研究生学术英语翻译.doc

Deciding on a topic决定一个主题As a college student of science and technology,you are often required to write a literature review about a certain topic,or a 1500-word term paper.In either case,the writing is a complex process which involves choosing a topic,searching for relevant materials,and compiling a reference list.Hence the first thing you need to do is to choose a research topic.作为一个研究科学技术学生，你通常需要写一个关于某一主题的文献综述，或一个1500字的论文。不管是哪种，写作都是一个复杂的过程，涉及选题，查找资料，编写参考清单。因此，你首先需要做的是选择一个研究课题。A topic is what the essay or research paper is about.Choosing a topic for your literature review or research paper requires careful consideration.A topic that is too specialized or the general may bring many problems in terms of the time you can devote to the research or the sources of information available on the topic.How do you choose a topic which is possible to research?There are four principles:主题就是文章或研究论文是与什么有关的。为你的文献综述或研究论文选择一个主题需要仔细考虑。一个太专业或太宽泛的主题可能带来的诸多问题，影响你花费在研究或与主题相关的信息资源上的时间。你怎么选择一种可能的研究课题？有四个原则：1) Interesting.If a topic holds your interest,you will most likely working on it.However,you should also be aware of the interest of your readers.For example,if your readers are from different disciplines or academic backgrounds,your topic should not be too specific.1)有趣.如果一个话题引起了你的兴趣，你将很有可能在它上工作.但是，你也应该知道你的读者的兴趣.例如，如果你的读者是来自不同的学科或学术背景的，你的主题不应该太具体。2) Important.You also have to consider the value of the topic you are likely to choose,both academic and social.And essay without practical or theoretical value will probably not attract readers.2)重要.你也需要考虑你可能选择的课题研究的价值,包括学术的和社会的。没有实践或理论价值的论文可能不会吸引读者。3) Manageable.Narrow down your topic to make your paper manageable.For example,if you want to discuss the history of a disease,it may not be possible for you to cover all the important ideas in a 1500-word essay.3)可控的.缩小你的主题，使你的论文易于管理。例如，如果你想讨论一种疾病的历史，你或许不可能用一篇1500字的文章来涵盖所有重要的想法。4) Adequate.You have to ask the question:Can the topic I have chosen be researched?One criterion is that you mast make sure that there are adequate source materials available on the topic.Avoid a topic that has very limited information about it,for it is difficult to carry out your research without previous studies.4）足够的。你必须问这个问题：我选择的话题能被研究吗？一个标准是，你必须确保这个主题有足够的可用的源材料，避免一个仅有非常有限的信息得主题，因为没有以前的研究，你是很难进行你的研究的。Formulating a research question 制定一个研究问题A research question is a statement that identifies the focus of your topic.It is the question that your study or your paper wants to answer.For example,you may develop it into the following research questions if your topic is “Electronic Threats of a Computer”.一个研究问题是一个确定你的主题的焦点的声明。这是你的研究或你的论文想要回答的问题。例如，你可以把它发展成以下的研究问题，如果你的主题是“计算机的电子威胁”。 1) What kind of electronic threats may our computer face?2) What are the major characteristics of those threats?3) How can we cope with those threats?1） 我们的电脑面临什么样的电子威胁？ 2） 这些威胁的主要特征是什么？ 3）我们如何应对这些威胁？ A research question,therefore,serves two purposes:因此，一个研究的问题，有两个目的：1) It identifies the specific objectives your research or your paper will address.You can check whether your answer it completely when you finish your study or your paper.1）它确定了你的研究或你的论文将解决的具体目标。你可以检查你是否完全回答了它当你完成你的研究或你的论文。2) It determines the size of your research or the length of your paper.Obviously your paper will be shorter if you answer the third question only(How can we cope with those threats?).2）它决定了你的研究量的大小或你的论文的长度。如果你只回答第三个问题（我们如何应对这些威胁？），显然你的论文将更短。 Hence raising research questions will make your topic more specific,more tangible and more focused.因此，提高研究问题将使你的主题更具体，更确定，更集中。Writing a working title写一个标题A working title refers to the title you think of initially for the essay which you are going to write,which may be changed as you read more articles and become more involved in the research.一个标题是指你想象的你要写的文章的标题的最初的样子。随着你阅读更多的文章，研究的更多 ，这可能会改变。A good title must briefly but accurately reflect the main ideas of the essay or indicates the topic you will be discussing in the essay.It is important,therefore,to decide which type of essay you intend to produce before you begin to think about a title.Two things influence the type of essay:method and content.The former will use key words like compare,analyze,contrast,discuss,evaluate,study and assess,and the latter will include the key words like causes,effects,advantages,benefits,effectiveness and so on apart from the words reflecting the subject matter like computer hackers,lung cancer,nuclear power plant,energy and so on.Hence a typical title is composed of :1)subject matter+2）key words of the method+3)key words of the content一个好的标题必须简明扼要地反映出文章的主要观点或表明你将在文章中讨论的主题。这是很重要的，因此，在你开始想一个标题之前先决定你打算写哪种类型的文章。两件事影响文章类型：方法和内容。前者将使用像比较，分析、对比、讨论、评价、研究和评估之类的关键词，后者包括类似于原因、影响、优势、效益、效率等的关键词，除此还包括能够体现题材的词如计算机黑客、肺癌、核电站、能源等等。因此，一个典型的标题是由：1）主题+ 2）方法的关键词+ 3内容的关键词）As English title tend to use phrases instead of sentences,we will have such titles as:An Analysis of Psychological Motivation of Computer HackersThe Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Approaches to Lung CancerThe Analysis of Environmental Effects of Nuclear Power PlantsIn most cases,however,key words of the methods could be omitted for conciseness.The following,therefore,are appropriate title