The
Use of In-text citations, Signal Phrases
In the following analytical paper, three different issues will be
analyzed in depth: the use of in-text citations, and signal phrases. Each of
these issues will be exemplified through instances extracted from the article “Providing increased access to English
L2 students of computer science at a South African University.US-China Education Review” by Dalvit,L.,
Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005).
According to the American Psychological Association (2010), in-text
citations are a combination of the author’s surname, the date of publication as
well as the location reference, separated by commas. In-text citations can be
classified into paraphrased ones and direct quotes; there are some variations,
though. As regards the paraphrased ones, they are characterized by the
inclusion of dates, and they can be added in a text in two different ways.
Firstly, the author’s name can be included in a signal phrase and the date
needs to be written between parentheses. An example of this in the text under
analysis is, “(…) According to Heugh (2002), little has changed since the end
of Apartheid.(…)” (Dalvit, L., Murray, S. & Terzoli, A., 2005). Secondly,
if the writer makes reference to a study, he/she must list in the parentheses
not only the author’s surname but also the year. An instance of the text being
analyzed is, “(…) As far as language problems are concerned, the current
approach to foundation programmes in South Africa is mainly informed by studies
in the Humanities (Boughey, 2002) and seems to address the particular problems
of students in that field (e.g. internalizing the values of the academic world,
adopting a style of writing which is considerably different to common language,
mastering specific syntactic structures etc.).(…)”(Dalvit et al.). Considering
direct quotes, they need the author’s surname, date of publication and the
abbreviation p. or pp. with the page number(s), but no
examples of them were found in the analyzed document.
It is worth mentioning at this stage
some of the variations of these in-text citations, which occur when there are
several writers, institutions or groups as authors. When a research article has
several authors, their names are listed completely the first time the source is
mentioned. In later references of the same source, the first author’s surname
is followed by et al., everything
between parentheses. In this paper, the first example taken from the text under
analysis is followed by all the authors’ last names (see lines 13-14), but the
second time citations were included for the sake of exemplification, there
appears the surname of the first author accompanied by the abbreviation et al. (see line 20). One last
variation is that in which the author is an institution or group. The first
time they are cited, the full name followed by its abbreviation and year of
publication must be included in parentheses. In subsequent mentions of this
source, only abbreviation can be employed. The following is an instance of the
text being analyzed, “(…)Providing access to ICT to the African1 component of
the south African population is a priority for the Government, and education
has a key role to play (Department of Education and Department of
Communication, 2001). (…)”(Dalvit et al).
Signal phrases can also be used to
introduce quotations or citations in texts. In the one by Dalvit et al., the
following signal phrase appears, “(…) According to Heugh (2002), little has
changed since the end of Apartheid. The average level of English proficiency
within the African community is still comparatively low. (…)”(Dalvit et al.).
With respect to reference lists,
they are added at the end of a document, and they account for in-text citations
which have appeared in that document. Observing the reference list of the
document being analyzed, it shows basic principles to be considered when making
it. If a book is to be included in this list, the author, publication date,
title and subtitle, place of publication and publisher must appear. An example
taken from the reference list of the document under analysis is, “Halliday,
M.A.K. and Martin, J.R. (1993). Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive
Power. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press” (Dalvit et al.).
References
Dalvit,L.,
Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2
students of computer science at a South African University. US-China
Education Review, Sep.2005, Vol 2 (9)
