The research article (RA) abstract is the first section researchers read to determine its relevance to their interests. Researchers need to possess an implicit knowledge of the rhetorical move structure and organization of this section. Unlike most scientific disciplines, political science RA abstracts are unstructured, that is, with no headings (or moves), which makes it more challenging. To the best of our knowledge, the rhetorical move structure in high readership political science RA abstracts has not been researched. This study investigated (a) the rhetorical move structure in 120 political science RA abstracts from six high-impact journals, (b) the most common move patterns, and (c) the move(s) occupying most textual space. The findings indicated the lack of obligatory moves. A move structure model for writing a political science RA abstract is proposed, comprising four conventional moves (Introduction [I]–Purpose [P]–Methods [M]–Results [R]) and two optional step/move, namely, Research Gap step and Discussion [D] move. The results also showed that the first most frequent move pattern is I-P-M-R-D, followed by I-P-M-R and the I-P-R-D. The fact that an RA abstract summarizes the whole RA results in move embedding, particularly in the four moves, I-P-M-R. The findings revealed the importance of the Results move as it occupied nearly one third of text space. The results may contribute to the fields of discourse and genre studies. They may provide invaluable insights for novice political science researchers attempting to publish their work in high-ranking journals. The proposed move structure model can act as a guide for English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/English for Specific Purposes (ESP) tutors and political science authors.

研究文章 (RA) 摘要是研究人员阅读的第一部分，以确定其与他们的兴趣的相关性。研究人员需要对本节的修辞动作结构和组织有一个内隐的了解。与大多数科学学科不同，政治科学 RA 摘要是非结构化的，即没有标题（或移动），这使其更具挑战性。据我们所知，尚未研究高读者群政治学 RA 摘要中的修辞动作结构。本研究调查了 (a) 来自六种高影响力期刊的 120 篇政治科学 RA 摘要中的修辞动作结构，(b) 最常见的动作模式，以及 (c) 占据大部分文本空间的动作。调查结果表明缺乏强制性举措。提出了一种用于撰写政治科学 RA 摘要的动作结构模型，包括四个常规动作（Introduction [I]-Purpose [P]-Methods [M]-Results [R]）和两个可选步骤/动作，即 Research Gap步骤和讨论 [D] 移动。结果还表明，第一个最频繁的移动模式是 IPMRD，其次是 IPMR 和 IPRD。RA 摘要总结了整个 RA 的事实导致移动嵌入，特别是在四个移动 IPMR 中。调查结果揭示了结果移动的重要性，因为它占据了近三分之一的文本空间。结果可能有助于话语和体裁研究领域。它们可能为试图在高级期刊上发表他们的工作的新手政治科学研究人员提供宝贵的见解。