《学术论文写作》.docx
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《学术论文写作》.docx
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《学术论文写作》
外国语学院期末课程论文
(2010至2011学年度第一学期)
题目ABriefAnalysisofTopicChoosing
inAcademicThesisWriting
科目《学术论文写作》
姓名
学号
专业英语(翻译方向)
任课教师金萍
简短评语
成绩:
授课教师签字:
ABriefAnalysisofTopicchoosinginAcademicThesisWriting
Abstract:
Choosingatopictowriteaboutisprobablythemostimportantandmostcrucialpartoftheentirethesisprocess.Youareencouragedtochooseatopicyoutrulylikeandaregenuinelyinterestedinandtorestrictandfocusyourtopicassoonaspossible.Adequatelyrestrictingandfocusingthetopicusuallyresultsinahighqualitythesis.Failuretodosousuallyresultsinendlessproblemsthroughouttheentirewritingprocess.
Keywords:
topic,choose,research,
1.Introduction:
Atfirst,youmayonlyhaveageneralideaofwhatyouwanttowriteabout,likewritingsomethingonreadingcomprehensionorcommunicativelanguageteachingoronHamletinShakespear’splay,orMarkTwain’sHuckletberryFinnorLincolnandtheCivilWar.Thesetopicsatthistimeinthewritingprocessarevagueandunfocused,butthisisnormal.Onlybydoingalotofreadingandthinkingwillyoueventuallyarriveatthepointofbeingabletoknowtheexactfocus-thethesisormainidea-ofyourthesis.
Ifweregardapaperasacommodity,then,thetopicisitsbrand.Thesimilarityoftherelationbetweenatitleandthepapertothatofanameandthepersonisobvious.However,theanalogybetweenthesetwopairsdoernotrevealthefunctionofatopicentirely,becauseatopicusuallymeansmorethananametotheperson.Atopiccanbevividlydescribedasthe“abstractofanabstract.”
2.Themeaningofresearchpaper
Youshouldfirstknowwhywehavetostudyitbeforewestartwriting.Researchpaperisaformal,withenoughlonganddetailedreferenceacademicarticles.Tosearchandexploreinacertainscienceextent,representinganewscienceachievementorcreation.Researchpaperisanimportantmeasuretocheckuniversityorcollegestudent’slearningachievements,andalsoitisanindispensablemethodtoimprovethequalityofstudents’instructionability.
3.FunctionsandFeaturesofaTopic
1)Generalizingthetext
Atopicshouldsummarizethecentralideaofthepaperconciselyandcorrectly.Itmustbeconsistentwiththecontentsofthedocument,andbehighlyrepresentativeofthecentralideaofthepaper.Byglancingatthetopic,thereaderwillimmediatelyknow,incorporatingwiththeabstract,whatismainlydealtwithinthepaper.Therefore,thetopicshoulddistinguishthepaperfromothertreatmentsofthesamegeneralsubjectsoastostrengthentheinfluenceofthepaperinagivenfield.
2)Attractingthereader
Aninterestingtopicmaydrawparticularattentionamongprofessionals,foronlywhenreadersareinterestedinthetopicwilltheydecidetoreadthewholepaper.Therefore,alessattractivetopicwillcausethelossofalargenumberofreadersofthepaper.Ideally,thetopicshouldbesuchthat,byreadingit,anyprofessionalreadercanseewhetherthepaperisworthreadingatall.
3)FacilitatingtheRetrieval
Agoodtopiccanhelpthereaderinhissearchforinformation.Duringtheprocessofpaperretrievalthetopicisalwaysthefirstpieceofinformationthereaderacquires.So,atopicservesasanimportantindexofinformationretrievaltomeettheneedsofextensivepapercommunicationandinformationdissemination.
1)UsingmoreNouns,NounPhrasesandGerunds
Thewordsorphrasesusedinatopicareveryoftennoun,nounphrasesorgerunds,nominalization,whichusuallyarekeywordsforthepaper,havingtheabilitytosumupthewholetext.Forexample,wemayeasilyfindsuchtopicsasDatabaseLogic,GrowthMechanismofWhiskersandTreatmentforDefectRemoval,WritingandPublishingProfessionalPapers,etc
2)UsinganIncompleteSentence
Atopicisjustalabelorappellationofthepaper,reflectingthemainideaofthecontents,soevenwhenthereisaneedtogiveatopicintheformofasentence,itdoesnotneedtobeacompletesentence.
4.WritingRequirements
1)BeBriefandConcise
Thetopicofapapershouldbeconciseandsuccinct.Generally,atopiciscomposedofnomorethantwentywords.Itisadvisabletoavoidsuchatitleofthirty-twowordsastheoneintheBritishJournalofMicroscopicsofRoyalSociety:
Ontheadditiontothemethodofmicroscopicresearchbyanewwayofproducingcolor-contrastbetweenanobjectanditsbackgroundorbetweendefinitepartsoftheobjectitself,whichmaybeshortenedasAnewwayofproducingcolor-contrastinmicroscopicexamination.
Ifatopicistoolong,itwouldbedifficultforreaderstocatchthemeaningofthecontentandrememberit.Ifthewriterfailstostatehisideaclearlyinafewwords,hecanuseasubtitle,forexample,InternationalCommunicationPragmatics-ANewBranchofLearningofLanguage.Tobebriefandconcise,professionalpapersseldomusedecorativelocutions,whichleadtoredundancy.Ofcourse,thetopicmustbelongenoughtodescribethecontentofthepapertooshortatitle,sometimes,maybringaboutconfusion.
2)BeSpecific
Inpreparingthetopicofapaper,ageneralandabstracttopicshouldbeavoided.Forexample,suchatopicasComputerRetrievalwillberegardedastoogeneralandglobal,vagueandempty,tellingthereadernothingspecific.ItwouldbebettertochangethetopicintosomethinglikeComputerRetrievalonLiteratureofPhysics,orComputerRetrievalonInternationalConferenceInformation,accordingtothecontentofthepaper.Similarly,thetopicUsingofBarkhausenSignalinPlainSteelmay,accordingtoitscontents,bechangedintoAnApplicationofFourierTransformonBarkhausenEmissionSignalAnalysis.Theaboverevisestopicscangreatlyhighlighttheemphasisandparticularityofthework.
3)AvoidQuestionTopics
Aquestiontopicmeansacompletesentenceonquestionform.Suchtopicsareusuallynotusedinanacademicpaper(especiallyinnaturalscience),becausetheyalwaysincludesomeredundantquestionwordsandmarks.Whatismore,suchatopiccreatesinconvenienceforinformationretrieval.Ifyourtopicreallycontainsaninterrogation,youmayadopttheformof“questionword+infinitive”,forexample,EssentialStepsforWritingaTitlePage:
HowtoPreparetheTitle,Authors/AffiliationsandKeywords.
4)BeingUnified
Theparallelpartsofatopicshouldbegrammaticallysymmetrical.Thatistosay,nounsshouldbematchedwithnouns,gerundswithgerunds,etc.Ingeneral,nounsandgerundsshouldnotbemixedinagiventitle.Forinstance,thetopicTheTreatmentofBoridingandEutecticumofSteelshouldbechangedintoBoridingandEutecticumingSteel;andthetitleTheDesignandPreparingofSiNshouldbereplacedbyTheDesignandPreparationofSiN.
5)BeingStandard
Ingeneral,nonstandardabbreviationsandsymbols,and/oranytermsorphraseologyintelligibleonlytothespecialistshouldbeavoided,becausetheuseofthemcouldbeinimicaltoefficientinformationretrieval.
Whetherallthefirstlettersoftheprincipalwordsinatopicshouldbecapitalizedornot,maydependuponthespecificrequirementssetforthbythejournaltowhichyourmanuscriptistobesubmitted.
5.HowtoWrite
Choosingatopicappropriateforcertainpagerequirementstakesexperience.Intime,youwillgainanoverallsenseofwhatisanappropriatetopicforaparticularlengthofpaper.Agoodtopicshouldbeinteresting,significant,researchable,andmodest.Itshouldbeatopicthatyouarefamiliarwithandonethatyoucanlearnandinvestigate.Usuallythebesttopicsareonesthataredirectlyrelatedtoyourownlifeortothelivesofpeopleyouknow.Itshouldbeatopicaboutwhichyoucanfindenoughdatabecausenoresearchstartsfromzero.MorethathalfofyourshouldbeinEnglishsothatthequalityofyourlanguagecouldbeguaranteed.
Whenyoustatworkingonyourthesis,thefirststepistoselectasubjectareayouhaveinterestin.Theseareasorresearchtopicscouldcomefromtheoriesoflinguistics,languageteachingandlearningorliterarytheories;yourexperienceandinterests,andotherpeoples’research.Suggestedstepswhenchoosingatopicareasfollows:
a)Chooseasubjectareaaccordingtotherequirement.
b)Identifyaresearchinterestorresearchtopic.
c)Narrowthetopicdownasmuchaspossible.
d)Reviewtheliteratureonthetopicascompletelyaspossible.
e)Statetheprobleminaquestionform.
f)Translateorturnyourresearchquestionintoathesisstatement.
Oneimportantfactorinchoosingthetopicistofindoutwhetherornotitisresearchable.Expertsinthefieldhavesuggestedthatweasksomequestionswhileweareplanningourstudy.
a)Isthetopicresearchable,giventime,resources,andavailabilityofdata?
b)Isthereapersonalinterestinthetopicinordertosustainattention?
c)Willtheresultsfromthestudybeofintereststoothers(e.g.,inthestate,region,nation)?
d)Isthetopiclikelytobepublishableinascholarlyjournal?
(orattractivetoadoctoralcommittee?
)
e)Doesthestudy(a)fillavoid,(b)replicate,(c)extend,or(d)developnewideasinthescholarlyliterature?
f)Willtheprojectcontributetocareergoals?
AsanEnglishmajor,youcanwriteyourthesisonatopicformanyofthefollowingsubjectareas:
a)Englishliterature
b)Englishlinguistics
c)Englishlanguageteachingandlearning
d)EnglishtoChineseand/orChinesetoEnglishtranslationstudies
Afteryoudecideyoursubjectarea,youshouldfirstofallgotolibraryorreadanintroductorybookaboutthesubjectareatobroadenyourunderstanding.Whenyouarebroadenedaboutthearea,youknowhowyoucannarr
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