A Contrastive Study On Citation Form And Function In Results And Discussion Sections In MA Theses And Journal Articles

Citation, as an integral part of academic discourse, has received much attention both at home and abroad. The present study attempts to make an investigation into citation form and function in R&D sections in Chinese MA theses and published journal articles from the field of applied linguistics. Based on Swales'(1990) classification on citation form and Thompson's (2001,2005) sub-categories, this thesis first analyzes the use of citations of the two writer groups, aiming to find out similarities and differences in citation forms and functions. Furthermore, a newly-built framework of rhetorical functions of citations is proposed in current study to explore writers'real intention when using citations, which will provide some implications for the learning and teaching of citations in academic discourse.The present thesis mainly focuses on two research questions:(1) What features do the two writer groups present in choosing citation forms in R&D sections? (2) What features do the two writer groups present in terms of citation functions?To answer these questions, two sub-corpora, Master's Theses Corpus (MAC) and Research Article Corpus (RAC) are established. The former contains the R&D sections in 30 MA theses while the latter consists of the corresponding sections in 40 published research articles from international linguistic journals. All the samples are from the field of applied linguistics and written during 2010-2015. The following results are obtained from the study:(1) In terms of citation form, Chinese MA candidates use considerably more integral citations than non-integral citations, while the expert writers show greater preference for non-integral citations; on the basis of Thompson's (2001,2005) sub-categories, Chinese MA candidates tend to foreground the cited authors while expert writers emphasize the claims and arguments in previous research; (2) From the perspective of the newly-built framework, MA students employ a high percentage of citations to display knowledge or refer to previous findings as their own research basis. The two writer groups are similar in using citations to compare results in their studies with those of other researchers, but when it comes to more complex citation functions, such as supporting one's claims or justifying research findings, Chinese students need to improve their skills in this regard.This thesis has made an attempt to explore citation form and function in R&D sections by a contrastive study. It not only serves to help Chinese English learners understand and use citations better, but also provides some implications and suggestions for the teaching and learning of English academic writing.