academic writing 02 general-specific texts

A general-specific text is for:

1. an answer to an examination question,
2. an opening paragraph of an assignment, or
3. a back ground (or scene-setting) paragraph to and analysis or discussion

(Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. 2007, Academic Writing for Graduate Students, University of Michigsn Press, Ann Arbor.)

其結構如下:

general statement --縮小到--> 支持此一general statement的細節 --縮小到--> 更細節 --擴大到--> broader statement

general statement可能是一個定義, 或一句廣泛的敘述, 雖然以名詞定義起始是常見的文章開頭, 但多適用於教科書, 既然學術論文的讀者都是相關領域的專家, general statement應該要用以描述更複雜的概念; 用於"定義"的句型視需求而定, 可以運用as know as, defined as, 或called等詞, 在提及該名詞(或該概念)的句子裡簡要定義, 也可以用整個－甚至數個－句子來下定義.

why general-specific texts? 在文章中是用來敍述和解釋的段落, 以研究生所撰寫的學術文章而言, 是用以表達自己知道些什麼; 而不是用以提出問題, 主張或評論.

academic writing 01

The composition of academic writing:

audience

purpose

organization

style

flow

presentation

(Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. 2007, Academic Writing for Graduate Students, University of Michigsn Press, Ann Arbor.)

What I should note:

1. organization

最常見的文章組織是problem-solution, 可分為4個部分: description of a situation, identification of a problem, description of a solution, 以及evaluation of the solution

其他可能的組織包括comparison-contrast, cause-effect, 以及classification

2. flow

重點之一是連接詞(包括轉折語氣)的使用, 不是不會, 而是知道得太少, 寫來寫去都是however; 這類用詞可分3類: 連接從屬子句(例如even though, since, whereas等), 開啟獨立句(例如furthermore, as a result, in contrast等), 以及連接單詞(例如in addition to, in spite of, unlike等). 缺少這些連接詞可能不影響文法正確性, 但如妥善運用, 除增加文章流暢度, 亦可適度呈現作者的立場
另一個重點是summary word的使用, 例如The population suddenly increases by about 20,000 this year. This growth can be partly attributed to the students of the new university. 利用"This growth"強調自己所要說明的"概念", 並帶出其後的"原因", 類似的句型如The traditional consumers gather information and then carefully make a purchase. This process has recently been challenged. 同樣用this process來承先啟後, 是提升文章流暢度的技巧之一. 值得注意的是用詞越精準越好, 比如某些情況下, this development或this improvement就比this change或this situation好, 而使用it則是大忌, it可以指一個名詞也可以指整個概念, 甚至是虛主詞, 論文寫作應避免