Article published In: Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 4:1 (2015) ► pp.101–121
The language of quoting in academic writing
Published online: 17 August 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.4.1.10ver
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.4.1.10ver
Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the language of quoting in (L2) academic writing. To find out whether there are subtle linguistic differences in the use of quotation by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and professional academics who are native speakers of English (NSE), I compare two corpora of scholarly writings: one by upper intermediate and advanced EFL students and one by NSE experts. 1201 Quotes were extracted from the writings and examined for a broad range of lexico-grammatical features relevant to using quotes, including introductions to quotes, lexical items in introducing quotes, ‘special’ quotes, and punctuation surrounding quotes. The findings make clear that EFL students and NSE experts differ significantly on various points in their language of quoting. Making students aware of these differences could make their academic writing more professional, native-like, and sophisticated.
References (31)
Ädel, A., & Garretson, G. (2006). Citation practices across the disciplines: The case of proficient student writing. In M.C. Pérez-Llantada Auría, R. Pló Alastrué, & C.P. Neumann (Eds.), Academic and Professional Communication in the 21st Century: Genres, Rhetoric and the Construction of Disciplinary Knowledge. Proceedings of the 5th International AELFE Conference (pp. 271–280). Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza.
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American sychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.
Bloch, J. (2009). The design of an online concordancing program for teaching about reporting verbs. Language Learning & Technology, 13(1), 59–78.
Borg, E. (2000). Citation practices in academic writing. In P. Thompson (Ed.), Patterns and perspectives: Insights into EAP writing practice (pp. 27–45). Reading: University of Reading.
Campbell, C. (1990). Writing with others’ words: Using background reading text in academic compositions. In B. Kroll (Ed.), Second language writing: Research insights for the classroom (pp. 211–230). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Charles, M. (2006). Phraseological patterns in reporting clauses used in citation: A corpus-based study of theses in two disciplines. English for Specific Purposes, 25(3), 310–331.
Hunston, S. (1995). A corpus study of some English verbs of attribution. Functions of Language, 2(2), 133–158.
Hyland, K. (1999). Academic attribution: Citation and the construction of disciplinary knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 20(3), 341–367.
. (2002). Activity and evaluation: Reporting practices in academic writing. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic discourse (pp. 115–130). Harlow: Pearson Education.
Hyland, T.A. (2009). Drawing a line in the sand: Identifying the borderzone between self and other in EL1 and EL2 citation practices. Assessing Writing, 14(1), 62–74.
Kirszner, L.G., & Mandell, S.R. (2008). The Wadsworth handbook (8th ed.). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
Modern Language Association of America (2009). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (7th ed.). New York, NY: MLA.
Pecorari, D. (2006). Visible and occluded citation features in postgraduate second-language writing. English for Specific Purposes, 25(1), 4–29.
Petrić, B. (2007). Rhetorical functions of citations in high-and low-rated master’s theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(3), 238–253.
. (2012). Legitimate textual borrowing: Direct quotation in L2 student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(2), 102–117.
Pickard, V. (1995). Citing previous writers: What can we say instead of ‘say’? Hong Kong Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 181, 89–102.
Rose, S.K. (1996). What’s love got to do with it? Scholarly citation practices as courtship rituals. Journal of Language and Learning across the Disciplines, 1(3), 34–48.
Schembri, N. (2009). Citation practices: Insights from interviews with six undergraduate students at the University of Malta. University of Reading Language Studies Working Papers, 11, 16–24.
Shi, L. (2004). Textual borrowing in second language writing. Written Communication, 21(3), 171–200.
. (2008). Textual appropriation and citing behaviors of university undergraduates. Applied Linguistics, 31(1), 1–24.
Stedman, K.D. (2011). Annoying ways people use sources. In C. Lowe & P. Zemliansky (Eds.), Writing spaces: Readings on writing, vol. 21 (pp. 242–256). West Lafayette, Ind.: Parlor Press.
Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Tadros, A. (1993). The pragmatics of text averral and attribution in academic texts. In M. Hoey & J.M. Sinclair (Eds.), Data, description, discourse (pp. 98–114). London: HarperCollins.
Tavecchio, L.M. (2010). Sentence patterns in English and Dutch: A contrastive corpus analysis. Utrecht: LOT.
Thomas, S., & Hawes, T.P. (1994). Reporting verbs in medical journal articles. English for Specific Purposes, 13(2), 129–148.
Thompson, P., & Tribble, C. (2001). Looking at citations: Using corpora in English for academic purposes. Language Learning & Technology, 5(3), 91–105.
Cited by (10)
Cited by ten other publications
Gomez, Julio Cesar
Khamkhien, Attapol
Çıtlak, Tuğba & Hasan Sağlamel
Tan, Xiao & Wei Xu
Ono, Masumi & Bojana Petrić
2022. Direct quotations in the rhetorical structure of literature PhD thesis introductions. English Text Construction 15:1 ► pp. 30 ff.
Hasselgård, Hilde
Burgess, Sally & Pedro Martín-Martín
Docherty, Peter
Wiemeyer, Leonie
2019. Direct quotation in second language writing. In Learner Corpora and Language Teaching [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 92], ► pp. 129 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.