英语学术论文写作(Lecture One and Two)

Guidelines for Preparing a Good Thesis Statement
• 1.A good thesis states the writer’s clearly defined opinion on some subject. 2. A good thesis asserts one main idea. 3. A good thesis has something worthwhile to say. 4. A good thesis is limited to fit the assignment. 5. A good thesis is clearly stated in specific terms 6. A good thesis is clearly located, often in the first or second paragraph
Lecture One
• • • • • Negotiationof a Topic 1.Personal Interests Linguistics, literature, translation, language teaching, etc. 2.Discussion with Notes 3.Source Materials 1) Encyclopedias The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language Encycholpedia of English Education in Middle School 2) Books to skim the publishing time, introduction, contents, index and sections 3) Periodical Indexes choice of related essays in the area 4) Internet Resources choice of related studies
• Example Two: On Jane Eyre’s Independence 1.Jane Eyre as Realistic Novel 2. Importance of the Novel in English Literature 3. Jane Eyre and Her Independence 1)Spiritual 2)Actions 3)Awareness of Feminism 4)Independence for True Love 4.Implictures
Practical Writing of Research Papers for English Majors
What is a research paper? How to write a research paper?
• Kinds of Academic Writing summarize synthesize explain writing to argue propose analyze evaluate
• Consideration of the Audience 1.Who is /are the reader(s) 2.How much do the reader(s) know about the topic? 3.Why is the concept so important? 4.Whether the topic is new or not? 5.What can I discuss to enlighten the reader(s) in this topic? 6. What is the practical or theoretical significance?
• Anything off the point should be eliminated. Students may develop and revise their thesis statement from time to time as their writing proceeds because they may find something novel and significant but inappropriate to their original thesis statement. Such revisions or modifications satisfy their new understanding of the topic. Some other students even deliberately aviod formulating any thesis statement before their initial research and first draft are completely finished.
• Topics of the Lectures: 1.negotiation of a topic 2.focus on topic 3.note-taking 4.procedures of Paper Writing 5.in-text citation and the use of notes 6.works cited 7.writing of abstracts, apendices 8.correction of the draft 9.suggestions and requirements
Lecture Two
• Narrowing Down the Research Topic in China in Hunan weather in Yueyang today Development of Functionism in China An Emperical Study on Modality in Propositional Phrases My Attitude Towrds English Learning 3P Model in Learning English Grammar
• The Elements of an Essay/ a Thesis: title abstract key words the body works cited/ references appendices acknowledgements
• The body: (examples concerning linguistics and literature) • 1.introduction 1) prupose(s), what to research 2) significance, why to research 3) method(s), how to research • 2.Literature review 1) researches abroad 2) researches at home • 3.problem(s) for the research 1) main problems related 2) the problem to be solved in this essay/research • 4.research methods 1) investigation (1)design of questionaire(s) (2)statistics of the questionaire(s) 2)statistic analysis of the data • 5.discussion of common or specifi information from the data • 6.conclusion/limitation/suggestion
Working out a Preliminary Thesis
• A thesis statement declares the main point or controlling idea of an essay. It is a scholarly statement that needs to be proven or maintained against argument. • A thesis statement can be formulated at different stages. Some students may draft a working statement before they set out to write because they regard it as a most useful organizational tool to guide their research and writing. Once the students know the paper’s main point, what they need to do is to explain and back up their thesis statement. In other words, everything in their papers should support their thesis.
Considering the Audience
• The awareness of the readers throughout the writing can never be overemphasized. Generally speaking, the instructors at colleges and universities who assign the papers are the primary and immediate readers. When a paper is aimed at publication, people in the field are the target readers. When planing a research paper, students should remember that the readers are well-informed and knowledgeable in the field. They want to know more and to be convinced of the paper’s thesis. • The following questions are helpful when considering the readers:
Βιβλιοθήκη Baidu
• Example One: A Practical Study on Language Acquisition of a New-born Baby 1.Language Acquisition Theory 2.Behaviorism (Stimulus-response observation) 3. Description of the research procedures
Considering the Available Source Materials
• Available sources are important in narrowing down a topic. Some students may have interesting topics and they may begin writing without considering the available sources. They often have to give up because they can hardly find any relevant materials. • To aviod such fruitless labour, what the students should do is to check the relevant publications before deciding on their topics. If there are too many publications on a particular topic, they should give it up because they can hardly add anything new. Similarly, if there are few resources on the selected topic, it is sensible to consider changing it for they may have insufficient sources to back up their analysis and conclusions.