Sample Research Paper Abstracts
Exercise 1
Use the CARS model to identify the rhetorical moves made in the 3 extracts below:
EXTRACT 1:
“The Visual and The Verbal: A Case Study in Macroeconomics,” Ann M. Johns
Although EAP researchers have devoted considerable attention to written texts, less has
been paid to the use of visual representation in the disciplines. After reviewing the
literature from several fields, this paper describes the strategies of a first year university
student as she privileges visual texts in both her macroeconomics and reading/writing
classes. Suggestions for research and pedagogy relating to visual representation conclude
the paper.
EXTRACT 2:
“Dissertation Writing in Action: The Development of a Dissertation Writing Support
Program for ESL Graduate Research Students.” Desmond Allison, Linda Cooley, Jo
Lewkowicz and David Nunan
Despite an explosion in the number of students writing graduate theses in a language
other than their first, there are very few accounts, either of research into the difficulties
encountered by these students, or of writing programs designed to help such students
present dissertations written to an acceptable standard. This article describes and
evaluates a program developed within the English Centre at the University of Hong Kong
to assist students who are required to present dissertations in English. The program was
based on data collected from detailed interviews with graduate supervisors and a survey
of graduate students, as well as an analysis of extended pieces of graduate writing.”
EXTRACT 3: (this example is taken from “Implicit actions and explicit outcomes:
cultural-academic interactions in writing journal research articles.” By A.Prince,
A.S.Blicblau, and B.Soesatyo. Paper presented at the Joint Annual Conference of AARE
and NZARE, held in Melbourne, Vic 29th November to 2nd December, 1999.)
The use of variable frequency microwave (VFM) oven for material processing has been
recently recognized and utilized by a few material researchers in the world as an
emerging new microwave heating technique, in light of improving the use of 2.45 GHz
fixe frequency single mode microwave heating units. VFM ovens offers significant
advantages over the successfully widely used fixed frequency single mode microwave
unit because for instance, it gives uniform electric field distribution in the microwave
oven cavity and fully controllable operation heating system. VFM oven has been
designed and developed jointly by Lambda Technology Inc, a company specializing in
the scale up of microwave energy equipment and Oak Ridge national Laboratory,
Department of Energy, USA, which aims to improve heating uniformity problems of
microwave heating and the limitation of scale up commonly encountered by the use of
single mode microwaves units. This relatively new technology had been employed for
advanced materials processing: polymerization, composite processing, ceramics sintering,
bonding, and analytical applications, covering high and low temperature materials
processing [1].
In contrast to the single mode fixed frequency system which uses magnetron for
microwave generation, the VFM oven uses Travelling Wave Tubes (TWT) to generate
microwave. TWT is a broadband microwave amplifier which allows the microwave YIG
oscillator for microwave signal generator, which then gives both fixed and variable
frequencies depending on the user's selection. The resulting signal is then fed to the TWT
for high power amplification. The diagram of a VFM oven is briefly explained in he
following Figure 1.
This paper reports the results of cavity characterization for selected thermoplastic
polymers, ABS, Acrylic, Plexiglass, and PVC, which were swept between 6 and 18 GHz
individually to determine the best frequencies for microwave processing. These optimum
microwave frequencies were then used for the determination of temperature profile. All
thermoplastics underwent microwave heating to reach 50 degrees C temperature and set
not to exceed the selected 15minutes. Their temperature profiles showing the relationship
between the increasing temperatures versus the corresponding count times were plotted to
show how rapid the temperature rise due to VFM oven heating".
Exercise 2
From C. B. Feak and J. M. Swales
Read the text below and carry out the following tasks:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Divide the text into the three basic moves based on the table above.
Where in the introduction would you divide Move 1 into 1a and 1b?
What kind of Move 2 do we use?
What kind of Move 3a do we use?
Underline any words or expressions in sentences 1 through 3 used to establish
research territory?
“The Position of Sentence Connectors in Academic English”
Introduction
Many commentators have noted that sentence connectors (e.g., however) are an important
and useful element in expository and argumentative writing. Frequency studies of their
occurrence in academic English extend at least as far back as Huddleston (1971). ESL
writing textbooks have for many years regularly included chapters on sentence
connectors (e.g. Herber, 1965). Most reference grammars deal with their grammatical
status, classification, meaning, and use. Some attention has also been given to the
position of sentence connectors in clauses and sentences. Quirk and Greenbaum (1973)
observe (a) that the normal position is initial; (b) that certain connectors, such as hence
and overall, “are restricted, or virtual restricted, to initial position” (p. 248); and (c) that
medial positions are rare for most connectors, and final positions even rarer. The only
attempt known to us to explain differences in position on semantic grounds is an
unpublished paper by Salera (1976) discussed by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
(1983). The Salera paper deals only with adversatives like however and suggests that
initial position reflects something contrary to expectation, while medial position reflects a
contract that is not necessarily unexpected. However, neither of these studies provides
any descriptive evidence of the actual positions of sentence connectors in academic texts.
In the present paper, we report on a preliminary study of sentence connector position in a
sample of twelve published articles.