Move Analysis of Thesis and Dissertation Abstracts of Local and International Graduate Lecturers

Abstract

Move analysis is one of the genre-based approaches used to analyse the rhetorical structure of academic writing, in which one of them is research abstracts. While rhetorical moves of RA abstract are considerably looked into, the abstract of theses and dissertations is under-explored. The present study aims to investigate the rhetorical moves in abstracts of master's theses and dissertations along with its linguistic realization. It also aims to reveal the similarities and differences between abstracts written for final papers in Indonesian universities and universities in English-speaking countries. The study analyzed abstracts of final papers for master's (S2) and doctoral (S3) degree written by Indonesian local and international graduate lecturers using Hyland's (2000) five-move analysis model as the framework of the study. The findings unfolded that there were some similarities and variations in the move and step occurrences. The use of embedded moves was also found in the study. In terms of language features, similarities in the use of tenses, voice and verb types between abstracts were found. The variations found in the study give a clearer picture to help constructing a more universal guideline for abstract writing in higher education.