Components of abstracts: Logical structure of scholarly abstracts in pharmacology, sociology, and linguistics and literature

Abstract

The international standard ISO 214:1976 defines an abstract as "an abbreviated, accurate representation of the contents of a document" (p. 1) that should "enable readers to identify the basic content of a document quickly and accurately to determine relevance" (p. 1). It also should be useful in computerized searching.The ISO standard suggests including the following elements: purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. Researchers have often challenged this structure and found that different disciplines and cultures prefer different information content. These claims are partially supported by the findings of our research into the structure of pharmacology, sociology, and Slovenian language and literature abstracts of papers published in international and Slovenian scientific periodicals. The three disciplines have different information content. Slovenian pharmacology abstracts differ in content from those in international periodicals while the differences between international and Slovenian abstracts are small in sociology. In the field of Slovenian language and literature, only domestic abstracts were studied. The identified differences can in part be attributed to the disciplines, but also to the different role of journals and papers in the professional society and to differences in perception of the role of abstracts. The findings raise questions about the structure of abstracts required by some publishers of international journals. IntroductionThe international standard ISO 214:1976, confirmed on August 23, 2004, defines the abstract as "an abbreviated, accurate representation of the contents of a document, Received November 12, 2006; revised February 6, 2008; accepted February 6, 2008 © 2008 ASIS&T • Published online 8 May 2008 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/asi.20858 without added interpretation or criticism and without distinction as to who wrote the abstract" (ISO 214, p. 1). By the same standard, well-written abstracts "enable readers to identify the basic content of a document quickly and accurately to determine relevance . . . and thus decide whether they need to read the document in its entirety" (ISO 214, p. 1), and are useful in computerized searching. The standard's recommendations are intended for writing abstracts of all documents for use in secondary publications and services (e.g., bibliographic databases).For proper representation of information from the original document, the standard suggests that the abstract includes the following elements: purpose, methods, results, conclusions, and collateral information from the original work if space permits. The standard describes three types of abstracts: informative, indicative, and informative-indicative. They require different amounts of information from the original document and may vary in length. By the same standard, different types of documents also may warrant different types of abstracts. While research papers would normally require informative abstracts (including the structural elements mentioned ...

Regularities and Irregularities in Rhetorical Move Structure of Linguistics Abstracts in Research Articles

“…Notwithstanding a lack of consensus among scholars concerning a standard pattern in abstract writing (Martín 2003;Phuong Dzung 2008;Sauperl et al 2008, Loan et al 2014, Chan & Ebrahimi, 2012, the IMRD structure as an academic norm, however, is accepted as a standard pattern approved by most researchers because the structure apparently satisfies the ISO 214 and American National Standard definitions (Lores 2004). Moreover, Swales (1990) also highlights the format of the abstract as having Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion (IMRD) structure which is similar to that of the main article.…”

Common weaknesses in traditional abstracts in the social sciences

“…Applied linguists (e.g., Hyland, 2004; Salager‐Meyer, 1991; Swales, 1990; Tibbo, 1992) have studied in detail the move structure and verb tense usage of abstracts in scientific research papers. Researchers from different countries and linguistic backgrounds (e.g., Martin Martin, 2003; Sauperl, Klasinc & Luzar, 2008) have found that authors in these situations prefer different sequences or forms of wording for abstracts. It is commonly stated that abstracts are difficult to write but it is also argued that they should be easy to understand for both native and non‐native speakers of English (APA, 2001, pp.…”

Análisis retórico de resúmenes de revistas de educación publicadas en Venezuela y en Colombia

“…Se tomó como marco de referencia el esquema de Introducción (I), Método (M), Resultados (R) y Conclusiones/ Recomendaciones (C), frecuentemente aceptado, adecuado, sobre todo, si se utiliza con flexibilidad (Blanco, 2017(Blanco, , 2013Hyland, 2000) el cual incluye los componentes centrales de cualquier investigación. Dicho esquema ha sido a veces cuestionado (Sauperl, Klasinc & Luzar, 2008), pero aquí se sostiene que el resumen concebido de tal manera cuatripartita es utilizable dentro del marco de la cultura occidental, a la que pertenece América del Sur. Además, no es más que un tipo ideal que, como tal, no siempre mostrará una manifestación pura y total del fenómeno, sino que es una noción simplificada de él, con base en rasgos que pueden ser difusos, discretos, más o menos presentes y ocasionalmente ausentes (Lengermann, 1974).…”