Academic WritingInstructor: Sun Wenkang Office: Room 4305 Email: wksun163.comIntroduction to Research Writing and Academic StylenIntroductionnThe thesis quality requirement set by the National Curriculum (2000) : “coherent language, logical organization, substantial content with some original thoughts” (文字通顺、思路清淅、内容充实，有一定的独立见解) nThesis length: 3,000 5,000 wordsnA research paper is an argumentative essay with strong evidence to support your arguments. You discover and create new meanings, new knowledge and new connections. It is a creative process in which your thinking, your ideas are central.Subject AreasnArtsnLanguage and LiteraturenForeign LinguisticsnHistorynphilosophynEducationnLawnEconomicsnManagement nMilitary StrategiesnSciencenEngineeringnMedicinenAgronomyAchieving the Goals of Academic WritingnResearch papers require analytical ability nCritical, creative / original, logical, clear, accuratenWriting Process:nChoosing a Topic nGenerating IdeasnFinalizing the TopicnWriting an OutlinenWriting the First DraftnRevisingnEditing, Proofreading and SupplementingTopic Areas for English MajorsnEnglish literaturenLinguistics nTranslation nTEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) nEnglish Culture and Cross-Cultural Communication nESP (English for Special Purposes)Choosing and Limiting a TopicnInterest areas nAvailability of resourcesnManageabilitynOriginality nEnough room for original analysis, thinking and conclusionnAvoid introducing all-known informationnAcademic valueChoosing and Limiting a TopicnExamplesnTESL pronunciation and spelling phonetic symbols diacriticsnTESL writing academic writing BA thesis writingnTESL syllabus design syllabus design for school English core vocabularyResearch in English LiteraturenMeans and Steps:nExplication / Interpretation intrinsic and extrinsic considerationsnAnalysisnComparison and ContrastnMajor topics of literary analysis:nThemenPlot or StructurenCharacterizationnStyle / Writing techniquenLanguage: attitude, tone, atmosphere, mood, pace, rhythm, dialogue, etcApproaches to Literature CriticismnTextural Criticism/Formalist close reading; explicating and analyzingnBiographical the influence of the writers life on his/her worknHistorical the works significance in a particular periodnGender/Feminism usually from a feminine point of view nPsychoanalytic production process, psychoanalysis of the writer and the fictional characters in the worknSociological the influence from and on the cultural, economical and political backgroundnMythological imaginative, symbolic, cultural, historicalnReader-Response why different readers have different responsesnStructurism - the study of all narratives, analyzing the systematic features and functions of narrativesnDeconstruction (解构) language cannot completely express the writers exact meaning, leaving space for readers interpretation and imagination Reading for InformationnBackground sources:nEncyclopedias, World Wide Web general specificnOriginal/Primary sources data collectionnCritical sourcesnThere is no final authority on a literary work or any final truth about it. There is only good evidence, good argument and good writing.Reading for InformationnLiterature Review: we are not building a castle in the airnObjectivity least biasnCurrentness most updatenCriticism: nDont simply list previous studies and take everything for granted, or blindly follow the said viewsnClassify the related theories or researches into several groups, analyze and compare themnTake a position and say why you agree or disagree with othersTaking Notes; Collecting and Describing DatanTaking notesnTopicnSource avoid plagiarismnExact copy of direct quotationsnBare statisticsnBrief notes (preferred) summary based on thorough understanding of the originalnCollecting and describing dataAcademic StylenFormalnUsing full forms, single-word verbs, formal and concrete expressionsnObjectivenAvoiding using I and younTrying to use impersonal constructionsnConcisenFinding a direct way, using as few words as possiblenConcentrating on the topicnAvoiding repetitionAcademic StylenVarietynTentativeness hedgingnwould, could, mightnseem, appear, suggest, tend to, it is estimated . . . , it is expected . . .ngenerally, normally, likely, virtually, possibly . . . nLinkage and connectionnOverall level and local level logical thinking and expressionnLogical linking device Avoid misuse or overuseIntroductions and ConclusionsnIntroductionnArousing readers interestnRevealing the significance of the topic and basic assumptionsnDefining the problemnStating the theme The soul of an academic papernConclusionnSumming up the findingsnReiterating the thesis statementnAcknowledging the limitations and speculating about further researchSynthesizing InformationnSummarizingnLength flexible, usually less than a quarter of the originalnMaking wise use of the original thesis statement / t