A Comparison of Turkish and English L1 Writers’ Citation Practices in Doctoral and Master’s Theses

A COMPARISON OF TURKISH AND ENGLISH L1 WRITERS’ CITATION PRACTICES IN DOCTORAL AND MASTER’S THESES Abstract Citation is one of the important components of academic writing in the aspects of providing justification for writers’ arguments and demonstrating the novelty of the writers’ position in the academia. This study investigates the citation practices of Turkish and English L1 writers in M.A. and PhD theses. This corpus-based study employed a qualitative approach. A corpus of 34 theses, 17 Turkish L1 writers’ theses consisting of 10 M.A. and 7 PhD theses and 17 English L1 writers’ theses including 10 M.A. theses and 7 PhD theses were selected. Based on the relevant literature, a rubric was prepared to analyse the 34 theses in the corpus by means of employing qualitative content analysis. Even though Turkish and English L1 writers’ citing tendencies appear to be parallel with writing norms and conventions in the field of ELT, Turkish L1 writers have more challenges regarding integrating citations with their own voices and positions more than English L1 writers, which may stem from four factors comprising of lack of instruction, insufficient awareness of citation norms and conventions, cultural factors and linguistic background. Key Words: Citation practices, academic writing, Turkish writer