From a theoretical perspective, it is undisputed that citations serve a variety of functions; as early as ancient rhetoric, citations were ascribed, for example, authoritative and ornamental dimensions. In contrast, empirical approaches to the analysis of citation functions remain rare even today. This may be due, not least, to the fact that citation functions are closely tied to the citer’s intentionality, which is difficult to reconstruct. The following Chap. 3 addresses possibilities for reconstructing these intentions, as well as a thorough critical discussion of the analysis of citation functions.