Errors Committed by EFL Students in writing abstracts in Graduation Projects Department of English at Azzaytuna University

Abstract

Formulating the abstract of any academic research paper or graduate project is  essential elements. It enables readers to identify the basic  content quickly and accurately such as the research problem, the objectives, the methodology and the key findings of the graduate project. Therefore, the current research paper aims to identify and analyze the common errors committed by the undergraduate students in writing the abstract of their projects. Samples of abstract  were selected from the graduate projects done by EFL students in Faculty of Languages and Translation at Azzaytuna University.  A qualitative research method was adopted and the data were collected and analyzed using the framework proposed by Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982). The errors were classified into four types omission, addition, misformation and misordering. The findings showed that  students made 63 errors in their abstracts. The researcher expected that the results of the study  can help  professors of English Language to pay attention to such errors. The researcher also recommends that projects should direct students to improve their writing skills to avoid doing such mistakes,  especially in  abstract writing.