AcademicWriting6英語專業(yè)論文寫作

TakingNotesContents1.ImportanceofNoteTaking

2.EvaluationofSourceMaterials3.TechniqueofNoteCards4.MethodsofNoteTakingImportanceofNoteTakingToaidmemoryTofacilitatepaper-writingToavoidplagiarismEvaluationofSourceMaterialsA.UserecentsourcematerialsScientificandtechnicaltopicsespeciallyrequireup-to-dateresearch.Learntodependonmonthlyandquarterlyjournalsaswellasbooks.Remembertoothatrecentpublicationsreviewpreviousworksinthefield.Arecentoverviewofliteratureonatopicwillciterecognized,reliablesourcesforyoutoaddtoyourworkingbibliographyEvaluationofSourceMaterialsB.UsereliablesourcematerialsBewareofbiasedreporting,bothinthewritingofothersandinyourowndrafts.Ingeneral,journalsoffermorereliableevidencethanmagazines.Manyorganizationspublishbiasedarticlestopromotetheirviewpoints.There’snothingwrongwiththepractice,butyoushouldbeawareofanybiases.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsC.QuotethebestscholarsInfluentialauthoritiesonatopicareusuallymentionedofteninvarioussources,whateverthefield.Itwillpayyoutolookattheirwork.Youmaydiscoverthekeypeopleinoneareabythefollowingmethods:(1)askyoursupervisororinstructor;(2)watchforcertainnamesthatreappearinscholarlymaterials.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsD.UserelevantsourcematerialsEvaluatingabookrequiresthatyoucheckseveralitems:(1)Thecompletetitlewithsubtitleindicatesthebooks’relevance.(2)Thetableofcontentshelpsyoudiscoverchaptersthattouchdirectlyorindirectlyonthetopic.(3)Theprefaceorintroductionservesasacriticaloverviewoftheentirebook.(4)Theindexofabookgivesnamesandtermswithpagenumbersforallitemsmentionedwithinthetext.(5)Thebibliographyandendnotessuggestnewsourcesforlaterinvestigation.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsE.ExaminethebookreviewsWheneveronebookservesasacornerstoneforresearch,testitsvalidityandcriticalreputationbyreadingareviewortwoinjournalsand/ormagazines.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsF.UnderstandingwhatyoureadSomestudentresearchersdomorecopyingthanthinking.Yetthequalityofyouranalysisoutweighsthenumberofsourcematerials,andthecontentofyourfinishedpaperismoreimportantthanhowmanynotecardsyouaccumulate.Yourthinkingcomesfirst.Tothatend,keepyourthesisandoutlineheadingsfirmlyinmindasyouopenbooksandleafthrougharticles.Inmanyinstancesyoumayborrowonlyoneideathatyourephraseintoyourownwords.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsG.Gettingtheauthor’sideaWhenfacedwithanarticle,readtheabstract,ifoneispossible.Thatisthequickestwaytoascertainifthepiecewillbeofusetoyou.Ifnoabstractisavailable,readtheopeningparagraphforcluestothewriter’spurpose.Withabook,skimtheauthor’sprefacetofindastatementofpurpose.EvaluationofSourceMaterialsH.UnderstandingthedifferencebetweenprimaryandsecondarysourcesPrimarysourcesareoriginalwordsofawriter,andsecondarysourcesareworksaboutsomebodyandabouttheirwork.Thesubjectareaofaresearchpaperdeterminesinpartthenatureofthesourcematerials.Takesocialsciencesforexample.Casestudies,findingsfromsurveysandquestionnaires,reportsofsocialworkers,etc.areprimarysources;commentaryandevaluationinreports,documents,journalarticles,andbooksaresecondarysources.TechniqueofNoteTakingUseinkUseindexcardsOneitempercardWriteononesideofcardListthesource(e.g.Ellis,1985:221)LabeleachcardWriteafullnoteKeepeverything(date,age,pagenumber,orfullname)MethodsofNoteTakingA.BuildingasetofpersonalnotecardsLearntowritenotestoyourselfduringresearchreading.Whenyoustartwritingtheroughdraft,thecontentsshouldbeyourthoughtsandideasinterspersedwithandsupportedbyyoursources.Ifyouhavenopersonalnotes,thenyourwritingwilldevelopslowly.MethodsofNoteTakingB.WritingsummarynotesWriteabriefsketchofyourmaterialwithoutgreatconcernforstyleorexpression.Tothisend,extractsignificantfactsbyfocusingonessentials:selectthekeyinformation,summarizeit,andgetonwithothermatters.Remember,however,thatevenasummaryneedsdocumentationofauthorandpagenumber.MethodsofNoteTakingC.WritingreviewnotesandplotnotesAnothertypeofcardreviewsthecontentsofanarticleorabook.Thisnoteisespeciallyusefulforwritinganannotatedbibliography.Thethirdtypeofnoteisplotnote.Itiswidelyusedinliterarycriticismtosummarizetheplotofanovel,shortstory,play,orsimilarliterarywork.MethodsofNoteTakingD.CondensingsourceswithprécisnotesCondensetheoriginalwithprecisionanddirectness.Reducealongparagraphintoasentence,tightenanarticleintoabriefparagraph,andsummarizeabookintoapage.Preservethetoneoftheoriginal.Limityourquotationoftheoriginalbywritingtheprécisinyourownlanguage.Providedocumentationbylocatingthesourceofyourmaterial.MethodsofNoteTakingE.RewritingsourceswithparaphrasednotesParaphrasingisatechniqueforrestatinginyourownstylethethoughtormeaningexpressedbysomeoneelse.Inotherwords,youborrowanidea,opinion,interpretation,orstatementandrewriteit.Inparaphrasing,youshouldrewritetheoriginalinaboutthesamenumberofwords,andpreservethetoneoftheoriginal.MethodsofNoteTakingF.CopyingsourceswithquotationnotesPlacequotationmarksaroundmaterialthatisdirectlycopiedontonotecardstodistinguishthequotesfromparaphrases.Copytheexactwordsoftheauthor,eventotheretentionofanyerrorsintheoriginalorwhatmightappeartobeerrors.Thewordssicwithinbracketssignalsanerrorintheoriginalwhichisbeingreproducedpreci