如何開始著手學術論文 Writing an Academic Essay

偶然在新加坡國立大學網站上發現一個不管是對雅思寫作或是研究所學術論文寫作都很有幫助的一個指南－－《Communicating in the University Culture》。其實這個手冊是給大學新生在學術寫作、與老師朋友互動，以及如何上台報告方面等的指導。不過我發現其中幾個章節的內容非常非常實用！裡面用的語言也非常簡單明瞭，非常適用給任何開始學習英文寫作的人。以下我以準備雅思寫作的方向挑出手冊內容重點。

第一章：Writing an Academic Essay

雅思寫作的prompt（寫作目的），雖然我還沒練習到writing task 2，但我想都是要考生討論支不支持某種觀點，要我們discuss（討論）對某主題的看法，以及支持與反對的原因。

第一步：Analyse the key words in the prompt

找出題目的重點，並且清楚了解意思，才能進一步發展出中心理論

Some words are significant and will need to be defined as part of your essay. In the
example below, the key words are in bold:

“ Surrogate motherhood should be legalized in all countries so that everyone has a chance to have their own children. Discuss. ”

You will need a working definition of surrogate motherhood and legalized. A working
definition is one that you will work with so you would choose one that suits your
thesis.

第二步：Think of Your Thesis

清楚了解並定義題目的意思之後，就可以開始思索論文的中心思想了（自己的論點），不管你是支持或反對，要清楚訂下一個論文的方向（a central idea/a thesis），才能開始延伸出闡述思想要點以及相關的舉例（main points & minor supporting details ），請避免中心思想的定義太過廣泛或太過狹隘，阻礙後面文章的脈絡發展，請看下面的舉例：

It is now time to craft your essay. The most important idea in your essay is your central　idea, which is called a thesis. The thesis controls the entire essay — all your main points will be a development of it, and all the minor supporting details will illustrate it. For the example essay prompt above, one thesis statement might be:

“ Surrogate motherhood is a useful（贊成） method for conceiving children, but（但有條件） should only be legalized where it is culturally appropriate to do so and for a clearly specified group of people. ”

Make sure that the thesis expresses a controlling idea that is neither too broad nor too
specific to develop effectively and that it does not simply state the obvious.

第三步：Organise Your Material

決定好中心思想後，就可以開始寫作了，但不是隨意發揮、想怎麼寫就怎麼寫，要了解文章脈絡要怎麼發展和架構才可有效地讓別人讀得懂。

基本上一般的論文會有兩種形式，一種是discursive essay（表達不同意見為主；個人意見為輔；偏中立的論文）；另一種是argumentation essay（表達個人意見為主；不同意見為輔；偏主觀的論文），我想IELTS大部分是要表明自己的論點為主，因此我在這只說明argumentation essay的格式，但基本上兩種是很相似的，discursive只是少了強調申論個人論點的部分。

Introduction：

● give brief background to the topic
● address definition of key words and issues
● state your thesis
● outline your main points
● delineate your argument showing what your stance is and how you will develop your ideas
● provide transition into body paragraphs.

Body paragraphs：

● provide a topic sentence which says what the main point of each paragraphs paragraph is
● provide supporting details for your topic sentence
● synthesize what you have read; that is, show what different people think about the same point
● show some critical thinking; that is, tell the readers what you think of what you have read
● present some counterarguments, if you think they are strong ones, to show you understand there is an opposing viewpoint, but…
● provide a refutation showing that you have an argument against that opposing viewpoint, and

Conclusion：

● recap your main points
● reiterate your thesis, and
● give your final word, if any.

基本上我還沒開始練習寫作第二部分，所以我還不太清楚雅思寫作第二部分的方向，上述是非常詳細和嚴謹的論文寫法，我也已經把完全不相關的（例如：參考文獻）的部分刪掉，剩下部分也不見得在雅思寫作需要用到，畢竟只是個至少250字的小論文，不過大概的重點就是

起：

● 自己對題目的理解與背景原因解釋
● 簡單表明自己的觀點
● 概略描述選擇此觀點的原因

主體：

● 在每段主體段落一開頭要先寫一個主題句，提示讀者自己這段要闡明什麼。
● 詳細敘述主題並且提供例子
● 找出跟自己不一樣的論點有哪些？你覺得如何？為什麼？
● 正反綜合意見

結語：

● 再次申明和整理自己的論點

寫到這好累～～～下一篇我會再整理其他的章節。