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WritingtheResearchPaper:AHandbookThissemesterIreadabookcalledWritingtheResearch:AHandbookPaperpublishedPekingUniversityPress.Generallyspeaking,thisbookis“unbooklike”.AstheAuthorsaid,noonewhohastowritearesearchpaperwantstowastetimebystudyingtheinsandoutsofdocumentationortheprotocolsofresearch.Underthisguideline,thebookisnotmeanttoberead,butmerelyconsulted.Thisismoreadictionary,insum,thanadiscursivebook.1.ThemeandStructureaboutthisbookThereare12unitsinthisbook,theyare“BasicInformationabouttheResearchPaper,ChoosingaTopic,TheLibrary,TheThesisandtheOutline,UsingtheComputerinYourResearch,DoingtheResearch,TransformingtheNotesintoaRoughDraft,RevisingYourRoughDraft,TheMLASystemofDocumentation,TheTraditionalSystemofDocumentation,SampleStudentPapers”.Writingaresearchpaperrequirestoseekoutinformationaboutasubject,takeastandonit,andbackitupwiththeopinions,ideas,andviewsofothers.Everyresearchpapermustconformtoaspecificformat,whichissimplyanagreed-onwayofdoingthings.Reasonsfortheresearchpaperisthatwritingitforcesyoutolearnlotsaboutyourchosensubject.Usually,threedraftsarethebarestminimum:thefirstdraftlooksmessyandscribbledover,thesecondisrarelysmoothandseldompredictable,thethirdistheoneyousubmit.Generally,therearesevendistinctsteps.Ideallyyoushouldchooseatopicthatinterestsyou,thatiscomplexenoughtoneedseveralsources,andthatwillnotboreyourreader.Sometopicpresentusuallydifficulties;othersaresimplyawasteoftime.Thethesisisastatementthatsummarizesthecentralideaofthepaper.Youcannotformulateathesisunlessyouknowagreatdealaboutyoursubject.Thesisshouldbeclear,comprehensibleanddirect;predictmajordivisionsinthestructureofthepaper;commityoutoanunmistakablecourse,argument,orpointofview.Mostinstructorspreferthethesisasthefinalsentenceoftheinitialparagraph.Anoutlineisanorderedlistofthetopicscoveredinapaper.Thethreemaintypesofoutlinesarethetopicoutline,thesentenceoutline,andtheparagraphoutline.Exactlywhatkindofmaterialyouneedtolookfordependsonyourtopic,thesis,andeventhepointofviewyouuseinthepaper.Nowadays,thelibraryandinternetisaccessibletomanywriter.Whatwritersshoulddoistoevaluatingthesources:Wherewastheinformationfound?Whowroteit?Whopublishesit?Whatarethewriter’ssources?Whatkindoftonedoesthewriteuse?Whatdothewriter’scontemporarieshavetosay?Whatisthewriter’smotive?Whatisthecontextofthewriter’sopinion?Besides,writerscanconsultencyclopedia,appendix,thesearchengines,bibliography,etc.Thebibliographyisalistofsourcesontheresearchtopic.Skimasourcetodetermineitusefulness.Eventuallytheyou’veuncoveredthroughresearchmustbeturnedintonotes,whichareoffourkinds:summary,paraphrase,quotationandcomment.Next,transformthenotesintoaroughdraft.Prepareachecklist:formulateathesis,organizeyoursnotesintheorderoftheirappearanceinthepaper,writeanoutlineorabstract.Duringwriting,payattentiontotheprincipleofunity,coherenceandemphasis.Theabstractshouldmeetthefollowingcriteria:reflectaccuratelythepurposeandcontentofyourpaper,explainbrieflythecentralissueofyourpaper,summarizeyourpaper’smostimportantpoints,mentionthemajorsourcesused,stateyourconclusionsclearly,becoherentsothatitiseasytoread,remainobjectiveinitspointofview.Revisionispartlyapsychologicalandpartlyamechanicalprocess.Allrevisionisbasedonrepeatedrereadingofthefirstdraft.Manyinstructorsrecommendrevisingthepaperfrombiggesttosmallestelements.Checkyouropeningparagraphtoseewhetheryourbeginningissprightlyenoughtodrawinyourreader.Youmayfindaboostunthreetime-honoredstrategiesforbeginningapaper:useaquotation,askaquestion,orpresentanillustration.Thetopicsentencesofyourparagraphsmustfollowthesamesequenceasthepointsofyourthesis.Don’tmaketheseparagraphssocompactanddenseastocheckthereaderwithdetails.Itisbetterthattheinformationbeorganizedintidbitsofshorterparagraphs.Youachievelinkagebytheuseoftransitionalmarkersandsentences.Revisesentencesforvarietyandstyle:revisesentencestousetheactivevoice,revisetouseanappropriateofview,revisesexistlanguage.Wordchoiceandusagecomesundertheheadingofdiction:revisedictionforaccuracyandexactness,revisetheoveruseofphrasesforsubjectsinsteadofsinglenouns,reviseredundantexpressions,revisemeaninglesswordsandphrases,revisesnobbishdiction.Nomatterwhatdocumentationsystemyouuse,itisauniversalrequirementthatresearchpapersbeneatandcleanandyourinstructorthatcompelsyoutosubmithandwrittenwork.Beforeyousubmitafinalversionofyourpaper,youshouldmakesurethatyouhavecompliedwithallyourinstructor’sformattingrequirements.Finally,becausetwopairsofeyesusuallyarebetterthanone,askanotherstudentwithgoodwritingskillstogooveryourpaperforclarity,focus,andmechanics.2.MyownconcernsabouttheresearchpaperWhenwegraduatestudentwritetheresearchpaper,wealwayshavethreedeficiencies:informalstyle,weakinEnglishexpressandlackofinnovation.Whenreadingthisbook,Itrytofindsomesolutionstoovercomethisshortcomings.Fortheresearchpaper,wealwaysneglecttheformalstyleofit,oftenusetheinformalwords,suchas“I”,“you”.Insteadweshoulduse“thepaper”,“theauthor”.FortheEnglishexpression,thebasicstandardistheaccurateuseofwordswithoutwrongcharacter,conciseandfluents