A plethora of research has shown that genre analysis through move analysis is a practical approach to identify the complexity of writing research articles (RAs). However, little is known about the genre knowledge development that is manifested in abstract discourse patterns. This study aims to determine whether or not there is an influence from the level of education with the development of genre knowledge, especially in the field of writing research abstracts. Using Hyland’s (2000) five-move analysis model, this study analyzed the comparison and identity of abstracts of theses and dissertations in English and Indonesian. From the analysis, it can be seen that there are some differences and similarities in the manifestation of abstract discourse patterns in English and Indonesian final paper abstracts. In terms of genre knowledge, its development could be reflected through the level of study, in this case, from master’s to doctoral degrees. As evident in the dissertation abstracts in both languages, Move 1 (Introduction) evinces richer varieties in step realizations than in master’s theses. The analysis also indicates no crucial differences in genre knowledge development across languages and fields of study. Further comparative research on this particular topic with more subject of data is suggested.

Move Analysis is an analytical approach to text identification and has been used to evaluate various types of genres, such as academic paper, thesis, essay, etc. However, research that focuses on the manifestation of abstract discourse patterns in master's theses and doctoral dissertation has not been widely carried out. This study aims to identify the abstract discourse patterns in master's theses and doctoral dissertations and its linguistic features realization that are displayed in each final paper. Using Hyland's (2000) five-move analysis model, this study analysed the abstracts of final papers in English and Indonesian. Differences were found in the frequency of occurrence in each move. In terms of linguistic features realization, the English and Indonesian data showed significant differences in tense usage. However, voice and verb usage in each language and level of abstracts have shown notable similarities of occurrences. These findings are expected to produce a clearer picture of differences in the manifestation of abstract discourse patterns in each language. Further comparative research on this particular topic with more subjects of data is suggested.