一些有用的essay和report技巧.docx

一些有用的essay和report技巧.docx

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一些有用的essay和report技巧

Gabriel，finc&acc

偶然看到这题，发现自己刚好有收藏多年的干货，忍不住想要和大家分享。

在我第一次写英文论文的时候，我的歪果仁老湿给予了莫大的帮助。

他以一篇论文的形式呈现了怎样写论文。

直到现在，翻出来看看还是有收获良多。

这里面不仅给出了一篇正式论文的基本框架（你可以直接套进去），还包括了写论文的顺序，教你如何打草稿，如何写开头结尾，甚至reference的格式也给你讲的清清楚楚。

以下论文（知乎格式没办法，见谅）：

1.ExecutiveSummary

Theexecutivesummaryprovidesasynopsisofthereport.Itshouldinclude:

·Astatementonthepurposeofthereport–whatitsetsouttoachieve

·Abriefoutlineofthescopeofthereportand/orresearchmethodology

·Anoutlineofthemajorissuesorfindingscoveredinthereport

·Anoutlineofthemajorconclusionsandrecommendationsofthereport.

Theexecutivesummaryshouldnotincludenewinformationnorshoulditbeusedasanintroductiontothereport.

Astheexecutivesummaryisasummaryofthereport,itshouldALWAYSbetheLASTsectionofthereportwritten

2.IntroductionorBackground

Itmayincludeanoutlineofthetermsofreferenceorthereasonsforthedecisiontowritethereport（seebelow）.

Explainthebackgroundtotheissue/problem/topic（thiscouldbethehistory,etc.thathelpsusunderstandtheissue/problem/topic.

Whatarethedifferentpointsofview/opinionsabouttheissue/problem/topic?

Whatislikelytohappeninthefuture?

Thisreportwasrequestedbyanumberofstudentshavingdifficultyunderstandinghowtowriteareport.

Thisreportaimstogivestudentsaplantofollowwhenpreparingtheirmaterialandanexampleofthelayoutofareport.

Thematerialforthisreportwasgatheredfromvariousbooksandwebsiteswhichwillbereferredtolater.Thisformatisnottheonlywaytowriteareport.

ItiswrittenespeciallyforstudentsundertakingAcademicEnglish.However,itcanbeausefulguidetoanystudentinanysubject.

3.ScopeofReportorResearchObjectives

Outlinethepurposeofyourreport.

Thescopeofthereportshoulddefinemajorissuesorresearchobjectivestobeaddressedbythereport.

Ifindoubt,askyouteacher.Theymaybeabletohelpyoufindtherightplacetolookforinformation.

4.ResearchMethodology

Mostreportswillinclude:

·4.1primarysourcesofinformation–surveys,questionnaires

·4.2secondarysourcesofinformation–books,internet

Thissectionneedstodetailhowtheinformationforthereportwasobtainedandanylimitations.Theplacetostartisinyourownhead.Howmuchdoyoualreadyknowaboutthetopic?

Writeeverythingdown.

Usethelibrary.Notjusttheinternet.Therearebooks,magazines,newspapers,andstafftohelpyou.Takenotesandorganisetheinformationinafolder.

Remembertowritedownalltheinformationaboutanybookorwebsite,etc.forthebibliography:

author,title,datepublished,publisherandplacepublished（seeAppendixBofthisreport）.

Notetakingskillsarenecessarywhenreadinginformationandyoumustsummarisemuchofthatinformation.

5.DetailedFindings

Thelargestsectionofthereport–itwillcontainalltheinformationandanalysis,includingtables,chartsanddiagrams.

ThebodymustbedividedintologicalsectionsandsubsectionswithheadingsidenticaltothoseintheTableofContents.

Itwillincludeheadingsandsub-headingswhichreflectthecontentsofeachsection.

AlthoughareportstartswithasynopsisdonotstartwritingituntilAFTERyoufinishtheintroduction,bodyandconclusioninthatorder.

5.1FIRSTDRAFT

Dividethebodyofthereportintoheadingsandsubheadings,soeachsectioncanbewrittenonitsown.Thismakesthetaskseemeasier.

Usethepassivevoice（revisethissectionofEnglishonCue,Module5）.Useshortsentencesandsimple,formallanguage.Includepicturesifyouwanttomakeitmoreinterestinge.g.”Diagram2showsthat……”

Useyourcomputer’sspellcheckandprintpreviewwherepossible.Planthepagescarefully.Carelesslayoutwilllosemarks.Checkgrammarandpunctuation.

Whenreferencingabook,etc.inyourwritingrememberquotingdirectlymustusequotationmarkse.g.“TherearemanyreasonswhypeoplevisitAustralia…..”（Smith2012）.

Indirectquotes（paraphrasing）:

Smith（2012）saystherearemanydifferentreasonspeoplewanttovisitAustralia.

Savetwocopies:

oneonyourcomputerandoneonaUSB.Lostworkmeansstartingagain.

5.2SECONDDRAFT

Producingtheseconddraftisnothardonceyourfirstdraftofthereportisedited,typedandsaved.

6.ConclusionandRecommendations

Thisisasummaryofthemainfindingsofthereport,especiallythosethatareforthereader/client.

Conclusionshouldtellwhatthedetailedfindingsmeanforthereader/clientinrelationtothescopeofthereportorresearchobjectives.

Therecommendationsshouldlisttheactionthatyourecommendshouldbetakenbasedontheseconclusions.

6.1CONCLUSION

Itishopedthisguidewillbenefitstudentsinatleasttwoways.Firstly,togiveastepbystepmethodtoreportwriting.Secondly,itistobeusedasanexampleofreportwriting.

Theprocessofreportwritingisobviouslyalongandcomplexone.Eachstepshouldbecompletedbeforemovingontothenextone.DoNOTputoffstartingtoresearchandwritejustbecauseitisdifficult.

Makesuretheinformationinthereportisrelevanttothetopicanddiscussestheissuesmentionedintheintroduction.

6.2RECOMMENDATIONS

+Takeonestepatatime

+Donotwastetime

+Usealltheresourcesavailable

+Talktoyourteacherifindoubt

+Startnow

7BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thebibliographyisanalphabeticallistofreferencesusedinpreparationofthereport

Studentsshouldrefertotheirtextbookforguidelinesonhowtocorrectlyreferenceinformationsources.

Jordan,R.R（1990）AcademicWritingCourse,CollinsELT,London.

Mangubhai,FrancisandPritchard,R（1996）EnglishonCue,USQ,Toowoomba.

http:

//www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/globalfootprint/index.asp

APPENDIX

Theappendicessectionisformaterialthatisrelevantandisreferredtointhereport,butistoolongorisnotnecessarytobeincludedinthebodyofthereport.

Examples:

Questionnaire

Appendicestobelabelled:

AppendixA,AppendixBetc.

WRITINGABIBLIOGRAPHY

Takecarefulnoteoftheorderinwhichtheinformationappearsbelow–alphabetically!

Theformatisdifferentforbooks,magazinesandinternet.Mostentriesbeginwithanauthorbutifnotthenthetitle,etc.isshown.

1.0BOOKS

Author’sfamilyname,initialorfirstname,（dateofpublication）,titleinitalics,nameofpublisher,placewherepublished.

Barron,ML（2010）BusinessFinance,McGraw-Hill,Sydney.

Kitchen,PD（Ed.）（1997）BusinessLaw:

Fundamentals,Thompson,London.

Brown,MandWhite,P（2000）WritingAssignments,ThomasNelson,Melbourne.

2.0JOURNALS/MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS

Author’sfamilyname,initialorfirstname,（dateofpublication）,“titleofarticle”,nameofjournalinitalics,volumenumber,（issuenumber）,pp.numbers.

Smith,B（2002）“Canyouwriteanessay?

”,EducationTimes,64,（10）,pp.24-28.

Mitchell,Ben（2000）“StudentsfailEnglishtest”,XinHua,13September,p.5.

3.0WebSites

Author’sfamilyname,firstname/initial,（dateofpublication）,titleofpageinitalics,URL,dateaccessed.Or

Titleofpage,URL,dateaccessed.

Quinion,M,（1996）Citingonlinesources.AdviceononlinecitationsformatsWorldWideWords:

CitingOnlineSources（Accessed7.9.2013）

Informationresource,www.immi.gov.au/visas（Accessed20/10/2012）

Thepaperthatyouarerequestedtowriteshouldbearesearchpaper,meaningthatitsgoalistopresentthereaderwithasomewhatnew,originalwayoflookingataconceptoridea.Inadditiontoanalyzingprimarysources–thenovel（s）,play（s）,poem（s）,oressay（s）thatyouchoseasyourfocus–aresearchpaperprovidesacontextforitsargumentbysummarizingandcommentingonsecondarysources,whichareotherpeople’sanalysesofprimarysources.Hencearesearchpaperisnotjustasummaryofotherpeople’sideas.Instead,aresearchpapershouldevaluatethoseideasandeitherproposeanewargumentordevelopanexistingone.Thefollowingstepsshouldhelpyouplanandthenwriteyourpaper. 

1.STRUCTURINGYOURARGUMENT 

a）Revisityourpaperproposalandthinkaboutthequestionsandtheargumentthatcompriseyourthesis（youmightneedtorefine,reformulateorexpandthemslightlyatthisstage）.

b）Revisityourprimarysources.Lookforpatternsinyourobservationsaboutatextoreventandtakenotes.Asyoureadthroughyourlistofevidence,lookforideasthatcontradicteachother,change,orarenotfullyexplained.Whenwritingaboutliterature,asymbol’smeaningmightchangeorcontradictitselfinapoem,oracharactermightchangehisorherattitudetowardanidea.

c）Skimthroughthetext（s）againtofindspecificquotationsandanyotherexamplesyoumayhavemissed.Consultthesecondarysourcesthatyouhavegathered.Focusonevidencethatrelatestoyourtopicandstrikesyouasparticularlyinteresting,confusing,orastute.Thinkabouthoweachpieceofevidencesupportsorcontradictsyourtopic.

d）Takenotes.Itisagoodideatonoteeachpieceofevidencethatmayberelevanttoyouressay.Listthesourceandpagenumber,andmakesureitisclearwhethereachpieceofevidenceisadirectcitation）,acloseparaphrase,oryourownanalysisorinterpretation.

e）DefineaMotiveorPurposeforWriting.Agoodpapershouldbeinterestingtoabroaderaudience.Whenyouexpressyourmotive,youindicatewhyyouarewritingyourpaper.Themotiveisnottheargumentitselfbutratherthereasonthatyourargumentshouldbeinterestingtoyourreader.Motivesmaytakeintoaccountwhatothercriticshavewritten,commonperceptionsofanevent,orhistoricalcontext. 

Someexamplesofmotives:

--“ManycriticsseetherelationshipbetweenHuckandJimasfairandharmonio