Back to the source: Using repair to cite a source underpinning current conduct

This conversation analytic study examines ways people cite a source to manage some aspect of their current action. Analysing corpora of mundane and psychotherapeutic interaction, the study focuses on approximately 55 instances where an utterance is repaired to include the citation of a source. Focusing on these instances enables comparison of an original version of an action, which does not cite a source, and the repaired version, which does. Analysis of these cases identifies different contexts in which repair is used to cite a source. These include citing a source to warrant an incipient action and citing a source to avoid personal endorsement. Across these contexts, this study shows participants cite sources to manage what they are doing in the present in relation to something that has occurred in the past.