Identity in academic writing has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Though various linguistic resources have been extensively explored for the construction of authorial identity both at home and abroad, many studies tend to not take evaluative that-clauses into consideration. Therefore, much remains to be known about how novice writers construct identities in academic writing by analyzing the evaluative-that clauses.

     To fill this gap, this paper examines the identity construction of Chinese EFL learners in academic writing by comparing the use of evaluative that-clauses in the abstracts of MA theses and published journal articles. Our findings indicate that both expert writers and student writers tended to use abstract subjects, abstract subjects and research verbs to establish their identity in the academic community to which they belong. Compared with expert writers, student writers overused concealed subjects and the combination of concealed subjects and research verbs in the master’s theses. Student writers also misunderstood the evaluative meaning of some reporting verbs. In addition, they avoided using discourse markers that can reflect authority and interactivity.

    The results show that graduate students as novice academic writers have difficulties constructing their academic identity. This study is helpful to broaden the research scope of identity resources and pedagogical implications for instructions on academic writing are provided at the end of this paper.