A Comparative Study Of Citation Practices By Chinese Undergraduates And Native Experts

Citation is a prominent feature of academic writing (Hyland 1999). Proper use of it can yield high-quality writing and show a writer’s expertise in his or her specific discipline. In contrast, improper use of citation may lead to patch-writing and even cause accusations of plagiarism (Bloch & Chi 1995). Chinese students are often reported as problematic in their citation practices (e.g., Campbell 1990; Shi 2004). To find out students’problems in citing and to provide insights to the improvement of writing instruction in China, the present study made an attempt to compare the citation practices by Chinese undergraduates and native English experts in the field of applied linguistics.A total of 60 texts were analyzed, including 30 BA theses written by English majors at Nanjing University and 30 research articles published on top international journals written by native-English speakers. The citation density and age, the citation forms and the citation functions were investigated. Interviews were also conducted to reveal students’perceptions on citation use. It was discovered that the experts cited more densely than the students did with an obvious preference towards non-integral citations. The students, on the other hand, relied more heavily on integral citations which sometimes interrupted the flow of their running words. In terms of the citation age, the students used old citations more frequently. while the experts did the opposite. As to the citation functions, the students over-relied on Attribution, the rhetorically simplest citation, and showed a limited application of other non-attributional citations compared with the experts. In particular, the students were found to use significantly fewer Support, Further Reference, Comparison and Exemplification citations than the experts did.Based on the above findings, this research offers both theoretical and pedagogical implications. Theoretically, the researcher established a new typology of citation functions specifically designed for the linguistic texts. Practically, the research findings suggest that awareness of the importance of citations should be raised for both instructors and students. Instructors are advised to give students more explicit guidance on the use of citation functions and citation strategies while students are encouraged to accumulate more proper expressions of citation and learn from model articles written by native experts.