The previous studies on abstracts (e.g., Santos, 1996; Samraj, 2002; Pho, 2008) illustrate that disciplinary variation in research article abstracts is discernible. However, the studies of abstracts from two related disciplines are still limited. The present study aimed to explore the rhetorical moves of abstracts in the fields of linguistics and applied linguistics by investigating 200 abstracts published between 2009-2012. Hyland's (2000) model of five rhetorical moves was chosen as the analytical framework for the rhetorical structure. Findings indicated that there were three conventional moves in abstracts in linguistics, while there were four conventional moves in abstracts in applied linguistics. The findings have significant pedagogical implications for academic writing for novice writers in the two disciplines.