A cross-language study on citation practice in PhD theses

Authors

  • Carmen Soler Monreal
  • Luz Gil Salom
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2011/2/149641
Keywords: citation practice, reporting verbs, academic writing, PhD theses, evaluation, stance, variation, cross-language study

Abstract

Citation practice provides justification for arguments and allows a writer to indicate a rhetorical gap for her/his research and adopt a tone of authority. Claims must be supported with evidence, and writers must demonstrate an understanding of approaches and knowledge in their fields of specialisation, in order to persuade the examiners that the thesis is worthy of the award of a doctorate (Thompson, 2005b). Candidates need to keep the adequate interpersonal relationship with the immediate audience (the examiners). They have to evaluate the previous research in an area of study and to be respectful with previous claims from authorities in the disciplines. They also need to position themselves in relation to other disciplinary members and highlight their individual claims. This paper investigates contrastively how interactional resources of citation and, in particular reporting verbs, are deployed in the literature review chapters of PhD theses written in English and in Spanish.

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Author Biographies

Carmen Soler Monreal

is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. She has taught courses in ESP and EAP and published textbooks for the learning of English for computing. She has also published monographs and articles on genre analysis and contrastive studies between English and Spanish based on specialised corpora. Her research areas of interest include contrastive, genre-based and pragmatic approaches to academic writing in the field of engineering.

Luz Gil Salom

is Senior Lecturer in English Language and ESP at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Her main research interests lie in the field of genre analysis, especially the study of academic discourse in the field of English for science and technology. She has studied pragmatic and rhetorical aspects of scientific English (evaluation, modality, and move-step rhetorical structures). She is the author of monographs and articles in contrastive analysis between English and Spanish based on specialised written corpora.
Published
01-12-2011
How to Cite
Soler Monreal, C., & Gil Salom, L. (2011). A cross-language study on citation practice in PhD theses. International Journal of English Studies, 11(2), 53–75. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2011/2/149641
Issue
Vol. 11 No. 2 (2011): New Developments in Corpus Linguistics
Section
Articles

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