英语学术论文写作第六讲

1WritingEnglishResearchPaperByLiLei(6)2Chapter6:DiscussionSection

(论文的讨论部分)Probablythemostdifficultpartofapaperisthediscussionsection.Webringeverythingtogetherinthispartbydiscussingthesignificanceofourfindingsanditsrelationshiptopreviousresearchintheareaandalsothehypotheseswesetoutwith.3IntroductionoftheDiscussion(简介)Agooddealofthediscussionwouldbeexplanationofthefindingsandthefactorsthatmay/maynothaveaffectedourresults.Dependingonthenumberoffactorsorvariablesintheresearch,wemayalsohavesomesub-sectionstodealwith.Thefollowingisanexampleofasub-sectioninthediscussionsection.4Example1

Therearesignificantdifferences,indicatedby**,inEnglishandChinesetextsinrelationtoanumberoffeatures.ThemainreasonforthedifferencesrelatetothenumberofclausesinthenineEnglishtexts,arangeof32to75,ascomparedtotheninetranslationsinChinese,arangeof45to79.TheaverageclausenumberinChineseis60.88pertext,inEnglishitis47.33.Thecrucial(决定性)questionis“whathappenstotheEnglishClausewhenitistranslatedintoChinese?”AgeneralansweristhatinmanycasestheEnglish5Example1Clauseisrendered(重新措辞)intomorethanoneclauseinChinese,eachwithitsownTheme.Letusseehowthisisdoneinafewexamplesfromthetwodatasets.AllThemesareunderlined.Thenumbersprecedingeachexamplecorrespondtothenumberoftext(givenfirst)andthenumberofclauseTheme(givennext)iftheEnglishclauseisrenderedintomorethanoneclauseinChinese,thisisshownbythethirdnumber.6Intheaboveexample,theauthorsstartwithastatementabout“significantdifferences”betweenthetwotextsandgiveanexplanation“mainreason”forthefindings.Moredetailisprovidedinsubsequencesaboutthenumberofclauses.Lateronanimportantquestionisaskedandanswered.Theauthorssupporttheirconclusionbyprovidingsomeexamplesandfinallydescribe/explaintheformatandthenumberingsystem(标记系统)ofthegiveninstances.

Analysisexample17Analysisexample1Inexample2,anexplanationisgivenfirstandinExample3,itisclaimedthattheresults“support”and“confirm(证实)”apointof“view”andsome“observations”byothers.Example2:Anexplanationfortheabundanceofphrasesrecalledbythesubjectsmaybelanguageprocessing…Example3:Thefindingssupportanidiomatic(惯用)viewoflanguageandconfirmtheobservationsofmanylinguisticthatdelexicalchunk(非语言组块)isaprominent(重要)featureinmodernlanguageuse.8Describing,elaborating(阐述),comparing,constructing,explaining,etc,aresomelanguagefunctionsusedintheDiscussionsection.Thissectionmayalsocontainexamplesusedinprevioussectionsorrefertonewsourcestoconfirm/supportthefindingsofthenewpaper.Thisisshowninthefollowingexamples.

Thecontentofdiscussionsection

(讨论部分的内容)9Example4-54:Asfordelexicalchunkssuchas“makelove”and“makeadifference”,whichhavemeaningwhicharedifferentfromthewordscombined,itisobviousthattheyshouldbestbelearnedaswhole.5:Thisistruenotonlysecondaryschoolstudentsbutalsoofstudentswhopursuetheiracademicstudyinthetertiary(第三)sector.10Analysisexample4-5InExample4,itissuggestedthatcertainlanguagechunks(语言组块)shouldbelearnedaswholesandinExample5,theauthorprovidessupportforherviewpointbygivinganotherreferenceinthediscussionsection.11Thelanguageofdiscussionsection

(讨论部分的语言)Becauseofthemultifunctionalnatureofthediscussionsection,youngresearchersfinditadifficulttocompletethissection.Likeintheothersection,theuseofanappropriateverbisprobablyamaincauseofconcern.Thefollowingisalistofsomeveryfrequentverbs(contentwordsonly)thatresearchersuse.Theyallcomefromthefirstparagraphofadiscussionsectionofapublishedpaper.12Example6alistReported,show,characterized,suggests,used,intended,contradict(反驳),suggest,prevail(说服),focused,enables,speculate(推断),maintain,compared,claimed,shows,tend,represent13SummaryWritingthediscussionsectionofaresearchpaperisacomplextaskforbothyoungresearchersandotherswithsomeexperienceinthefield.Thewritershavetodiscussthesignificanceoftheirfindingsandrelateittootherpointsofview,theories,orpreviousresearchinthefield.Rhetoricalfunctions(修辞手段)suchasdescribing,analyzing,explaining,comparing,contrasting,supporting,claiming,etc,arefrequentlyusedinthissection.Agooddiscussionsectioncollates(综合对照)thenecessaryinformationgivenintheothersectionsofthepaperin