Cultural or Discoursal Proclivity: Rhetorical Structure of English and Turkish Research Article Abstracts

Kafes H.

ANTHROPOLOGIST, vol.21, no.1-2, pp.240-254, 2015 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 21 Issue: 1-2
  • Publication Date: 2015
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/09720073.2015.11891813
  • Journal Name: ANTHROPOLOGIST
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.240-254
  • Keywords: Academic Writing, Generic Structure, Move Analysis, LINGUA-FRANCA, INTRODUCTIONS, LINGUISTICS, SCIENCE
  • Akdeniz University Affiliated: No

Abstract

The research article abstract (RAA) has become an essential part of the research article (RA) and an important,genre to study. Despite various studies on cultural differences in the organization of RAAs, no study comparing English and Turkish RAAs has been conducted. Motivated by this need, this paper presents a comparative analysis of English and Turkish RAAs, with the aim of discovering whether abstracts by authors from different cultural and-linguistic backgrounds employ the same rhetorical strategies and linguistic realizations of rhetorical moves. for this purpose, the generic structure of three corpora of RAAs was analyzed, following Swales' model. The. results indicate that Turkish academic writers (TAWs) closely follow North American abstract writing conventions, yet they also remain faithful to the conventions of their local discourse. community, conforming closely to the M2-M3-M4 arrangement, indicating three obligatory moves in abstracts-Presenting the research, Methodology, and Results.