Review the Literature: Citation Theories Example

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Citations are widely recognized as being an important and distinctive property of academic texts. As a consequence, the presence or absence of citations allows the casual reader to get an immediate sense of whether a text is an “academic” or “popular” one. Because citation is such an obvious surface phenomenon, it has been much discussed in the academic world. Indeed, there are several theories about the role and purpose of citations in academic texts. 

There are many different theories why citation is needed. Some of these theories are listed below according to their importance from blogger's point of view: 

The most important of all, citations are used to recognize and acknowledge the intellectual property rights of authors. They are a matter of ethics and a defense against plagiarism. Citations are also used to create a research space for the citing author. By describing what has been done, citations point the way to what has not been done and so prepare a space for new research (Swales, 1990). It is also worth mentioning that citations are tools of persuasion; writers use citations to give their statements greater authority (Gilbert, 1977). From a different aspect, citations are used to show respect to previous scholars. They recognize the history of the field by acknowledging previous achievements. A less common theory is that citations are used to supply evidence that the author qualifies as a member of the chosen scholarly community; citations are used to demonstrate familiarity with the field (Bavelas, 1978). Another weak theory is that citations operate as a kind of mutual reward system. Rather than pay other authors money for their contributions, writers “pay” them in citations (Ravetz, 1971).