RHETORICAL PATTERNS, VERB TENSE, AND VOICE IN CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSTRACT
Abstract: This article
investigates research article abstracts in terms of their rhetorical patterns
and the use of verb tenses and voice. A total of 40 abstracts were selected
from four international journals in the fields of Biology, Mechanical
Engineering, Linguistics, and Medicine. A four move model was adopted from Hardjanto
(1997) to analyze the structure of the abstracts. The results show that all the
abstracts have Move 1, creating a research space; 70% have Move 2, describing
research procedure; 85% have Move 3, summarizing principal results; and 85%
have Move 4, evaluating results. All the abstracts in medicine have Moves 1, 2,
3 and 4, whereas the most common pattern in Biology is Moves 1, 3 and 4, in
Mechanical Engineering Moves 1, 2 and 3, and in Linguistics Moves 1, 2 and 4.
This seems to suggest that there is a disciplinary variation in the structuring
of RA abstracts in the four disciplines under investigation. With regard to the
use of verb tense and voice in each move, the present tense and past tense in
the active voice and the past tense in the passive voice were the most
frequently used tenses. The present tense in the active voice was frequently
used in Moves 1 and 4, while the past tense in the active voice was commonly
used in Move 3 and the past tense in the passive voice was frequently found in
Move 2. Furthermore, it was found that the present tense in the active voice
was frequently used in Biology, Mechanical Engineering and Linguistics, whereas
the past tense in the active voice occurred more frequently in Medicine, and
the past tense in the passive voice was more frequently found in Mechanical
Engineering than in other disciplines.
Penulis: Sharifah Hanidar
Journal Code: jpantropologigg160007
