This study contributes to research on source integration in argumentative writing, with a focus on the understudied aspect of source choice and use in counterarguments. Using source-based argumentative essays written by 13 students in one English as a second language section of a first-year composition course in the United States, the author…

L2 writers likely perceive "good academic writing" as impersonal (Hyland, 2002; Shen, 1989; Tang & John, 1999). Yet research has shown that every linguistic and rhetorical choice that a writer makes--including, the presence/absence and different forms of self-mention--potentially reveals the writer's authorial identity (Ivanic,…

The study utilised a fine-grained diagnostic checklist to assess first-year undergraduates in Hong Kong and evaluated its validity and usefulness for diagnosing academic writing in English. Ten English language instructors marked 472 academic essays with the checklist. They also agreed on a Q-matrix, which specified the relationships among the…

When writing an argumentative essay, writers develop and evaluate arguments to embody, initiate, or simulate various kinds of interpersonal and textual interaction for reader consideration (Wu & Allison, 2003). This is quite challenging for English as a second language (ESL) learners. To improve the quality of their writing, students need to…