东南大学学术论文写作-单元2Unit2

EnglishAcademicWritingforGraduateStudents东南大学外国语学院制作UnitTwoResearchProposalUnitTwoTounderstandtheimportanceandmajorcomponentsofaresearchproposal;Tobecomeawareoftheuseofpersonalpronounsandnominalizationinacademicwriting;Toinitiateyourownresearch;Tolearntowritearesearchproposal.LearningObjectivesUnitTwoWhat

isyourpurpose

ofinitiatinganacademicresearch?

Whydoyouneedtowritearesearchproposal?

Howdoyouchooseatopic?

Doyouoftenencounterthefirstandsecondpersonalpronounsinacademicwriting?Andwhy?

I.Warm-upUnitTwo1.Summarizethecomponentsofaresearchproposalbasedonthetextinafewkeywordsandfillinthefollowingtable.II.SampleReadingUnitTwo2.Readthefollowingpairsoftopicsanddecidewhichismoresuitableforashort-termresearch.Thefirstoneisgivenasanexample.II.SampleReadingUnitTwo3.Decideifthefollowingquestionsareappropriateforresearchtopics.Whyorwhynot?Andhowtoimprovethemifnecessary?II.SampleReading1)HowmanycarsaretherevisitingtheDesertVistaMall?It’stoosmallandtootrivial.Youknowhowtoanswerthisquestion.Youknowwhichmalltovisitandwhattodo.Theproblemwiththisquestionisthatitdoesnotaddresswhatisimportantintheliterature.Thisquestioncouldbeimportantforthetransportationplanningliteraturehoweverandcouldberephrasedtoreflectthat.Thequestionisimprovedbyrelatingittoweekendorweekdaytrafficorwhichmallentrancehasmoreorlesstraffic.UnitTwo2)Howdoweimprovereadinginelementaryschools?It’stoolargeandnotdoable.Thisquestiontiesclearlyintotheresearchareaofelementaryschoolsuccessbyresearchingreadingingeneral,butitlacksanylinktotheresearchmethods.Thequestioncouldbeimprovedbyaskinghowdifferentinterventionprogramshelpstrugglingstudentsorhowcurriculaatcharterschoolsdifferfrompublicschools.UnitTwo3)Canremotesensingbeusedtodetectimpervioussurfaces?

Itcanbeansweredyesorno(whilesomeyes-or-noquestionsareactuallyokay,theyneedtobetestingsomethingspecific).Thisisaweakyes-or-noquestion.Thereisalinktoboththeliteraturereview(theneedtodetectimpervioussurfaces)andtheapproach(remotesensing),butbothpieceslackspecificity.Youcanimprovethequestionbyaddingdetailstoboth:CanMarkovrandomfieldsimproveclassificationofimpervioussurfacesinQuickbirdimagerycomparedtomaximumlikelihoodclassifiersindesertcities?Thisisanexampleofastrongyes-or-noquestion.Ontheliteraturesideitsuggestsahistoryofdetectingimpervioussurfaceswithmaximum-likelihoodclassificationapproaches.Onthemethodsside,itsuggeststheapproachwilluseMarkovrandomfieldsmethodsinanunspecifieddesertcity.UnitTwoA.Personalpronouns•FirstpersonpronounsEstablishingauthoridentifybyusingitandstrengtheningimpersonaltonebyremovingit.•SecondpersonpronounsSeldomusedunlessyougiveinstructions.•ThirdpersonpronounsSoundsmoreobjectiveandconvincing.III.LanguageFocusUnitTwoTasks1.Rewritethefollowingsentencestomakethemmoreacademicbyavoidingfirstandsecondpersonpronouns.Ithinkthatthemethodologysectionisahugelyimportantpartofyourresearchproposal.Themethodologysectionisofgreatimportancefortheresearchproposal.2)Whenyoureviewliterature,youshouldbeawarethatyouneedtoidentifyexistinggapsthatyourresearchintendstofill.Existinggapsshouldbeidentifiedthatthepresentresearchintendstofillintheliteraturereview.3)Ichosethismethodbecauseitwaslesscomplex.Thismethodwaschosenforitssimplicity.UnitTwo4)Myreadinghasshownthatthereareseveralreasonswhyplantsaredispersedbyants.Accordingtotheliteraturereviewed,thereareseveralreasonswhyplantsaredispersedbyants.5)Thereviewofrecentrelatedliteraturecouldhelpyoudiscoverthelatestfacilitiesthataremoreefficientthanearlierexistingonesincarryingoutyourwork.Inthereviewoftherecentliterature,latestfacilitiescouldbefoundwhicharemoreefficientthanearlierexistingonesinthecurrentstudy.6)IalsofoundthattheresultsofthisstudyconcurredwithBerg’s(1975)hypothesisthatseedsareprotectedfromfirethroughtheirburialinantsnests.TheresultsofthisstudyconcurredwithBerg's(1975)hypothesisthatseedsareprotectedfromfirethroughtheirburialinantsnests.UnitTwo2.Rewritethefollowingparagraphstomakethemmoreacademicbyavoidingfirstandsecondpersonpronouns.

Thepresentstudyistoinvestigatetheimpactoftwosimpleactionsaimedatgettingmorefemaleemployeestousethestairsatafivefloorworksite.Thefirststepwasthatahealthsignwasputupthatlinkedstairusetohealthandfitness.AndthesecondstepwasthattheworksitedoctorsentoutanE-mailandpointedoutthepositiveeffectsongeneralfitness.Thestudywasfollowedupinfourstates:abaselineweek,theweekafterthesign,theweekaftertheemailandthen3weeksafterthat.Resultsshowedthatstairusewentupdramaticallyinaweekafterthesign,fromabaselineof69%to77%,andthenupagainto89%aftertheE-mail.Unfortunately,4weeksaftertheE-mailwassentout,stairusedeclinedto67%.thesesimpleactionsweresupposedtoleadtomorestairusebutthepositiveeffectvanishedafteramonth.Soit’sreallydifficulttomakeanyrecommendationsbasedontheevidence.UnitTwoB.NominalizationIII.LanguageFocusWhenyouturnaverboranadjectiveintoanoun,younominalizeit,creatinganominalization.UnitTwoTasks1.Writedownthenounformofthewordsinthefollowingtable.UnitTwo2.Rewritethefollowingsentencestomakethemmoreacademicbyusingnominalization.1)Manychildrenexperienceworrieswhentheygotoschoolforthefirsttime.The

experience

ofworrieswithrespecttobeingatschoolforthefirsttimeiscommonforchildren.2)Crimewasincreasingrapidlyandthepolicewerebecomingconcerned.Thepolicewerebecomingconcernedaboutrapidincreaseofcrimes.OrTherapidincreaseincrimewascausingconcernamongthepolice.3)Elephantsargueoversmallconcerns,justlikehumans.Arguments

oversmallconcernsaresomethingelephantshave,aswellashumans.UnitTwo4)Weneedtoknowwhichpartsofourlibraryarebeingusedmostextensivelysothatwecanprojectwhatresourcesaremostneeded.Itmustbefoundoutwhichpartsofthelibraryareinmostextensiveusesothatitcanbedeterminedwhatresourcesaremostinneed.5)IknowEnglishwell.IworkedforthreeyearsinafactoryinShanghai.IthinkIamgoodenoughforthejob.

BothmyEnglishproficiencyandmythree-yearworkexperienceinafactoryinShanghaiqualifymetobeanidealcandidateforthejob.UnitTwo3.Rewritethefollowingparagraphtomakeitmoreacademicbyusingnominalization.TheinequityinthedistributionofwealthinAustraliaisyetanotherindicatorofAustralia'slackofegalitarianism.In1985,20%oftheAustralianpopulationowned72.2%ofthewealthwiththetop50%owning92.1%(Raskall,1988:287:).Suchasignificantskewinthedistributionofwealthindicatesthat,atleastintermsofeconomics,thereisanestablishedclasssysteminAustralia.McGregor(1988)arguesthatAustraliansocietycanbecategorisedintothreelevels:theUpper;MiddleandWorkingclasses.Inaddition,ithasbeenshownthatmostAustralianscontinuetoremainintheclassintowhichtheywereborn(McGregor,1988:156)despiteargumentsabouttheeaseofsocialmobilityinAustraliansociety(Fitzpatrick,1994).Theissueofclassanditsinherentinequity,however,isfurthercompoundedbyfactorssuchasraceandgenderwithinandacrosstheseclassdivisions.UnitTwoA.SelectingatopicB.FormulatingthefocusC.EstablishingaworkingtitleIV.AcademicWritingSkillsUnitTwoA.SelectingatopicIV.AcademicWritingSkillsSelectatopicyoureallylike,arecuriousabout,orareanexperton.Choosethreetopicsgiveninthetextbookanddiscusstheirpossibilitiesassubjectsforyourgroupprojectwithyourteammates.Ifyoufindnoneofthefollowinginteresting,youcanproposeyourown.UnitT