A structural analysis of English thesis abstracts in Slovak academic setting
A structural analysis of English thesis abstracts in Slovak academic setting

Summary/Abstract: The genre of abstract represents an integral part of the process of academic writing. In today's consumer society, one can compare abstracts to the technology of product advertising. Metaphorically speaking, abstract is a cover that can attract possible customers' attention and represents the first and only contact with potential readers of the whole piece of writing. In order to sell the product, a seller, in this specific case an author, should therefore develop his or her abstract-writing skills at maximum.Abstract writing is a highly specialised form of academic writing. It requires a clear and concise writing style that conveys compact information in a limited amount of space. With its most important communicative purposes of selection and indexing1, the fact that about ten to five hundred times more people read an abstract than its associated article or attend a presentation2 is not surprising. Thus, if done well, it induces a reader to learn more about the whole work.Despite the parallel mentioned above, there is an outstanding inequality: while the art of advertising is undoubtedly one of the most influential branches within the contemporary society, the art of abstracting is, on the other hand, still underestimated, especially by non-native academic writing traditions.

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