Early-Career Researchers’ Perceptions of Constructing an Authorial Identity via Self-Mention and Code-Meshing

Abstract: The present study aims to explore the insights of Turkish early-career researchers into the use of self-mention and code-meshing strategies to construct an authorial identity. The data were obtained from six early-career researchers in the field of social sciences who have publication experience in both Turkish and English, and collected through a demographic information questionnaire and in-depth individual and group interviews. The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that Turkish early-career researchers tend to have a distant approach towards highlighting their authorial identity in academic texts, bringing forward the issues of academic culture, intelligibility and power dynamics, although some milder views are present suggesting that such practices help establishing a strong existence in academia. Some suggestions are made towards creating a more inclusive and flexible writing education that fosters voice development of writers. Keywords: academic writing, authorial identity, early-career researchers, self-mention, code-meshing