Research Abstract: From Description to Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how university students for whom English is a foreign language can be taught to write an abstract for a research paper. The paper draws on research from Systemic Functional Linguistics, in particular from genre theory (Martin, 1985; Martin & Rose, 2003; Swales, 1990; 2004; Swales & Freak, 2004; Freak & Swales, 2011). A genre-based rating scale is described that makes explicit the specific functions of each section of the abstract. Data from two student abstracts are then analyzed and interpreted, illustrating how the theory has been applied.