Academic Research Paper Writing

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,*,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,Academic Research Paper Writing,Instructor:Weigen Tang,The Schedule,Week 1,Sept.1 Introduction,Week 2,Sept.8 choice of topics&thesis proposal,Week 3,Sept.15 sources collection&bibliography,Week 4,Sept.22outline writing&plagiarism,Week 5,Sept.29formats of citation&documentation,Week 6,Oct.6-focus on literary studies,Week 7,Oct.13-focus on language&cultural studies,Week 8,Oct.20 focus on translation studies,Week 9,Oct.27 focus on TEFL&ESP studies,Week10,Nov.3 finalizing requirements,I.Introduction,1.Definition of a Research Paper,A research paper may be a term,paper,for a university course,a published,essay,in a journal,and a,thesis,or a,dissertation,as a partial requirement for a university degree.,A,thesis,refers to a relatively long paper written on the basis of some academic research and for the purpose of obtaining a university degree.,2.Significance of Thesis Writing,1)a partial requirement for the degree of B.A.;,2)the last and most important task for English majors to undertake in the curriculum;,3)a test and reinforcement of the students comprehensive quality including their scope of knowledge,their language competence and their creative and innovative ability;,4)a good yardstick to the educational and academic level of the English faculty of a university.,3.Essential Features of Theses or Academic Papers,1)Scholarly-more or less theoretical and academically significant in exploring the essence or law of matters;written in standard language and in formal style,2)Scientific-based on scientific theories and objective data;approached in a scientific attitude and methods;strictly following the rules of citation,and documentation,3)Original employing a new perspective or method;developing new arguments or conclusion,4.Component Parts of a Thesis,1)Title page,2)Acknowledgements,3)Outline(contents),4)Abstract,5)Text of the thesis,a)Introduction presenting the issue to be dealt with,the background of research,the authors thesis and position,b)Body materials and methods used in the research,facts and figures in the analysis,pros and cons in the argumentation or viewpoints in the exposition,c)Conclusion research results or findings,6)Notes(optional),7)Works cited,8)Appendix(optional),5.Steps of Thesis Writing,1)Choose a subject and narrow it down to a topic,2)Gather relevant information,data or references,3)Making a working bibliography,4)Write a thesis statement(sentence)and work out an outline,5)Revise the thesis statement and outline,6)Write the rough draft,7)Revise the draft,8)Write the final list of works cited and notes,9)Finalizing of the thesis,II.Areas,Subjects,and Topics,1.What areas to explore,1)Literary studies,2)Language studies,3)Translation studies,4)International studies,5)Application studies,2.What subjects to locate(principles to follow),1)What has been studied,2)What one is interested in,3)What can be achieved,4)What is available,3.How to select and narrow down a topic,1)Be sure the topic meets the requirements,2)Focus on a topic that you want to learn more about,3)Avoid topics too broad or too narrow,4)Make use of periodical index or thesis index,Documentation Systems,1.Note-bibliography system,Chicago Manual Style,Robert Heilbroner explains that“the profit motive as we know it is only as old as modern man.1,Footnote or Endnote:,1.Robert L.Heilbroner,The Worldly Philosophers:The Lives,Times,and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers,4th ed.(New York:Simon and Schuster,Touchstone Books,1972),22.,Bibliography:omitted,2.Parenthetical-reference system,Modern Language Association Style(MLA),Graff defines his recent book,Professing Literature,as“a history of academic literary studies in the United States(20).,Works Cited:omitted,American Psychological Association Style(APA),Darwin used the metaphor of the tree of life“to express the other form of interconnectednessgenealogical rather than ecological(Gould,1989,p.14).,References:omitted,MLA Work Cited Format,Different academic disciplines may require different bibliographic formats for research writing.The Modern Languages Association(MLA)bibliographic style is the standard format for research writing in English,and is also widely accepted by many other disciplines in the humanities.,Books:,The following model illustrates the basic format for a book.,Chase,Richard.,The American,Novel and Its Tradition.,New York:Harcourt,1965.,a.Full name of the author,:,last name first,followed by a comma,and then the first name and middle name or initial.End the authors full name with a period and two spaces.,b.Full title of the book,including any subtitle.Slant the complete title,capitalize all the important words,and separate the main title and the subtitled with a colon and one space.End the complete title with a period and two spaces.,c.Publication information.Provide first the name of the city of publication followed by a colon and one space,then the name of the publisher followed by a comma and one space,and finally