The First Step

Coming up with a Problem

For Next Week

• Submit information on three journal articles• Provide Title, Author, Publication Information

and Abstract• You can simply copy and paste information• E-mail to pvernezze@gmail.com• Subject heading: “Research Methods

Assignment #1”• Submit by Sunday 5 p.m.

Title, Author, and Publication Information

• Conceptual Mediation in Translating Alien Sources

• Hu Yuanjin• Journal of Translation Studies, Volume 12, No

1 & 2

Abstract• In this paper, an attempt is made to link the deployment of

translation strategies in the target text with the act of conceptual mediation at the cognitive level. Data are drawn from how alien sources are translated from and into Chinese. It is argued that conceptual mediation in terms of processing economy is related to how a strategy might be deployed. In this respect, source deletion is the most economical but its outcome the least desirable for translation. On the other hand, substitution is the least economical but could preserve both the imagery and underlying concept of the source. Trans-coding and paraphrasing stand in between, with the former preserving the imagery and the latter the underlying concept. The statistics from four translated texts is in agreement with this processing economy conceivable at the cognitive level

An Overview

1. Find a topic specific enough to let you master a reasonable amount of information in the time you have.[Focused Topic]

2. Investigate that topic until you find questions that catch your interest. [Research Question]

3. State the reason why this topic is important to the reader [Significance].

4. Consider whether there are practical implications for your question [Implications].

Things to remember

• “The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

• Resolve to do lots of writing along the way. Much of it will be routine note-taking, but you should also write reflectively, to understand : make outlines; explain why you disagree with a source; draw diagrams to connect disparate facts; summarizes sources and positions; record random thoughts; consider keeping a journal

Preliminary Work (i): Start with an interest

• Begin with an interest. Start with some area within your subject matter that you are interested in

• Narrow it down as much as possible• Philosophy--)Ancient Philosophy--)Plato’s

Republic

Preliminary work (ii): Move From Interest to broad Topic

• Most of us have more than enough interests, but beginners often find it hard to locate a topic focused enough to support a substantial research project

• A research topic is an interest stated specifically enough for you to imagine contributing in a meaningful way to the conversation about the subject

• This doesn’t mean you already know a lot about it or you have to become an expert. It means you just want to know a lot more about it than you do now.

Finding a Topic

• Find what interests other researchers. Look online (e.g., Google Scholar/JSTOR) for recurring issues and debates in the archives of professional discussion lists relevant to your interests

• Scan bibliographies and notes of relevant journals and articles

• Skim the latest journals on your library’s new arrrivals shelf (or online) not just for articles, but also for conference announcements, calls for papers and reviews

The Topic (Broad)

• A interest is a subject you realize would cover too much material to write a paper or possibly even a book on. A broad topic is an area you realize is more appropriate to a book

• “Plato’s Republic” is an interest. “Ruling in Plato’s Republic” is a broad topic

• “Buddhism and Stoicism” is an interest. “Anger in Buddhism and Stoicism” is a broad topic

Preliminary work (iii): From broad topic to focused topic

• At this point, your biggest risk is settling on a topic that is so broad it could be a subheading in a library catalog: spaceflight, Shakespeare’s history plays, natural law

• A topic is probably too broad if you can state it in for or five words:

• “Free will in Tolstoy”• “Love and marriage in Shakespeare”

From broad topic to focused topic

1. Plato’s Republic2. Ruling in Plato’s

Republic3. The conflict between

ruling and happiness in Plato’s Republic

1. Buddhism and Stoicism2. Buddhist and Stoic conceptions on anger3. The contribution of Stoicism in bringing a Buddhist view of anger to the West

Note

• We narrowed these topics by adding words and phrases, but of a special kind: conflict, description, contribution, and developing

• These nouns are derived from verbs expressing actions or relationships: to conflict, to describe, to contribute, and to develop

• Lacking such “action” words, your topic is a static thing

How to get from interest to topic

• This strikes me as the most difficult part of the process

• No step by step process how to get there

• Requires reading, writing, taking notes

• 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration

From focused topic to research question

• Your question should not presuppose any particular answer

• The research project should go through regardless of whether the question is answered negatively or positively

• How do the Stoic and Buddhist conceptions of anger compare with the traditional Western view of the subject?

• Does the demand that the philosophers rule in Plato’s state conflict with their own happiness?

How to find a Research Question?• Ask about the History of your topic: How does it

fit into a larger developmental context? Why did it come into being?

• Ask about its Structure and Composition: How does your topic fit into the context of a larger structure or function as part of a larger system?

• Ask how your topic is categorized: How can your topic be grouped into kinds? How does your topic compare and contrast with similar ones?

• Ask ‘what if’? and other Speculative Questions• Ask questions suggested by your sources

From Research Question to Its Significance

• Beyond your own interest in its answer, why would others think it a question worth asking?

• What will be lost if you don’t answer your question? How will not answering it keep us from understanding something better than we do?

• Start by asking “So what”? at first of yourself

Step 1: Name your topic (focused)

• If you are beginning with a project and only a topic and maybe a glimmer of a good question or two, start by naming your topic

• I am trying to learn about/working on/studying

• --the conflict between ruling and happiness in the Republic

• --the relation between Buddhist and Stoic conceptions of anger

Step 2: Add an Indirect Question

• Add an indirect question that indicates what you do not know or understand about your topic

• I am studying [the conflict between ruling and happiness in the Republic]

• Because I want to find out [whether it personally benefits the philosophers to rule the state as Plato requries them to]

Step 3: Answer the ‘so what’? By motivating your question

• This step tells you whether your question might interest not just you but others. To do that, add a second indirect question that explains why you asked your first question. Introduce this second implied question with “in order to help my reader understand how why, or whether’

• I am studying [the conflict between ruling and happiness in the Republic]

• Because I want to find out [whether it personally benefits the philosophers to rule the state as Plato requires them to]

• In order to help my reader understand [whether the Republic is internally consistent or contradicts itself].

Another example

• I am studying [the relation between Buddhist and Stoic conceptions of anger]

• Because I want to find out [whether Stoicism offers the same approach to anger as Buddhism]

• In order to help my reader understand that [the Western tradition contains a very “Eastern” approach to anger]

Two Types of Research

Pure Research• The solution to a problem

does not bear on any practical situation in the world but rather primarily improves the understanding of a community of researchers

• Most Humanities research falls into this category

Applied Research• The solution to a problem

does have practical real world consequences

• Most Scientific research falls into this category

The Practical Implications of Pure Research

• Some researchers are uncomfortable with pure research because the consequences of a conceptual problem are so abstract

• Attempt to demonstrate a real life practical consequence of their research

• Topic: I am studying negative advertising in 19th century presidential campaigns

• Research Question: because I want to find out how negative advertising developed over the course of the century

• Potential Practical Significance: in order that voters can protect themselves from being influenced by negative ads

A Warning!• Oftentimes, there is a

danger of trying too hard to make your research problem have real world consequences

• If you think that the solution to your conceptual problem might apply to a practical one, formulate your problem as the pure research problem it is, then add your application as a fourth step

Conceptual vs. Practical Significance

1.Topic: I am studying negative advertising in 19th century presidential campaigns2.Conceptual Question: because I want to find out how negative advertising developed over the course of the century3. Conceptual Significance: in order to readers understand the long history nature of negative political advertising in this country4. Potential Practical Significance: so that voters can protect themselves from being influenced by negative ads today

Rule

• When you state your problem in your introduction, formulate it as a purely conceptual research problem whose significance is in its CONCEPTUAL CONSEQUENCES

• Wait until your conclusion to suggest its practical application

A Plausible Case• TOPIC:I am studying [the relation between

Buddhist and Stoic conceptions of anger]• CONCEPTUAL QUESTION:Because I want to find

out [whether Stoicism offers the same approach to anger as Buddhism]

• CONCEPUTAL SIGNIFICANCE In order to help my reader understand that [the Western tradition contains a very “Eastern” approach to anger]

• PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE So that readers may deal more effectively with anger in their everyday lives

A Not So Plausible Case• TOPIC: I am studying [the conflict between ruling

and happiness in the Republic]• CONCEPTUAL QUESTION: Because I want to find

out [whether it personally benefits the philosophers to rule the state as Plato requires them to]

• CONCEPTUAL SIGNIFICANCE: In order to help my readers understand the consistency of Plato’s Republic

• PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE: So they can realize the contribution that fulfilling duty plays in happiness

• TOPIC: I am studying [ ]• CONCEPTUAL QUESTION: Because I want to

find out [ ]• CONCEPTUAL SIGNIFICANCE: In order to help

the reader understand [ ]• PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE (optional): [ ]

THREE SOURCES• GENERAL BOOKS IN YOUR AREA• A History of Greek Philosophy• The Fragility of Goodness• Plato’s Moral Theory

• SPECIFIC BOOKS ON YOUR TOPIC• Love and Friendship in Plato and Aristotle• Philosopher-Kings• JOURNALS ON YOUR TOPIC• Ancient Philosophy• Phronesis• Apeiron• Journal of the History of Philosophy

Bibliography (1)• Bachmann-Medick, Doris (2009). Translational Turn, in: Doris Bachmann-Medick,

Cultural Turns. Neuorientierungen in den Kulturwissenschaften. 3rd. ed. Reinbek: Rowohlt, 238-283.

• Bachmann-Medick, Doris ed. (2009). The Translational Turn. (=Special Issue of 'Translation Studies' vol. 2, issue 1)

• Baker, Mona ed. (2001). Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. New York & London: Routledge.

• Baker, Mona (1992). In Other Words: Coursebook on Translation. New York & London: Routledge.

• Bassnett, Susan (1980; revised 1991; 2002). Translation Studies.• Benjamin, Walter (1923). The Task of the Translator, introduction to Benjamin's

translation of Fleurs du Mal.• Joanna Best, Sylvia Kalin|Best, Joanna; Kalina, Sylvia, (2002) "Übersetzen und

Dolmetschen".Tübingen und Basel: A. Francke Verlag (UTB).• Catford, J.C., (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London.• Gentzler, Edwin (2001). Contemporary Translation Theories. 2nd Ed. London &

New York: Routledge

THE PLACE TO START: A CLASSIC TEXT

• Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2008)

• 2nd edition• Edited by Mona Baker• The Routledge

Encyclopedia of Translation Studies has been the standard reference in the field since it first appeared in 1998.

Praise for Previous Editions• 'Translation has long deserved this sort of treatment. Appropriate

for any college or university library supporting a program in linguistics, this is vital in those institutions that train students to become translators.' – Rettig on Reference

• 'Congratulations should be given to Mona Baker for undertaking such a mammoth task and…successfully pulling it off. It will certainly be an essential reference book and starting point for anyone interested in translation studies.' – ITI Bulletin

• 'This excellent volume is to be commended for bringing together some of [its] most recent research. It provides a series of extremely useful short histories, quite unlike anything that can be found elsewhere. University teachers will find it invaluable for preparing seminars and it will be widely used by students.' – The Times Higher Education Supplement

• ' … a pioneering work of reference …'– Perspectives on Translation

Description, Part One •Part One (General) covers the conceptual framework and core concerns of the discipline. Categories of entries include:•central issues in translation theory (e.g. equivalence, translatability, unit of translation)•key concepts (e.g. culture, norms, ethics, ideology, shifts, quality)•approaches to translation and interpreting (e.g. sociological, linguistic, functionalist)•types of translation (e.g. literary, audiovisual, scientific and technical)•types of interpreting (e.g. signed language, dialogue, court).

Description, Part Two

• Part Two (History and Traditions) covers the history of translation in major linguistic and cultural communities. It is arranged alphabetically by linguistic region. There are entries on a wide range of languages which include Russian, French, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Finnish, and regions including Brazil, Canada and India. Many of the entries in this section are based on hitherto unpublished research. This section includes one new entry: Southeast Asian tradition

REVIEWS • 'The second edition of this authoritative encyclopedia has been

extensively revised and augmented by over 100 worldwide contributors to reflect the evolving interests and concerns of scholars and practitioners in the field…The volume's final comprehensive bibliography and index invaluably supplement this work's rich contents.' - K. Rosneck, University of Wisconsin--Madison, Choice, June 2009

• 'The editors are to be congratulated for once again bringing together such a distinguished group of scholars and such a wide range of material. There simply is no other single volume that offers such a panoramic view of the field or such a diverse range of contributors… As a general reference work and introduction to the field, it is without equal.' - Linguist List