Cohesion in the abstracts of undergraduate dissertations: An Intra-disciplinary study in a Ghanaian University

Abstract

Following the work of Santos (1996), studies on research articles and dissertation abstracts have elicited considerable attention. The present research examines grammatical cohesion in the Language and Literature abstracts of undergraduate dissertations presented to the Department of English of a public university in Ghana – the University of Cape Coast (UCC). A total of 50 abstracts (25 each from Language and Literature) constituted the data set for the study. Using mixed research design and drawing on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) influential theory of cohesion, the study points to three key findings. First, of Halliday and Hasan’s four grammatical cohesive devices (that is, conjunction, reference, substitution, and ellipses) reference and conjunction are preponderantly used. Second, the use of these grammatical devices in the Language and Literature abstracts evinces more similarities than differences. Third, although undergraduate students studying English at the University of Cape Coast do use a range of grammatical cohesive devices, they seem to lack sophistication in their use. The findings of this study have implications for pedagogy, theory, academic writing and further research