Abstracts, introductions and discussions: How far do they differ in style?

James Hartley (), James W. Pennebaker and Claire Fox
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James Hartley: University of Keele
James W. Pennebaker: University of Texas
Claire Fox: University of Keele

Scientometrics, 2003, vol. 57, issue 3, No 6, 389-398

Abstract: Abstract Two computer-based style programs were used to analyse the Abstracts, Introductions and Discussions of 80 educational psychology journal articles. Measures were made of the overall readability of the texts as well as of sentence lengths, difficult and unique words, articles, prepositions and pronouns. The results showed that the Abstracts scored worst on most of these measures of readability, the Introductions came next, and the Discussions did best of all. However, although the mean scores between the sections differed, the authors wrote in stylistically consistent ways across the sections. Thus readability was variable across the sections but consistent within the authors.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1023/A:1025008802657

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