Exploring the function of citations in ancient Chinese literature.

Over the last 40 years, several studies have attempted to better understand the function of citations in scholarly communication. While the normative theory claims that researchers acknowledge the intellectual influence to their peers through citations, constructive theory suggests that authors cite to persuade their readers. This study explores this topic by analyzing citations found in ancient Chinese literature and finds that most ancient Chinese authors cite to convince their readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]