Linguistic realisations of rhetorical structure in research articles abstracts: An analysis based on food technology journals

Abstract

© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press. According to the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) guidelines, abstracts of research articles should be written in an objective mode. The abstracts should provide the main points of a study as briefly, concisely and objectively as possible. However, several studies found there to be disciplinary variations in rhetorical structure and in linguistic features. Hyland (2005b) also found that RA abstracts were likely an interaction between authors and their readers. Therefore, novice authors should see to it that their abstracts are crafted with the awareness of rhetorical moves, some linguistic features and the element of interactional metadiscourse to create an effective RA abstract. The present study aims to explore the rhetorical structure and the linguistic features in 100 RA abstracts in the field of food technology. Hyland’s five-move model is chosen as an analytical framework to detect rhetorical structure. Hyland (2005b)’s classification of stance and Hyland (2005a)’s taxonomy of interactive metadiscourse markers are employed as the approach in the analysis of linguistic features. The study focused on the choice of tenses, evaluative that- structure, stances and transition markers appearing in each move: Introduction, Method, Purpose, Results and Conclusion. The findings suggest that particular linguistic features appear in certain rhetorical moves. The findings could be used for their pedagogical implications for novice authors in the field of food technology, especially in the EFL context.