Studies of research articles (RAs) of Chinese non-English major undergraduates are rather scarce compared with those of English majors and of non-English major post-gradates. The present study aims to investigate the problems with conference papers written by non-English major undergraduates in terms of rhetorical structure, moves and citation practice. It is based on the analysis of 40 conference papers they submitted to the 1^st Shanghai International Collegiate Conference (June 12, 2015). The results reveal that i) the majority of novice writers failed to integrate previous studies into their literature reviews; ii) there were no comparison between the present studies and previous studies, nor explanations for their findings in the discussion section; iii) their papers lacked coherence and logic when ideas and data were presented, iv) they could not effectively follow the conventions of academic writing and v) informal and even colloquial English was pervasive. The interviews confirm the difficulty the novices had in reading English journal articles for information, the transfer of Chinese ways of thinking and writing as well as a deficit of training of English academic writing. The pedagogical implications will be discussed.