Academic genres are not static, but they may change according to the values and demands of the particular discourse communities that shape them. This paper explores the research article (RA) abstract, a relevant informative and promotional genre that exhibits the prevalent rhetorical practices of a specific disciplinary community. From a…

This review summarizes primary studies on teachers' preferences and perceptions of the psychological report. A systematic search identified 19 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. These studies were evaluated in terms of (a) psychological report section focus, (b) methodology, (c) research results, (d) discussion, and (e) recommendations.…

School-based practitioners are to implement and report functional behavior assessments (FBAs) that are consistent with both the research literature and the law, both federal and state. However, the literature regarding how best to document the FBA process is underdeveloped. A review of applied behavior analytic and school psychology literature as…

This commentary provides a review of changes in data reporting in "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport" from Volumes 49 and 59 to 84. Improvements were noted in that all articles reported means, standard deviations, and sample sizes, while most (87%) articles reported an estimate of effect size ("ES"). Additional…

Beginning teachers of scientific technical writing often have little background knowledge in the sciences; thus, they may encounter difficulty in dealing with technical reports. To achieve clear explanations of the effects of scientific experiments, scientific writers need to know the following general principles: (1) the function of all the…

Empirical articles in the "Journal of Education Research" in 1970 and 1980 were compared to determine whether there were qualitative differences. Quality indicators used included statistics, focus of study, external funding, type of study, type of explanation, and reference characteristics. (Author/PP)

Examines literature written about annual reports to identify trends in research and determine areas of future study. Categorizes articles as related to regulations and guidelines, summary annual reports, online annual reports, rhetorical analysis of annual reports, readability and accessibility of annual reports, methods of conveying negative…

The author critically reviews recent suggestions from Buchmann, Fenstermacher, and Zumwalt that teachers draw their own conclusions from research findings, rather than accepting the conclusions researchers draw. Drawing on Gusfield's analysis of the language of social science, the author considers the suggestions as proposals for the rhetoric that…

The distribution of technical and substantive structural equation modeling (SEM) articles published in psychological journals from 1987 to 1994 was studied through inspection of more than 1,050 abstracts in the "PsycLIT" system. There has been a clear increase in the number of journals and the number of substantive SEM articles. (SLD)

An evaluation of four seventeenth and eighteenth century essays on optics revealed early trends in the evolution of scientific articles. The later articles showed a growing tendency to (1) separate practice from pure knowledge, (2) organize information around problems of knowledge and theory rather than around chronological events, (3) emphasize…

Calls for less repetition in the opening parts of business or technical reports, i.e., in cover letters, prefaces, abstracts, and introductions. Examines theoretical and empirical work on repetition in discourse and on designing effective unrepetitive openings for business and technical reports. (PD)

Analyzed articles appearing between 1970 and 1978 in four student affairs journals to determine types of articles published and institutional rates of productivity. Authors from a small proportion of institutions were overrepresented. Compared with research articles, few literature reviews were published. (Author)

Relies on a study of articles on agronomy and engineering to argue that teachers of technical style need to examine more closely the structures used by technical writers, particularly subordinate clauses that may be a means of distinguishing the "languages" of various technical disciplines. (EL)