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ERIC Number: EJ1397753
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1814-9448
EISSN: N/A
A Cross-Disciplinary Study on the Forms and Functions of Citations in the Discussion Sections of Master's Theses in Taiwan
Baring, June April M.; Chang, Peichin
Taiwan Journal of TESOL, v20 n2 p39-67 2023
Effective citation contributes to the success in master's (MA) thesis writing. The current study investigates cross-disciplinary citation practice in EFL Master's theses. First, the corpus was compiled by collecting 20 Applied Linguistics (AL) and 20 Biology (BIO) MA theses Discussion sections. The forms and rhetorical functions of citations were then identified and quantified. The results show that the writers from the two disciplines have different citation practices. In terms of forms, the AL discipline writers utilized both integral and non-integral forms almost equally. The BIO discipline writers, on the other hand, deployed significantly more non-integral citations. In terms of rhetorical functions, citations were used by both groups to achieve a variety of rhetorical functions. The AL discipline writers utilized citations mostly for Comparison and Application to provide explanation and justification. By contrast, the BIO discipline writers took a more descriptive approach by using more Attribution. Overall, the results suggest that while the AL writers seemed to align their citation forms and functions, the BIO writers adopted a more simplified or descriptive approach when citing. The study offers evidence in the need to guide EFL writers of different disciplines to becoming more strategic in their citation practice.
National Chengchi University Department of English. 64 Sec 2 ZhiNan Road, Wenshan District, Taipei 11605, Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel: 886-2-2938-7248; Fax: 886-2-2939-0510; e-mail: tjtesol@nccu.edu.tw; Web site: http://www.tjtesol.org/index.php/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A