The Rhetorical Structures, Passive and Active Voices, and Voices Mistakes in Undergraduate Students' Thesis Abstracts

Abstract

Although a plethora of research has focused on the genre analysis of thesis abstracts, little is known about how rhetorical structures and linguistic features are manifested in the undergraduate students’ thesis abstracts. This study intends to scrutinize the use of rhetorical moves and steps, alongside the use of passive and active voices that are followed by the mistakes in the use of voices in the undergraduate students’ thesis abstracts. The study applied Hyland’s (2000) theory of rhetorical moves and Azar & Hagen’s (2009) theory of voice. Data from 40 undergraduate thesis abstracts by English Education students at UNP were analyzed using a checklist table as the instrument. The findings revealed that not all moves and steps were used across the abstracts. In Move 1 (Introduction), 6.4% Step 1 (arguing for topic significance) was utilized. As many as 12.1% of Move 2 were used by students to write down the objectives of the studies. In describing Move 3 (methodology), 17.7% of step 1 (describing participants) was used. 22.7% Move 4 (purpose) appeared and was the most frequently used of all the moves. Lastly, 9.1% Step 1 (deducing conclusion) of Move 5 was used. Moreover, the active voice was used more than the passive voice, with some mistakes identified, including article, verb agreement, spelling, missing verb, and punctuation. To be concluded, this research offers pedagogical insights for improving academic writing, especially in relation to the language use in thesis abstracts.