Embedded Moves in Abstracts of Research Articles in the Field of International Studies and Their Linguistic Realisations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/lspi.v2n1.22Keywords:
Genre analysis, move-structure analysis, travel guides, English for Specific PurposesAbstract
Writing an abstract requires artful composition and skillful selection of salient information. This is because reducing an extensive volume of research into a precise abstract of limited number of words can pose a challenge to researchers-cum-authors. To provide a guideline for writing abstracts, a genre-based study was conducted on 48 abstracts of research articles from six journals in the field of International Studies. The findings reveal a total of six Moves with frequent occurrences of embedding in complex sentences. The common linguistic features employed to encapsulate two to four Moves in a single sentence are also highlighted. They include a variety of grammatical forms such as infinitives, adjective clauses or phrases, adverb clauses, adverbial phrases, and connectors. It is hoped that the findings can enlighten novices on how to compose a concise abstract with succinct information that is presented within an economical word countReferences
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