Rhetorical Structures and Linguistics Features of Abstracts: A Comparative Analysis Between Applied Linguistics and Legal Studies in Scopus-Indexed Indonesian Journals

Abstract

Abstracts of research articles (RAs) are an integral component of academic research. The abstracts assist potential readers in determining whether or not the information is relevant to their work. Authors who want their works noticed by potential readers must provide a well-structured abstract. Previous studies have extensively investigated abstract rhetorical trends, particularly when comparing abstracts from different authors and countries. However, barely any studies have been conducted to compare abstracts in applied linguistics articles and legal studies, particularly abstracts published in Scopus-indexed Indonesian journals. Using rhetorical structures and linguistics features analysis, ten abstracts from Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJAL) and Hasanuddin Law Review (HLR) were compared and contrasted in this study. The result indicated only six out of ten abstracts follow the full structure suggested by Hyland. IJAL considers 5- moves to be absolutely important in terms of move frequency, but HLR simply categorizes moves as obligatory, conventional, or optional. The two groups of abstracts also show distinct results in the selection of tenses and active/passive sentences based on linguistic features analysis. Whereas IJAL primarily employs the past tense, HLR primarily uses the present tense. However, both IJAL and HLR have a strong presence in the usage of active sentences. The findings might have pedagogical implications for novice authors, particularly those in applied linguistics and legal studies when constructing their abstracts for Scopus-indexed publications.