有人说“写作即交流”,但是有的写手因为语言问题,写作时经常会犯错误。今天小编就盘点一下写手在英文论文写作中经常会遇到的问题或者错误,同学们有则改之,无则加勉。
一篇优秀的英文议论文通常由4部分组成:
•陈述论题
•表明对论题所持的立场
•提供支持立场的论证
•对支持相反立场的论证展开反驳
1.无法确定核心论题
类似于我们语文考试,在标准化英语水平考试的写作部分也会出现跑题的现象。我们识别论题的困难是由多种原因导致的:从生词到含混抽象的术语名词以及思维混乱等。生词和含混术语很容易通过借助连接词(如and前后成分的并列关系、rather than前后成分的对比关系)进行合理猜测。本文中,我们主要探讨由于思维混乱,导致论述不切题的情况。举个栗子:Advertising has many positive economic effects,but it also has some negative effects to the society,because it will make people feel dissatisfied about who they are and what they have.Discuss both views and give your own opinion.很多写手在文章中着重对比了广告的积极经济效应和对社会的负面效应,却忽视了because引导的成分,一是因为话语抽象,并没有完全理解;二是对其所暗含的内在逻辑关系没有进行及时的思维转换,认为because是对negative effects的无必要性解释,而事实是在论题中它起到了一个极为重要的限定和修饰作用。实际上,本篇文章的论题是:广告有许多积极的经济效应,同时也有源于“让人们对自己是谁以及现在拥有之物滋生不满情绪”的社会负面影响。
2.陈述论题过于冗杂
一般而言,论文的开端要对论题进行转述。这一般出现在一篇议论文里的第一句或第二句。大多数同学都有一个癖好,即潜意识里第一句一定是与该论题相关的社会或生活背景,笔者在学习和教学生涯里见到的最为常见的句型就是“Nowadays,with the development of...”,水平更一般的学生甚至还会把nowadays中间的a或者词尾的s给漏掉。我们在这里需要强调的是,介绍背景的话语可加可不加,视具体的论题而定,如果出现以下三种情况之一:没有很好的词汇或句型积累(打算硬套模板进行背景引入);背景与论题关联不紧密;论题转述篇幅较大时(首段一共3-4句话为宜),并不建议强行加上背景介绍。还有一点需要同学们注意的是,论题转述必须遵循三大原则:态度中立原则、核心词明确原则(对题干关键词进行有效转述)、逻辑清晰原则(突出对比、让步、转折)。
3.立场表达模糊
我们刚才讲到,英文议论文开头段中不一定必须要有背景介绍,但是这里要指出的是在,开头段的结尾最好表明自己的立场,大多数写手都有这样的认识,但是却因为对具体的表达方式区别的忽视,导致立场表达模糊。
“一边倒”式议论文中表达赞同可以用:
I tend to/entirely agree with...;Personally,I think their view has considerable merit;I am in favor of;I think that’s a valid point;I can aver that...
表达否定可以用:
I am afraid I can’t agree with;I don’t share their point of view;I cannot go along with...;I don’t think that idea will work;I seems to me that there may be other possibilities;I would say the exact opposite.
“折中”式议论文中表达部分同意可以用:
Theoretically,that may be true.But in reality,...;That may be true to a certain extent,but we also have to consider...;That might have been the case once,but now...;As I see it,there is more to it than that;They may have a point there,but...;I agree with their proposition,but with qualifications/reservations.
4.论证结构不严谨
当我们为接受一个断言给出理由的时候就是在做论证(argument),一般而言论证由前提(premise)和结论(conclusion)构成。前提是为另一个断言提供理由的陈述,被前提支持的断言就是论证的结论。我们在英文论文写作中无需像学术论文那样,严格地遵守”前提或假设+实验过程/理论推导过程+结论”一种论证结构,但是最关键的要素应该阐述清楚,即论点和论据,通俗而言,我们在一篇优秀的英文论文写作的主题段落(首段和末段之间的部分)一公会出现3个左右的理由句(分论点),每一个理由句后面会紧跟2—4个支持句,支持句提供论据(包括例子、事实、简单推理等)。很多同学罗列出分论点或理由句之后没有写论据或支持句的习惯或者想不出充足的支持句来或者写出了也只是毫无支持力的空话堆砌,这是思维方面的问题,可以阅读我们之前有关批判性思维的相关文章进行联系;另一点是,支持句写的毫无章法和逻辑可言,语法错误频出,这是对逻辑连接词和语法句式(如让步状语从句、虚拟语气)掌握不足而产生的。
5.忽视结尾段
绝大多数的学生甚至是培训机构的老师在学习和教授英语写作时,都会着重训练如何去写出一个精彩的开头和饱满的主体,而忽略了作文结尾段落的重要性,要么机械重复前文所讲论点和论据,要么套用模板草草了事,更有甚者会出现一些原则性的错误(比如在结尾处为了拼凑字数而盲目堆砌新的论点等)。一篇逻辑严谨的优秀文章,应该是首尾呼应且应使人有种意犹未尽之感。一般而言,我们应该根据文章的基本观点和论述框架在结尾对其进行paraphrase转述和summarize总结,或者总体升华等。现给出集中撰写结尾段的例子作为参考:
“Reducing class size is not just a matter of relieving pressure.It will enhance what a student learns and even the person they learn it from can learn from the process”(站在高处、对文章进行升华);
“For these reasons,we can safely conclude that classmates are too important a factor to ignore and they have more important influence than teachers on students’success at school”(总结全文,转述论点);
“It goes without saying that both sources are important to us.However,as to me,knowledge from experience is even more important because without experience,it’s almost impossible to understand knowledge from books or to understand how to apply this knowledge in real life.”(强烈对比,深化立场);
“I would like to say that I personally agree that formal education at an early age offers children benefits at all levels and therefore is more important than letting them play.After all,kids can always play after school but learning at school stimulates their brain growth and puts them in competitive social settings,which is indeed irreplaceable experience for such a critical stage of life.”(语气委婉顺应全文)