臺灣碩士論文《討論》章節中引文使用形式與功能之跨領域分析
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2021
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引文在碩士論文寫作中扮演非常重要的角色，有鑒於引文使用之重要性以及如何恰當地在論文中使用引文，對於以英語為第二語言（EFL）的寫作者來說有相當程度之困難性，本研究旨在調查臺灣兩個不同領域中，以英文寫作之論文中引文的使用方式。自臺灣博碩士論文知識加值系統中，擷取20篇應用語言學碩士論文和20篇生物學碩士論文，共計40篇論文之《討論》章節中，分析與研究引文的使用形式和修辭功能。首先，本研究使用Swales（1990）的架構將引文分為融入式和非融入式兩類，再根據Petrić（2007）的九項修辭功能架構將引文進行分類。 研究結果指出，兩組學科的碩士論文作者在《討論》章節中有不同的引文使用方式。在使用形式上，應用語言學的作者幾乎皆會使用融入式與非融入式這兩種引文形式。在引用資料時，應用語言學學科的作者，傾向專注在研究者和被引用的研究資訊上；生物學科的作者則使用較多非融入式引用來強調資訊本身，而不是所引用資料的研究者或作者。在修辭功能方面，引文有著許多不同的修辭功能。具體來說，應用語言學的作者主要使用引文來進行比較，同時應用引文來討論、解釋和證明其研究結果；相較之下，生物學科的作者採用更多的描述性方式，使用歸屬式引文來展示資訊並將其資訊歸屬於所引用的資訊來源。 研究結果顯示本研究中的兩組論文作者皆仍在學習與發展其在碩士論文中使用引文的能力。為了提升作者更有效地使用引文形式和修辭功能之意識，本研究也提出幾項建議，供未來英語寫作者及相關研究參考。
Citation is an important feature which contributes to the success in master's (MA) thesis writing. Given the significance of citation and the considerable difficulty that EFL writers might have in citing appropriately in MA thesis, the current study investigates the citations used in English written Master's theses between two disciplines in Taiwan. The study examines the forms and rhetorical functions of citations in 20 Applied Linguistics and 20 Biology Master's (MA) theses Discussion sections, taken from the National Digital Library of Thesis and Dissertations in Taiwan. First, the citations were classified into integral and non-integral forms using Swales' (1990) framework. The citations were then categorized based on Petrić's (2007) framework, which consists nine items of rhetorical functions. The results show that the writers of the MA thesis from the two disciplines have different citation practices in their Discussions sections. In terms of forms, the AL discipline writers utilized the two forms almost equally. When citing sources, AL writers tend to focus the attention on both the researcher and the information of the cited research.BIO discipline writers, on the other hand, deploy significantly more non-integral citations in order to foreground the information instead of the researchers or authors of the cited sources themselves. In terms of rhetorical functions, the results reveal that the citations are used for a variety of rhetorical functions. Specifically, the AL discipline writers utilized citations mostly for Comparison purposes, alongside the Application citations to provide explanation and justification to why their results were as obtained. By contrast, the BIO discipline writers took a more descriptive approach by using Attribution citations to display knowledge by attributing information to the sources they cited.The results suggest that the two groups of writers in the present study may still be in the process of developing their ability to utilize citations in their MA thesis. Implications are drawn regarding raising writers' awareness in deploying more effective forms and rhetorical functions of citations in MA thesis.
Citation is an important feature which contributes to the success in master's (MA) thesis writing. Given the significance of citation and the considerable difficulty that EFL writers might have in citing appropriately in MA thesis, the current study investigates the citations used in English written Master's theses between two disciplines in Taiwan. The study examines the forms and rhetorical functions of citations in 20 Applied Linguistics and 20 Biology Master's (MA) theses Discussion sections, taken from the National Digital Library of Thesis and Dissertations in Taiwan. First, the citations were classified into integral and non-integral forms using Swales' (1990) framework. The citations were then categorized based on Petrić's (2007) framework, which consists nine items of rhetorical functions. The results show that the writers of the MA thesis from the two disciplines have different citation practices in their Discussions sections. In terms of forms, the AL discipline writers utilized the two forms almost equally. When citing sources, AL writers tend to focus the attention on both the researcher and the information of the cited research.BIO discipline writers, on the other hand, deploy significantly more non-integral citations in order to foreground the information instead of the researchers or authors of the cited sources themselves. In terms of rhetorical functions, the results reveal that the citations are used for a variety of rhetorical functions. Specifically, the AL discipline writers utilized citations mostly for Comparison purposes, alongside the Application citations to provide explanation and justification to why their results were as obtained. By contrast, the BIO discipline writers took a more descriptive approach by using Attribution citations to display knowledge by attributing information to the sources they cited.The results suggest that the two groups of writers in the present study may still be in the process of developing their ability to utilize citations in their MA thesis. Implications are drawn regarding raising writers' awareness in deploying more effective forms and rhetorical functions of citations in MA thesis.
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引文形式, 引文修辭功能, 碩士論文, 討論章節, 應用語言學, 生物學, forms of citation, rhetorical functions of citations, MA thesis, Discussion sections, Applied Linguistics, Biology