Samraj2005 PDF

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 16

ENGLISH FOR

SPECIFIC
English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 PURPOSES
www.elsevier.com/locate/esp

An exploration of a genre set: Research


article abstracts and introductions in
two disciplines
Betty Samraj *

Department of Linguistics and Oriental Languages, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive,
San Diego, CA 92182-7727, USA

Abstract

Disciplinary variation in academic writing has been explored for the most part by com-
paring a particular genre, such as the research article, across different disciplines. However,
genre theorists have not systematically studied relationships among related genres. It is argued
in this article that a study of relationships among related genres from different disciplines can
inform us about the differences in academic writing across disciplines. The generic structure of
research article introductions and abstracts, which form a genre set, from two related fields,
Conservation Biology and Wildlife Behavior, was compared. Findings indicate that research
article introductions and abstracts in Conservation Biology bear a greater similarity in
function and organization than the same two genres in Wildlife Behavior. This study reveals
that disciplinary variation in academic writing is not just manifested in generic structure but
also in the relationship among genres.
Ó 2004 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Research articles; Abstracts; Introductions; Genre

1. Introduction

Researchers in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) have conducted numerous


studies of written and spoken genres, such as the research article (Swales, 1990),
grant proposal (Connor & Mauranen, 1999) and sales promotion letter (Bhatia,

*
Tel.: +1-619-594-5882; fax: +1-619-594-4877.
E-mail address: bsamraj@mail.sdsu.edu (B. Samraj).

0889-4906/$30.00 Ó 2004 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.esp.2002.10.001
142 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

1993). Most of these studies have delineated the macro-organization of these genres
in terms of their constituent moves, and described the lexico-grammatical features
that characterize these moves. Some researchers in English for Specific Purposes
have explored how genres vary across linguistic and cultural communities (e.g.,
Ahmad, 1997; Connor, 1996) while some others have focused on genre variation
across disciplinary lines, associating particular discursive features with disciplinary
communities (e.g. Melander, Swales, & Fredrickson, 1997; Samraj, 2002b; Swales &
Najjar, 1987).
For the most part, the focus has been on a single genre. Very little research has
compared the structure of related genres, especially those produced in academic
communities. Within professional communication, Devitt (1991, p. 340) has inves-
tigated ‘‘the accountantÕs genre system, a set of genres interacting to accomplish the
work of the tax department’’ and shown that ‘‘any text is best understood within the
context of other texts’’ (1991, p. 336). The focus in DevittÕs study, however, is on
the role and interaction of texts and not on the structure of the various genres per se.
Another study on generic interrelations, by Fredrickson (1995), compares the formal
features of texts produced within the legal genre system: appellant briefs, appellee
briefs and opinions. Bazerman (1994) has extended DevittÕs concept of genre set into
the notion of systems of genres. He has explored the system for patent creation and
has stated that studying a genre system entails analyzing interrelated genres produced
through generic turns by multiple participants belonging to that system. The work on
genre relations within academic discourse has centered around one area, namely, the
comparison of academic research articles to popularizations (Adams Smith, 1990;
Fahnestock, 1986; Myers, 1990). Connor and Mauranen (1999, p. 60) in their recent
article on grant proposals state that ‘‘Groups of related genres and subgenres have
not been systematically investigated’’ and express their hope that future genre studies
will provide ‘‘greater illumination in generic interrelations’’ (p. 61).
Miller (1994) has stated that we can characterize a culture by its genre set. Thus,
we might claim that the comprehensive characterization of a disciplinary culture will
need to include a discussion of its genre set. Disciplinary norms in academic writing
may be manifested not just in terms of the genres important to that discipline and
variation in generic structure but also in the relationships among related genres. In
other words, to understand academic writing across disciplines, we need to not just
consider how a particular genre varies across disciplines but we also need to inves-
tigate how two or more genres are related to each other in different disciplines.
Research article introductions and abstracts are two genres which have been
studied quite extensively. It should be noted that though the research article intro-
duction is strictly a part of the research article and hence a part-genre (Dudley-
Evans, 1997), it has also been shown to have a well-defined purpose and overall
organization (Swales, 1990). It has also been the exclusive focus of a number of genre
studies such as Swales and Najjar (1987), Fredrickson and Swales (1994), Ahmad
(1997), and Crookes (1986). In addition, Bhatia (1997) refers to all academic in-
troductions, including research article introductions, as genres. In this study, re-
search article introductions will be considered a genre and will be compared to
abstracts that accompany research articles.
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 143

The structure of research article introductions and its variation in different dis-
ciplines (Anthony, 1999; Swales & Najjar, 1987), and languages (Ahmad, 1997;
Fredrickson & Swales, 1994) have been investigated. Anthony (1999), for example,
has shown that research article introductions in engineering contain definition of
terms, and exemplification of difficult concepts, and evaluation of the research
presented, moves not identified by Swales (1990) in his discussion of research article
introductions. Ahmad (1997) in her work on Malay research article introductions
has shown the general absence of a gap in research in these texts from this linguistic
community.
The structure of the research article abstract and its variation across disciplines
and cultures have also been studied quite extensively, especially in the 1990s (e.g.
Hyland, 2000; Melander et al., 1997). For example, Huckin (2001) found that ab-
stracts from biomedical articles often exclude the purpose move. Melander et al.Õs
(1997) study of abstracts from three disciplines (and two languages) revealed, among
other things, that linguistics and biology abstracts produced in the American context
are different in their overall organization.
These studies attest to the importance of these academic genres within various
disciplines and cultures. These two genres, research article introductions and ab-
stracts, appear to be related, though the nature of the relationship is not completely
clear. Both genres are related to the research article: one genre is central to the re-
search article itself, and the other has been said to be an article synopsis (Bhatia,
1993). Bhatia has stated that these two genres fulfill different communicative pur-
poses and hence possess different macro-organizations. Bazerman (1988) in a study
of a scientific paper written by Compton in 1923 compares the abstract to the whole
paper and indicates that the relationship between research article introductions and
abstracts may be quite complex. Considering the dearth of studies on genre sets in
general, comparing research article abstracts and introductions in a discipline would
be a worthwhile exploration in generic interrelations. In addition, comparing this
generic relationship in two disciplines will give us an initial indication as to whether
generic relations remain constant across disciplinary boundaries. The purpose of this
study will be to investigate not only how the structure of a genre varies across dis-
ciplines but also how the relationship between two genres can vary across disciplines.
Instead of merely exploring how research article introductions vary across disciplines
or how research article abstracts vary across disciplines, this study seeks to explore
how research article abstracts and introductions are related to each other in two
different disciplines.
Research article abstracts and introductions from Conservation Biology and
Wildlife Behavior, both components of environmental science, were compared. Since
the structure of the article introductions and abstracts from these two fields has been
discussed in detail elsewhere (Samraj, 2002a, 2002b), I will only give a brief account
here. In short, the analysis of research article introductions from these two fields
indicated that the Conservation Biology texts tend to provide a much more explicit
justification for the study reported in terms of real world issues such as species ex-
tinction than do the Wildlife Behavior texts. The study of abstracts from these two
fields showed that texts from even closely related disciplines can vary in overall
144 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

organization and linguistic choices such as tense and modality. The Conservation
Biology abstracts tend to have a Problem-Solution framework while this is not the
case with the Wildlife Behavior abstracts.
In this paper, I will mainly focus on the similarities and differences across these
two text-types in both disciplines. Comparing these two genres in two disciplines will
enable us to explore generic relations and the ways in which genres within a set
interact. In particular, this paper will seek to address the question of whether ab-
stracts are in fact as different from introductions as they have been said to be (e.g.
Bhatia, 1993) and if this is the case in all disciplines. The results of the study indicate
that in Conservation Biology abstracts include some moves that have been ascribed
to research article introductions. The presence of these moves results in abstracts
from Conservation Biology having the persuasive function more usually fulfilled by
introductions. The two genres appear to be more clearly differentiated in Wildlife
Behavior.

2. Notion of disciplines

Before discussing the analytic frameworks used in this study, I need to discuss the
use of terms such as ‘‘discipline’’ and ‘‘interdisciplinary’’ field. It has been stated that
there are no simple definitions of disciplines and the concept of an academic disci-
pline is not straightforward (Becher, 1989, pp. 19–20). Disciplines have been dis-
cussed both in terms of substantive (intellectual) content and other more social
aspects, such as departmental organizations. Though this is the case, Becher (p. 19)
argues that ‘‘people with any interest and involvement in academic affairs seem to
have little difficulty in understanding what a discipline is, or in taking a confident
part in discussions about borderline or dubious cases’’. In this study more estab-
lished fields of inquiry will be referred to as disciplines while emerging fields of in-
quiry that borrow from more than one parent discipline will be referred to as
interdisciplinary fields.
The two disciplines considered in this study, Wildlife Behavior and Conservation
Biology, are components of environmental science. Environmental science is a rel-
atively new interdisciplinary field which originally was based on ecology and applied
ecology, but now includes fields such as resource economics, environmental ethics,
and conservation biology. Environmental science is a field that has grown, at least in
part, in response to extrinsic factors such as the destruction of nature and the need to
preserve biological diversity. As environmental problems are multi-faceted (Hay,
Todd, & Russell, 1986, p. 121) and do not come in ‘‘disciplinary-shaped blocks’’
(Petrie, 1992, p. 355), environmental science has had to develop into an interdisci-
plinary field drawing on various disciplinary fields. Wildlife Behavior is an ecological
science that is mainly concerned with the life histories and behaviors of different
species and is set within the context of hypothesis testing. An important feature of
this field is its lack of concern with real life applications of the studies conducted. In
contrast, Conservation Biology has been characterized as ‘‘science in the service of
conservation’’ (Noss, 1993, p. 215). Importantly, Conservation Biology also is ar-
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 145

gued to be a multidisciplinary field with many predecessors such as ecology, genetics,


resource economics and policy, and environmental ethics. As an interdisciplinary
field, it encapsulates a clear set of disciplines that environmental science also draws
on, ranging from biology to policy-making.

3. Data and method

Twelve research article introductions and abstracts were randomly selected from
two journals, Animal Behaviour and Conservation Biology, considered key in the two
disciplines Wildlife Behavior and Conservation Biology by specialists in the areas.
The first 12 article introductions and abstracts (from the same articles) published in
the 1995 issues of the two journals were included in the corpus, resulting in a total of
48 texts. 1 Although I did not select texts solely written by native speakers of English
for this study, more than half of the authors are affiliated with institutions in North
America and appear to be native speakers of English.
The introductions and abstracts from these two disciplines were analyzed using
the models employed in previous research, namely, Swales (1990) for article intro-
ductions and Bhatia (1993) for abstracts. SwalesÕ (1990) model for research article
introductions includes three rhetorical moves: (1) establishing a territory, (2) creating
a niche and (3) occupying the niche, which are realized in terms of a number of
obligatory and optional steps, as shown in Fig. 1. According to this model, research
article introductions often begin with a move that establishes the general topic being
discussed. In this move, the centrality of the topic within the field may be presented.
The authors then create a niche within this territory for themselves in a number of
ways. One common way in anglophone communities is to point out a gap in previous
research, which then provides a justification for the research about to be reported.
Finally, the authors indicate how their research will fill this niche; here in addition to
the goals of their study, authors may also state their key results.
The structure of research article abstracts has been discussed for the most part in
terms of the macro-structure of the research article, namely, introduction, methods,
results and discussion, resulting in four moves, purpose, methods, results and con-
clusions. These four moves have been employed in a number of studies on abstracts
such as those by Salager-Meyer (1990, 1992) and Bhatia (1993). Santos (1996)
postulates an additional move ‘‘situating the research’’ to account for the structure
of abstracts in applied linguistics. This move typically appears at the beginning of
abstracts and contains two submoves, statement of current knowledge and statement
of problem.
HylandÕs (2000) recent study of abstracts from several disciplines also employs a
model with five moves. Similar to Santos, Hyland postulates an introduction move
where the context of the paper and research motivation are provided. The steps
identified by Santos to comprise the ‘‘situating the research’’ move are analyzed as

1
Full citations of the texts analyzed are given in Appendix A.
146 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

Move 1: Establishing a territory Step 1 Claiming centrality and/or


Step 2 Making topic generalization(s) and/or
Step 3 Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2: Establishing a niche Step 1A Counter-claiming or


Step 1B Indicating a gap or
Step 1C Question-raising or
Step 1D Continuing a tradition

Move 3: Occupying the niche Step 1A Outlining purposes or


Step 1B Announcing present research
Step 2 Announcing principal findings
Step 3 Indicating RA structure
Fig. 1. The structure of research article introductions (Swales, 1990).

‘‘introduction’’ in HylandÕs model. The move referred to as ‘‘introduction’’ and


‘‘situating the research’’ by Hyland and Santos, respectively, serves a similar rhe-
torical function to some moves that have been identified in research article intro-
ductions, such as the second move where the research being presented in the research
article is justified through a delineation of a gap in previous studies. In my com-
parison of abstracts and introductions, however, I will employ the moves tradi-
tionally ascribed to abstracts (purpose, methods, results and conclusions) and will
also use the moves typically found in introductions to analyze the abstracts, if similar
rhetorical moves indeed are found in the abstracts. In this way, I believe that the
relationship between abstracts and introductions can be clarified.

4. Results and discussion

The structure of the abstracts from the two disciplines was analyzed and their
structure was compared to the structure of the introductions in each discipline. If our
goal is, as indeed it is, to examine the relationship between abstracts and intro-
ductions, it would seem worthwhile to use moves traditionally ascribed to abstracts
(purpose, methods, results, discussion) and to also draw on moves found in research
article introductions. Therefore, the structure of the two sets of abstracts will be
discussed first in terms of the traditional moves that they contain. Next the moves
typically found in introductions present in these abstracts will be considered. 2
Table 1 presents the results of the analysis of the abstracts and indicates that
abstracts from both disciplines generally contain these moves: purpose, results, and
conclusions. It is not surprising that of these, the results move is the most important,
since it is the most salient part of the research article. Though there are some

2
A sentence may sometimes be a realization of more than one move.
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 147

Table 1
Abstracts from Conservation Biology and Wildlife Behavior
Number of Conservation Number of Wildlife Behavior
Biology abstracts containing move abstracts containing move
Traditional moves
Purpose 10 10
Methods 6 6
Results 12 12
Conclusions 9 12
Moves from introductions
Background information 2 5
Centrality claims 7 1
Gaps 6 2

interesting differences in the constituency of the conclusions move in the two disci-
plines (see Samraj, 2002a), what is more important for our purposes here is that this
move is almost equally important in the texts from both disciplines. A noteworthy
finding is that methods moves are not as frequently found as the other traditional
moves in both sets of abstracts; they only appear in half the abstracts. Even though a
discussion of research methods is an important aspect of the research article, espe-
cially in Wildlife Behavior, the methods move does not figure prominently in the
abstract, suggesting that the abstract is not a mere synopsis of the research article.
Bhatia (1993, p. 82) arguing for the distinction between the communicative purposes
of research article introductions and abstracts, maintains that discussion of meth-
odology and experimental procedures is ‘‘crucial in research abstracts, whereas it is
rarely mentioned in article introductions’’. This does not appear to be the case with
the Wildlife Behavior and Conservation Biology abstracts.
On the whole, the abstracts from these two disciplines are similar in rhetorical
structure as far as the traditional moves are concerned. However, some interesting
differences can be seen in the two sets of texts when we consider aspects of the ab-
stracts that cannot be accounted for by the traditional moves. A number of Con-
servation Biology abstracts contain what have been labeled centrality claims in
article introductions and are found in the first move, establishing the territory.
According to Swales (1990, p. 144), centrality claims are ‘‘appeals to the discourse
community whereby members are asked to accept that the research about to be
reported is part of a lively, significant or well-established research area’’. The fol-
lowing extract from a Conservation Biology abstract begins with a centrality claim:
1. Recent emphasis on a holistic view of natural systems and their manage-
ment is associated with a growing appreciation of the role of human values
in these systems. In the past, resource management has been perceived as a di-
chotomy between extraction (harvest) and non-consumptive use, but this ap-
pears to be an oversimplified view of natural-cultural systems. (CB 12)
The first sentence in the above excerpt asserts that the general topic of a holistic
view of natural systems is one of current importance; the author points out the ‘‘recent
emphasis’’ on a holistic view and ‘‘the growing appreciation’’ of the role of human
148 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

values. The presence of centrality claims in more than half the Conservation Biology
abstracts seems to indicate that this rhetorical move has a fairly important place in this
genre. Interestingly enough, centrality claims also figure prominently in Conservation
Biology introductions. This can be seen from Table 2, which presents the key differ-
ences in overall organization between the introductions from the two disciplines: that
most Conservation Biology introductions contain centrality claims while they are only
present in half the Wildlife Behavior introductions (see Samraj, 2002b for similarities
and other details). Paralleling this lack of prominence in the introductions, centrality
claims are largely absent from the Wildlife Behavior abstracts. In contrast, centrality
claims are crucial in Conservation Biology introductions and they have a fairly im-
portant presence in the abstracts. As such, in each discipline, the importance or lack of
importance of this rhetorical function (centrality claim) in one genre (introduction) is
paralleled in the second genre (abstract) of the set.
How do writers make these centrality claims? They seem to make them in two
ways: either by assertions about the importance of the topic being discussed in the
real world or by assertions concerning active research activity in the area concerned.
All but one centrality claim in the Conservation Biology abstracts concern the im-
portance of the topic in the real world. The following excerpt is an example of this
common strategy. Note that it includes a statement of the topicÕs centrality in terms
of the state of certain species.
2. Island populations of endemic birds are known to be particularly suscepti-
ble to extinction. This paper focuses on factors behind past and present declines
of the highly endangered Takahe (Porphyrio mantelli), a flightless rail endemic
to New Zealand. (CB 6)
It is not surprising that in Conservation Biology a statement of a problem in the
world is used to appeal to the interest of the readers given that disciplinary experts

Table 2
Differences in move structure in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Behavior introductions
Moves in Steps realizing the Number of Conservation Number of Wildlife
introductions moves Biology introductions Behavior introductions
containing move/step containing move/step
Move 1 – Centrality claims 11 6
Establishing a  importance in real 10 3
territory World
 importance in 6 3
research world
Move 2 – Gap in research 6 10
Establishing a niche Problem in real 9 0
world
Move 3 – Occupying a Background 1 8
niche discussions
Principal findings 6 3
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 149

describe this interdiscipline as a ‘‘crisis discipline’’ (Soule, 1985). The abstracts ap-
pear to fulfill the persuasive function of drawing potential readers by highlighting a
problem in the world related to the topic of discussion. A similar reliance on real
world problems to promote the importance of the general topic of the article can also
be seen in the Conservation Biology introductions. In 10 out of the 11 introductions
where centrality claims are found, the pertinence of the topic is maintained by ref-
erence to the state of the real world, such as in the following:
3. Tropical-forest nature reserves are experiencing mounting human en-
croachment, raising concerns over their future viability even in remote areas.
Long-term maintenance of nature reserves in economically marginal areas of
the tropics is particularly problematical because protection is based on se-
verely restricted funding from politically and administratively weak govern-
ments. Many tropical forest reserves consequently operate on skeletal
budgets, are chronically understaffed, lack the most basic infrastructure, and
cannot count on effective institutional support to enforce conservation legisla-
tion. (CB 1)
Though six introductions assert the centrality of the topic with reference to cur-
rent research in the area, only one introduction establishes the centrality of the topic
solely in terms of research activity. Thus, there is a significant overlap between ab-
stracts and introductions in Conservation Biology not just in terms of the presence of
this rhetorical strategy centrality claim but also in its semantic constituency.
The second move in research article introductions, creating a niche, typically is
realized by the step, ‘‘indicating a gap’’ (see Fig. 1). Interestingly, a move commonly
found in Conservation Biology abstracts is ‘‘creating a niche’’, specifically realized as
indicating a gap. There are six instances of this move in the abstracts; three specify a
gap in previous research and the other three state a gap in conservation management
practices. Examples 4 and 5 contain instances of the two types of gaps:

4. In the Amazon basin, few studies have focused on environmentally sound


land-use alternatives that are linked to markets. This paper analyzes land uses
carried out by traditional inhabitants (ribeirinhos) on three islands in the Am-
azon estuary. (CB 2)

5. By combining a spatially explicit, individual-based population simulation


model with a geographic information system, we have simulated the potential
effects of a U.S. Forest Service management plan on the population dynamics
of BachmanÕs Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) at the Savannah River Site, a U.S.
Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. Although the Forest ServiceÕs
management plan explicitly sets management goals for many species, most of
the prescribed management strategy deals with the endangered Red-cockaded
Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) because of legal requirements. We explored
how a species (the sparrow) that is not the target of specific management strat-
egies but that shares some habitat requirements with the woodpecker, would
fare under the management plan. (CB 3)
150 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

In example 4, the dearth of relevant studies is pointed out in the first sentence
before the author gives the purpose of the paper in the following sentence. In ex-
ample 5, the authors first present the goal of the study. Following this, a gap in
management strategy is pointed out as justification for the study conducted. The
goal of this study is then given in greater detail in the third sentence in this abstract.
Similarly, in Conservation Biology article introductions, a niche is not always cre-
ated in terms of gaps in previous research. Instead, the research being reported is
justified in terms of problematic environmental situations and what is lacking in
management practices. Though six introductions mention a gap in research, only
two of these solely rely on a gap in previous research to justify the research being
presented (see Table 2). Four introductions employ both gaps in research and real
world environmental problems, and the rest primarily utilize concerns of the envi-
ronmental world. Again, there appears to be an overlap between the structure of
introductions and abstracts in Conservation Biology.
From Table 1, it can be seen that far fewer Wildlife Behavior abstracts contain the
second move from introductions, in particular, indication of a gap. However, it is
not the case that Wildlife Behavior article introductions lack this move. In fact, it is
found in 10 out of 12 introductions. In all cases, the gap pertains to the research
world as in the excerpt below:
6. At least within the area of chemical communication, however, investigators
have often just examined the significance of one or a small number of cues that
provide information about one particular variable, such as sexual identity or
reproduction state (refs.). There have been relatively few investigations whose
purpose has been to identify all possible sources of signals that a species uses
(e.g. refs.). This is surprising because it is clear that chemical signals are pro-
vided by a variety of excretory products, glandular secretions, body fluids
and skin glands (refs.). (WB 4: 5–19)
This analysis, using the moves from introductions in the analysis of abstracts,
reveals that though the creation of a gap is a significant rhetorical strategy in the
article introductions from both disciplines, it has greater importance in the Con-
servation Biology abstracts than it does in the Wildlife Behavior abstracts.
It might appear from the above discussion that, in Conservation Biology,
abstracts bear a greater resemblance to the introductions than is the case in
Wildlife Behavior. The situation, however, is slightly more complex. The Wildlife
Behavior abstracts contain a non-traditional move that has not been noted in
earlier discussions of abstracts which can be traced to a feature of article intro-
ductions. Wildlife Behavior introductions are characterized by a move labeled
background on site or species (Samraj, 2002b), where an extended discussion of
the species or site that is the focus of the study is provided, as in the excerpt
below:
7. I shall show that males of both species discriminate among conspecific fe-
males on the basis of wing melanization, and that males... I shall discuss these
results in the context of female mate choice in these species.
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 151

Pieris occidentalis Reakirt is common throughout western North America at al-


titudes of 1400–4300 m. It is often sympatric with its close relative, the ecolog-
ically similar P. protodice Boisduval & LeConte, at elevations of 1400–2100 m
(refs.). . . Females of P. protodice do not appear to use melanin as a mate choice
cue in either intra- or interspecific contexts (ref.).
To determine whether the dorsal melanin pattern of female P. occidentalis and
P. protodice mediates their attractiveness to males, I asked. . . (WB 5)
These background descriptions are often found in the third move of the intro-
duction, ‘‘Occupying the niche’’. As seen in the excerpt above, after the general goal
of the study is stated (to show that males of both species discriminate among con-
specific females, etc.), the background description is given, leading to a further
specification of the purpose of the paper in the last paragraph in the above excerpt.
In five of the Wildlife Behavior abstracts, such a background description (though
not as extended) is provided before the purpose of the paper, as in the example
below:
8. A variety of animals periodically shuttle between two sites, such as one
containing food and another containing oxygen, water, or conditions for heat
exchange. The amount of a non-food resource obtained, together with its rate
of use, influences travelling and foraging time. Three criteria are evaluated to
examine how control of body temperature may be optimal with shuttling: (1)
maximizing proportion of time foraging, (2) maximizing rate of net energy gain
for a shuttle cycle and (3) maximizing time travelling and foraging relative to
time spent at a heat-exchange site. (WB 11: 1–3)
Background descriptions of species or sites are rare in the Conservation Biology
introductions and hence largely absent in the abstracts as well.

5. Conclusion

The results of the analysis have shown that the two genres are interrelated in
different ways in the two disciplines and that abstracts and introductions may not
always be distinctive in communicative purpose and rhetorical structure as has been
stated in earlier work. In some disciplines, such as Conservation Biology, there is a
certain degree of similarity in both communicative purpose and the ensuing rhe-
torical organization of the two genres. Conservation Biology abstracts tend to per-
form the same persuasive function that has been ascribed to introductions in earlier
studies (Swales, 1990). The presence of centrality claims in abstracts promotes the
area of research as valuable. The gaps in research and inadequacies in real world
conservation practices provide strong justification for the actual research undertaken
by the researcher(s) and reported in the articles.
Melander et al. (1997) point out the general absence of rhetorical work in
the abstracts from medicine and biology. They claim that ‘‘such tacitness and
152 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

taciturnity’’ could be a characteristic of abstracts from more ‘‘mature’’ research


areas. In line with the proffered explanation, the Wildlife Behavior abstracts gen-
erally tend not to include the moves that perform a persuasive function in article
introductions. The Wildlife Behavior abstracts appear to serve a more pragmatic
function of mainly indicating the goals, results, and conclusions of the study con-
ducted. As such, there tends to be a greater distinction in communicative purpose
and the ensuing overall organization between research article abstracts and intro-
ductions in Wildlife Behavior.
We could posit a number of explanations for the more explicit rhetorical work
evident in the Conservation Biology abstracts. Since it is an emerging field, the re-
search questions may not be altogether clear to members of the Conservation Bi-
ology community. Therefore, authors may feel a greater need to establish the
worthwhileness of their research area in the abstracts to increase readership. Another
factor responsible for the persuasive element in these abstracts could also be the
interdisciplinarity of the field. Since Conservation Biology draws from a number of
fields, with scholars from each field perhaps not as cognizant of the value of research
areas in fields they are not experts in, there might be a greater need to explicitly state
the justification for studies, even in abstracts. A third possible contributing expla-
nation for the abstract structure could be the applied nature of the discipline. It
might be the case that disciplines that are closely connected to real world issues may
require more explicit justifications in terms of practical applications. Hyland (2000,
p. 70) found in his cross-disciplinary study of research article abstracts that more
abstracts from soft disciplines such as sociology and philosophy included intro-
ductions (which provide a context for the paper and research motivation) than ab-
stracts from hard disciplines such as physics and mechanical engineering. My study
indicates that even within a hard discipline, such as biology, the theory versus ap-
plication dichotomy may play a role in influencing genre structure. It may be the case
that applied areas of inquiry within any discipline, whether hard or soft, may be
characterized by research article abstracts that are persuasive in function. Finally,
according to a specialist informant from Wildlife Behavior, authors in Wildlife Be-
havior articles do not have to perform much persuasive work because the discipline
has a central body of theory shared by scholars in the field (Bobbi Low, personal
communication). In contrast, the absence of clear boundaries in Conservation Bi-
ology research may lead to more persuasive writing.
This study of genre relations in two disciplines has teased out some influences of
discipline and genre on text structure. Abstracts from both disciplines share a
number of moves, which have been traditionally ascribed to this genre, namely, a
statement of purpose, results, and conclusions. Abstracts from both disciplines can
fail to mention the methods employed in the study, implying that this genre is not a
simple summary of the full length article. The largely similar instructions given to
authors in the two journals Conservation Biology and Animal Behaviour cannot be
used to any extent to explain the results of this study. The instructions in Conser-
vation Biology state that ‘‘the abstract should state concisely the goals, methods,
principal results, and major conclusions of the paper’’ while those from Animal
Behaviour state that ‘‘the abstract should describe the purpose of the study, outline
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 153

the major findings and state the main conclusions’’. Although the instruction in
Conservation Biology explicitly refers to ‘‘methods’’, this does not appear to have any
strong bearing on the moves found in the abstracts.
The abstracts from the two disciplines can be distinguished mainly in terms of
other moves that they contain, moves that can be traced to rhetorical strategies
usually found in research article introductions. Most significantly, Conservation Bi-
ology abstracts contain, to a certain extent, centrality claims which promote the
worthwhileness of the research topic on the whole and discussions of both gaps in
previous research and conservation management to justify the present research being
reported in the research article. These moves, which are traditionally found in re-
search article introductions, are not as prevalent in the Wildlife Behavior abstracts
though they are common in the Wildlife Behavior research article introductions. By
comparing abstracts and introductions in two disciplines, this study has revealed
more than variation in abstract or introduction structure across disciplines. It has
shown that generic interelatedness may also vary across disciplines. Conservation
Biology abstracts are more similar to research article introductions than are Wildlife
Behavior abstracts to research article introductions. We can conclude from this that
disciplinary values relating to discursive practices may not just be manifested in
variations in discourse structure in a particular genre but may also be manifested in
the relationship that genres have with one another within a discipline. The relation-
ship between two genres may subtly change over disciplinary boundaries. The dis-
tinction between two genres may be more blurred in some disciplines than in others.
On the whole, abstracts are more similar to research article introductions in
Conservation Biology than in Wildlife Behavior. However, there is some overlap
between the two genres in Wildlife Behavior. Background description on the species
being studied, which is a unique feature of Wildlife Behavior research article in-
troductions also is found in the abstracts. Here, however, the overlap in rhetorical
organization is not one that results in the abstract including the persuasive elements
more common in introductions.
It is only by comparing genres within a single discipline that we can explore the
nature of relations across sets of genres. The relationship of the same genres to one
another may vary across disciplines. To repeat Connor and Mauranen (1999), within
the field of genre studies and writing across the disciplines, our understanding of
genre variation needs to be complemented by an increased knowledge of genre
relations.
This study of a genre set has implications not just for genre theory but also for
EAP pedagogy. The results of previous studies on academic genres have been
translated into pedagogical applications (see Swales & Feak, 1994; Swales & Feak,
2000). The results of the current study can be used to teach advanced level students
pursuing masterÕs and doctoral degrees the structure of research article introductions
and abstracts in their disciplines. They can be made aware that abstracts may not
just be a synopsis of the research article but may also include rhetorical moves more
commonly found in introductions. The results of studies such as the present one can
be used to familiarize students with the variation found in academic writing not just
across genres but also across disciplinary boundaries.
154 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

Appendix A. Articles in corpus

A.1. Wildlife Behaviour

Storey, A., & Joyce, T. (1995). Pup contact promotes paternal responsiveness in
male meadow voles. Animal Behaviour, 49, 1–10.
Lima, S. (1995). Back to the basics of anti-predatory vigilance: The group-size
effect. Animal Behaviour, 49, 11–20.
Westneat, D. (1995). Paternity and paternal behaviour in the red-winged black-
bird, Agelaius phoeniceus. Animal Behaviour, 49, 21–36.
Ferkin, M., & Johnston, R. (1995). Meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, use
multiple sources of scent for sex recognition. Animal Behaviour, 49, 37–44.
Wiernasz, D. (1995). Male choice on the basis of female melanin pattern in Pieris
butterflies. Animal Behaviour, 49, 45–51.
Hannon, S., & Eason, P. (1995). Colour bands, combs and coverable badges in
willow ptarmigan. Animal Behaviour, 49, 53–62.
Rose, L., & Fedigan, L. (1995). Vigilance in white-faced capuchins, Cebus ca-
pucinus, in Costa Rica. Animal Behaviour, 49, 63–70.
Gabor, C., & Jaeger, R. (1995). Resource quality affects the agonistic behaviour
of territorial salamanders. Animal Behaviour, 49, 71–79.
Weary, D., & Kramer, D. (1995). Response of eastern chipmunks to conspecific
alarm calls. Animal Behaviour, 49, 81–93.
Grinnell, J., Packer, C., & Pusey, A. (1995). Cooperation in male lions: Kinship,
reciprocity or mutualism. Animal Behaviour, 49, 95–105.
Hainsworth, R. (1995). Optimal body temperatures with shuttling: desert antelope
ground squirrels. Animal Behaviour, 49, 107–116.
Ligon, D., & Zwartjes P. (1995). Ornate plumage of male red junglefowl does
influence mate choice by females. Animal Behaviour, 49, 117–125.

A.2. Conservation Biology

Peres, C., & Terborgh, J. (1995). Amazonial nature reserves: An analysis of the
defensibility status of existing conservation units and design criteria for the future.
Conservation Biology, 9, 34–46.
Anderson, A., Magee, P., Gely, A., & Jardims, M. (1995). Forest manage-
ment patterns in the floodplain of the Amazon estuary. Conservation Biology, 9,
47–61.
Liu, J., Dunning, J., Jr., & Pulliam, R. (1995). Potential effects of a forest man-
agement plan on BachmanÕs sparrows (aimophila aestivalis): Linking a spatially ex-
plicit model with GIS. Conservation Biology, 9, 62–75.
Lawrence, D., Leighton, M., & Peart, D. (1995). Availability and extraction of
forest products in managed and primary forest around a dayak village in West
Kalimantan, Indonesia. Conservation Biology, 9, 76–88.
Rodgers, J., & Smith, H. (1995). Set-back distances to protect nesting bird col-
onies from human disturbance in Florida. Conservation Biology, 9, 89–99.
B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156 155

Bunin, J., & Jamieson, I. (1995). New approaches toward a better understanding
of the decline of Takhe (porphyrio mantelli) in New Zealand. Conservation Biology, 9,
100–106.
Smith, T., Freed, L., Lepson, J., & Carothers, J. (1995). Evolutionary conse-
quences of extinctions in populations of a Hawaiian honeycreeper. Conservation
Biology, 9, 107–113.
Robinson, N. (1995). Implications from mitochondrial DNA for management to
conserve the eastern barred bandicoot (perameles gunnii). Conservation Biology, 9,
114–125.
Heschel, S., & Paige, K. (1995). Inbreeding depression, environmental stress, and
population size variation in scarlet gilia (ipomopsis aggregata). Conservation Biology,
9, 126–133.
Harcourt, A. (1995). Population viability estimates: Theory and practice for a
wild gorilla population. Conservation Biology, 9, 134–142.
Angermeier, P. (1995). Ecological attributes of extinction-prone species: Loss of
freshwater fishes of Virginia. Conservation Biology, 9, 143–158.
Gresswell, R., & Liss, W. (1995). Values associated with management of Yel-
lowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone National Park. Conservation Biology, 9,
159–165.

References

Adams Smith, D. (1990). Source and derived discourse. In M. A. K. Halliday, J. Gibbons, & H. Nicholas
(Eds.), Learning, keeping and using language (pp. 415–433). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ahmad, U. K. (1997). Scientific research articles in Malay: A situated discourse analysis. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, The University of Michigan.
Anthony, L. (1999). Writing research article introductions in software engineering: How accurate is a
standard model? IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 42, 38–46.
Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Bazerman, C. (1994). Systems of genres and the enactment of social intentions. In A. Freedman & P.
Medway (Eds.), Genre and the new rhetoric (pp. 79–101). London: Taylor & Francis.
Becher, T. (1989). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines. Milton
Keynes, England: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. (1997). Genre-mixing in academic introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 16, 181–195.
Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second language writing. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Connor, U., & Mauranen, A. (1999). Linguistic analysis of grant proposals: European union research
grants. English for Specific Purposes, 18, 47–62.
Crookes, G. (1986). Towards a validated analysis of scientific text structure. Applied Linguistics, 7, 57–70.
Devitt, A. (1991). Intertextuality in tax accounting: Generic, referential, and functional. In C. Bazerman &
J. Paradis (Eds.), Textual dynamics of the professions (pp. 336–357). Madison, WI: University of
Wisconsin Press.
Dudley-Evans, T. (1997). Genre models for the teaching of academic writing to second language speakers:
Advantages and disadvantages. In T. Miller (Ed.), Functional approaches to written text: Classroom
applications (pp. 150–159). Washington, DC: USIA.
Fahnestock, J. (1986). Accommodating science: The rhetorical life of scientific facts. Written Commu-
nication, 3, 275–296.
156 B. Samraj / English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005) 141–156

Fredrickson, K. M. (1995). American and Swedish written legal discourse: The case of court documents.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Michigan.
Fredrickson, K. M., & Swales, J. M. (1994). Competition and discourse community: Introductions from
Nysvenska Studier. In B. L. Gunnarsson, P. Linell, & B. Nordberg (Eds.), Text and talk in professional
context (pp. 9–22). Sweden: ASLA.
Hay, P. R., Todd, J. J., & Russell, J. A. (1986). Teaching the ‘‘Human in environment’’: A postgraduate
approach at the University of Tasmania. Environmental Education and Information, 5, 119–126.
Huckin, T. (2001). Abstracting from abstracts. In M. Hewings (Ed.), Academic writing in context:
Implications and applications (pp. 93–103). Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press.
Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. London: Pearson.
Melander, B., Swales, J. M., & Fredrickson, K. M. (1997). Journal abstracts from three academic fields in
the United States and Sweden: National or disciplinary proclivities?. In A. Duszak (Ed.), Intellectual
styles and cross-cultural communication (pp. 251–272). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Miller, C. (1994). Rhetorical community: The cultural basis of genre. In A. Freedman & P. Medway
(Eds.), Genre and the new rhetoric (pp. 23–42). London: Taylor & Francis.
Myers, G. (1990). Writing biology. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Noss, R. F. (1993). Whither conservation biology? Conservation Biology, 7, 215–217.
Petrie, H. G. (1992). Interdisciplinary education: Are we faced with insurmountable opportunities? Review
of Research in Education, 18, 299–333.
Salager-Meyer, F. (1990). Discoursal flaws in medical English abstracts: A genre analysis per research- and
text-type. Text, 4, 365–384.
Salager-Meyer, F. (1992). A text-type and move analysis study of verb tense and modality distribution in
medical English abstracts. English for Specific Purposes, 11, 93–113.
Samraj, B. (2002a). Disciplinary variation in abstracts: The case of Wildlife Behaviour and Conservation
Biology. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic discourse (pp. 40–56). London: Pearson.
Samraj, B. (2002b). Introductions in research articles: Variations across disciplines. English for Specific
Purposes, 21, 1–17.
Santos, M. B. D. (1996). The textual organization of research paper abstracts in applied linguistics. Text,
16, 481–499.
Soule, M. E. (1985). What is conservation biology? Bioscience, 35, 727–734.
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann
Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (2000). English in todayÕs research world: A writing guide. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press.
Swales, J. M., & Najjar, H. (1987). The writing of research article introductions. Written Communication,
4, 175–191.

Betty Samraj is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at San Diego State University. Her research interests
are genre analysis and writing across the disciplines. She has published a number of articles and book
chapters on writing in environmental science.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy