Rhetorical moves and verb tense in abstracts: A comparative analysis of American and Iranian academic writing

Research article (RA) abstract is regarded as an essential part in identifying the basic content of the report among the current academic communities. This study aimed at investigating whether native and nonnative academic writers differed in terms of rhetorical moves as well as the use of verb tense in abstracts. To achieve this end, a sample of 40 RA abstracts (20 by American and 20 by Iranian academic writers) in English was selected from International Journal of Language Studies. The data analysis revealed that move two (Purpose), three (Method), and four (Result) were considered the obligatory structural moves in both sets of data, while move one (Introduction) and move five (Conclusion) served as optional moves. With regard to the use of verb tense in each move, it was found that present tense was the preferred tense in move one and five, but past tense was used in move three more frequently in two sets of data. It was also shown that while the present tense was the preferred tense for Americans in move two and four, Iranians more often used the past tense. The findings of this study can help academic writers, teachers and students and raise their awareness to master the conventions of academic writing in scientific communities.