Precise information in a few words

It is almost certain that a majority of editors read the first lines of a piece of writing in order to decide whether it will be worthy to publish it or not. As a consequence, the introduction of any kind of written work should be appealing enough to call readers’ attention. In the case of academic writings, research articles (RA), for instance, the writers’ tool to attract audience’s attention lies in the abstract. Pintos and Crimi (2010) point out that “abstracts tend to be reading guidelines for users to choose between one RA or another” (p. 12).

In the view of some experts, abstracts are clear, concise and neat summaries that contain the main points dealt with by the researchers. Because of their function, i.e. to transmit as much information as possible in a brief way, abstracts are written after the whole paper has been finished. Depending on the aim of the abstracts, they are classified by Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994) into informative and indicative. The former furnishes the main findings and the latter refers to the kind of research that has been done.

As regards abstracts layout, they can be classified into unstructured and structured ones. In the first category, the abstract is organized in one unbroken paragraph of no more than 150 words. Whereas in the second category, the abstract contains bolded or italicized headings that identify the main sections in the research report. Despite of the fact that the organizational format is different, both of them follow the Introduction-Method-Result-And-Discussion (IMRAD) formula. This means that the information should be developed in the same order they appear in the paper.

Most research articles found in medical journals contain structured abstracts. The three ones belonging to The British Medical Journal (Martinez and et. al, 2010; Wijeysundera and et.al, 2010; Jorgensen and et.al, 2010) are organized under bolded headings. All of them tend to contain precise information in few full sentences. The headings which predominate in the three abstracts are: Objective; Design; Setting; Participants; Results and Conclusions. Unlike the abstracts mentioned above, the abstract of the article found in The New England Journal of Medicine (Beckett and et.al, 2010) includes fewer headings. There are only four: Background; Methods; Results and Conclusions.

However, the four abstracts taken for the analysis and comparison can be placed in the informative category established by Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994). All of them are heavy on data; look to the past and describe what the researchers did. As far as linguistic features are concerned, the four abstracts of the medicine research articles respond to what the authors describe as linguistic specifications. Full sentences and past tense are used. The use of negatives is found in the Conclusions where writers refute the hypothesis they have tested through the methods applied. In these types of research articles, the use of jargon is inevitable. Names of drugs and illnesses are frequently used throughout the abstracts. With the exception of Becket’s and et.al (2010) abstract, the other three contain one or two impersonal passive constructions.

Regarding tense usage, the experts suggest to write conclusions in present. In the samples analyzed, just in two of them present tense is used. The other two are written in past. Nevertheless, the four abstracts have opening sentences written in present and present perfect to show that the studies are of utmost importance. All of them also have simple past sentences to describe methods and results. In terms of approach to writing, there are two different viewpoints. On the one hand, Hubbuch (1996) suggests that writers should summarize in one sentence each part of a research report in order to produce one, tight paragraph. On the other hand, Swales and Feak (1994) claim that there are two approaches to writing: the result-driven approach and the RP (Research Paper) summary approach.

The four abstracts contain few sentences under headings of each part of the research paper and for that reason they can be characterized as being written with a RP summary approach. As Swales and Feak (1994) assert, it offers "one - or two - sentence sypnoses of each of the four sections" (pp.210-211, as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p.14). Nevertheless, their focuses on the research findings make them suitable for the result-driven approach category as well.
In the experts' words, it "concentrates on the research findings and what might be concluded from them" (pp.210-211, as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p. 14).

All in all, clearness, precision and a good organization of the information contribute to make abstracts a useful instrument to attract readers. Depending on the objective, this type of research article summary may be informative or indicative. Structured or unstructured formats will present the information as a whole paragraph or main sentences under headings that coincide with each section of the paper report and they will also show the approach to writing. A result-driven approach will emphasize the results display or a research paper summary approach that will present the main points of the work done. The abstracts of the medicine research articles analyzed are informative, structured and follow both approaches to writing.

References

Beckett, N. S. & et. al (2010). Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New England Journal of Medicine. 358-18. Retrieved on April 2, 2010 from http http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0801369

Jørgensen, K. J.; Zahl, P. & Gøtzsche, P. C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in organized mammography screening in Denmark: comparative study. The British Medical Journal. 340; c1241. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/mar23_1/c1241

Martinez, C.; LAssimes, T.; Mines, D.; Dell’Aniello, S. & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: a nested case-control study. The British Medical Journal. 340; c249. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2817047/

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research articles: Abstracts. Handout for Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Buenos Aires: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved May 2, 2010 fromhttp://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Wijeysundera, D. N.; Beattie, W. S.; Elliot, R.F.; Austin, P.C.; Hux, J.E. & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: population based cohort study. The British Medical Journal. 340; b5526. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/340/jan28_3/b5526