Form and Function of Citations in Discussion Sections of Research Articles

Research articles, as the preferred genre for transferring knowledge, have attracted the attention of many researchers in various fields. It is now generally accepted that academic writing is not presenting information objectively but is a social activity by which the authors negotiate with their audience to gain community acceptance for their findings. One of the ways to achieve such an acceptance is by establishing intertextual links to prior research using citation. Due to its importance, it has been well researched and several researchers have suggested typologies for the form and function of citation in academic writing. However, few studies have focused on the rhetorical function of citation. Adopting Swales’ (1990) and Samraj’s (2013) typologies to analyze 45 research articles from five high impact journals in the field of Applied Linguistics, this paper aims to identity the functions that citation serve in Discussion sections of these articles. The analysis shows that in addition to comparing findings with literature, which is identified in various genre studies, citations are used to support arguments of writers such as their explanation and interpretation of their results and their suggestions. It is concluded that by referring to literature, linguists contextualize their propositions and try to persuade their audience of their soundness.