英語學(xué)位論文寫作CHAPTER8課件

1、How to Write a DissertationIn English How to Write a DissertationIntroduction8.1The macrostructure8.2The abstract8.3The introduction8.4Chapter 8Writing (1): Elements of a DissertationThe literature review8.5The theoretical framework8.6Research method and data8.7Analysis and discussion8.8The conclusi

2、on8.9Summary8.10Exercises8.11Introduction8.1The macrostruct8.1 IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English A dissertation is like a house in that both of them have certain expected elements of structure, which distinguish them from objects that are not a dissertation or a house. The aim of th

3、is chapter is to outline the structural elements of a dissertation. We will start with the macrostructure, and then look at different elements in more detail. From the discussions you can see the function and content of each element. We will also provide some examples to illustrate the points more c

4、learly. IntroductionHow to write a8.2 The macrostructureHow to write a dissertation in English A BA dissertation is like a house because both of them have a macrostructure, which has both obligatory and optional components. Although different universities may ha

5、ve slightly different requirements in terms of structure of the BA dissertation, we would assume that a BA dissertation usually has the following elements of structure: (1) Title, author, matriculation number, tutor, affiliation, year of submission, etc. (2) Abstract, one in Chinese, one in English;

6、 key words (3) Introduction, which includes brief information concerning the research background, the aims and objectives, research questions, research method, theoretical framework, data, and the structure of the dissertation. (4) Literature review and theoretical preliminaries (5) Research method,

7、 data analysis (6) Results and discussion The macrostructureHow to w8.2 The macrostructureHow to write a dissertation in English (7) Conclusion (8) Notes, Appendix, References, Acknowledgements Some of the elements of structure are obligatory, which means that t

8、hey must appear in the dissertation, while others, e.g. notes, appendix, acknowledgements, are optional, that is, they may or may not appear in the dissertation depending on factors such as the nature of the research and the style of writing. In terms of the layout and structure of the dissertation,

9、 some elements of structure may appear in a single chapter or section, while other elements may be dealt with in different chapters or sections. For example, in many dissertations, literature review and theoretical preliminaries each form a single chapter. The m

10、acrostructureHow to w8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English Although the title of the dissertation gives an idea of the topic of investigation, it is the abstract that is the first source of information, which gives the reader a general idea of your research and writing. The abstract

11、 serves as a summary of the research from which the reader gets a birds-eye view of the whole dissertation. In their description of the structure of the abstract, Huang, Ghadessy and Zhang (2004: 66-67) suggest that there are a number of elements in the abstract which are concerned with answers to t

12、he following questions: 1. What is the subject matter/area the research paper is dealing with? 2. What background information is provided by the author(s)? 3. What is the purpose of the present study? 4. How is the research to be done? 5. What are some of the important findings?8.7

13、08.118.3 The abstractHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English 6. What are some of the implications of the study? The following abstract from the Journal of Asian Pacific Communication (George Braine, “From a teacher-centred to a student-centred approach: A study

14、of peer feedback in Hong Kong writing classes”, 12/2, 2003: 269) can be used to illustrate these points (numbers have been added to the sentences for ease of reference):8.108.11 (1) There is a common belief that, owing to the highly teacher-centred form of education, Chine

15、se students are passive learners. (2) As a result, a student-centred approach such as process writing is believed to be difficult to implement in classes that consist mainly of Chinese students. (3) This study tested these beliefs by introducing peer feedback, the backbone of process writing, to Chi

16、nese students enrolled in university writing classes and by8.3 The abstractHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English8.108.11measuring the effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively and qualitatively. (4) The study showed that, with proper

17、training, Chinese students could quickly adapt to a student-centred approach, and also provide rich and useful feedback on the writing of their peers. (5) This study has promising implications for educational contexts where students are considered passive learners, teacher-centred learning is the no

18、rm, or the process approach to writing faces daunting challenges to its implementation.8.3 The abstractHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English Now let us see whether we can find the answers to the six questions listed above. The following words and expressions tell the r

19、eader what the subject matter is, i.e. answer to question (1): “What is the subject matter/area the research paper is dealing with?”: teacher-centred (S-1), student-centred (S-2), process-writing (S-2), peer feedback, the backbone of process writing (S-3), writing classes (S-3), the effectiveness of

20、 the feedback (S-3), a student-centred approach (S-4), useful feedback on the writing of their peers (S-4), teacher- centred learning (S-5), the process approach to writing (S-5). These words and groups/phrases reflect the subject matter as expressed in the title of the paper: From a teacher-centred

21、 to a student-centred approach: A study of peer feedback in Hong Kong writing classes. The abstractHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English From the above abstract we can see that Sentences (1) and (2) provide the background informati

22、on for the study:8.108.11 (1) “There is a common belief that, owing to the highly teacher-centred form of education, Chinese students are passive learners. (2) As a result, a student-centred approach such as process writing is believed to be difficult to implement in class

23、es that consist mainly of Chinese students.” The third question is concerned with the purpose of the study, and tested these beliefs.(S-3) indicates the purpose of research.8.3 The abstractHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in English The fourth question is “How is the researc

24、h to be done?”, which is concerned with the method of the research. The two prepositional phrases in Sentence (3) by introducing peer feedback, the backbone of process writing and by measuring the effectiveness of the feedback both quantitatively and qualitatively clearly indicate how the research i

25、s to be carried out. Question (5) is about the result of the study “What are some of the important findings?”, and Sentence (4) “The study showed that, with proper training, Chinese students could quickly adapt to a student-centred approach, and also provide rich and useful feedback on the writing o

26、f their peers.” serves the purpose of giving the reader two findings of the study. The final sentence in the abstract, i.e. “This study has promising implications for educational contexts where students are considered passive learners, teacher-centred The abstra

27、ctHow to write a8.3 The abstractHow to write a dissertation in Englishlearning is the norm, or the process approach to writing faces daunting challenges to its implementation.” tells the reader the implications for the study, and thus it answers the last question in the abstract, i.e. “What are some

28、 of the implications of the study?”. It should be noted that not every abstract has all these six elements, but the example above provides a useful guideline for young researchers. The abstractHow to write a8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in Engl

29、ish In the Introduction of a dissertation, the following sections are usually expected: (1) rationale for the research (or background to the research, reason/motivation of the research), (2) aims and objectives, (3) research questions, (4) data, (5) research method, (6) theoretical framework, (7) st

30、ructure of the dissertation. Since points concerning sections (2), (3), (4), (5) have been discussed in Chapter 7 and section (6) will be dealt with later in this chapter, in this section we will only focus on sections (1) and (7). The rationale for the research is concerned with the reason, motivat

31、ion, feasibility, necessity, appropriateness and/or the background information of the proposed research. The underlying question is often along the lines of: “Why do we undertake the present research?”. The following is adapted from the Background to the study section of a PhD thesis (YU H. (2001).

32、Discourse as Genre: Arresting Semiotics in Research Paper Abstracts. Unpublished PhD thesis, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.: The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English Recent work in linguistics has extended th

33、e study of genre beyond the literary domain. The concept of genre itself is certainly not a new one. What is new, however, is the interest in the analysis of non-literary genres and the attempt to characterize genre in terms of a set of linguistic properties generally applicable across a large numbe

34、r of genres. The underlying assumption is that there may be underlying recurrent features which are prototypically present in particular groups of texts. With the development of text linguistics and discourse analysis, linguists are no longer satisfied with surface-level linguistic description, but

35、turn to seek deeper social-cultural rationales for text construction and interpretation, thus using genre analysis as a powerful tool for an “insightful and thick description” (Bhatia 1993: 11) of texts. A model for discourse or genre analysis is then called for which is rich in sociological, 8.18.2

36、18.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in Englishcultural and institutional explanation in order to posit a correlation between language use and extra-linguistic situations. Genres have been studied in a variety of disciplines, rangi

37、ng from folklore studies, ethnography of communication, ethnomethodology, psychology, rhetoric to applied linguistics. Discussions in these disciplines have contributed to the development of a theory for genres. Of the many attempts to identify the generic qualities of discourse, the systemic functi

38、onal approach, which provides a plausible link between grammar and text, and between text and socio-cultural context, has proved to be most fruitful when applied to genre analysis. It offers an integrated, comprehensive and systematic model of language, which enables genres to be described at differ

39、ent levels. The present study will be largely set in a systemic functional framework with some The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in Englishinspirations from the Swalesian approach. The object of analysis in this study is ab

40、stracts, a genre that remains, regretably, “a neglected field among discourse analysts” (Swales 1990: 181). The abstract is an essential part of a research paper. It is meant to be a condensed representation of the contents of a much longer article and gives the reader a concise knowledge of the ful

41、l article. Little research, however, has been carried out on how abstracts can be characterized in terms of generic features.8.108.11 The above passage addresses a number of issues: (1) the motivation and necessity of the proposed study as evident from “the interest in the

42、 analysis of non-literary genres and the attempt to characterize genre in terms of a set of linguistic properties generally applicable across a large number of genres”, (2) genre analysis as a powerful tool for an8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English

43、insightful and thick description of language use, (3) theoretical assumptions and framework, and (4) the object of the study. The function of this rationale for the research (or background to the research) is to orientate the reader by guiding him to the proposed study. On the other hand, the sectio

44、n on structure of the thesis outlines the structure of the whole dissertation. Here is an example (Wang, J. (2005). Chinese/English Code-switching in Chinese Newspapers: A Systemic Functional Approach. Unpublished PhD thesis, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.):8.10

45、8.11Thesis structure This thesis is divided into eight chapters. The introductory chapter considers some basic issues for the study. Chapter 2 clarifies the terminologies and taxonomies of the language phenomenon, which I term generally as8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write

46、 a dissertation in English8.108.11code-switching, and reviews previous studies in the field. Several drawbacks of and gaps in the existing code-switching studies are also discussed. Chapter 3 provides the theoretical foundations for the present study. It introduces the the

47、oretical assumptions and the basic principles of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as the theoretical framework, presents the rationale for a SFL approach to the code-switching in the present case, and discusses briefly how the analyses are modelled in such an approach. Chapters 4 to 7 are conce

48、rned with a detailed analysis of the collected code-switching data. Chapter 4 provides a general description of the code-switching in the Chinese newspapers collected in Guangzhou by using a register analysis approach. Chapter 5 attempts to explore the semantics of code-switching from a multifunctio

49、nal perspective. While Chapter 4 and8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English8.108.11Chapter 5 are basically linguistic descriptions of the code- switching in the newspapers, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 aim to explore the social co

50、ntext in which the practice of code- switching is embedded. Chapter 6 focuses on the immediate context and discusses the practice of code-switching in relation to three contextual variables, i.e. field, tenor, and mode. Chapter 7 on the other hand locates code-switching in the wider social context a

51、nd examines the practice of code- switching by reference to social discourses and ideologies in this particular culture. Chapter 8 is the concluding chapter, whereby main findings and basic arguments of the thesis are presented and its contribution and significance are summed up. I shall also relate

52、 the present descriptive study to some prescriptive studies and consider its implications for language standardization. Suggestions for future studies are also proposed.8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English From this example we can see that the write

53、r outlines clearly the structure of the whole thesis, thus giving the reader a macrostructural view of the whole dissertation. Below is the Structure of the Dissertation sub-section within the Introduction (Jiang, Y. H. (2005). A Textual Analysis of Einstein”s “Peace in the Atomic Age” and Its Chine

54、se Translations. Unpublished MA dissertation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.):8.108.11Structure of the Dissertation The dissertation is divided into five chapters. In Chapter One, we introduce the theoretical background of the present study, present an outline o

55、f the aim and objectives of the study, and describe the text to be analysed. In Chapter Two, we give a general review of the relevant theoretical concepts to be followed in the study, with the focus on the notion of the Textual Function, and survey the applications of the Textual Function in discour

56、se analysis as well as8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.4 The IntroductionHow to write a dissertation in English8.108.11its integration with translation studies. In Chapter Three, we examine both the English text and its Chinese translations from the Textual Functional perspe

57、ctive. In Chapter Four, we compare and discuss the English text and its Chinese translations in terms of the Textual Function. Finally, in Chapter Five, we summarize the main findings of the study and put forward some suggestions for future studies.8.4 The IntroductionHow to wr8.5 The literature rev

58、iewHow to write a dissertation in English The literature review (文獻(xiàn)綜述) in a BA dissertation or an academic paper is part of the secondary research (see Chapter 3), and its purposes include: (1) to show what has been previously studied in the field and what can be improved or modified, (2) to summari

59、ze other peoples writings, (3) to define or review definitions and key concepts, and (4) to clear the ground for your own research. If you are familiar with previous studies in the field, you are likely to see the gaps that need to be filled and opportunities for further studies to be undertaken. Co

60、nsequently, this is the starting point of your research. If you unable to provide a good review of the literature, this implies that you are not familiar with the research situation or that you are not able to summarize other peoples research in this area. The literature review section is where the