????????? ??????????? How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

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????????????????????How to Write an Abstract
for a Research Paper in Linguistics and Applied
Linguistics

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• ltflshgw_at_mail.sysu.edu.cngt

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• www.cflo.edu.cn / flc_at_pub.hep.cn
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• ????M. Ghadessy(2008)??????????,???????(???????
  ?????????)?
• ???????? M. Ghadessy(2006)????????,???????(?????
  ???????????)?
• ??????????(???/2011)????????????,??????????

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Outline

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Structure of an Abstract
• 3 Questions on the Abstract
• 4 Elements of structure in an Abstract
• 5 The language of an Abstract
• 6 Summary

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1 Introduction

• An essay may be based on what is termed as common
  knowledge or the personal experiences of a
  student, but a research paper should draw upon a
  number of other primary and secondary sources of
  information to complete the project.
• Writing a research paper is a complex and
  demanding task. It requires a lot of planning and
  preparation before the final copy is produced.
• A research paper can be written on any
  topic/subject under the sun. The level of
  required research for a paper depends on many
  factors.

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• Because of its importance in academic writing, a
  research paper has a special form/format that has
  to be followed if one is to get a good grade from
  the instructor marking the paper or have the
  paper published/accepted.
• Each section and sub-section should be clearly
  marked.
• This is done by using different names/labels for
  the sections and sub-sections of the paper.

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• For example, the paper has a Method section that
  is further sub-divided into Data Collection and
  Methodology.
• Experts on the subject have proposed slightly
  different formats for the paper but a general
  format may consist of Abstract, Introduction,
  Background, Previous Studies, Method, Results,
  Discussion, Conclusions, and References.

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2 Structure of an Abstract

• An Abstract of a research paper is the first
  source of information for a would-be reader.
• Of course the title of the research paper would
  provide information about the topic of
  investigation but it is the Abstract that
  provides a birds eye view of the subject matter,
  the purpose of the study, the way the research is
  carried out, some important findings, the
  implications, and a conclusion.
• The Abstract summarizes the study for people who
  would like to spend no more than a few minutes on
  the paper.

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• An important issue here is the time for the
  writing of the Abstract.
• Usually it is written after the study/research is
  completed but this is not always the case as, for
  example, people send abstracts of unfinished
  papers to conferences they would like to
  participate in.
• Such abstracts are not totally different from
  those written for finished papers they may
  include less information in some parts like in
  the Results and Implications sections.

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• Because of its importance, the Abstract has
  acquired a very rigid structure used by most
  writers.
• In order to find out what this structure is, we
  look at an Abstract of a research paper from the
  Journal of Asian Pacific Communication and then
  ask a number of questions.
• Here is the title of the paper and the Abstract
  the questions follow. (Numbers have been added to
  the sentences for ease of reference.)

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• George Braine, From a teacher-centred to a
  student-centred approach A study of peer
  feedback in Hong Kong writing classes, Journal
  of Asian Pacific Communication 12/2, 2003.

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• (1) There is a common belief that, owing to the
  highly teacher-centred form of education, Chinese
  students are passive learners. (2) As a result, a
  student-centred approach such as process writing
  is believed to be difficult to implement in
  classes that consist mainly of Chinese students.
  (3) This study tested these beliefs by
  introducing peer feedback, the backbone of
  process writing, to Chinese students enrolled in
  university writing classes and by measuring the
  effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively
  and qualitatively. (4) The study showed that,
  with proper training, Chinese students could
  quickly adapt to a student-centred approach, and
  also provide rich and useful feedback on the
  writing of their peers. (5) This study has
  promising implications for educational contexts
  where students are considered passive learners,
  teacher-centred learning is the norm, or the
  process approach to writing faces daunting
  challenges to its implementation.

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• (1) There is a common belief that, owing to the
  highly teacher-centred form of education, Chinese
  students are passive learners.
• (2) As a result, a student-centred approach such
  as process writing is believed to be difficult to
  implement in classes that consist mainly of
  Chinese students.
• (3) This study tested these beliefs by
  introducing peer feedback, the backbone of
  process writing, to Chinese students enrolled in
  university writing classes and by measuring the
  effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively
  and qualitatively.

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• (4) The study showed that, with proper training,
  Chinese students could quickly adapt to a
  student-centred approach, and also provide rich
  and useful feedback on the writing of their
  peers.
• (5) This study has promising implications for
  educational contexts where students are
  considered passive learners, teacher-centred
  learning is the norm, or the process approach to
  writing faces daunting challenges to its
  implementation.

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1. What is the subject matter/area the research
paper is dealing with?

• The following words and expressions tell the
  reader what the subject matter is, i.e. answer to
  question concerning the subject matter
• teacher-centred (S-1), student-centred (S-2),
  process-writing (S-2), peer feedback, the
  backbone of process writing (S-3), writing
  classes (S-3), the effectiveness of the feedback
  (S-3), a student-centred approach (S-4), useful
  feedback on the writing of their peers (S-4),
  teacher-centred learning (S-5), the process
  approach to writing (S-5).

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2. What background information is provided by the
author(s)?

• The first two sentences give the background
  information
• (1) There is a common belief that, owing to the
  highly teacher-centred form of education, Chinese
  students are passive learners. (2) As a result, a
  student-centred approach such as process writing
  is believed to be difficult to implement in
  classes that consist mainly of Chinese students.

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3. What is the purpose of the present study?

• The third question is concerned with the purpose
  of the study, and tested these beliefs. (S-3)
  indicates the purpose of research.
• (3) This study tested these beliefs by
  introducing peer feedback, the backbone of
  process writing, to Chinese students enrolled in
  university writing classes and by measuring the
  effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively
  and qualitatively.

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4. How is the research to be done?

• The fourth question is How is the research to be
  done?, which is concerned with the method of the
  research.
• The two prepositional phrases in Sentence (3) by
  introducing peer feedback, the backbone of
  process writing and by measuring the
  effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively
  and qualitatively clearly indicate how the
  research is to be carried out.

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5. What are some of the important findings?

• (4) The study showed that, with proper training,
  Chinese students could quickly adapt to a
  student-centred approach, and also (that Chinese
  students) provide rich and useful feedback on the
  writing of their peers.
• Sentence (4) serves the purpose of giving the
  reader two findings of the study.

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6. What are some of the implications of the study?

• (5) This study has promising implications for
  educational contexts where students are
  considered passive learners, teacher-centred
  learning is the norm, or the process approach to
  writing faces daunting challenges to its
  implementation.
• This final sentence in the abstract tells the
  reader the implications for the study, and thus
  it answers the last question in the abstract,
  i.e. What are some of the implications of the
  study?

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An analysis of another abstract

• Biber, D. et al., Speaking and Writing in the
  University A Multidimensional Comparison. TESOL
  Quarterly, 2002.

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•  
• (1) The dozens of studies on academic discourse
  carried out over the past 20 years have mostly
  focused on written academic prose (usually the
  technical research article in science or
  medicine) or on academic lectures. (2) Other
  registers that may be more important for students
  adjusting to university life, such as textbooks,
  have received surprisingly little attention, and
  spoken registers such as study groups or
  on-campus service encounters have been virtually
  ignored. (3) To explain more fully the nature of
  the tasks that incoming international students
  encounter, this article undertakes a
  comprehensive linguistic description of the range
  of spoken and written registers at U.S.
  universities.

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• (4) Specifically, the article describes a
  multidimensional analysis of register variation
  in the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic
  Language Corpus. (5) The analysis shows that
  spoken registers are fundamentally different from
  written ones in university contexts, regardless
  of purpose. (6) Some of the register
  characterizations are particularly surprising.
  (7) For example, classroom teaching was similar
  to conversational registers in many respects, and
  departmental brochures and Web pages were as
  informationally dense as textbooks. (8) The
  article discusses the implications of these
  findings for pedagogy and further research.

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• (1) The dozens of studies on academic discourse
  carried out over the past 20 years have mostly
  focused on written academic prose (usually the
  technical research article in science or
  medicine) or on academic lectures.
• (2) Other registers that may be more important
  for students adjusting to university life, such
  as textbooks, have received surprisingly little
  attention, and spoken registers such as study
  groups or on-campus service encounters have been
  virtually ignored.
• (3) To explain more fully the nature of the tasks
  that incoming international students encounter,
  this article undertakes a comprehensive
  linguistic description of the range of spoken and
  written registers at U.S. universities.

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• (4) Specifically, the article describes a
  multidimensional analysis of register variation
  in the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic
  Language Corpus.
• (5) The analysis shows that spoken registers are
  fundamentally different from written ones in
  university contexts, regardless of purpose.
• (6) Some of the register characterizations are
  particularly surprising.
• (7) For example, classroom teaching was similar
  to conversational registers in many respects, and
  departmental brochures and Web pages were as
  informationally dense as textbooks.
• (8) The article discusses the implications of
  these findings for pedagogy and further research.
  

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3 Questions on the Abstract

• 1. What is the subject matter/area the research
  paper is dealing with?
• 2. What background information is provided by the
  author(s)?
• 3. What is the purpose of the present study?
• 4. How is the research to be done?
• 5. What are some of the important findings?
• 6. What are some of the implications of the
  study?

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•  1. It is not difficult to answer the first
  question.
• The subject matter is academic discourse and
  within this reference is made to written
  academic prose and academic lectures (S-1).
• But these two sub-areas are not the concern of
  the paper.
• The paper focuses on the language of textbooks,
  study groups, and service encounters (S-2).

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• .       
• 2. The authors provide some general background
  information.
• For example, there have been some studies dozens
  of studies, over the past 20 years (S-1), and
  Other registers have received surprisingly
  little attention and have been virtually
  ignored (S-2).
• In addition to providing background information,
  the authors give a reason to justify the present
  research.
• They refer to a gap in knowledge on academic
  discourse that they would like to fill. This is
  labeled as gap indication.

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• 3.  The purpose of the paper is given next by
  this article undertakes a (S-3).
• At the same time we see that there is a focus on
  incoming international students and at U.S.
  universities (S-3).
• 4. The methodology of the research is indicated
  next by a multidimensional analysis of register
  variation and the proposed source of data by
  the TOFEL Corpus (S-4).

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• 5. Reference to findings is indicated by The
  analysis shows (S-5).
• The authors also state that the findings are
  surprising (S-6), i.e. classroom teaching was
  similar to conversational registers and
  departmental brochures were as informationally
  dense as textbooks (S-7).
• 6. And finally we get the reference to
  implications for pedagogy and further
  research (S-8).

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4 Elements of structure in an Abstract

• We can see that by asking a number of questions
  we can discover the structure of the Abstract.
• We can refer to each section as an element of
  structure. The six elements of structure can
  then be referred to as
• Topic Specification (TS),
• Background Information (BI),
• Purpose Statement (PS),
• Methodology and Data (MD),
• Results/Findings (RF), and
• Implications/Conclusions (IC).

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• Although the example discussed above has ALL the
  structural elements of an Abstract, we are not
  saying that ALL other Abstracts have the same
  elements as well.
• We can say that some elements are obligatory and
  some are optional.
• Let us look at another Abstract to see how the
  elements are presented.

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Elizabeth Black Metaphor, simile and cognition
in Goldings The Inheritors

• This article discusses the relationship between
  underlexicalisation, metaphor and simile in
  Goldings The Inheritors. It argues that they are
  deployed to reflect the developing cognitive and
  linguistic abilities of the novels characters.
  It is suggested that certain structures, which
  may appear metaphorical, are best treated as
  cases of underlexicalisation.
• (Editor Mick Short Language and Literature,
  1(2) (1993) pp. 37-48.

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• (1) This article discusses the relationship
  between underlexicalisation, metaphor and simile
  in Goldings The Inheritors.
• (2) It argues that they are deployed to reflect
  the developing cognitive and linguistic abilities
  of the novels characters.
• (3) It is suggested that certain structures,
  which may appear metaphorical, are best treated
  as cases of underlexicalisation.

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Questions on the abstract

• 1. Subject matter
• (1) the relationship between underlexicalisation,
  metaphor and simile
• 2. Background information
• No background information.
• 3. Purpose
• (1) discusses the relationship between
• 4. Methodology
• (2) argues
• 5. Findings
• (3) it is suggested that
• 6. Implications
• No implications mentioned.

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Obligatory and Optional?

• 1. What is the subject matter/area the research
  paper is dealing with?
• 3. What is the purpose of the present study?
• 4. How is the research to be done?
• 5. What are some of the important findings?

• 2. What background information is provided by the
  author?
• 6. What are some of the implications of the
  study?

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Thomas T. Ballmer Words, sentences, texts, and
all that (Text 1(2) (1981) pp. 163-189)

• (1) The topic of this paper concerns the relation
  between three levels of language words,
  sentences, and texts. (2) After a presentation of
  state of the art of text linguistics it is shown
  that the somewhat neglected area of lexicology
  casts new light on the issue of text vs. sentence
  linguistics. (3) A dynamic conception of language
  based on its mechanism of context change together
  with the lexical analysis of the word thesaurus
  of a language leads the way to a description of
  the expressions, text structures, and context
  structures. (4) This conception makes it possible
  to proceed further and characterize the task of
  text theory. (5)The formal prerequisites are
  language reconstruction systems, context-change
  logic, and the background of optimization.

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• (1) The topic of this paper concerns the relation
  between three levels of language words,
  sentences, and texts.
• (2) After a presentation of state of the art of
  text linguistics it is shown that the somewhat
  neglected area of lexicology casts new light on
  the issue of text vs. sentence linguistics.
• (3) A dynamic conception of language based on its
  mechanism of context change together with the
  lexical analysis of the word thesaurus of a
  language leads the way to a description of the
  expressions, text structures, and context
  structures.
• (4) This conception makes it possible to proceed
  further and characterize the task of text theory.
  
• (5)The formal prerequisites are language
  reconstruction systems, context-change logic, and
  the background of optimization.

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• 1. Subject matter
• (1) The topic of this paper concerns the
  relation
• 2. Background information
• No background information.
• 3. Purpose
• (1) this article deals with one particular
  problem
• 4. Methodology
• (2) After a presentation of state of the art of
  text linguistics it is shown that
• (3) A dynamic conception leads the way to a
  description
• (4) This conception makes it possible to proceed
  further and characterize the task of text
  theory.
• 5. Findings
• (5) The formal prerequisites are language
  reconstruction systems, and the background of
  optimization
• 6. Implications
• No implications mentioned.

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Ballmer

• No background information.
• No implication mentioned.
• The expression of findings not clear.
• Description of Methodology not clear.

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Robert de Beaugrande Linguistic theory and
metatheory for a science of texts (Text 1(2)
(1981) pp. 113-161)

• (1) This article explores the typical reactions
  which occur when an established science confronts
  a new object of inquiry, as we find when
  linguistic theory encounters the text. (2) The
  usual discussions are not productive as long as
  the old paradigm is still accepted as the
  framework for achievement. (3) The issues are
  therefore re-examined in terms of the metatheory
  of science (e.g. Sneed, Stegmüller, Lakatos,
  Feyerabend, Hempel), and some general solutions
  are expounded for the problems of validating
  theories on the basis of empirical content. (4) A
  paradigmatic example is then presented in order
  to show a possible role for logical linguistics
  in future theories a computer grammar that
  parses text sentences into a progressive network
  and back again via theorem-proving, with further
  capacities for applying schemas, answering
  questions, and generating summaries. (5) This
  example serves as an application of general
  design values and criteria for preferring and
  comparing alternative theories.

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• (1) This article explores the typical reactions
  which occur when an established science confronts
  a new object of inquiry, as we find when
  linguistic theory encounters the text.
• (2) The usual discussions are not productive as
  long as the old paradigm is still accepted as
  the framework for achievement.
• (3) The issues are therefore re-examined in terms
  of the metatheory of science (e.g. Sneed,
  Stegmüller, Lakatos, Feyerabend, Hempel), and
  some general solutions are expounded for the
  problems of validating theories on the basis of
  empirical content.
• (4) A paradigmatic example is then presented in
  order to show a possible role for logical
  linguistics in future theories a computer
  grammar that parses text sentences into a
  progressive network and back again via
  theorem-proving, with further capacities for
  applying schemas, answering questions, and
  generating summaries.
• (5) This example serves as an application of
  general design values and criteria for preferring
  and comparing alternative theories.

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• 1. Subject matter
• (1) the typical reactions which occur when an
  established science confronts a new object of
  inquiry
• 2. Background information
• (2) The usual discussions are not productive as
  long as the old paradigm is still accepted as
  the framework for achievement.
• 3. Purpose
• (1) This article explores the typical reactions
• 4. Methodology
• (3) The issues are re-examined in terms of the
  metatheory of science and some general
  solutions are expounded
• (4) A paradigmatic example is presented
• 5. Findings
• ?(4) to show a possible role for logical
  linguistics in future theories
• 6. Implications
• (5) This example serves as an application of
  general design values and criteria for preferring
  and comparing alternative theories.

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R. de Beaugrande

• Argumentation (vs description)
• Speculative, literature review, library research,
  theorizing
• Element structures of the abstract not
  clearly-cut

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M. Couthard The linguist as expert witness
(Linguistics and the Human Sciences 1(1) (2005

• This article illustrates the problems faced and
  the techniques used by the linguist when acting
  as an expert witness. Examples are drawn from a
  wild variety of cases. The article first
  exemplifies disputes about the meaning of
  individual morphemes in a trademark case, where
  the American burger chain McDonalds claimed
  ownership of the morpheme Mc on the grounds
  that they had invented a McLanguage, and about
  the interpretation of individual words like
  sufficient, preclude and impairment in jury
  instructions and health insurance proposals,
  where convincing evidence is offered that
  cooperative readers would not have derived the
  meaning intended by the legal authors of the
  texts. The articles then examines the
  contribution linguists made in two specific cases
  to resolving questions about the degree of
  grammatical complexity in a disputed letter and a
  statute whose interpretation had been appealed,
  before moving on to use the concept of linguistic
  uniqueness to help resolve the question of the
  ownership of particular words and phrases in
  two cases of suspected plagiarism. The concepts
  used in the plagiarism cases are then used to
  resolve a dispute about whether a whole interview
  record had been fabricated by the police in a
  murder case. Throughout the article examples are
  provided of the wide range of techniques that
  forensic linguists have developed and now use to
  reach and support their opinions, ranging from
  evidence derived from corpora and questionnaires
  to insights drawn from morphology, grammar,
  lexis, pragmatics, semantics and discourse and
  text analysis.

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• (1) This article illustrates the problems faced
  and the techniques used by the linguist when
  acting as an expert witness.
• (2) Examples are drawn from a wild variety of
  cases.
• (3) The article first exemplifies disputes about
  the meaning of individual morphemes in a
  trademark case, where the American burger chain
  McDonalds claimed ownership of the morpheme Mc
  on the grounds that they had invented a
  McLanguage, and about the interpretation of
  individual words like sufficient, preclude
  and impairment in jury instructions and health
  insurance proposals, where convincing evidence is
  offered that cooperative readers would not have
  derived the meaning intended by the legal authors
  of the texts.

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• (4) The articles then examines the contribution
  linguists made in two specific cases to resolving
  questions about the degree of grammatical
  complexity in a disputed letter and a statute
  whose interpretation had been appealed, before
  moving on to use the concept of linguistic
  uniqueness to help resolve the question of the
  ownership of particular words and phrases in
  two cases of suspected plagiarism.
• (5) The concepts used in the plagiarism cases are
  then used to resolve a dispute about whether a
  whole interview record had been fabricated by the
  police in a murder case.
• (6) Throughout the article examples are provided
  of the wide range of techniques that forensic
  linguists have developed and now use to reach and
  support their opinions, ranging from evidence
  derived from corpora and questionnaires to
  insights drawn from morphology, grammar, lexis,
  pragmatics, semantics and discourse and text
  analysis.

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• 1. Subject matter
• (1) This article illustrates the problems faced
  and the techniques used by the linguist
• 2. Background information
• ???(2) Examples are drawn from a wild variety of
  cases.
• 3. Purpose
• ???
• 4. Methodology
• ???(3) The article first exemplifies disputes
  about the meaning
• ???(4) The articles then examines the
  contribution
• ???(5) The concepts used in the plagiarism cases
  are then used to resolve a dispute about whether
  a whole interview record had been fabricated by
  the police in a murder case.
• ???(6) Throughout the article examples are
  provided of the wide range of techniques
• 5. Findings
• ???
• 6. Implications
• ???

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M. Couthard

• Purpose is not clearly stated.
• Methodology is not clearly stated.
• No obvious findings.
• No obvious implications.
• The use of examples has been emphasized (e.g.
  Sentences (2) (6).)

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Discussion

• Types of research and ways of presentation
• Different disciplines have different norms and
  conventions
• Differences between linguistics and applied
  linguistics (e.g., previous studies,
  implications)
• Some senior people may not follow the norm, and
  they are often allowed to have deviations.

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5 The Language of an abstract

• The information in an abstract is condensed in
  nominal groups with special types of verbs.
• There are certain grammatical patterns that are
  usually used.
• The best way is to see, from a purely
  linguistic/grammatical perspective how people
  write abstracts.

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Some examples

• This paper, this article, this study, this
  research, this project, the author, we, I,
• Argue, report, investigates, focus on, survey,
  review, present, address, give, look, examine,
  outline, explore, deal with, consider, discuss,
  suggest, be concerned with, approach, analyse,
  describe, demonstrate, illustrate, evaluate,
• Aim to challenge, attempt to argue, seek to argue,

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• The secret of a successful Abstract is in giving
  the most information in the least number of words
  in a coherent structure.
• This can be achieved by reading good Abstracts
  and then imitating them when you need to write
  one.

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Pieces of advice

• We can safely assume that if a research paper is
  accepted by an international journal, then its
  Abstract can be imitated by people learning to
  write this kind of text.
• If someone is recognized in the field, his way of
  writing is also accepted. (but)
• To write a good Abstract, we have to follow the
  conventions set by more experienced people in the
  field.
• If you want to have a paper accepted by a
  journal, you should read the journal and see the
  underlying principle/requirement.

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6 Summary

• We have focused on the discourse structure.
• The two main features of an Abstract are its
  discourse structure and the language used for
  condensing the information.
• The secret of a successful Abstract is in giving
  the most information in the least number of words
  in a coherent structure. This can be achieved by
  reading good Abstracts and then imitating them
  when you need to write one.

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Reminder Six questions on the Abstract

• 1. What is the subject matter/area the research
  paper is dealing with?
• 2. What background information is provided by the
  author(s)?
• 3. What is the purpose of the present study?
• 4. How is the research to be done?
• 5. What are some of the important findings?
• 6. What are some of the implications of the
  study?