Abstract
As part of a Japanese language academic writing class for international graduate students, a trial activity to enhance the understanding of the use of references in specialized fields was used. The students considered the placement and purpose of citations and how they were introduced in papers in their own fields of study and responded to questions about what they found. Their responses showed that, through this activity, they gained not only a better understanding of the use of references, but their understanding of the content of the paper deepened and they were better able to evaluate the paper. It appears that this activity can be effective with a class of students from different fields.
