CitationFormsinScientificTexts.pdfVIP

Citation Forms in Scientific Texts: Similarities and Differences in L 1 and L2 Professional Writing Akiko Okamura, Takasaki City University of Economics, Jap an A bstract This study investigates the use of citation forms in 30 scientific research articles in biology, chemistry and physics written by writers in L 1 and L2 contexts. Citation forms were divided into integral (syntactically integrated citation) and non-integral (syntactically non-integrated). Integral citation was further categorized into subj ect position, non-subj ect position (passive; clause constituent) and noun phrase (adjunct agent structure; phrase con stituent), such as “according to.” Findings show that although few papers were cited in integral citation across the disciplines, writers in the L2 context mainly employed them in a subj ect position while writers in the L 1 context spread them over three positions, creating stylistic variation. Key words: L 1 and L2 writers, citation forms, citation analysis, scientific discourse 1. Introduction To be able to produce academic texts in English, non-English speaking novice writers need to master various means to strengthen their argument, one of which is thought to be citation (Block Chi 1995; Charles 2006; Dong 1996; Dubois 1988; Harwood 2004; Hyland 1999, 200 1; Salager-Meyer 1999). Non-English speaking novice writers need to learn not only what to cite but also how to cite previous studies (Swales 1986, 1990, 2004). Although disciplinary variation in the use of citation and citation forms has been analyzed previously (Hyland 1999, 2000), relatively little attention has been paid to variation due to the writers ’ mother tongue. It may be the case that L2 writers have more difficulty in the use of citation forms to construct a persuasive argument