Citers' use of citees' names: Findings from a qualitative interview-based study

This article focuses on why academic writers in computer science and sociology sometimes supply the reader with more details of citees' names than they need to: why citers name citees when using the Footnote System, and why citers include citees' first names when using the Harvard System. These questions were investigated as part of a qualitative interview-based study of citation behaviour. A number of motivations were advanced by informants, including the desire for stylistic elegance, for informality, to make the text accessible to less informed readers, to mark a close relationship between citer and citee, to alert readers to a little known citee, and to acknowledge seminal sources. In a number of cases, however, informants were unable to offer any motivation, reporting that their behaviour had been unconscious or accidental. The study underlines Cronin's (1984, 2005) argument that citation is a private and subjective process, and shows that interview-based studies a...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: JASIS
• Authors: Nigel Harwood
• Keywords: Academic Writers, Footnote System, JASIS 2008, Qualitative Interview-based Study