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Abstract preparation guidelines help graduate students prepare better abstracts: Preliminary findings

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Gabriel Frazer-Mckee at Université Laval
Gabriel Frazer-Mckee
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Abstract

Work-in-progress on the benefit of adopting abstract preparation guidelines on the structure and informativeness of graduate students' submitted conference abstracts; see abstract below
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Abstract preparation guidelines help graduate students prepare better structured, more
informative conference abstracts.
(submitted)
Gabriel Frazer-McKee
Department of languages, linguistics and translation, Université Laval
INTRODUCTION: Considering graduate students’ (GS) difficulties with academic writing broadly and the
scientific abstract specifically, Frazer-McKee and Vogh (2022) recently recommended that conference
organizers provide GS with abstract preparation guidelines. Following this recommendation, the Journées
de Linguistique (JDL) –an international student conference held annually at Université Laval, Canada—
adopted semi-mandatory conference abstract submission guidelines to help GS prepare more
informationally- and structurally-normative conference abstracts (CAs).
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether GSCAs prepared using the JDL’s guidelines are more structurally- and
informationally-normative than GSCAs previously published by the JDL.
METHODS: 133 French-language GSCAs published in the JDL’s publicly-available online conference
booklets (2011-2023) were coded for Hyland’s rhetorical moves (i.e. Background-Objectives-Methods-
Results-Conclusions). Abstracts were classified as either “normative” or “non-normative”; BAMRC-like
abstracts (i.e. BAMC; BAMR; BAMRC) were considered to be “normative” (cf. BABAR; BAM, ABA, etc). An
exact Fisher test (α=.05) was then conducted to compare the (non-)normativity of GSCAs prepared either
with (2023; n=26) or without guidelines (2011-2022; n=107), and the odds ratio was computed with a 95%
confidence interval.
RESULTS: 85% (n=22/26) of the 2023 GSCAs were BAMRC-like. GSCAs accepted to the JDL in 2023 were
14.11 times (95% CI: 4.49, 44.4) more likely to be BAMRC-like than GSCAs published between 2011 and
2022.
CONCLUSIONS: Most GS adhered to the abstract preparation guidelines, and thereby prepared
substantially better structured, more informative GSCAs compared to those published prior to 2023.
Word count: 227 words (including rubrics)
References
American National Standards Institute. (1996). Guidelines for abstracts. NISO Press.
Borko, H., & Chatman, S. (1963). Criteria for acceptable abstracts: A survey of abstracters’ instructions.
American Documentation, 14(2), 149‑160. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.5090140211
Frazer-McKee, G. (2022). Normes JDL pour la préparation de résumés scientifiques. Journées de
linguistique.
https://jdl.lli.ulaval.ca/documents/Normes_pour_re%CC%81sume%CC%81s_JDL%202023.pdf
Frazer-McKee, G., & Vogh, K. (2022). Graduate students would benefit from guidelines for preparing
conference abstracts: A rhetorical moves analysis of French-language conference abstracts in
language-related fields. WALLY, 2(1), 89‑111. https://doi.org/10.25071/2564-2855.19
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses : Social interactions in academic writing. University of Michigan
Press.
Ondrusek, A. L. (2012). What the research reveals about graduate students’ writing skills: A literature
review. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 53(3), 176‑188.
Smiskova Gustafsson, H., Hoffman, A., & Fischer, K. (2022). Developing a contextualized and scaffolded
pedagogy for the writing of scientific abstracts in English: Abstract Package and Conceptual
Template. Professional and Academic English, 29, 35‑47.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Normes JDL pour la préparation de résumés scientifiques
Method
Full-text available
  • Nov 2022
Abstract preparation norms developed for a student conference / normes développées pour la préparation de résumés scientifiques qui seront soumis pour évaluation aux Journées de Linguistique (conférence étudiante annuelle en sciences du langage à l'Université Laval)
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Graduate students would benefit from guidelines for preparing conference abstracts: A rhetorical moves analysis of French-language conference abstracts in language-related fields
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2022
Graduate student writing is finally receiving substantial scholarly attention, but little is known about the characteristics of the unstructured graduate student conference abstract (GSCA). This study seeks to characterize the rhetorical structures of GSCAs, as a basis for identifying potential writing support strategies. 107 French-language GSCAs from language-related fields (e.g., linguistics, second-language teaching) were coded using Hyland's rhetorical moves (RMs) (Background-Aims-Methods-Results-Conclusion), yielding measures for RM frequency, RM sequencing, and RM recycling. We then use these measures to identify GSCAs that pattern together, via K-Means clustering. We find that the GSCAs studied pattern into three subtypes, two of which (72%) exhibit informational and/or structural shortcomings, most notably (1) missing RMs, (2) cognitively difficult RM sequences, and (3) unbalanced word-to-RM allotment. This study thus confirms that there is a need to implement strategies (e.g., conference submission guidelines) to better support graduate students in mastering this academic genre's normative content and structure.
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Developing a contextualized and scaffolded pedagogy for the writing of scientific abstracts in English: Abstract Package and Conceptual Template (in: IATEFL- ESPSIG Professional and Academic English, ISSN 2520-2545)
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2022
In this paper we aim to contribute to pedagogical practice in the teaching of scientific abstract writing in English. We present a tailored pedagogy we have developed for our local scientific communication courses which have a diverse student profile in terms of research disciplines, research stages, and writing challenges. To meet our students’ needs, we have built our pedagogy around four pillars: awareness of the genre based on the course textbook, a flexible schematic map for the top-down planning of the abstract (Conceptual Template), a combined abstract-related genre based on real-life submission scenarios (Abstract Package), and a scaffolded writing path which includes instruction, writing practice, formative feedback, and writing milestones. Thus far, we have successfully implemented our pedagogy with master’s students and partially also with doctoral students. We hope that our approach is transferable to other contexts and can be widely adopted both by teachers of scientific communication and by researchers.
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Criteria for acceptable abstracts: A survey of abstracters' instructions
Article
  • Apr 1963
  • Am Doc
The need for criteria by which to judge the adequacy of an abstract is felt most strongly when evaluating machine-produced abstracts. In order to develop a set of criteria, a survey was conducted of the instructions prepared by various scientific publications as a guide to their abstracters in the preparation of copy. One-hundred-and-thirty sets of instructions were analyzed and compared as to their function, content, and form. It was concluded that, while differences in subject matter do not necessarily require different kinds of abstracts, there are significant variations between the informative and the indicative abstracts. A set of criteria for the writing of an acceptable abstract of science literature was derived. The adequacy of these criteria is still to be validated, and the authors' plans for future research in this area are specified.
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What the research reveals about graduate students' writing skills: A literature review
  • Jan 2012
  • 176-188
  • A L Ondrusek
Ondrusek, A. L. (2012). What the research reveals about graduate students' writing skills: A literature review. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 53(3), 176-188.