Critical Citation and Intertextuality in Academic Writing

Referencing and citation present significant challenges for novice academic writers, particularly for university students writing in English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) across disciplines. This article investigates undergraduate students’ referencing and citation practices through an analysis of their literature review texts, collected over two rounds of assignments from an EFL academic writing course at a Chinese university. The analytical framework adopted assesses both the quantity and contextual use of references, distinguishing between direct and indirect citations, while also examining how students employed references for confirmatory and critical purposes. The findings reveal a general tendency toward minimal use of direct and critical referencing, with few instances where citations were used for critique and comparison. These results suggest a need for writing instruction that promotes a deeper understanding of authentic intertextual citations with scholarly sources. Pedagogy in China and broader EFL/ESL contexts shoulders a responsibility of supporting students’ development in using overt intertextual citations in writing more effectively, by addressing the current imbalance—namely, the overreliance on indirect quotation and the underuse of critical and direct citation practices for scientific intertextuality in academic writing.