Source Use and Reporting Verbs in L2 Academic Writing

【Abstract】In academic writing， authors usually use the relevant literature to provide the foundations and support for their own research. In the process， the literature they borrow are the sources for their connecting with the academic community. While referring to those sources， reporting verbs are used to indicate the stance authors have for the previous study. The present paper reviews the relevant research on source use and reporting verbs， and hopes to present a clear map of source use and reporting verbs in academic writing.

【Key words】academic writing； source use； reporting verbs

【作者簡介】王歡（1982.08- ），女，滿族，黑龍江人，西藏民族大學(xué)外語學(xué)院，副教授，研究方向：英語教學(xué)。

I. Introduction

English becomes a dominant language in international academic community. The wide use of English for academic purpose enforces learners to acquire the ability to use English academically. Usually， academic writing needs learners to read large amount of literature and write critical literature review. A critical literature review means that the writer should at first studies previous work in the field with some insights and also present to what extent these studies are relevant and supportive to the writers study. In other words， lliterature review is to develop an argument based on previous studies to present the necessity of the current study and the contribution it could make to the field.

II. Source use

Sources use in academic writing has been always a focus in academic writing. It is evident that appropriate use of source materials plays a more beneficial role in helping students learning academic writing. Often research involves reading literature ask writer to critically review relevant literature. The major goal of reading is to review work by others that can eventually be cited in the literature review of the thesis. An important aspect in judging good literature review is appropriate use of source materials into writers own argument （Kwan （2009）. In order to examine how students perceive source use and their practical behaviour in using source in their writing. There is a special issue in Journal of English for Academic purposes dealing with source use in academic writing.

The reasons for which form of source to be selected have been discussed in literature. In spite of the importance of source use， EFL students always feel at loss and are confused with such an issue. Although many guidebooks on format of correct source use have been published， students still find it difficult to follow in practical writing. In academic writing， writers need to provide the source of both direct and indirect quotation. Otherwise， it is likely to be regarded as plagiarism. One of the concerns by supervisors is to warn students the serious consequence of plagiarism.

According to Hirvela and Du （2013）， the importance of paraphrase is to show others the authors ability to grasp the main ideas of the original texts. And， usually， quotation is a way of “knowledge telling”， while paraphrase “knowledge transforming”. Paraphrase indicates a scholars ability to present original ideas from the source text in a new way. In paraphrase， the original gist cannot be lost， and writers in-depth understanding should also be exhibited. However， in their study， they found that students performance in designed paraphrase exercise was not in consistency with their act in writing research paper. They explain that the latter needs to make contextual decision while the former does not require. Paraphrase is a process of understanding， interpreting， and synthesizing sources into one own writing. Thus， it is not just a writing skill. It also shows others how writers incorporate others ideas into his/her argumentation. While， successful paraphrase is rather difficult， one of reasons account for this is high requirements on writers language proficiency.

III. Reporting verbs

In the process of L2 postgraduate study， non-native speakers usually encounter more difficulties that native speakers in academic writing， because for L2 writers second language proficiency hinder their development of presentation skills in writing. Kwan （2009： 180） When ideas are collected， syntactic or even lexical choice would be important in determining whether those ideas could be appropriately integrated into students writing. Many researchers have conducted studies examining the use of linguistic resources in students writing. Coherence， cohesion is very important in literature review part， as the incorporation of others findings and claims to support our own argument should be in consistent with each other. The sources used should be relevant and could be logically connected.

Reviewing involves presents reviewed articles argument and assessment of the authors ideas. They argue that “rhetorical move has a specific purpose that needs to be realized by appropriate linguistic expressions. ” Thompson， Morton and Storch （2013， p. 99） argue that “selecting and incorporating source materials effectively into academic writing requires students not only to be familiar with defined areas of disciplinary content， but also to represent themselves through their writing as articulate and authoritative authors.” Swales （1990） classifies two types of citation： integral citation （cited author in the citing sentence， usually followed by a reporting verb. e. g. Spivey （1997） found that…） and non-integral citation （author usually in brackets at the end of cited information. e. g. …fulfil their content courses writing requirements （Leki and Carson， 1994））. In the first type， writers usually add a reporting verbs which either indicate authors stance or writers understanding of such a stance. Writers by this way introduce their ideas. Writers use reporting verbs to show their judgements and make communication with the community.

It might be concluded that the range of citation forms and functions is related to writers interpretation and synthesis of source materials. In other words， the more the number of reporting verbs is， the more authoritative the text will appear. Though there are other ways of presenting the writing style， the use of reporting verbs could be an indicative marker. An important lexical feature in quoting and paraphrasing is the use of reporting verbs. Researchers identify use of reporting verbs in research papers with corpus-based approach and serve the purpose of instruction. However， few research examining students use of reporting verbs in their writing. These studies usually focused on students textual borrowing. They did not examine what students have learned and what they actually tried hard to use. The persuasive purpose of using reporting verbs is employed by writers. Source use is a way connecting to the discipline community. Reporting verbs can tell readers whether the writer agrees or not what he/she has cited. The cited words should have been examined by the writer. Also it is a way to show the scholarly quality of their writing （or seemingly scholar）. The use of reporting verbs is also a writing skill. The source use is also a way of preventing doubt from readers about the validity of certain ideas. The more source is used， the less original； while， the less source used， the less academic or scholar. Students always in a dilemma about how many sources are appropriate in writing. In addition， direct quotation and indirect quotation is also the case. Whether citing facts and ideas/opinions are different.

IV. Conclusion

Notwithstanding researchers identify the frequent words， the list of academic words only tend to be acquired in contextual use. Besides， studies focusing on EFL students difficulties or challenges may create an illusion that L2 learners are always confused by problems in their learning. More attention should be devoted to their learning process and their gains. Therefore， how EFL learners use these words in their authentic wirings need investigation. In recent years， more attentions have been given to phraseology in academic writing. Previous studies has reported on students perception and practices concerning source use as revealed through interview， text analysis， think-loud protocol， questionnaires. Few research focus on reporting verbs use in students writings.

References：

[1]Hirvela，A.& Du，Q.（2013）.“Why am I paraphrasing？”： Undergraduate ESL writers engagement with source-based academic writing and reading.Journal of English for Academic Purposes，12，pp.87-98.

[2]Hyland，K.（1999）.Academic attribution：citation and the construction of disciplinary knowledge.Applied Linguistics，20，pp.341-367.

[3]Hyland，K.2003.Second language writing.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.