Picture Source https://blogs.uw.

edu/ceadvice/2016/05/06/engr-231-intro-to-tech-comm/

Technical and Professional Communication

Introduction Course

Date: 28 May 2018

To: Dr. Catrina Mitchum, Ph.D. Composition/Rhetoric & Digital Studies
From: Meredythe Durckel, B.S. Microbiology
Subject: Genre Analysis of Scientific Abstracts

Summary
The purpose of this memo is analyze genre characteristics of scientific literature review
abstracts. Specifically, how the audience, rhetorical context, and content impact the document
design and layout. Scientific literature is written for and by a discourse community consisting of
researchers, clinicians, and scientific professionals but is also accessible to the public.

Rhetorical Situation
Literature review abstracts are useful tools intended for the audience for two reasons – selection
and indexing. The purpose inherently shape the document design. An abstract is a valuable tool
for the audience to determine the purpose of the document. It briefly conveys pertinent
information to the reader, so they can make an informed decision as to continue reading or not.
The format of an abstract is standard, usually a single paragraph, around 200 words. They are
intended to be brief because most abstracts are viewed online through a journal or database. A
reader would access the database and search for key terms that are used in the abstract to find
an article amenable to his/her search terms. The keyword selection process works more
efficiently with a whole paragraph rather than searching solely through titles, because the author
can state a thesis or claim that may not be fully described through a title. As seen in the
attached examples, keywords are also listed separately from the abstract.
The examples attached are all intended for this scientific discourse community and include
technical terms as part of the keywords. The first two examples have overlapping search terms
because both articles discuss vaccine design, host immunity, and the fungal pathogen that
causes Valley Fever. The third example has an abstract that is just slightly over 200 words (see
Table 1 for full word count), but still practices the same format as the first two. The author sets
up authority and scope of the topic, then identifies an issue with the current condition, followed
by evidence and a conclusion. Overall, these are persuasive pieces, so the abstract contains
author claims with evidence discussed in greater detail further into the document. A significant
difference in the third example is the “check for updates” link to see what has been brought to
light since the publication of the review. These journals are peer-reviewed and always under
revision by peers in the discourse community.

Content & Organization

Content within the abstract can vary depending on the content. For instance, in example 1, the
author first establishes why research for a Valley Fever vaccine is important by listing data.
Then the author lists topics to be discussed around this main idea – the human immune system,
recent studies and an example, then the current progress in vaccine research. Example 2
follows this pattern as well. First why this disease is an issue, second a review of current
research, and last an analysis of the good and bad. The third example has a different approach.
First the author claims the issues with current practices, second reviews current data, and last
why research is important. These are just different variations of Swale’s Rhetorical Moves –
establish a territory, establish a niche, then occupy the niche. Each of the authors uses this
method to persuade the audience while the order of the moves is interchangeable.
The literature review article is arranged to be viewed online or print, with the use of headings to
define the classic pattern of organization. At the top of each example is the name of the journal
that published the review as well as the publisher logo. The title is the largest font, with bold
headings used for the author names, abstract, and keyword sections. Author credibility (ethos)
is established through listing author titles and affiliations underneath names. The document
appeals to pathos through the persuasive moves mentioned earlier and appeals to logos
through the remainder of evidence in the document used to support the thesis or main claim
stated in the abstract.

Design & Style

The design of an abstract is a concise recap and thesis/claim, often including technical terms
and concepts. The author persona/tone is professional, ethical, objective, and clear. Typically,
definitions are not included in the abstract, but an exception was made in Example 2. The
author included the definition of “disseminated” disease to emphasize how sever it can be and
the importance of developing a vaccine (the author’s main thesis). These three examples were
published by the same company and so all feature the same logo at the top right-hand corner.
Other journals would also include the journal name and publisher logo but maybe in a different
size or placement in the document. See “Table 1 for more details regarding the design and style
of each example.
Table 1: Genre Analysis Table focusing on Design & Style of Three Example Abstracts

Example #1 Example #2 Example #3

Microorganisms Journal of Fungi Healthcare

Design & Style

Vocabulary “Coccidioides” “coccidiomycosis” “patient demographics”

“coccidiomycosis” “Coccidioides” “incidence” “data mining” “PRISMA”
“immune response” “endemic region” “data analytics”
“endemic region” “disseminate” “healthcare informatics”
“spherules” “antigen/adjuvant” “literature review”
“fungal pathogen”

Sentence-level Short, concise sentences More complex sentence Sentence length varies,
Grammar stating expertise and structure and varying correct use of commas
need. Complex sentence length. Definitions and and pauses, defined
listing purposes of the abbreviations included. abbreviations. Used
literature review. “However, …” twice.
Punctuation Italicized species names, Same punctuation as Lists of important
author names cited with Example #1. Lists of variables, elements
credentials, appropriate locations and lists of studied, correct
use of commas and disease progression. hyphenations.
hyphenations.

Passive voice “update on progress”, Active voice “accounts for” Passive voice used to
active voice. Passive is “scientific efforts”. describe process
used for summarizing undertaken “were
past experiments later in extracted”, “found”.
the document.

Persona/Tone Authors create ethos, Authors seem to be Swales three moves

expertise in the area, addressing a broad used to establish author
then present relevant audience, include definition ethos. Expertise and
research in vaccine and explicit evidence in solved a dilemma for
development. Brief and abstract. Ethos from data “prescriptive analytics”.
objective, word count presented. Persuasive for Word count was 207.
was 123. vaccine “quest”.

Visuals Large font for title, Same visuals as Example Same visuals as
journal name/logo and #1, word count was 173. Example #1, also
publisher logo at the top included a link to “check
of the first page. Author for updates” for
credentials listed below data/figures listed in the
names. article. New and relevant
for online publications.

Arrangement Authors names and Same arrangement as Same arrangement as

document section titles in Example #1. No
bold headings (abstract, indentations between
keywords). Keywords paragraphs, rather use
listed below abstract. paragraph spacing.
Standardized format for
peer-reviewed journals.
Example #1,
standardized journal
format. Title, author
names, credentials, date
of publication, abstract,
keywords, etc.

Discussion
With regards to the professional writing genre, an abstract would be used in a laboratory report
or recommendation report. It includes background, purpose, methods, and major
findings/recommendations of the report (Chapter 18). A descriptive abstract is more commonly
used in literature review and lengthy documents because it summarizes the contents but does
not present any major data or recommendations. The goal of the abstract is for the author to
persuade the audience to read supporting evidence for the main claim or thesis statement.
Audience uses the abstract for two purposes – to determine whether to continue reading the
article and when sorting through numerous articles, hence the condensed layout and
information. The discourse community of scientific professionals set the intrinsic layout/design
criteria for abstracts based on these purposes.