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ISSN: 2239-978
X
E-ISSN: 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 3
September 2013
371
Genre-Based Analysis of Arabic Research Article Abstracts across Four Disciplines
Mohammed Nasser Alhuqbani
Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics
King Fahd Security College, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: huqbanim@kfsc.edu.sa
Doi:10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p371
Abstract
Analysis of abstracts has seldom been involved in disciplines and journals where Arabic is used. Hence, this study examined
the rhetorical structures of abstracts across four unrelated disciplines in Arabic: law, linguistics, medicine and police. The
corpus consisted of 40 Arabic abstracts, with 10 abstracts from each discipline. The data was analyzed qualitatively and
quantitatively using two move models: Bhatia's (1993) four-move structure and Hyland's (2000) five-move structure. The
results showed that these four disciplines greatly varied in their adherence to these models. However, abstracts in medicine
strictly adhered to either Bhatia's or Hyland's model. Abstracts in law, linguistics and police had no conventional move
structure. This disciplinary variation could be attributed to the Arabic journals' publication policy which leaves the writing of
abstracts at the researchers' disposal. As for the preferred verb tense, researchers used the present tense in the introduction,
purpose and conclusion moves, and the past tense in the method and result moves. The findings have important implications
for Arabic for Academic Purposes. Arab postgraduate students and novice researchers need to understand and apply the
rhetorical structures commonly used in their writing of abstracts, so that they can successfully join their discourse community
.
Arabic journals also need to amend their policy for accepting and publishing articles, including abstracts.
Keywords: abstract, Arabic, genre analysis, moves
1. Introduction
Given their important roles and functions in research communities, research article (hereafter RA) abstracts have
received considerable attention and have been investigated from different perspectives in recent years. With the
abundance of papers published online in today’s world, most readers limit their initial research looking at titles and
abstracts before choosing what RA abstracts to purchase and read. Consequently, many potentially good research
articles are overlooked because their abstracts have been written carelessly (Piqué-Noguera, 2012). Hartley and Betts
(2009, p. 2015) were right when they said “it is possible that more papers might be read in detail if the abstracts were
more informative.”
Unlike Swales and Feak (2007) who viewed RA abstracts as part-genre and the research article as a genre
because the latter is intended to accomplish a set of communicative purposes, Bhatia (1993) and Lorés (2004)
recognized RA abstracts as an independent genre in its own right. Bhatia (1993) argued that RA abstracts appeared as a
result of “a well-defined and mutually understood communicative purpose that most abstracts fulfill, irrespective of the
subject discipline they serve” (p. 77-78). According to Bhatia (1993, p. 78), an abstract should include four moves:
"introducing the purpose", "describing the method", "summarizing the results" and "presenting the conclusions."
Consistent with Santos' (1996) and Swales and Feak's (2004) five-move models (i.e., background-aim-method-
results-conclusion), Hyland (2000) proposed another model consisting of five moves: introduction, purpose, method,
product and conclusion. Hyland's model was based on his rigorous analysis of 800 RA abstracts taken from eight
unrelated disciplines.
According to Swales (2004, p. 228Ǧ9), a move is a “discoursal or rhetorical unit that performs a coherent
communicative function in a written or spoken discourse.” That is, each move has its own communicative purpose in a
text (Pho, 2009). Swales (1990) argued that moves may be used differently across disciplines, and that moves may also
range in their degree of frequency within a single text from optional to obligatory. They also might be different across-
culturally as some previous studies suggested (e.g., Li, 2011; Martin-Martin, 2003).
The goal of this study is to examine RA abstracts written in Arabic across four dissimilar disciplines; namely, law,
linguistics, medicine and police in an attempt to identify the similarities and differences between them as regards to
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E-ISSN: 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 3
September 2013
372
moves and verb tenses. A review of some of the cross-disciplinary studies in the literature is given below.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Cross-disciplinary move analysis of RA abstracts
In the past two decades, a few studies have examined the move structures of RA abstracts across disciplines. For
example, Melander et al. (1997) examined English and Swedish RA abstracts in biology, medicine and linguistics. The
results showed that discipline as well as culture affected the way RA abstracts were written . However, this influence
varied across the three disciplines. That is, culture affected the structure of RA abstracts in linguistics, but this was not
found in biology texts which were consistent across the two languages. With regard to medicine, neither discipline nor
culture influenced RA abstracts writing.
Ge and Yang (2005) analyzed 150 English RA abstracts in electrical and electronics engineering, surgery and
finance. The researchers found that these disciplines employed the same move structure, but differed significantly in the
frequency of moves. That is, the surgery RA abstracts included a method move as an obligatory one, but only a few of
the finance RA abstracts had this move, making it optional in finance.
Following Santos' (1996) five-move model which he developed to examine abstracts and introductions in RAs, Pho
(2008) examined the move structures of 20 abstracts in applied linguistics and 10 abstracts in educational technology.
He found that Santos's three moves: 'presenting the research', 'summarizing the findings' and 'describing the
methodology' occurred almost in all the RA abstracts in the two disciplines. But, the other two moves 'situating the
research' and 'discussing the results' occurred less frequently in these RA abstracts, suggesting that they were optional
in these two disciplines.
More recently, Li (2011) investigated 40 RA abstracts from two unrelated disciplines, chemistry and linguistics in
English and Chinese. Relevant to the cross-disciplinary focus of this present study is Li's adaptation of Hyland's (2000)
five-move structure to analyze her data. She found that linguistics RA abstracts follow a four- move structure (purpose,
method, product, conclusion), but such a structure was not identified in chemistry RA abstracts. Instead, chemistry RA
abstracts in English included two moves (purpose, method) while chemistry RA abstracts in Chinese included three
moves (method, product, conclusion). The method was found to be the only obligatory move in both disciplines.
2.2 Analysis of verb tense in moves
Little research has investigated the verb tense of the moves in RA abstracts (Tseng, 2011). This might be due to the
complexity of the tense usage in these RA abstracts (Swales & Feak, 2004). For instance, Salager-Meyer (1992) found
that medical researchers used different verb tenses to present move structures of their 84 RA abstracts. That is, they
used the past tense in three moves: purpose, method and results. However, they used the present tense to introduce the
conclusion move.
Pezzini (2000) investigated the preferred verb tense used in 18 RA abstracts in linguistics and translation journals.
He found that the present simple was the most frequently tense used in the RA abstracts, followed by the past simple
and present perfect, which was used in very few RA abstracts.
From a cross-disciplinary perspective, Li (2011) found that the active voice is more common than the passive
voice in the purpose move in linguistics RA abstracts. Chemistry RA abstracts used the present tense but in the passive
voice.
2.3 Conclusion
To summarize, the studies reviewed above focused on RA abstracts in English and in a few languages other than Arabic.
In addition, scant research has examined the usage of verb tense in abstracts per se. To the best of my knowledge,
Arabic has not been involved in cross-disciplinary analysis of move structures and verb tenses used in RA abstracts.
Hence, this study was carried out to investigate the move structures of RA abstracts and the verb tense of moves as a
realization element in four Arabic different disciplines; namely, law, linguistics, medicine and police.
ISSN: 2239-978
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E-ISSN: 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 3
September 2013
373
3. Purpose of the study
This study analyzed and compared the moves structure of RA abstracts in Arabic across disciplines. This investigation
(a) identified the move structures of Arabic RA abstracts in law, linguistics, medicine and police; (b) compared the
consistency of these cross-disciplinary RA abstracts with Bhatia's (1993) four-move structure, and Hyland's (2000) five-
move structure; (c) identified the preferred verb tense of each move in the RA abstracts; and (d) suggested general
implications and recommendations for writing and publishing RA abstracts in Arabic.
4. Research Questions
The study addressed the following three questions.
1. To what extent is the move structure of the Arabic RA abstracts in law, linguistics, medicine, police consistent
with Bhatia's (1993) four-move structure and Hyland's (2000) five-move structure model?
2. What are the similarities and differences between the cross-disciplinary RA abstracts in terms of the genre
structures of moves?
3. What is the preferred verb tense of each move in the Arabic RA abstracts in the four disciplines?
5. Method
5.1 Corpus
The corpus consisted of 40 Arabic RA abstracts drawn from four different disciplines: law, linguistics, medicine and
police, with 10 RA abstracts taken from each discipline. Law RA abstracts were taken from two journals: Law and
Political Sciences Journal of King Saud University in Saudi Arabia and Alhqoq (Law) Journal of the University of Kuwait.
They were published during the period of 2008-2012. Linguistics RA abstracts were taken from three journals: King
Faisal Journal of Humanities and Administration, Jordanian Journal of Arabic and Literature, and Um Alqura Journal of
Languages and Literatures. These abstracts were published during the period of 2006-2012. Medical RA abstracts were
taken from Damascus University Journal of Health Sciences in Syria. All the selected abstracts in this journal were
publish in 2010. Police RA abstracts were drawn from Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, a police journal published in the United Arab
Emirates. They were published during the period of 2008-2011. Except the RA abstracts in Alhqoq (Law) Journal of the
University of Kuwait, all the RA abstracts are accompanied with English translations in the journals. All the abstracts were
accessible online.
5.2 Data analysis procedures
5.2.1 The analytical framework of analysis of move structures
Both Bhatia's (1993) four-move model and Hyland's (2000) five-move model were adopted as the framework for move
analysis of the RA abstracts in the present study. These two models are similar in using four moves (purpose-method-
results-conclusion), but differ in the introduction move which is only found in Hyland's model. For Hyland, RA abstracts
writers use the introduction move to justify their study and establish the appropriate context. Furthermore, they capture
the contribution of previous genre analysts who concluded that the number of moves in RA abstracts range from four
(e.g., Swales, 1990) to five (e.g., Santos, 1996; Swales & Feak, 2004) moves. For the purpose of this study, the
frequency of occurrence of each move was statistically tallied and summed. Following previous studies (e.g.,
Kanoksilapatham, 2005), a move is considered obligatory if its frequency is no less than 60% of the corpus in each
discipline. Conversely, if a move occurs less than 60% of the corpus, it is considered optional. Each abstract in the
corpus was coded and analyzed by the researcher using the criteria provided by the above two models as shown in
Table 1.
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Vol. 3 No. 3
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Table 1. The framework for RA abstracts Analysis
Bhatia's (1993, p
78-79 ) four-
structure move
Function Hyland's (2000, p. 67)
five-structure move Function
Introduction
Establishes context of the paper and motivates the
research or discussion.
Introducing the
purpose What the
researcher did. Purpose In Indicates purpose, thesis or hypothesis, outlines the
intention behind the paper.
Describing the
methodology How the
researcher did it. Method Pr Provides information on design, procedures,
assumptions, approach, data, etc.
Summarizing the
results What the
researcher found. Product States main findings or results, the argument, or what
was accomplished
Presenting the
conclusions What the author
concluded. Conclusion or Interprets or extends results beyond scope of paper,
draws inferences, points to applications or wider
implications.
For the sake of clarity and since they have the same moves except for the introduction, the moves in the two models
were categorized throughout the paper as introduction, purpose, method, results/product, and conclusion. The
introduction move was referred to as Hyland's move in the analysis and discussion of the results.
5.2.2 Analysis of the verb tense of the moves
The study focused on three verb tenses in Arabic, namely the present, past and future. The purpose of this analysis was
to identify the preferred tense used in each move in the abstracts across the four disciplines. Following Tesng (2011), the
analysis procedures of the verb tenses in the moves in each abstract were as follows. First, when a single sentence
introduces a move, the verb tense of that sentence is the tense of the move as in example 1 below. Second, when
several sentences introduce a single move, then all tenses in that move are included in the data analysis as in example 2
below. Third, when no verb tense is used to introduce a move because the tense is realized in a clause or a phrase, then
no verb tense is included in data as in example 3 below.
1. ΖϓΪϫ
˯ήΟϹ άϫ ΓΪΎϓ έΪϘϣ Δϓήόϣ ϰϟ· ΓήΠϤϟ ΔϴϠΒϘΘδϤϟ ΔγέΪϟ ϩάϫ . . .
This study aimed at knowing the safety and the efficacy of this (purpose) ĺ past tense. (Kudsi, 2010)
2. ϝϭΎϨΘϳ
ϭ ˬϪϳϮΒϴγ ΪϨϋ ΔϟΎΣϹ ϡϮϬϔϣ ΚΤΒϟ άϫϝϭΎΤϳ ˬϡϮϬϔϤϟ άϫ ΩΎόΑ ΩΪΤϳ ϥ ϥ ϭκϠΨΘδϳ ήϴϳΎόϤϟϭ ςΑϮπϟ . . .
The research deals with the concept of the "crooked speech" in Sibawayh's. It attempts to specify the
dimensions of this concept, and to conclude the semantic and syntactical standards . . . (purpose) ĺ present
tense (Al-Najjar, 2006)
3. ϖθϣΩ ΔόϣΎΟ ϝΎϔρ ϰϔθΘδϣ ϲϓ ΔϟϮΒϘϤϟ ϱϮθΤϟ ΎϴϧΎϤθϳϼϟ ˯Ω ΕϻΎΣ ΕΎϴΎΑϭ ΔγέΩ . . .
The study of the epidemiology of Visceral Leishmaniasis cases . . . (purpose) ĺ no tense being used to indicate
the purpose. (Anjak, 2010)
6. Results and Discussion
6.1 Genre structures of moves across disciplines
In this section, a crossǦdisciplinary analysis is conducted in order to identify the variations of RA abstracts in terms of
move structure across the four disciplines. Table 2 shows the frequency and percentages of different moves in each of
the four disciplines according to Bhatia's (1993) and Hyland's (2000) move structure models.
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Vol. 3 No. 3
September 2013
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Table 2. Distribution of Bhatia’s (1993) and Hyland’s (2000) moves across the four disciplines
Police Total
N % N %
Medicine
N %
Linguistics
N %
Law
N %
Move
6 60 23 57.5 6 603 308 80Introduction*
9 90 35 87.5 9 9010 1008 80Purpose 5 50 25 62.5 10 1007 703 30Method 6 60 22 55 10 1006 600 0Results/Product 4 40 15 37.5 10 1001 100 0Occlusion
*Only for Hyland's (2000) move structure
Hyland's (2000) introduction move is obligatory in the fields of law (80%), medicine (60%) and police (60%). It is optional
in linguistics (30%). The purpose move is obligatory in all disciplines (law 80%, linguistics 100%, medicine 90% and
police 90%). The four disciplines showed variations in the use of the method move. Writers in both law (30%) and police
(50%) used this move optionally. In contrast, writers in linguistics (70%) and medicine (100%) use the method move
obligatorily. The result/product move is absent in the law RA abstracts (0%). It is obligatory in linguistics (60%), medicine
(100%) and police (70%). The conclusion move is absent in law (0%) and optional in linguistics (10%) and police (40%).
For medical RA abstracts, the conclusion move is obligatory. Taking into account the four disciplines together, the
purpose is found to be the only obligatory move that these disciplines share, and hence confirming previous studies (e.g.,
Li, 2011) which asserted the obligatory of this move across disciplines and languages.
As shown in Table 3 below, the most frequent move structure in law is I-P (40%) and
I-P-M-R-C (50%) and P-M-R-C (40%) in medical RA abstracts. No conventional move structure could be identified
in the linguistics and police RA abstracts. It is therefore obvious from the move structures in Table 3 that the medical RA
abstracts are the only abstracts that show consistency with Bhatia's (1993) four-move structure and Hyland's (2000) five-
move structure.
Table 3. Move structure in RA abstracts across the four disciplines
Police Medicine Linguistics Law RA abstracts No.
I-P-M-R-C I-M-R-CP-RP-M1
P-M-CI-P-M-R-CP-I-M-II-P-M2 I-P-M-RP-M-R-CPI-P3 P-RP-M-R-CP-RI-P4 P-MI-P-M-R-CP-M-R-CI5 IP-M-R-CI-P-M-CI-P6 I-P-R-CI-P-M-R-CP-M-RI7 I-P-R-CI-P-M-R-CP-MI-P8 P-M-RI-P-M-R-CI+P-MP9 I-PP-M-R-CP-M-RI-P-M10
*I=introduction, P=purpose, M=method, R=results/product, C=conclusion
Writing abstracts is relatively a new practice in the Arabic journals (Alharbi & Swales, 2011). In the past, Arabic journals
did not require the submission of abstracts along with articles. In addition, some of these journals from which the RA
abstracts were selected have less than 20 years in the field. This may account for the variation and absence of well-
defined RA abstracts in the fields of law, linguistics and police. As Hyland (2000, p. 63) commented, an abstract is
“critical to disciplinary knowledge-making and therefore to the work of academics.” However, the Arabic journals rarely
provide guidelines to writers as to how an abstract should be written, what information should be included therein, and
what its structure should look like. Additionally, the journals say nothing about the research writing style (e.g., APA, MLA)
that researchers should follow when writing the whole research article or the abstract.
As indicated by Swales and Feak (2004), RA abstracts should be informative rather than indicative. The former
type of abstracts contain the necessary moves such as introduction, purpose, methodology results, and conclusion. The
latter only presents an introduction and a purpose, but either the methodology, or the results, or both, are normally
omitted. The law RA abstracts are indicative abstract which seems to be a common practice in law since almost all the
RA abstracts in two journals followed the pattern I-P. The following example illustrates this tendency (moves are shown
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Vol. 3 No. 3
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in bold in parentheses for emphasis).
4.
Ϧϣ ήϴΜϜϟ έήϗ· ΔϘϴϘΣ Ϧϣ ήϬψϳ Ύϣ Ϯϫϭ ϕϼρϹ ϰϠϋ ϥΎδϧϹ ΎϬΑ ϢόϨϳ ϲΘϟ ϕϮϘΤϟ Ϣϫ Ϧϣ Ϊόϳ ΔϟΩΎϋ ΔϤϛΎΤϣ ϲϓ ϖΤϟ ϰΤο ΪϘϟ
ϕϮϘΣ ϖϴΛϮϣ ΎδϧϹϖΤϟ άϬϟ ΔϴϨρϮϟ Ε˯ήΟϹ ϦϴϴϧϮϓ ϭ ήϴΗΎγΪϟ ϭ ΔϴϤϴϠϗϹϭ ΔϴϟϭΪϟ ϥ. . . . ˬ)ΔϣΪϘϣ ( ϰϟ· ϰόδΗ ΔγέΪϟ ϩάϫ ϥΈϓ
ϖΤϟ ΕΎϴπΘϘϣ ϲΒϠΗ ΔϤψϧϷ ϚϠΗ ιϮμϧ ΖϧΎϛ Ύϣ Ϋ· ϰϠϋ ϑήόΘϟ .. . )ΔγέΪϟ Ϧϣ νήϐϟ (
The right to a fair trial has become one of the most important rights that individuals enjoy. This is evident from the
fact that many international and regional treaties, as well as national constitutions and procedural laws guarantee this
right . . .. (Introduction Move) this study seeks to examine the provisions of these statutes to determine the extent to
which, . . . (Purpose Move) (Al-Hargan, 2010)
Unlike the other disciplines (law, linguistics, police), the medical RA abstracts followed a strict and consistent move
structures which seems to be emphasized by the journal's publication requirements. This is inconsistent with previous
studies (e.g., Melander et al., 1997) which reported that medical RA abstracts had illogical order of moves. Arabic
medical researchers highlight each move by labeling it. The following medical abstract illustrates this practice. (moves
are shown in bold by the researcher for emphasis)
5. ΚΤΒϟ ΔϴϔϠΧ: ΎϋϮϴη ΔϴϧΎϤθϴϠϟ ϝΎϜη ήΜϛ Ϧϣ ΔϳΪϠΠϟ ΔϴϧΎϤθϴϠϟ ΪόΗ. . .
ΔγέΪϟ ϑΪϫ: ΩΪόΘϟ ϦϴΑ Δϗϼόϟ ΔγέΩ Ϯϫ ΚΤΒϟ άϬϟ ϲδϴήϟ ϑΪϬϟϲϔϴυϮϟ ϲϠϜθϟ . . .
ΚΤΒϟ ϖήρ: . . .ΔγέΪϟ ΖϠϤη 54 ΔϴϧΎϤθϴϠϟΎΑ ˱ΎΑΎμϣ ˱Ύπϳήϣ ϭ ˬΔϨϣΰϤϟ ΔϳΪϠΠϟ70 ΔϳέϮγ ϲϓ ΔϔϠΘΨϣ ϖρΎϨϣ Ϧϣ ˱ΪϫΎη . . .
ΞΎΘϨϟ: ϫϮθϟ ϊϣ ΔϧέΎϘϤϟΎΑ ΔϨϣΰϤϟ ΔϴϧΎϤθϴϠϟ ϰοήϣ ϲϓ Ϟϗ ϥΎϛ ϦϴϣΎΘϟ ϰϟ· ϦϴϧΩϷ Ϧϣ ϲϠϜθϟ ΩΪόΘϟ ϥ ΎϧΪΟϭΪ . . .
ΝΎΘϨΘγϻ: ΔϳΪϠΠϟ ΔϴϧΎϤθϴϠϟ νήϣ έϮτΗ ϲϓ ήΛΆϳ Ϊϗ ΎϣΎϏ ϥϭήϴϓήΘϧϻ ΔϨϴΟ Ϧϣ ϝϭϷ ϥϭήΘϧϻ ϲϓ ϲϠϜθϟ ΩΪόΘϟ ϥ ΡήΘϘΗ . ..
Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the most prevalent clinical forms of leishmaniasis , …
Objective: The main purpose of this research was to study the relationship between the polymorphism in . . .
Methods: . . . A total of 54 patients with chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis, and 70 healthy controls . . .
Results: We found that . . . polymorphism was less common in patients with chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis. . .
Conclusion: Our results suggest that the polymorphism . . . might influence the progression of disease. . . (Assaf
& Harfoush, 2010)
The findings also showed support for previous studies (e.g., Hyland, 2000; Promsin, 2006) which have indicated
that the conclusion move was an optional one. Except for medicine in which the conclusion move was used obligatorily
in all the RA abstracts, researchers in law completely omitted the conclusion move, and researchers in linguistics used it
once and researchers in police used it four times.
6.2 Cross-disciplinary analysis of verb tense in moves
Table 4 below shows The frequency of the verb tense in each move in the four disciplines
Table 4. Verb tense frequency in each move in RA abstracts across disciplines.
Tense of moves Law
N %
Linguistics
N %
Medicine
N %
Police
N %
Total
N %
Introduction
Present 2 20 3 30 4 40 4 40 13 32.5
Past 5 50 0 0 1 10 1 10 6 17.5
Purpose Present 5 50 10 100 7 70 7 70 29 72.5
Past 3 30 0 0 2 20 2 20 7 17.5
Method Present 0 0 6 60 0 0 0 0 6 15
Past 3 30 1 10 10 100 5 50 19 47.5
Results Present 0 0 3 30 0 0 0 0 3 7.5
Past 0 0 2 20 10 100 6 60 18 45
Conclusion Present 0 0 0 0 7 70 0 0 7 17.5
Past 0 0 1 10 3 30 4 40 8 20
The data showed that the present tense was used 32.5% in the introduction move in the total RA abstracts across
disciplines. In contrast, the past tense was used 17.5% in all RA abstracts. Both medicine and police authors used the
present tense in the introduction move four times. Linguistics authors used it three times and the law authors used it
twice. The past tense was only used in five of the law abstracts and once in medicine and police RA abstracts. Table 5
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illustrates the uses of verb tenses in the introduction move across the four disciplines.
Table 5. Verb tense use in the introduction move across disciplines.
Discipline Present Tense Past Tense
Law 6.a . . . . ϪΗΎΟΎϴΘΣ ωΎΒη ϞϴΒγ ϲϓ ϥΎδϧϻ ϰόδ
ϳ
The human being attempts to fulfill his
needs . . . (Gourari, 2009)
6.b . . .ϞϤόϠϟ ΩήϓϷ ξόΑ ΓήΠϫ ΓήϴΧϷ Δϧϭϵ ϲϓ ΕΩί
The immigration of some individuals
for work increased (Aldeaj, 2009)
Linguistics 7 . . ΔϴόϴΒτϟ ΕΎϐϠϟ ϦϴΑ ΔϤΟήΘϠϟ ϲϠϳϭ΄Θϟ ΞϬϨϤϟ
ΰ
ϛή
ϳ
The hermeneutic approach to natural language
translation concentrates on . . . (Sheikh Al-
Shabab, 2010)
None
Medicine 8 a . . . ϲΎϬϨϟ ϱϮϠϜϟ έϮμϘϟ ϰοήϣ Ϊό
ϳ
Patients with end stage renal disease . . . are
often considered (AL-Anzaoui, 2010)
8.b . . . Γ˯ΎΠϔϟ ΕϮϣ ΔϴϤϟΎόϟ ΔΤμϟ ΔϤψϨϣ Ζϓήϋ
W.H.O has defined sudden unexpected death . . . (Al-
Jabouri, 2010)
Police 9. a. . . . ϝΎϴΘΣϼϟ ϢήΟ Ϊό
Η
fraud crimes are considered . . .
(Abdrrrahman, 2011)
9.b. Ϧϣ ΓΪϳΪΟ ρΎϤϧ έϮϬυ ϲϓ
ΕΪϋΎ
γ
. . . ΔϴϨϣϷ ΕήϴϐΘϟ
ϢήΠϟ . . .
Security changes . . . helped in the occurrence of new
crime patterns . . . (Al Samahi, 2012)
In the purpose move, the present tense was more frequently used in the RA abstracts across discipline (72.5%)
compared with the past tense which was only used 17.5%. All medical authors used the present tense to introduce the
purpose. Linguistics and police authors used the present tense seven times, whereas the law authors used it five times.
Table 6 illustrates how verb tenses are used in the purpose move across the four disciplines.
Table 6. Verb tense use in the purpose move across disciplines.
Discipline Present Tense Past Tense
Law 10.a . ϝΎϴΘΣϻ ϢήΟ ΚΤΒϟ άϫ ϝϭΎϨΘϳ. . .
This research deals with fraud crimes . . .
(Alobady, 2010)
10.b ΔϴϟϭΪϟ ϊϴΒϟ ΩϮϘϋ ϲϓ ήρΎΨϤϟ ϝΎϘΘϧ ΚΤΒϟ άϫ ϝϭΎϨΗ
. . .
This researcher dealt with the transfer of risks
in the international sale contracts . . (Makhlouf, 2012)
Linguistics 11.a . . . Εήϴϴϐ˷Θϟ ΔγέΩ ΚΤΒϟ άϫ
ϝϭΎΤ
ϳ
This
research attempts to study the
changes . . . (Al-Ma'aitah, 2010)
None
Medicine 12.a Ϟόϔϟ ΩϭΩέ ϢϴϴϘ
Η
Ϯϫ ΔγέΪϟ ϩάϫ ϑΪϫ
ΔϴΑΎϬΘϟϻ . . .
The aim of this study was to evaluate the
effect of PRP . . . (Zenati, 2010)
12.b . . . ϲϤψόϟ ιΎμΘϣϻ ϢϴϴϘΗ ϰϟ· ΚΤΒϟ άϫ ϑΪϫ
This research aimed to evaluate the mesial and distal
bone . . . (Zenati, 2010)
Police 13.a ϲϓ έΎΤΘϧϻ ΓήϫΎυ ϝϭΎϨΗ ϰϟ· ΔγέΪϟ ϩάϫ ϑΪϬ
Η
ϥϮΠδϟ.
This study attempts to investigate the suicide
phenomenon in prison. (Hilal, 2009)
13.b ΔΤϓΎϜϣ ϲϓ Δρήθϟ ΔϴΑΎΠϳ·ϭ ΔϴϠϋΎϓ ΚΤΒϟ άϫ νήόΘγ
ΔϤϳήΠϟ . . .
This research discussed the efficiency and costiveness
of police in combating crime . . . (Shapsoq, 2008)
With regard to the method move, 47.5% of the abstracts across disciplines used the past tense and 15% of the corpus
used the present tense. Only the linguistics authors used the present tense to present their methodology in six abstracts.
All the ten medical authors used the past tense when describing their methodology, followed by five police authors, three
law authors and one linguistics author. Table 7 demonstrates the uses of verb tenses in the method move across the four
disciplines.
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Table 7. Verb tense use in the method move across disciplines.
Discipline Present Tense Past Tense
Law
None 14. ϝϼΧ Ϧϣ ΔϴϠϴϠΤΗ ΔϘϳήτΑ ωϮοϮϤϟ άϫ ΎϨϟϭΎϨΗ
ΔϴγΎγ έϭΎΤϣ ΔΛϼΛ. . .
We addressed this topic analytically through
three major axes . . .
Linguistics
15.a ϥήϘϟ ΔϤΟήΗ Ϧϣ ΔϠΜϣ . . . ϡΪΨΘδϳϭ
ϢϳήϜϟ
ϱΰϴϠΠϧϹ ήόθϟ ΔϤΟήΗϭ ΔϴΑέϭϷ ΕΎϐϠϟ ϰϟ·
ϰϟ·
ΔϐϠϟΔϴΑήόϟ . . .
and employs examples from the Holy
Quran translation in European languages
and the translation of English poetry into
Arabic . . . (Sheikh Al-Shabab, 2010)
15.b ϲϓ ΓΩέϮϟ ήϴϐμ˷Θϟ Ϧϣ ΝΫΎϤϧ ΚΤΒϟ αέ
Ω
Ϊϗϭ
ΏΎΘϛ Δ˷ϴΗϮλ βγ ϖϓϭ ΎϬϔ˷Ϩλϭ ˬϪϳϮΒϴγ . . .
. . ., and the research examined examples of
phonemic reduction in Seibaweih's book, and
classified them according to phonological rules.
. . (Al-Ma'aitah, 2010)
Medicine
None
ΖϳήΟ ΔγέΩ ΔϴϠϴϠΤΗ ˰ϟ 17 ΔϟΎΣ έϮμϗ ϱϮϠϛ . . ϲΎϬϧ
.16
Analytic study of 17 patients with (ESRD) was
conducted (AL-Anzaoui, 2010)
Police
None 17. Δϴδϴέ ρΎϘϧ ΓΪϋ ϝϼΧ Ϧϣ ωϮοϮϤϟ ΔΠϟΎόϣ ΖϤΗϭ
ΔϳέϭήϤϟ ΔϠϜθϤϟ ϢΠΣ ΪϳΪΤΗ ϲϓ ΖϠΜϤΗ. . .
The topic was dealt with through several major
points represented in specifying the traffic
problem size . . . (Altiraif, 2010)
To present the results, the authors used the past tense (45.5%) more than the present tense (7.5%). Six police authors
used the past tense to present their results. Three linguistics authors used the present tense to present their results. Two
other linguistics authors used the past tense to present their results. All the medical authors used the past tense to
present the results followed by six police authors. Table 5 illustrates how verb tenses are used in the introduction move
across the four disciplines. Table 8 below shows how verb tenses are used in the results move in linguistics, medicine
and police.
Table 8. Verb tense use in the results move across disciplines.
Discipline Present Tense Past Tense
Linguistics 18.a ΔϳϮϐϠϟ ΓήϫΎψϟ ϰϟ· ήψϨϳ ϥΎϛ ϪϳϮΒϴγ ˷
ϥ ϦϴΒ
ϳ
. . .
It shows that Sibawayh viewed linguistic
phenomenon . . . (Al-Najjar, 2006)
18.b . . . ΔϴΗϮμϟ ϦϴϧϮϘϟ ήΜϛ ϥ ΔγέΪϟ Ζϔθϛ Ϊϗ ϭ
The study found that most phonological rules . . .
(Maree, A. , Al-Mahasena, 2006)
Medicine None ΕήϬυ ΞΎΘϨϟ ΙϭΪΣ ιΎμΘϣ ϲϤψϋ ϱΩϮϤϋ19
The results showed vertical bone restoration . . .
(Dayoub, 2010)
Police
None 20. Δρήθϟ ΔϴΠϴΗήΘγ ήϴΛ΄Η ϡΪϋ ϰϟ· ΔγέΪϟ ΖϠλϮ
Η
ϭ
ΔϴόϤΘΠϤϟ. . .
The study found that police community strategy was
ineffective . . . (Abdelmottelp, 2009)
In the conclusion move, 20% of the RA abstracts across disciplines used the past tense and 17.5% used the present
tense. Seven medical authors used the present tense to summarize the conclusions. Four police authors used the past
tense to introduce, three medical authors used it and one linguistics author used it. Table 9 illustrates how verb tenses
are used in the conclusion move in linguistics, medicine and police.
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Table 9. Verb tense use in the conclusion move across disciplines.
Discipline Present Tense Past Tense
Linguistics
None
ϰϬΘϧ ϰϟ· ΩΪϋ ΕΎϴλϮΘϟ Ϧϣ . . . Δϳέϭήπϟ21
(The research) concluded with some necessary
recommendations . . . (Al-Anati, 2009)
Medicine ΐΒδ
ϳ
ΕΎϘϟ ΕΎϓ ΔϳϮϤϓ . . . ˯ΎπϴΑ 22a
Khat chewing causes oral white . .
. (Abdulhak, 2010)
Βλ Ϧϣ ϦϜϤϤϟ ϝΎμΌΘγ ϞΘϛ . . .ήψϜϟ 22b
It became possible to resect the adrenal masses . . . (Alchalabi,
2010)
Police None 23 . . . ΔϣΎϬϟ ΕΎΟΎΘϨΘγϻ Ϧϣ ΔϠϤΟ ϰϟ· ΔγέΪϟ ΖϬΘϧ
The study concluded with some important conclusions . . .
(Hilal, 2009)
When comparing the results of this study with previous studies in terms of the use of verb tenses in moves, similarities
and differences can be found. For example, findings in previous studies (e.g., Selager-Meyer, 1992, Tesng, 2011) are
consistent with the findings of this study in that the method and results moves are realized in the past tense. Similar to
Tesng (2011), the introduction and purpose moves are realized in the present tense. However, this study differ slightly
from these previous studies in that the conclusion move was more realized in the past tense not in the present tense.
These similarities and differences should be taken with caution since these previous studies dealt with abstracts in single
disciplines while this study focused on abstracts across disciplines.
7. Conclusion and implications
Although a few studies have examined RA abstracts across disciplines in the past decade, none of them have addressed
this genre in its Arabic perspective, which is what prompted this research. The current study investigated 40 RA abstracts
across four disciplines: law, linguistics, police, and medicine from two perspectives: the move structure features and the
verb tense of each move. The rhetorical structure of the RA abstracts and linguistic features of the moves in the RA
abstracts were analyzed and compared using Bhatia's (1993) four moves (i.e., introducing the purpose, describing the
method, summarizing the results and presenting the conclusions) and Hyland's (2000) five moves (i.e., introduction,
purpose, method, product, conclusion). The major findings can be summarized as follows. First, with regard to move
structures, the four disciplines greatly varied in the number of moves used in the RA abstracts. Medical RA abstracts
were found to be consistent with either Bhatia's (1993) or Hyland's (2000) models. The other disciplines (i.e., law,
linguistics, police) had no conventional move structure to follow. As a matter of fact, each of these disciplines had various
move structures ranging from one move to four or five moves. The purpose move was found to be obligatory across all
the four disciplines. This variation in the use of moves across disciplines could be attributed to the Arabic journals'
publication policy which leaves the writing of abstracts at the researchers' disposal. Second, concerning the preferred
verb tense of each move, the researchers in these disciplines used the present tense in the introduction, purpose and
conclusion moves, and the past tense in the method and result moves.
The results have two important implications. First, Arab postgraduate students and novice researchers need to
realize the importance of applying either Bhatia's (1993) four-move structure or Hyland's (2000) five-move structure in
their abstract writing since these two models capture the important information that should be available in the abstract.
To achieve this, they could be taught the prototypical rhetorical structures of research abstracts to help them recognize
the specific features of each move and how moves are used in academic abstract writing (Swales & Feak, 2009).
Second, Arabic journals should have clear and consistent publication standards. The strong variation in the abstracts
within some disciplines points to the Arabic journals’ failure to adhere to the universal common practices of abstract
writing, hence they should amend their policy of accepting abstracts in order to advance the dissemination of knowledge
in these disciplines. It is not acceptable to publish abstracts lacking important moves such as the method and the results.
These journals should adopt a certain research style that researchers should abide by in the writing of abstracts.
Finally, this study emphasizes the need for more genre research in Arabic. Future research should be conducted
on other Arabic disciplines. This study only investigated the RA abstracts in four Arabic disciplines; namely, law,
linguistics, medicine and police. Other disciplines can also be included in genre analysis of Arabic. For example, there is
a need to investigate other Arabic disciplines such as chemistry, biology, finance, politics, business, etc. Furthermore,
this study examined a specific genre; that is, research article abstracts. Other genres of research articles across
discipline in Arabic such as the introduction and results need to be investigated to show whether they are consistent with
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current models of genre analysis, and how they are different from or similar to other languages such as English. Another
important point that arose from the analysis of the abstracts in this study was the variation between the English
translations of the abstracts and their original Arabic texts. For example, certain features such as tenses did not match in
both forms of texts. There is a need to examine the extent to which the English translation versions match the actual
Arabic texts. Finally, the current study focused on a single journal from police and medicine and two journals from law
and three journals from linguistics. There is a need to include more journals from different Arab countries in order to
understand how Arab writers use move structures and verb tense in their abstracts across borders.
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Piqué-Noguera, C. (2012). Writing business research article. abstracts: A genre approach. Ibérica, 24: 211-232.
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Swales, J. M., Feak, C. (2004). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor: University of
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Appendix
Sources of data: Abstracts by disciplines in Arabic
Law
Abu, I. (2010). The Problem Proof of bad faith of the Administration in the administration jurisprudence of the Jordanian High Court of
Justice. Law and Political Sciences Journal of King Saud University, 22 (2), 315-359.
Alenizy, S. (2009). The legal system of career restitution. Alhqoq Journal of the University of Kuwait, 33 (2), (na).
Alfeel, A. (2009). Postponing the implementation of the criminal penalty in Islamic legislation and positive law. Alhqoq Journal of the
University of Kuwait, 33 (1), (na).
Al-Hargan, A. (2010). The Right to A Fair Criminal in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Evaluate Study. Law and Political Sciences Journal
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of King Saud University, 22 (2), 265-314.
Aldeaj, N. (2009). Protection of private servants under the rules of the international law. Alhqoq Journal of the University of Kuwait, 33
(1), (na).
Alobady, O. (2010). Cyber Fraud Crimes. Law and Political Sciences Journal of King Saud University, 22 (2), 231-264.
Dawas, A. (2008). Scope of application of the principles of Alindroa on international trade contracts. Alhqoq Journal of the University of
Kuwait, 32 (2), 391-457.
Gourari, F. (2009). Legal protection for consumers from misleading advertising: A study of the Emirati law and comparative law. Alhqoq
Journal of the University of Kuwait, 33 (3), (na).
Makhlouf, A. (2012). Risk transmission in international sale contracts. Alhqoq Journal of the University of Kuwait, 36 (1), (na).
Naseer, Y. (2009). Property right of oil: comparative study. Alhqoq Journal of the University of Kuwait, 33 (1), (na).
Linguistics
Abu Sanour, Z. (2010). Sound formation of some structural roots in Arabic. Um Alqura Journal of Languages and Literatures, 4, 87-138.
Al-Anati, W. (2009). Noon Wal Qalam Arabic for Speakers of Other Languages An Educational Linguistic Study. Um Alqura Journal of
Languages and Literatures, 2, 111-115.
Alhelwh, N. (2012). Repetition as a Cohesive Device in Khalid Al-Muneef's Articles: an applied Lexical Approach. Um Alqura Journal of
Languages and Literatures, 8: 11-82.
Al-Ma'aitah, R. (2009). The effect of the phonemic phenomena of Reduction in Seibaweih's book. King Faisal Journal of Humanities and
Administration, 10 (2): 125-144.
Al Dohayyan, S. (2012). Logical Objection on Grammatical Definition. Um Alqura Journal of Languages and Literatures, 7, 13-62.
Al-Najjar L. (2006). The Concept of the "Crooked Speech" in Sibawayh's (Al-Kitab). Jordanian Journal of Arabic and Literature, 3 (1), 73-
92.
Al-Rafays, H. (2006). Prelusion in Arabic Syntax. Jordanian Journal of Arabic and Literature, 3 (1), 95-119.
Al-Yazji, N. (2007). The hero plural in Arabic and English. King Faisal Journal of Humanities and Administration, 8 (1). 229-248.
Maree, A. , Al-Mahasena F. (2009). The sound patterns of derivations. Um Alqura Journal of Languages and Literatures, 1, 72-100.
Sheikh Al-Shabab, O. (2010). The Role of Micro Interpretation and Semantic Primitives In Translational Commensurability. King Faisal
Journal of Humanities and Administration, 11 (1), 201-234.
Medicine
Abdulhak, M. (2010). Khat Chewing and Smoking Effect on Oral Mucosa (A Clinical Study). Damascus University Journal of Health
Sciences, 26 (1), 179-201.
Al-Anzaoui, S. (2010). Renal Transplantation in Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Abnormality. Damascus University Journal of Health
Sciences, 26 (2), 11-22.
Alchalabi, A. (2010). Role of Laparoscopy in Adrenalectomy. Damascus University Journal of Health Sciences, 26 (1), 73-88.
Al-Jabouri, N. (2010). Sudden Non-Violent Death: A Prospective Study of 320 Cases of Sudden Nonviolent Death in Babel Governorate.
Damascus University Journal of Health Sciences, 26 (1), 51-72.
Anjak, I. (2010). Epidemiology of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Children in Damascus University Children Hospital. Damascus University
Journal of Health Sciences, 26 (1), 125-141.
Assaf. A., khiami, A, Harfoush, E. (2010). Interferon Ȗ (IFN-Ȗ) Polymorphism in Patients with Chronic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.
Damascus University Journal of Health Sciences, 26 (1), 399-410.
Dayoub, S. (2010). A Radiographic Study To Evaluate Mesial and Distal Bone Resorption Around Immediate Implants. Damascus
University Journal of Health Sciences, 26 (2), 311-341.
Hamed, H. (2010). Laparoscopic Heller Myotomy with Fundoplication for Achalasia. Damascus University Journal of Health Sciences,
26 (1), 11-24.
Kudsi, M. (2010). Chemical Synovectomy with Rifmpicin Injections in the Knee in Hemophilic Patients. Damascus University Journal of
Health Sciences, 26 (2), 42-60.
Zenati, M. (2010). A Histological Study of the Influence of PRP on the Inflammation Degree. Damascus University Journal of Health
Sciences, 26 (2), 205-217.
Police
Abdelmottelp, M. (2009). Police and crime. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 17 (68), 11-48.
Abdrrrahman, M. (2011). E-Fraud crimes. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 20, (4), 55-146.
Al Muiani, S. (2011). Investigation on IT crimes. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 20 (4), 15-54
Al Samahi, S., (2012). Negotiation management in security crisis. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 21 (1), 75-112.
Altiraif, G. (2010). Social control institutions' role in developing the traffic awareness among the youth of the GCC. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 19
(73), 61-108.
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Hilal, N. (2009). Suicide in prisons: An analytically empirical study. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 18 (1): 11-43.
Ibrahim, M. (2011). International arrest warrant. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 20 (78), 55-96.
Najeeb, F, (2010). Juvenile delinquent . . . criminal in adulthood. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 19 (73), 129-152
Shapsoq, Y. (2008). Developing the police role in handling domestic violence. Al-Fikr Al- Shurti, 17 (67), 2-60
Sharaf, H. (2009). Electronic payment card crimes and the role of police in facing them. Al-Fikr Al-Shurti, 18 (70), 53-88.
