Summarizing findings
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Mercedes Jaime-Sisó
Abstract
This study shows how the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research, the tremendous growth in the number of journals and the easy access to information via online publications have influenced the way biomedical scientists tackle their professional reading and writing. Research articles online incorporate new presentational components - blurbs, authors’ summaries, synopses - sharing with traditional sections the need to attract the busy reader’s attention to the main results. Findings are anticipated in the title and reformulated in all article sections, using different linguistic structures to avoid semantic and syntactic repetitions. From interviews with scientists and the analysis of 20 articles from two prestigious journals, I conclude that this rephrasing phenomenon, which mainly affects open access publications, complicates RA writing for NNSs and may be announcing a new form of scientific information presented in well-defined cognitive textual modules.
Abstract
This study shows how the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research, the tremendous growth in the number of journals and the easy access to information via online publications have influenced the way biomedical scientists tackle their professional reading and writing. Research articles online incorporate new presentational components - blurbs, authors’ summaries, synopses - sharing with traditional sections the need to attract the busy reader’s attention to the main results. Findings are anticipated in the title and reformulated in all article sections, using different linguistic structures to avoid semantic and syntactic repetitions. From interviews with scientists and the analysis of 20 articles from two prestigious journals, I conclude that this rephrasing phenomenon, which mainly affects open access publications, complicates RA writing for NNSs and may be announcing a new form of scientific information presented in well-defined cognitive textual modules.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Specialized languages 1
-
Section one. Research based on corpora
- The historical shift of scientific academic prose in English towards less explicit styles of expression 11
- Heteroglossic (dis)engagement and the construal of the ideal readership 25
- Structure, content and functions of calls for conference abstracts 47
- Summarizing findings 71
- The use of adverbial hedges in EAP students’ oral performance 95
- Integrating approaches to visual data commentary 115
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Section two. Research based on meta-analysis and applications in LSP
- Some dichotomies in genre analysis for Languages for Specific Purposes 139
- English for legal purposes and domain-specific cultural awareness 155
- The Talking Cure 175
- UrgentiAS, a lexical database for medical students in clinical placements 191
- Using natural language patterns for the development of ontologies 211
- Notes on contributors 231
- Index 237
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Specialized languages 1
-
Section one. Research based on corpora
- The historical shift of scientific academic prose in English towards less explicit styles of expression 11
- Heteroglossic (dis)engagement and the construal of the ideal readership 25
- Structure, content and functions of calls for conference abstracts 47
- Summarizing findings 71
- The use of adverbial hedges in EAP students’ oral performance 95
- Integrating approaches to visual data commentary 115
-
Section two. Research based on meta-analysis and applications in LSP
- Some dichotomies in genre analysis for Languages for Specific Purposes 139
- English for legal purposes and domain-specific cultural awareness 155
- The Talking Cure 175
- UrgentiAS, a lexical database for medical students in clinical placements 191
- Using natural language patterns for the development of ontologies 211
- Notes on contributors 231
- Index 237
