Abstract
This chapter presents the findings of the investigation into the use of citations in the two major rhetorical sections (viz., the Introduction and LR) of the introductory phase of ERAs in AL and CE. Cross-disciplinary and cross-generic variations in citation density (Sect. 7.2), the use of different types of citation forms (Sect. 7.3.1) and RVs (Sect. 7.4), and the rhetorical functions of citations (Sect. 7.3.2) are the focus of this study. The comparative analysis of citation use on such dimensions in Introduction and LR is significant and interesting since both of them are the potential locations for reviewing previous literature in the ERA, thereby providing possible contexts for the (intense) use of citations and RVs. A summary of the major findings yielded from the comparison concludes this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
“I+LR” represents an under-researched yet frequently-used structural format for the introductory phase of the RA that contains two independent sections: an Introduction section and a subsequent Literature Review section.
- 2.
As stated in Chaps. 2 and 3, non-citations are citations where references are made to researchers without the publication year or page. In this study, while a number of citations are identified as “extensive citations” (Swales, 1986), very few integral non-citations were found: 30 non-citations were identified in CALL and only one non-citation in the remaining three sub-corpora (viz., CALI, CCEL, and CCEI).
- 3.
According to Swales (2014: 135), “parenthetical plonking” refers to the non-reporting non-integral citing style, where the attributed references are encapsulated within the parentheses and no reporting verbs are used. Swales found that this citation patterning was prevalently used when student writers accounted for the background related to the main arguments. This is in contrast to “intertextual storytelling”, another distinct citing style with however much more frequent use of various RVs and integral citations to detail and critique specific studies in the field.
- 4.
Despite 17% of RVs in the sub-corpus CALI identified as Cognition Acts RVs, a much higher percentage than those found in the other three sub-corpora, the quantity of Cognition Acts RVs used is still quite small compared to Research Acts RVs and Discourse Acts RVs in the four sub-corpora.
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Lin, (. (2020). Citation Use in the Introductory Part. In: Perspectives on the Introductory Phase of Empirical Research Articles. Corpora and Intercultural Studies, vol 5. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9204-8_7
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