哈佛大學(xué)教授教你寫論文

哈佛大學(xué)教授教你寫論文本文是哈佛化學(xué)與化學(xué)生物學(xué)學(xué)院G.M.Whitesides教授研究小組內(nèi)部分發(fā)的論文寫作方法，從中我們不但可以學(xué)到如何有效的寫作論文，而且可以學(xué)到一個科研小組是如何協(xié)作完成論文的寫作。WhitesidesGroup:WritingaPaperGeorgeM.WhitesidesDepartmentofChemistryandChemicalBiology,HarvardUniversity,Cambridge,MA02138,USA1.Whatisascientificpaper?Apaperisanorganizeddescriptionofhypotheses,dataandconclusions,intendedtoinstructthereader.Papersareacentralpartofresearch.Ifyourresearchdoesnotgeneratepapers,itmightjustaswellnothavebeendone.“Interestingandunpublished”isequivalentto“non-existent.”[科技論文是集假說、數(shù)據(jù)和結(jié)論為一體的概括性描述]Realizethatyourobjectiveinresearchistoformulateandtesthypotheses,todrawconclusionsfromthesetests,andtoteachtheseconclusionstoothers.Yourobjectiveisnotto“collectdata.”[研究的目的是為了形成并證實(shí)假說，得出結(jié)論，不是簡單的數(shù)據(jù)收集。]Apaperisnotjustanarchivaldeviceforstoringacompletedresearchprogram,itisalsoastructureforplanningyourresearchinprogress.Ifyouclearlyunderstandthepurposeandformofapaper,itcanbeimmenselyusefultoyouinorganizingandconductingyourresearch.Agoodoutlineforthepaperisalsoagoodplanfortheresearchprogram.Youshouldwriteandrewritetheseplans/outlinesthroughoutthecourseoftheresearch.Atthebeginning,youwillhavemostlyplan;attheend,mostlyoutline.Thecontinuousefforttounderstand,analyze,summarize,andreformulatehypothesesonpaperwillbeimmenselymoreefficientforyouthanaprocessinwhichyoucollectdataandonlystarttoorganizethemwhentheircollectionis“complete.”[論文并不僅是收集研究結(jié)果，也有助于形成進(jìn)一步的研究工作的框架][好的文章提要也是研究工作的好計(jì)劃，在研究的過程中，應(yīng)該反復(fù)修改這些計(jì)劃或提要。研究工作開始時，應(yīng)有完善的計(jì)劃；工作結(jié)束時，應(yīng)充分的總結(jié)。]2.Outlines2.1Thereasonforoutlines.Iemphasizethecentralplaceofanoutlineinwritingpapers,preparingseminars,andplanningresearch.Iespeciallybelievethatforyou,andforme,itismostefficienttowritepapersfromoutlines.Anoutlineisawrittenplanoftheorganizationofapaper,includingthedataonwhichitrests.Youshould,infact,thinkofanoutlineasacarefullyorganizedandpresentedsetofdata,withattendantobjectives,hypothesesandconclusions,ratherthananoutlineoftext.[按照提綱進(jìn)行寫作是最有效的方法][提綱是一篇論文的行文計(jì)劃，應(yīng)該包括論文所依靠的數(shù)據(jù)。提綱不僅僅是列出各段的內(nèi)容，而是按照目的，假說，結(jié)論來精心組織數(shù)據(jù)。]Anoutlineitselfcontainslittletext.IfyouandIcanagreeonthedetailsoftheoutline(thatis,onthedataandorganization),thesupportingtextcanbeassembledfairlyeasily.Ifwedonotagreeontheoutline,anytextisuseless.Muchofthetimeinwritingapapergoesintothetext;mostofthethoughtgoesintotheorganizationofthedataandintotheanalysis.Itcanberelativelyefficienttogothroughseveral(evenmany)cyclesofanoutlinebeforebeginningtowritetext;writingmanyversionsofthefulltextofapaperisslow.[在我們就提綱達(dá)成一致以前，寫正文是沒有意義的][在動筆前，詳細(xì)討論幾遍寫作提綱會提高寫作效率；寫很多遍正文反倒很慢]AllthewritingthatIdo-papers,reports,proposals(and,ofcourse,slidesforseminars)-Idofromoutlines.Iurgeyoutolearnhowtousethemaswell.2.2Howshouldyouconstructanoutline?Theclassicalapproachistostartwithablankpieceofpaper,andwritedown,inanyorder,allimportantideasthatoccurtoyouconcerningthepaper.Askyourselftheobviousquestions:“WhydidIdothiswork?”“Whatdoesitmean?”“WhathypothesisdidImeantotest?”“WhatonesdidIactuallytest?”“Whatweretheresults?”“Didtheworkyieldanewmethodorcompound?What?”“WhatmeasurementsdidImake?”“Whatcompounds?Howweretheycharacterized?”Sketchpossibleequations,figures,andschemes.Itisessentialtotrytogetthemajorideaswrittendown.Ifyoustarttheresearchtotestonehypothesis,anddecide,whenyouseewhatyouhave,thatthedatareallyseemtotestsomeotherhypothesisbetter,don'tworry.Writethembothdown,andpickthebestcombinationsofhypotheses,objectivesanddata.Oftentheobjectivesofapaperwhenitisfinishedaredifferentfromthoseusedtojustifystartingthework.Muchofgoodscienceisopportunisticandrevisionist.[找一頁空白的紙，以任何順序，寫下與這篇文章有關(guān)的所有重要觀點(diǎn)][自問一些顯而易見的問題][如果你的研究開始是為證實(shí)一個假設(shè)，然而當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)你有的數(shù)據(jù)仿佛真的可以更好地驗(yàn)證其它的假設(shè)時，你也不必?fù)?dān)心。把它們兩者都寫出來，去選擇假設(shè)，目的和數(shù)據(jù)的最佳組合。]Whenyouhavewrittendownwhatyoucan,startwithanotherpieceofpaperandtrytoorganizethejumbleofthefirstone.Sortallofyourideasintothreemajorheaps(A-C).[試著草擬一份提綱。將你的觀點(diǎn)分成三大類]A)IntroductionWhydidIdothework?Whatwerethecentralmotivationsandhypotheses?[為什么我要做這件工作，主要的目的和假設(shè)是什么？]B)ResultsandDiscussion*Startwritingpossibleoutlinesforpapersearlyinaproject.Donotwaituntilthe“end”.Theendmaynevercome.[在一個項(xiàng)目開始時，就應(yīng)該著手去寫可能的論文提綱，而不要等到論文結(jié)束的時候。研究可能永遠(yuǎn)沒有結(jié)尾可言。]*Organizetheoutlineandthepaperaroundeasilyassimilateddata-tables,equations,figures,schemes-ratherthanaroundtext.[整理提綱和論文要圍繞易于接受的數(shù)據(jù)—表格，方程式，圖表，示意圖，而不是圍繞正文。]*Organizeinorderofimportance,notinchronologicalorder.Animportantdetailinwritingpaperconcernstheweighttobegiventotopics.Neophytesoftenorganizeapaperintermsofchronology:thatis,theyrecounttheirexperimentalprogram,startingwiththeircherishedinitialfailuresandleadinguptoaclimacticsuccessfulfinale.Thisapproachiscompletelywrong.Startwiththemostimportantresults,andputthesecondaryresultslater,ifatall.Thereaderusuallydoesnotcarehowyouarrivedatyourbigresults,onlywhattheyare.Shorterpapersareeasiertoreadthanlongerones.[不是按照時間順序,而應(yīng)按重要性來整理。應(yīng)該從最重要的結(jié)果寫起，然后是較重要的結(jié)果。讀者們通常不關(guān)心你是怎么得到的結(jié)果，而只關(guān)心結(jié)果是什么]3.SomePointsofEnglishStyle[英文文體上的一些要點(diǎn)：]1)Donotusenounsasadjectives:2)Theword“this”mustalwaysbefollowedbyanoun,sothatitsreferenceisexplicit3)Describeexperimentalresultsuniformlyinthepasttense.[描述實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果一律要用過去時態(tài)。]4)Usetheactivevoicewheneverpossible.5)Completeallcomparisons.6)Typeallpapersdouble-spaced(notsingle-orone-and-a-halfspaced),andleave1spaceaftercolons,commas,andafterperiodsattheendofsentences.Leavegenerousmargins.(generally,1.25”onbothsides&top&bottom).AssumethatwewillwriteallpapersusingthestyleoftheAmericanChemicalSociety.Youcangetagoodideaofthisstylefromthreesources:1)TheJournal.Simplylookatarticlesinthejournalsandcopytheorganizationyouseethere.2)