Integration of sources in academic writing: A corpus-based study of citation practices in essay writing in two departments at the University of Botswana

Boitumelo T Ramoroka

doi:10.4102/rw.v5i1.41

Abstract

The ability to cite sources appropriately is an important feature of academic writing. Academic writers are expected to integrate ideas of others into their texts and take a stance towards the reported material as they develop their arguments. Despite this importance, research has shown that citation presents considerable difficulties for students, particularly non-native English speakers. Such difficulties include using citations effectively in writing and understanding them in reading, expressing one’s voice and signalling citations in writing so that there is a clear distinction between one’s ideas and those derived from source materials. This study investigates the types of reporting verbs used by students to refer to the work of others and the extent to which they evaluate the work of others in their writing. It draws from a corpus of approximately 80 000 words from essays written by students in two departments at the University of Botswana (Botswana). The findings show that students used more informing verbs, associated with the neutral passing of information from the source to the reader, without interpreting the information cited, compared with argumentative verbs (which signify an evaluative role). The results of the study underscore the importance of teaching reporting verbs in the English for academic purposes classroom and making students aware of their evaluative potential.

Highlights

IntroductionThe analysis focuses on how students use citations to report the work of other writers, and it focuses on reporting verbs used when citing and the range of reporting verbs used by students to report the work of other writers
This article describes and interprets findings from a small corpus of non-native undergraduate essays from two departments at the University of Botswana
Primary Education students can be regarded as the more experienced writers compared to Media Studies students because they are teachers who have been in the field for a longer time

Summary

Introduction

The analysis focuses on how students use citations to report the work of other writers, and it focuses on reporting verbs used when citing and the range of reporting verbs used by students to report the work of other writers. Citation is an important convention of academic writing. It enables writers to develop their arguments persuasively and effectively and establish their authority and credibility. Citation can be viewed as ‘attribution of propositional content to another source’ (Hyland 2002b:115) and ‘central to social context of persuasion’ (Hyland 1999:342). The content can be attributed to another source by the explicit use of reporting verbs. Barton (1993:747) calls this evidentials of citation, which writers use to place a ‘perspective on the literature’. The content can be attributed to another source by the explicit use of reporting verbs. Barton (1993:747) calls this evidentials of citation, which writers use to place a ‘perspective on the literature’. Thomas and Hawes (1994:129) refer to an evidential as a ‘metalinguistic representation of an idea from other sources’

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion