Abridged Abstracts: Rushing the Research Race?

Abstract

Through manual and electronic corpus analysis, I explore the rhetorical structure and discursive features of abridged abstracts in two distinct fields: Applied Linguistics and Electronic, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering. My goal is to discuss whether shortened abstracts, which do include some apparently superfluous elements, are truly informative, and to compare trends in the two broad fields mentioned. According to my findings, abridged abstracts withstand a tension between two opposing forces: rhetorical economy on the one hand, and meta-reference and self-promotion on the other. My claim is that, although dispensable, meta-reference and self-promotion fulfil important beaconing functions that facilitate text production and accelerate research screening.