Warum schreiben Promovierende bessere Abstracts als Studierende?
Genrewissen schlägt Textverständnis und Forschungskompetenz
Rainer Watermann, Matthias Nückles, Jörg Wittwer y Alexandra Winter-Hölzl
Cite this publication as
Rainer Watermann, Matthias Nückles, Jörg Wittwer, Alexandra Winter-Hölzl, Warum schreiben Promovierende bessere Abstracts als Studierende? (2016), Beltz Juventa, 69469 Weinheim, ISSN: 0340-4099, 2016 #01, S.7
25
accesses
accesses
Descripción / Abstract
Aufgrund der größeren Erfahrung im wissenschaftlichen Schreiben sollten Promovierende bessere Abstracts verfassen als Studierende. Eine offene Frage ist dabei, worauf die Unterschiede in der Textproduktionsqualität basieren. Im Rahmen einer quasi-experimentellen Studie verfassten25 Promovierende und 29 Studierende der Bildungswissenschaften je zwei wissenschaftliche Abstracts. Die Abstracts der Promovierenden erwiesen sich in Hinblick auf die Qualität des wissenschaftlichen Schreibstils und den Grad der Fokussierung und Verdichtung relevanter Informationen klar überlegen. Allerdings waren beide Probandengruppen in hohem und vergleichbarem Maße in der Lage, die essenziellen rhetorischen Schritte eines Abstracts zu realisieren. Aus Mediatoranalysen ging hervor, dass die Gruppenunterschiede hinsichtlich der Abstractqualität maßgeblich durch das Genrewissen über rhetorische Prinzipien des Forschungsartikels erklärt werden können. Das Textverständnis mediierte partiell den Einfluss der Schreiberfahrung auf die Fähigkeit zur Fokussierung und Verdichtung relevanter Informationen. Formale Aspekte bildungswissenschaftlicher Forschungskompetenz und die selbstberichtete Deutschnote hatten keinen prädiktiven Wert über die Variable Schreiberfahrung hinaus. Die Fähigkeit zum Verfassen wissenschaftlicher Abstracts scheint eine Fähigkeit zu sein, die am besten durch spezifisches Wissen über das Genre Forschungsartikel erklärt werden kann und von anderen Aspekten der Forschungskompetenz unterschieden werden sollte.
Schlüsselwörter: wissenschaftliches Schreiben, Genrewissen, Textqualität, Textverständnis, bildungswissenschaftliche Forschungskompetenz
PhD students should be better abstract writers than undergraduate students because of their greater experience in scientific writing. However, little is known about the cognitive conditions on which the ability to write scientific abstracts is based. To answer this question, we conducted a quasi-experimental study. Twenty-five PhD students and 29 undergraduates in Educational Science and Educational Psychology wrote two abstracts about different topics. The PhD students clearly outperformed the undergraduates with regard to scientific writing style and the degree to which they focused on and condensed relevant information. At the same time, both groups were highly successful in implementing essential rhetorical moves. Subsequent mediator analyses revealed that the influence of writing experience on abstract quality was mainly mediated by the participants´ genre knowledge about the empirical journal article. In addition, text comprehension partially mediated the effect of writing experience on the degree to which the participants were able to focus on and condense relevant information. Formal aspects of educational research literacy and self-reported grades in German literature had no predictive value beyond writing experience. Hence, the ability to write scientific abstracts can best be explained by the writers´ genre knowledge. It is a special ability that should be differentiated from other aspects of educational research literacy.
Keywords: scientific writing, genre knowledge, text quality, text comprehension, educational research literacy
Schlüsselwörter: wissenschaftliches Schreiben, Genrewissen, Textqualität, Textverständnis, bildungswissenschaftliche Forschungskompetenz
PhD students should be better abstract writers than undergraduate students because of their greater experience in scientific writing. However, little is known about the cognitive conditions on which the ability to write scientific abstracts is based. To answer this question, we conducted a quasi-experimental study. Twenty-five PhD students and 29 undergraduates in Educational Science and Educational Psychology wrote two abstracts about different topics. The PhD students clearly outperformed the undergraduates with regard to scientific writing style and the degree to which they focused on and condensed relevant information. At the same time, both groups were highly successful in implementing essential rhetorical moves. Subsequent mediator analyses revealed that the influence of writing experience on abstract quality was mainly mediated by the participants´ genre knowledge about the empirical journal article. In addition, text comprehension partially mediated the effect of writing experience on the degree to which the participants were able to focus on and condense relevant information. Formal aspects of educational research literacy and self-reported grades in German literature had no predictive value beyond writing experience. Hence, the ability to write scientific abstracts can best be explained by the writers´ genre knowledge. It is a special ability that should be differentiated from other aspects of educational research literacy.
Keywords: scientific writing, genre knowledge, text quality, text comprehension, educational research literacy