Learning Outcomes
This package will help you to:
- distinguish between integral and non-integral in-text references
- use referencing verbs effectively
Integral referencing (author-prominent), highlights the author’s name(s) and uses a reporting verb to introduce the source information. The year of publication is given in brackets after the author’s name. For example:
- Qian (2013) investigates the association between vocabulary knowledge and L2 reading ability.
- Knowing a word, as pointed out by Roberts (1976) and Simmonds (2014), involves much more than associating the form of a word with a simple statement of its meaning.
If you include a direct quotation, the page number is needed, e.g
- In a recent article, Booker (2011, p. 12) maintains that “levels of English in Hong Kong’s universities have remained similar in recent years”.
Non-integral referencing (information-prominent), highlights the information presented. The name and the year of publication, both in brackets, are given before the full stop. For example:
- Vocabulary is often regarded as the most essential aspect of English learning in mainland China (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996).
The table below compares reasons for employing integral and non-integral citations.
| Integral | Non-integral | |
| Reasons for use |
|
|
Quotations in academic writing
Sometimes, quotations are used as part of citations. With a quotation, the original text is unchanged. Note that long quotes are not often used in academic writing. Instead, phrases or even a single word are more commonly quoted. When quoting, you need to make sure these phrases or words fit your context and are used to clearly communicate your intended meaning. See examples below:
- English is still considered as the “high” language in Hong Kong, and is related to “success, stylishness and academic achievement” (Pennington, 1998, p. 13).
- English has never been a second language for “the majority of the population” in Hong Kong although it might once have been a second language for “a small elite of the population” (Palvey, 1998, p. 77).
Using Reporting Verbs
Integral referencing is generally preferred by academic writers as their use of reporting verbs can provide readers with further details regarding the source information and the writer’s attitude towards the information cited.
Task 1 Reporting verbs
Complete the table below by typing the reporting verbs below in the corresponding function box in the table. Some examples are already there to guide you.
Reporting verbs in integral citations
There are many ways to insert a reporting verb into your integral citations. The following three are those most commonly adopted.
- Verbs followed by a preposition
- Chan (2009) defines X as Y
- Wong and Cheung (2007) compare X to Y
- Martins et al. (2008a) apologise for X
- Tong (2011) confuses X with Y
- Gardner, Chiu and Wong (1999) blame X for Y
- Martins et al. (2008b) subscribe to the view that…
- Verbs followed by that
- Bush (2000) contends that students who rarely complete homework …
Other verbs:
argue / assert / believe / demonstrate / discover / dispute / find / imagine / imply / maintain / note / observe / promise / reveal / warn/
- Verbs followed by a noun or ing form
- Worthington et al. (2001) consider the ability of students to …
- Mooney (2003) supports making the exams open book…
Other verbs: describe / discuss / examine / ignore / investigate / justify / refute / reject / study
Choosing appropriate reporting verbs
It is important to choose appropriate verbs in your citations and to understand the meaning of the verbs you have decided to use. In this regard, you need to pay special attention to the following verbs:
1. Say
This verb is not often used as a reporting verb in citations because it is imprecise and does not express the author’s stance on the cited information. Our suggestion is to never use this verb in your citations.
2. Claim
This verb is often used to “express a point that [you] the writer disagrees with” (Bloch, 2010, p 232). Unless you intend to show your suspicion of the statement you are citing, you should not use this verb.
3. Mention
Many students often use this verb the same way as they use point out and note. However, in academic journal articles, this verb is often used to politely criticise the cited opinion. Professional academic writers also use the verb to indicate limited space for a fuller discussion of a topic (Bloch, 2010). We recommend that students be cautious in using this verb in citations.
4. State
This is another reporting verb that requires special attention from students. According to Bloch (2010), this verb is often used to set up a claim that could be criticised in the following sentences. This means if you are positive or neutral about the claims made by the author, you should be careful when using this verb.
Bloch, J. (2010). A concordance-based study of the use of reporting verbs as rhetorical devices in
academic papers. Journal of Writing Research, 2(2), 219-244.
Task 2 Reporting verbs
Which reporting verb is correctly used in the citations below?
Common mistakes made by students in citations
Due to the different sentence structure of Chinese and English, many Chinese students often make mistakes. A typical mistake is topicalisation. This involves using certain language devices (e.g. “For” and “Concerning”) to put the topic at the beginning of a sentence. The topic is often then repeated as a pronoun.
For example:
- For making a gold ring, it involves several complex steps (Finney, 2012).
-
Making a gold ring involves several complex steps (Finney, 2012).
or
There are several complex steps involved in making a gold ring (Finney, 2012).
Task 3 Citation errors
Some of these sentences contain mistakes. Rewrite the incorrect sentences in the spaces provided and then check your answersTask 4 Reporting verb crossword
Complete the crossword by typing in the correct words for the clues given. All of the down answers and one of the across have already been given
Across
| 3. decide something after thinking carefully about it |
| 6. to express firmly your belief that something is true |
| 7. to say that you believe something is certainly true |
| 8. to express doubts about the value of something or whether something is true |
| 9. to judge or decide the amount, value, quality or importance of something |
| 10. to examine a problem or statement carefully, especially to discover the truth |
| 14. to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain |
| 15. to give a statement of an opinion or thought |
| 17. to accept that something is true or important |
| 20. to agree with someone or have the same opinion as someone else |
| 21. to say that something is true or is a fact, although you cannot prove it and other people might not believe it |
| 23. write something that expresses your opinion |
| 24. to think that something is true, correct or real |
| 25. to not feel certain or confident about something or to think that something is not probable |
Task 6
Now read these absolute statements and rewrite them to present a hedged version. Then click on check to compare your answers. Remember though that the suggested answers are only one option; there may be other ways to rewrite these.
1. Because of their authoritative nature, male managers, thrive on confrontation and delegation of duties.