Move Structure and Lexico-Grammatical Features of Master’s Thesis Abstracts in A State University

Abstract

Writing abstracts requires a more disciplined style of writing, with higher demands on both form and substance. Graduate students are expected to produce scholarly outputs attuned to the rhetorical and linguistic conventions of abstract writing, acceptable to a wider academic community. Thus, this study examined the usage, distribution, and order of moves, along with the identification of selected lexico-grammatical features of 43 masters’ thesis abstracts from nine graduate programs of a state university. Using descriptive research design, following Hyland’s five-move analysis framework, findings revealed that the presentation of the introduction (I), purpose (P), method (M), product (Pr), and conclusion (C) moves in the abstracts varies across programs. However, the I-move was found to be optional, but all four moves (P, M, Pr, C) were found to be conventional, with a semi-linear structure as P-M-Pr-C. Results further revealed that the lexico-grammatical features of thesis abstracts such as modal choice, use of verb tense and voice, and utilization of nominalization were influenced by the nature of the move type and discipline, along with the authors' emphasis and goal in writing. Conversely, the abstract length of these abstracts was more than twice the number of words suggested by different citation systems, implying a lack of brevity. Based on these findings, the University Graduate School is encouraged to suggest specific guidelines in thesis abstract writing. Lastly, genre-based approach via explicit instruction to promote consistency in lexico-grammatical features of abstracts is highly recommended.