WRITING RESEARCHWRITING RESEARCHPAPERSPAPERS

--WORKING THROUG WRITING PROCESS

Shi Jian (Stan)

stanlyshi@gmail.com

April, 2007

Write a paper that explores the former Berlin Wall as a symbol;

What are you curious about? Find a problem, question, or issue that piques your interest and that requires research;

Defend the contributions to American society of a famous but controversial person, such as Martin Luther King.

To write “researched” essays that require you to go beyond what you know and think to incorporate ideas by others.

To access the internet, to check out book from the library, and perhaps to interview some people.

As a facilitator, one who pulls together and makes sense of divergent views.

Research as an engaging, sometimes exciting pursuit on several fronts—your personal knowledge, ideas gleaned from sources, and research in the field.

Why Do Research?

Research teaches methods of discovery: to discover what you already know about a complex topic and what others can teach you. The discovery process will usually include reading, motivating you to venture into the field for observation and experimentation. You may not arrive at any final answers or solutions, but you will come to understand the different views on a subject.

Research teaches investigative skills: a research project requires you to investigate a subject, grasp the essentials of it, and disclose your findings. How to find reliable sources?

Research teaches critical thinking: when wading through the evidence on the subject, learn to discriminate between useful information and unfounded or ill-conceived comments.

Research teaches logic: like a judge in the courtroom, the research paper asks for your perceptive judgment about the issues surrounding a specific topic. Your decisions about the issues, in effect, will be based upon the wisdom gained from research about the topic. Your paper and our readers will rely on our logical response to your reading, observation.

Research teaches the basic ingredients of argument: a research paper requires you to make a claim and support it with reasons and evidence.

A thesis is not a self-expressive activity, since a scholar does not write to express himself. He writes to contribute to a scholarly dialogue already under way, and one where his contribution will inevitably be viewed as part of a larger whole, …

(George Watson, Writing a Thesis. Sichuan University Press, 2003. P.7.)

研究问题，必须

“充分了解学术界在某一方的已有成就”

“充分掌握关于某一问题的所有资料”

张岱年，《谈学术论文的基本要求》，王力等，《怎样写学术论文》，北京大学出版社 1981 年，第 48-49 页。

王力：“所谓准备，主要就是占有材料。一个小小的题目，我们就要占有很多的材料，往往是几十万字，要做几千几万张卡片。”

王力，《谈谈写论文》，王力、朱光潜等，《怎样写学术论文》，北京大学出版社 1981 年。第 4 页。

程千帆：“那种想跳过搜集材料的阶段而直接进入整理阶段，逃避搜集材料的艰苦工作，利用别人搜集的材料大发议论的人，与科学研究是无缘的。”

程千帆，《治学小言》，见徐有富，《治学方法与论文写作》，南京大学出版社， 2003 年。第 50 页。

Gathering material:

Analyzing the topic: defining and re-defining

Choosing good strategy

Using proper methods/tools

Building a bibliography

Methods for discovering material

“Snow-balling”— 追溯法

Reference tools— 工具法

A combination of both

Question:

What reference tools are available at Sichuan University Library?

The academic journals

Questions to condifer Three examples Why check the journals

Question:

How to perform a journal-survey?

An attempt at an answer:• What should be the scope? • What categories should be used? • What aspects of the journals/articles should receive

our attention?• Should we read the entire article? When?• What is the purpose of the survey?• Where else should we look? What other questions

should be asked?

刘润清：《谈谈外语教学中的科研方法》，《福建外语》 1998 年 3 期。

为了使九五期间我国语言学研究继续拓宽拓深 , 并进一步与国际学界对接 ,有必要大致了解国际语言学界近年的基本研究情况 , 以便对照分析我们的工作 , 调整和规划下一阶段的语言学研究。首先看看近年国际上语言学研究的概况。我们以具有国际权威性的信息价值高的 LLBA( 《语言学和语言行为文摘》 ) 为依据进行考察。

LLBA, 美国加州大学圣迭戈分校编辑出版 , 为大型文摘刊物 , 每年 4 期 , 每期约 500 页。 LLBA引录国际上 150 多种语言研究方面的学刊 , 均具有一定权威性 , 所摘文章经过专家认真筛选 ,基本上是所属领域中的重要研究成果。文摘客观摘录论文要点 , 每条约 150 词至 400 词 , 一般在 200 词上下。文摘分 29 个大项 ,79 个子目 ,全年摘文 1 万多篇 , 约占当年国际语言学界科研文献总量的 1/2 ～ 2/3, 平均每季 ( 期 ) 约 2700 篇。以 1993 年共 4 期为例 ( 附五年前的 1988年第 4 期情况作为比较 ), 其基本情况见下表 :

潘文国（ 2002 ）：

根据我们最新作的不完全统计 , 截至 2001 年 6月为止 , 所发表的英汉对比研究论文为 1374 篇 ,其中 1977 年后为 1353 篇 ; 专著和论文集为 92部 , 其中 1977 年后为 82 部。……我们……亲自动手到资料室对书刊一本本地进行了翻检 ,把名称上没有提对比而实质上是对比的文章寻找出来。 1998 年 , 我让研究生杨静同志花了几乎一个学期的时间做这个工作 , 其时所得论文已近 900 篇 ; 最近我自己动手 , 在她的初稿基础上进行扩充 , 并增补了近几年的内容。其中著作部分我大部都已购置 , 论文部

其中著作部分我大部都已购置 , 论文部分也多数曾经过目 , 应该说是比较可信的。……别的学者的统计大都只限于期刊杂志 , 有的更只限于几家主要杂志 ( 如这里没有列出的载于《中国语言学现状与展望》一书中高远的《英汉对比分析评述》一文 , 就只统计了区区九种刊物 ),而我把统计的面扩大到了各种论文集 ,包括一般搞对比研究的人容易忽视的汉语学者的论文集 ,从中进行细细爬梳。对著作我们也不仅仅只看标题 , 有时还要读它的内容。例如……

潘文国：《汉英对比研究一百年》，《世界汉语教学》 2002年第 1期 (总第 59期 )。

THANKS !