the linguistic device of nominalization. As shown in the cor-provides an introduction to the present research, the background ofpus, the use of passive was preferred because the passive voice althe research, and the reason of choosing the research. Anderson &lows the dropping of the‘ real' subject.Maclean (1997) also suggested that present perfect tense was the2.3.3 Modal Verbstense maker in the Background Move of abstracts. Some examplesSwales (1990) suggested that "hedging is principally a lexicalin our corpus were as follows:phenomenon and the modal verb is one of the various categoriesSample l: Direct current (DC) conductance of nanostructurecommonly used to express hedging in the experimental dissertationhas been sudied-and numerical resulte have been achieved.abstracte". Eight out of 20 abstracts (40%) in the corpus used mod-Sample 2: W astewater treatment technologies require continu-al verbs which were used to express the sense of uncertainty andous advances...tentativeness. See the examples chosen from the corpus:Sample 3: Massive genomic and proteinomic structures haveSample I: The experimental results suggest that EC treatmentbeen revealed.can be developed ..Move 2 indicated an introductive stage in most abstracts fol-lowing Move 1.The present lense and the past tense of verbs wereSample 3: .indiated that NEM01-130 may exist as...mostly chosen by the authon in the Move 2. It may also relate to2.3.4 Lexical signalswhal particular communicative function the author wanted to serveThe marked words of the Move 1 appeared most in our corpuswith this move. Salager -Meyer (1992) claimed that the presentwere: achieved, required, recognized, revealed, studied, etc. Similar-tense is employed when the authors want to emphasize the rele-ly, some verbs in Move 2 presented with quite high frequency to re-vance of their studies and also to enhance its generalizability. It isalize the notion of purpose, despite with or without the overt signalsthe reason for the high frequency of the use of the present tense inof purpose (eg. the purpose of ..... Using a verb in this se即-the Move 2 in the present study. The past tense in Move 2 appearedpeared to be a much more frequent signal of Purpose Move than ei-less than the present. Some examples were as follows:ther the use of nouns such as "purpose" or "aim", or even "to+ infin-Sample 1: This thesis is therefore focused on the following twoitive" clause and "for + v-ing" clause. Among such verbs found,subjects.some were repeatedly used: present, focus, examine, study, etc.Sample 2: This thesis presents now we use various measuringHowever, the choice of verbs in Move 3 was specific. They weretechniques to study the change .called "method ver"y their objectivi-Sample 3: we made efforts on this aspectty and most were中国煤化工mple, ued mAll of Move 3 and Move 4 adopted the past tense (Table 2).ployed, demonstratl.MYHC N M H Glevoted, etc. TheThe reason was that the methods in Move 3 always had been donemove 4 aimed to state the Tindings, and preferred a straight way,by the researchers, which was commonly reviewed by the authors inshow, and discover were the most frequent verbs in either active or栳目责任编構:澍嫒嫒、八龋些 24Overseas English海外美语2011年12月passive voice. The verbs examined, revealed, and discussed also ap-drawn from the analysis, it showed the main features of the analyzedpeared in our corpus. In addition, there were some devices whichtexts and stressed the main differences from other genres. In fact,signal the conclusion moves effectively such as suggest, finally,the abstracls of research dissertations happened to be closely relat-thus, etc. And the Move 5 was also significantly marked by the useed and could be termed as sub-genres of the 8ame genre. The mostof tentative words like can, may, and would, etc.significant difference between them was the more elaborale allempt2.3.5 Sentence Connectorsin dissertations than research articles.concise and well-organized. The connecting words and phrases alsogenre analysis. It is useful for professionals who use professional lit-assured better communication of ideas between the readers and theerature for diferent purposes, and analyzing text organization andauthors by offering a smooth flow from one statement in a text to theits linguistic exponents may also be quite useful to teachers and stu-next (Swales, 1990). In our corpus, the most frequently used connec-dents. It thus crosses the boundaries of English for academic pur-tors in the abstracts were the addition class, eg. and, also, further-poses where it starts and enters the wider area of English for Specif-more, in addition,etc. The second most frequent connectors wereic Purposes.the contrast words, eg however, but, on the contrast, etc. And theReferences:next group was cause & ffect words, eg, thus, therefore, so, etc. Al-[1] Anderson K,Maclean F.W riting your Thesis[M].SAGE Pulica-though the linguistic feature of using connectors did not relate totions, London.1997.the specific function of each move, it was still worth noting 8s acharacteristic of the abstract writing.[2] Bhatia H.Analysing Genre Longman House, Rurmt Mill Lan-guage and MasculinityM].Oxford,U.K:Bakewl,1993.3 Conclusion[3] Biber D.Dimensions of Register Variation: A Cross-LinguisticThe investigation of PhD abstracts proved the justifability ofComparison[M].Cambridge,U.K:Cambridge University Press,5- move model in analyzing dfferent genres. Not all selected ab-stracts can be clearly and explicitly identfied with the five moves.[4] Salager M.Discoural movements in Medical English abstractsThe longer the abstract was, the more complex the structure of theand their linguistic exponents: A genre analysis studyYJoumalabstracts was, with containing full- structure moves. Move 1, Moveof Applied Linguistics,1990,4(2):107-124.2 and Move 3 were three fundamental moves, while Move 4 andMove 5 were two optional ones. The present study showed that the[5] Swales J M.Genre Analysis{M].Cambridge Univrsity Press,1990.model did not offer prepared solutions but helped a lot in the analy-[6] Weissberg J,Buker S.Writing up Research[M].Prentice hall,sis of different text types. Although the offered description cannotInc.1990.highlight all the characteristics of the abstracts and all the results(上接第237页)2) In junior one,it is the same for boys and girls in their choicestralegies. There is a long way in the research and exploration of vo-of learning strategies.Howere, in junior two,he difference are showncabulary leaming. In conclusion, this thesis has given some initialin the memory strategies and meta-cognitive strategies.indication of first year junior high middle school students' usage ofThe findings imply that it is necessary to conduct the vocabu-vocabulary learning strategies. Our research aims at generating fur~-lary leaming strategies in junior high schoo.Since so many chal- ther discussions, promoting students* language leaming.lenges in their foreign language studies,they have to learn by them+selves afer class.Once they choose the fitest straeies,they will[1] Hedge T.Teaching and Leaming in the Language Casroom[M].make rapid progress.Oxford;Oxford,2000.Although our study has shown an insight into the vocabulary[2] Nunan D.Second Language Teaching and Learming[M]Beijingleaming in Junior high schools, it still has some limitations:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2003.. 1I) Firstly, the subjects in our study are all from the sameschool,hus the number is uite limited.The more students and[3] Oxford R L.Language Leaming Strategies:what every teacherschools involved,the more exact the findings are.should know[M].New York: Newbury House,1990.2) Secondly, the investigation between the learming years and[4] Richards J.The role of vocabulary teaching in the English syllachoice of learning strategies should never neglected.bus{J.TESOL Quarerly,1976():77. -59.3) Thirdly, it is necessary to atach more attention to the junior[5]吴霞,王蔷非英语专业本科学生词汇学习策略[].外语教学high students' learming beliefs. Wen Qiufang (1996) thinks that与研究,1998(1).learning beliefs play a dominative part in the leamning behavior.[6]文秋芳英语学习策略论[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,1996.Despite all the restraints mentioned above, we should compare中国煤化工MYHCNMH G242海71/17/111i.栳责任编辑:谢嫒媛