Abstract—Citations are crucial rhetorical devices in establishing intellectual linkages, contextualizing research, enhancing persuasiveness. The current study compares five novice writers’ and five expert writers’ form-based citational practice (i.e., frequency and types of citations, and reporting verbs) in the Methods section of research articles. Results show that novice writers cite less in the Methods section as a blind spot than expert writers. Although novice writers share a similar preference for non-integral citations as experts, novice writers in general are less capable of exploiting diverse denotive and evaluative reporting verbs.
Index Terms—Novice writers, expert writers, citational practice, Methods section
Bao Yue and Zhang Yi are the School of Foreign Studies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China.
Zhang Zequan is from School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University, China.
*Correspondence: 1476755540@qq.com (B.Y.)
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Cite: Bao Yue, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Zequan, "Novice and Expert Writers’ Citational Practice in the Methods Section of Research Articles," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 428-432, 2023.