Academic abstracts: Varied parameters according to the research field

The American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) determines that an “[a]bstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article; it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly (…)” (p.25).  Audiences should be attracted to go on reading the rest of the study from a limited number of words which form part of this important section. For that reason APA (2008) advices writers on being accurate, concise, and coherent as well as non-evaluative when documenting information.  An abstract then may be a fundamental section in a research article, being required by the majority of scholarly journals for the submission of papers.  Despite this, it should be clarified that the abstract as well as the rest of the article is likely to adjust to the specifications of the journal and the field of research pursued. Either in the social sciences as well as the hard sciences, writers may undergo a complex process when preparing this piece since as Swales (1990) maintains an abstract is “a rite de passage” for entering the academic community (as cited in Orasan, n.d).  This present work is intended to analyze and compare four abstracts developed in the field of medicine and education.

Wijeysundera, Beattie, Fraser, Austin, Hux and Laupacis (2010) have produced an in-depth abstract for a medicine research paper which exceeds the usual wording (more than 150 words).  It presents heading division, following no particular format.  As for the introduction the objective seems to be clearly stated: To correlate variables in the study.  This part is followed by the obtained results which sustain the hypotheses made and the conclusion part which correlates non-invasive cardiac stress testing with life promising prospects. Yet the method section is not labeled after that name but “interventions” is the name provided (Wijeysundera, Beattie, Fraser, Austin, Hux & Laupacis, 2010). It states the steps that would appear in the body of the paper.  It is a “brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article” (APA, 2010, p. 25) that resembles a report on an empirical study (APA, 2010, p. 26).  However, results or findings are comprehensibly presented in short concise sentences, but there is not method section explained.  There is use of complete sentences with predominance of past passive and past verbs; they are clear as regards the summary of ideas made still there is abundant use of terminology which hinders understanding of some concepts.  The axiom of conciseness is kept: “be brief, and make each sentence maximally informative” (APA, 2010, p.26).

In line with the above example, The New England Journal of  Medicine (2008) presents a research paper whose abstract section seems to be intended to transmit information about the positive effects of antihypertensive treatment in patients 80 years of age or older.  It is possible to state that this section is developed on a separate sheet of paper as well as being situated between the title and the first page of the research work. According to APA (2008), the number of words for an abstract should not exceed 200 words. However, this abstract section does not comply with APA specifications for surpassing the number required. In addition, the Introduction-Method- Result-And-Discussion (IMRAD) formula appears to be replaced by background, methods, results and conclusion parts. Although the abstract must have been written akin to the authors’ notions, it should be noticed that the piece appears to be directed to an audience with understanding on the topic. As Swales and Feak (1994) clearly express "research abstracts are more important for the reader than for the writer" (p. 210). Regarding linguistic features, the present abstract includes full sentences in the past, the use of impersonal passives and the absence of negatives (Swales & Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990).  Nevertheless, the results part is full of abbreviations and jargon which make difficult its comprehension for a non-doctor community.

Writing abstracts within the Social Sciences does possible entail fewer standards to meet. King (2002) has produced an abstract whose parts may be covertly stated. According to its usage, this abstract is more specifically written in the field of teaching foreign languages.  As set out by Lancaster (1991), this may be an informative summary of the paper to be dealt with further on (cited in Orasan, n.d). There is background information as regards the rise of films as pedagogical resources for classroom use. This abstract could be in line with theoretical studies as well. Therefore, it is not designed after the Introduction-Method- Result-And-Discussion (IMRAD) model with no subheadings used. Yet, the use of phrases and connectors such as “this paper starts (…)” and “finally” clarify the research questions.  These, in turn, are related to the implementation of “film viewing approaches” and the criteria reached after deep analysis in order to favor motivation in classroom environments (King, 2002).  The online writing laboratory (OWL, 2010) claims that an abstract to be good “is intelligible to a wide audience” (Writing report abstracts). This abstract would fit that axiom since language is clear and concise to involve a teaching community in general.  Making the most of DVDs can apply to a science teacher in the same way as a foreign language one. Moreover, it does not contain results, conclusions or recommendations. Still, it presents the scope of the study, in this case, to evaluate the benefits of film viewing in the classroom (King, 2002).

 Likewise, Rammal (2006), whose research article is aimed at encouraging teachers of English to use video materials in the foreign language classroom, develops an abstract comprised in the Humanities. There seems to be no structured format since the summary is attained through a two-sentence paragraph. There is an opening statement that introduces the topic of the RA. However, there is no reference to methods, results as well as conclusions in the abstract. Moreover, there is no use of past tenses, which characterizes this part. There are several writers who discuss that among the parts of an abstract, the problem which gives rise to the research work is bound to be delimited. In this case, Rammal (2006) has not highlighted sections but signals the focus of the project and the main concern under investigation through the opening line: The design of audio-visual material for EFL. Although the approach or method is not expressed either, Rammal (2006) by means of the transition word “however” has narrowed the topic. Consequently, it is probable to refer to this summary as an indicative one where the writer “provides a brief description to help the reader understand the general nature and scope of the original document without going into a detailed step by step account of what the source text is about” (Lancaster, 1991; as cited in Orasan, n.d).

After analyzing and comparing the four abstracts which introduce diverse topics in different research articles within the fields of medicine and education, it has been possible to reach the following conclusions. The four abstracts seem to clearly state the purpose of these studies, although they do not clearly cope with the IMRAD formula. However, the information presented at the very beginning of each document appears to successfully attract the reader’s attention for being concise, specific and objective. In addition, linguistics features may be well-produced when expressing the main purpose of this section. Significantly enough is the fact that the abstracts in the medicine field tend to be directed to professionals who belong to that community and who may share common knowledge so that comprehension is reached. Another similarity is the exceeding number of words in these summaries. Somewhat different are the abstracts comprised in education. Namely, the number of words is fewer and subheadings are not employed. There seems to be distinctive parameters in both cases which may be aimed at common understanding for the reader with no attention to formula in structure or layout. Altogether, as stated by several scholars, an abstract entails a rather complex task, one which may vary according to the research field as well as the Journal’s requirements.

References

American Psychological Association. (2008). Publication Manual (5^th ed.). Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual (6^th ed.). Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

Becket, N. S., Peters, R., Fletcher, A. E., Staessen, J. A., Liu, L., Dumitrascu, D., et al. (2008). Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New England Journal of Medinice. Retrieved June 2011, from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0801369

King, J. (2002). Using dvd feature films in the efl classroom. The weekly column, 88. Retrieved June 2011, from http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/February2002/art882002.htm

Online Writing Laboratory. (2010). Report abstracts. Retrieved May 2011, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/656/01/

Orasan, C. (n.d). Patterns in Scientific Abstracts. University of Wolverhampton.  Retrieved May 2011, from http://www.wlv.ac.uk/~in6093

Rammal, S. M. (2006). Video in efl classroom. Retrieved June 2011, from http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/video-in-efl-classrooms.html

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Wijeysundera, D. N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R. F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J. E., & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: Population based cohort study. British Medical Journal, 340, b5526. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526