學術英語寫作要點

如何進行學術英語寫作?學術英語寫作一定要細心謹慎，下面是小編整理的寫作要點，歡迎參考!

　　1 引述的內容不同，用不同的詞來指代

無論是寫什麼類型的學術文章，我們都需要引述別人的觀點的觀點。在英語裏有很多引述觀點的詞，如find，suggest, discover, support, show, indicate, cite, confirm等等，除了他們用於引述不同的內容，意思區別，有很多詞還隱含作者本身的觀點，甚至有褒貶義，所以用的時候並不是完全通用的，下面就讓我們來分別看下吧。

1. reporting research activities: (引述研究活動)

這類詞有discuss, look at, examine, study, investigate, consider (+noun phrase)，一般後面加名次詞組，引述的內容一般是別人做了一個什麼樣的調查。

2. reporting findings: (引述研究的發現)

這類詞有discover, find, suggest, indicate, show (+that…)，後面一般加that引導的賓語從句，引述的內容是別人做了研究以後得出的結論或者發現。

3. reporting arguments: (引述論點)

這類詞有suggest, indicate, argue, point out, claim, note (+that)，右面一般也加that引導的'賓語從句，引述的內容是別人的論點。

　　2 不同的詞不可以進行互換

第二個問題就是reporting arguments的時候，並不是所有的詞都是可以互換的，很多詞在潛意識中就已經隱含了作者本人的觀點。具體來看一下：

1. argue：中文裏這個詞翻譯成“爭論”，感覺肯定不是中性的(想一下，面紅耳赤，像兩隻公雞 )。但是argue在英文裏恰恰就是個非常中性的詞，describing somebody’s reporting idea。所以引述別人的論點，比如“某某認為…”“某某的觀點是…”，不摻入任何作者的感情色彩。

2. claim和assert這兩個詞慎用!如果你説“某某claims/asserts…”往往表示了你的反對的觀點。claim比assert稍稍好些，claim表示你不認同某某的觀點;而assert在中文裏就翻譯成“宣稱”，也就是説你不僅不認同某某人的觀點，還認為某某人簡直就是無稽之談，胡扯八道，毫無理由。如果你用了這兩個詞，你就要舉出強有力的反對理由去反駁這個某某人的觀點，否則…我覺得還是不要那麼強烈的把人家否定了。

3. cite, refer, 和state。Cite和refer後面都要加引用的原文，也就是要用引號引起來的，而state則要paraphrase，也就是轉述，但不能用人家原來的語句。

　　3 時態問題要注意

中國的語法教育，從來都是為語法而語法，語法正確，一切正確，事實上並不是這樣的。時態也能表現你的觀點。

引述一般有三種時態：過去時，現在時和現在完成時。

一般來説，過去時是最客觀的，因為發生在過去，你也用過去時來陳述，跟你有一定的距離，所以是比較客觀。可以用來支持，也可以用來反駁。

如果你用了現在時或者現在完成時，就跟你扯上關係了，一般來説或多或少表示你贊同這個觀點。The research findings may correspond to the writer’s own opinion, the current state of knowledge or the research itself may be close to the writer’s own research.

記住一個問題：雖然寫argument的文章我們需要表達自己的觀點，但是你的觀點一定要客觀分析而來，而不是主觀的個人的觀點。老外是很奇怪的，他們又希望你能表達出自己的看法，但是又要你的看法是要大家都能接受的，又要把你個人的觀點巧妙的隱藏起來。

　　4 人物指代要清晰

中國學生寫作最大的問題，就是一篇短短200-400字的論文中，各種人物粉末登場，I，we，you輪番上陣，走馬觀花象跑龍套的，搞的老外頭昏腦漲。在formal writing中，為了使argument有説服力，最好不要出現太多的人物——因為你不是在寫小説。下面就I，we，you的問題分別討論一下。

We

Avoid ‘we’, because it is often unclear who ‘we’ refers to. You and your marker? You and a co-author? The whole world???

It is also very bad style to refer to yourself as ‘we’—writers sometimes do it when they have problems with their essay and they want to ‘distance; themselves from it, saying in effect, ‘Do not blame me for this result’.

Avoid ‘we must teach like this’ or ‘we should concluded that…’. If you do this, you are making two mistakes. First, you are telling your marker what to think and do (not a good idea) and second, you are limiting your own position. You are saying ‘things are defined and clear cut’, whereas they are often NOT!

You

Avoid ‘you’. It is too personal and conversational. That the ‘expert talking to learner’ style used in textbooks and handbooks is NOT appropriate in formal writing, since you are still a learner.

I

You can use ‘I’ at several points, but making certain the sentence refers to something you are, as a student and as the author of the assignment, responsible for. Thus you could put ‘I shall divide the argument into two main sections’ (you could also write ‘the argument is divided into two main sections’). On the other hand, you do not want to write, ‘I have argued elsewhere that adults learn grammar faster than children’, as this makes you sound like a world expert with 30 books published!

Try and avoid ‘I think X is a good idea’. We want you to argue the case WHY X is or is not appropriate, rather than simply assert(=state) that you think it is. This is one of the big differences between conversation and university assignments. In an assignment, you have to make sure you give the evidence for opinions and you need to use impersonal verbs like ‘seem’.

Thus you would write, ‘Smith would seem to be wrong in arguing that…’ or ‘This seems incorrect’, rather than ‘I think Smith is wrong’.

　　5 一些注意事項

1 Aviod "can","should"

大概是媒體語言看多了，中國人説話自然而然帶了一種官腔。西方人同我們不同，他們希望看到的是你有什麼具體的方法解決具體的問題，而不是每天拿着小旗幟揮，喊slogan——我們應該怎麼樣，我們必須怎麼樣——but HOW?

You can use 'can' to describe yourself as in this sentence: 'It is hoped that the essay CAN...'. However, you had better not use 'can' as in 'The teachers can do something...', which sounds like an order. The same or we say even worse with 'should'.

If you say 'the government should...', it would be a very bad style. You are learners but not policy makers--the only thing you can do is to argume or make suggestion but not ORDER/DEMAND/FORCE. What you can do is to argue convincingly and try your best to persuade others but not force them to believe. Don't make yourself so important--as you are, in fact, not important! You can try 'may''had better''might' more.

2 Avoid emotional and poetic words

避免詩情畫意的用詞。在formal writing中，人就是人，沒必要説a famous writer，也沒必要出現一些過於情緒化的詞語。

Avoiding emotive words can be difficult in a foreign language, but it is very important to try. Avoid words like ‘My dream is to answer this question’ or ‘I am starting this fascinating essay with a wonderful, and deeply enriching, tantalizing comment by the highly celebrated and world famous expert R. Smith’. You may personally think that Smith is wonderful and justly famous, but in an academic assignment, PEOPLE ARE JUST PEOPLE! Your argument depends on the content of your points, not on the fame or excitement of the topic, the author or your opinion.

3 Avoid ‘some’

formal writing中，要使你的論據佔的住腳，就避免模糊用語，例如some。

The British use ‘some’ in conversation all the time. BUT it does not have the same effect in writing. There, it appears weak; this makes you look as though you are not in control of your own argument. Try and use more positive expressions, like ‘a number of Ws’, ‘a series of Xs’, ‘several Ys’, ‘a range of Zs’.

4 Aviod 'as we all know' 'it can not be denied' 'there is no denying that...' 'everyone knows'... 'only by doing this, can we...'

無論是什麼考試的閲讀理解，大家應該都有一個印象，就是如果出現“all” “only”這類極端詞彙的選項，99.999999%肯定是錯的。

Then why most of you keep using this kind of phrases in your essay? Remember, most likely, there is no single standard answer in social science--since people have different understandings towards different phenomena. Also, remember, the one you can represent is YOU yourself, but no one else. So you CAN'T say 'as we all know'! As I often DON'T know!

5 Aviod 'as far as I am concerned' 'I think' 'in my opinion'

有人也許會奇怪，怎麼這些也不能用?

The marker knows clearly that YOU have written this essay--so they know clearly that it is YOUR opinion! So why keep repeating these 廢話?記住，寫作千萬不要湊字數。