An academic abstract is the single most concentrated sample of scholarly Turkish you can find: in four or five sentences it packs every marker of the register — the formal-present -mAktAdIr, agent-deleting impersonal passives, and clause-deep nominalizations like … olduğu görülmektedir ("it is seen that … is the case") — because its whole job is to compress an entire study into a paragraph. That makes annotating one abstract the most efficient way to learn to read journal Turkish: master these few sentences and you can read the rest. The abstract below is original, composed for this guide in authentic academic register — it reports no real study and reproduces no copyrighted text. Read it once as a wall, then watch it come apart sentence by sentence.
The abstract
Bu çalışmada, kentleşme sürecinin yerel topluluklar üzerindeki etkileri incelenmektedir.
In this study, the effects of the urbanization process on local communities are examined. (sentence 1: the aim)
Saha araştırması kapsamında elde edilen veriler nitel yöntemlerle çözümlenmiş ve katılımcıların büyük bölümünün geleneksel bağlarını koruduğu tespit edilmiştir.
The data obtained within the scope of the field research were analysed by qualitative methods, and it was determined that the great majority of participants preserve their traditional ties. (sentence 2: method + a finding)
Bulgular, ekonomik dönüşümün toplumsal dayanışmayı zayıflatmadığını, aksine yeni biçimler altında sürdürdüğünü göstermektedir.
The findings show that economic transformation does not weaken social solidarity but rather sustains it under new forms. (sentence 3: the interpretation)
Bu bağlamda, yerleşim politikalarının yalnızca fiziksel değil, kültürel boyutları da dikkate alınarak tasarlanması gerektiği değerlendirilmektedir.
In this context, it is assessed that settlement policies should be designed by taking into account not only physical but also cultural dimensions. (sentence 4: the implication)
Çalışmanın, ilgili yazına hem kuramsal hem de yöntemsel açıdan katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.
It is thought that the study will contribute to the relevant literature both theoretically and methodologically. (sentence 5: the contribution claim)
Sentence by sentence
Sentence 1 — "Bu çalışmada … incelenmektedir." Find the verb first: incelenmektedir = "is (being) examined." This is the formal-present -mAktA + the assertive -DIr: incele- ("examine") → passive incelen- → -mekte → -dir. It is an impersonal passive — there is no "I" or "we"; the effects simply "are examined." The locative bu çalışmada ("in this study") is the standard self-reference of academic prose, replacing the English "this paper / we." Between them sits the object, itself an izafet chain: kentleşme süreci-nin … etki-ler-i = "the effects of the urbanization process," with yerel topluluklar üzerinde-ki ("on local communities", the relativising -ki) modifying it. So the spine is [in this study] [the effects-of-X-on-Y] are-examined — subject deleted, object front-loaded, verb impersonal.
Sentence 2 — "… çözümlenmiş ve … koruduğu tespit edilmiştir." Two impersonal-passive verbs joined by ve. The first, çözümlenmiş ("were analysed", passive -mIş), takes the subject veriler ("the data"), itself elaborated by a participle: saha araştırması kapsamında elde edilen veriler = "the data obtained within the scope of the field research" (elde edilen = "obtained", a -An passive participle, with no relative pronoun, sitting before its noun). The second clause hides the most important academic structure on this page: koruduğu tespit edilmiştir = "it was determined that [they] preserve." Here koruduğu is a nominalized clause — koru- ("preserve") + the -DIk participle + third-person possessive -u — meaning "[their] preserving / that they preserve." Its genitive subject is katılımcıların büyük bölümü-nün ("the great majority of the participants'"), and the whole nominalized package is the object of tespit edilmiştir ("was determined"). English uses a that-clause ("it was determined that the majority preserve…"); Turkish folds the entire clause into a single -DIğI noun.
Sentence 3 — "Bulgular … sürdürdüğünü göstermektedir." The frame is simple — Bulgular … göstermektedir = "The findings show" (-mAktA, here active because findings can "show"). But the object is a double nominalization under one verb: [ekonomik dönüşümün toplumsal dayanışmayı zayıflatmadığını], [aksine … sürdürdüğünü] = "that economic transformation does not weaken social solidarity, but rather sustains it." Both zayıflatmadığını (negative: zayıflat-ma-dığı-nı, "that-it-does-not-weaken-it") and sürdürdüğünü (sürdür-düğü-nü, "that-it-sustains-it") are -DIğInI clause-nouns sharing the genitive subject ekonomik dönüşümün ("economic transformation's"). Notice the accusative -nI on each: the nominalized clause is the definite object of "show," so it must be case-marked like any object. This is the sentence English speakers drown in — three layers (genitive subject → nominalized verb → accusative case) compressed into two words.
Sentence 4 — "… tasarlanması gerektiği değerlendirilmektedir." A triple stack, and the densest on the page. Innermost: tasarlanması = "its being designed" (tasarla- → passive tasarlan- → -mAsı, a -mA nominalization). Around it: tasarlanması gerektiği = "that it should be designed" (gerek- "be necessary" + -DIk + possessive → another clause-noun, "that-its-being-designed-is-necessary"). Outermost: … değerlendirilmektedir = "it is assessed (that…)", the impersonal-passive -mAktA verb taking the whole stack as its object. Threaded through is the converb dikkate alınarak ("by taking into account", -ArAk on a passive verb) and the yalnızca … değil … da ("not only … but also …") frame. Read inside-out: designed → should be designed → it is assessed that it should be designed.
Sentence 5 — "… katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir." The closing contribution claim follows the identical template, now in the future: sağlayacağı = "that it will contribute" (sağla- + -(y)AcAk participle + possessive, the future counterpart of -DIk). Its genitive subject is çalışmanın ("the study's"), and the matrix verb düşünülmektedir ("it is thought") is once more an impersonal passive in -mAktA. The hedge is deliberate: the author never claims "this study contributes," only that "it is thought that it will contribute" — depersonalized modesty is itself a feature of the register.
How to read against your instincts
English builds an academic sentence as subject – verb – that-clause: "We found that X." Turkish does the opposite on all three counts. The subject ("we") is deleted and the verb made passive (bulunmuştur "it was found"). The verb comes last, in -mAktAdIr or -mIştIr, and you must find it first to know what kind of sentence you are in. And the "that"-clause does not exist as a clause at all — it is a noun built with -DIğI / -(y)AcAğI plus a case ending, with its own subject demoted to the genitive. So your three English reflexes — look for the subject, expect the verb early, wait for "that" — all fail. The working method is the reverse: locate the final -mAktAdIr / -mIştIr verb, ask "examined/seen/shown/thought what?", and then peel the answer from the outside in, stripping each case suffix and possessive until you reach the bare verb at the core.
Common mistakes
❌ Reading 'incelenmektedir' as 'is examining' (active progressive).
Incorrect — -mAktA on a passive stem (incele-n-) is impersonal: 'is (being) examined', no doer. The -DIr makes it an assertive formal statement, not a progressive.
✅ incelenmektedir = 'is examined' (impersonal, formal-present, agent deleted).
The effects … are examined.
❌ Treating 'koruduğu' as a finite verb 'he/she preserved'.
Incorrect — koru-duğu is a -DIk clause-noun, '[their] preserving / that they preserve', not a finite past; its subject is the genitive katılımcıların.
✅ katılımcıların … koruduğu tespit edilmiştir.
it was determined that the participants preserve …
❌ Dropping the accusative: 'zayıflatmadığı … gösterir' without -nI.
Incorrect — the nominalized clause is the definite object of 'göstermek', so it must take the accusative: zayıflatmadığını, sürdürdüğünü.
✅ … zayıflatmadığını, … sürdürdüğünü göstermektedir.
… show that it does not weaken … but sustains it.
❌ Parsing 'tasarlanması gerektiği değerlendirilmektedir' left to right and giving up.
Incorrect approach — read it inside-out: tasarlanması ('its being designed') → gerektiği ('that it should be') → değerlendirilmektedir ('it is assessed that…').
✅ … tasarlanması gerektiği değerlendirilmektedir.
it is assessed that … should be designed.
Key takeaways
- This abstract is original, composed for this guide in authentic academic register; it reports no real study.
- An abstract concentrates every scholarly marker into a few sentences — annotating one is the fastest route into reading journal Turkish.
- -mAktA(dIr) is the register's heartbeat; find that final verb first, and check whether it is an impersonal passive (incelenmektedir, görülmektedir, değerlendirilmektedir).
- The hardest structure is the -DIğI / -(y)AcAğI clause-noun (koruduğu, zayıflatmadığını, tasarlanması gerektiği, sağlayacağı): an English "that…"-clause folded into a single case-marked noun whose subject is demoted to the genitive. Read it inside-out.
- Vocabulary leans learned (husus, tespit etmek, çözümlemek, kuramsal, bağlam); learn the academic set as a unit. See register/scientific.
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Academic and Scientific StyleC1 — The grammar of scholarly Turkish — the formal present -mAktAdIr, assertive -DIr, impersonal passives, and the heavy nominalization that makes academic prose impersonal and dense.
- Deep Nominalization in Formal TurkishC1 — How formal and academic Turkish turns whole propositions into stacked noun phrases with -mA / -DIK + possessive + case — and how to parse three or more nominalizations nested inside one phrase.
- The Formal Present -mAktA(dIr)C1 — The written, authoritative present-progressive -mAktA / -mAktAdIr — a register-marked equivalent of -(I)yor built on the locative of the -mAk infinitive.
- Non-Fiction Essay: Formal Register (C1)C1 — An original academic essay paragraph annotated to teach the formal register: -mAktAdIr, -DIr assertion, impersonal passives, and suffix-stacked nominalisation.