研究生学术英语写作教程Unit 4 Describing Methodology.docx
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研究生学术英语写作教程Unit4DescribingMethodology
Unit4DescribingMethodology
Objectives
─Beclearaboutthesignificanceofthissection
─Trytounderstandtheimportanceofpassivevoiceinacademicwriting
─Learntobeskilledinusingsequentialmarkersinwritingaprocess
─Befamiliarwithproof-readingskills
─Learntodesignaquestionnaire
Contents
─Briefintroductiontothissection
─Reading&Discussion:
Whatinformationelementsareusuallyinvolvedinwritingamethodologysection?
─LanguageFocus:
Passivevoiceandsequentialmarkers
─WritingPractice:
Understandingthesentencepatternsandsentenceorderinwritingaprocess
─WritingProject:
Howtodesignaquestionnaire
1.ReadingActivity
InnaturalsciencesthemethodsectionisoftencalledMaterialsandMethods.InsocialsciencesitiscommontointroduceasectioncalledTheoryandMethods.Sometimesitisdividedintwosections:
TheoreticalFrameworkandMethods.
Researchmethodologyismainlyconcernedwiththeanswerstothefollowingquestions:
1)Whyisaparticularresearchstudyundertaken?
2)Howhasoneformulatedaresearchproblem?
3)Whattypesofdatahavebeencollected?
4)Whatparticularmethodshavebeenused?
5)Whyisaparticulartechniqueofanalysisofdataused?
1.1Pre-readingTask
Thefollowingisthemethodsectionofaresearcharticleinthefieldofappliedlinguistics.Thinkaboutthefollowingquestionsbeforereadingthetextandthenhaveadiscussionwithyourclassmates:
1)Whatisthefunctionofthemethodsection?
2)Whatinformationelementsdoesamethodsectioninclude?
3)Whatverbtensesaremainlyusedinthetext?
Whatistheproportionofactivevoiceverbstopassivevoiceverbsinthismethodsection?
1.2ReadingPassage
EnglishforCollegeStudentsinTaiwan:
AStudyofperceptionsofEnglishNeedsinaMedicalContext
TheexperimentwasinitiatedtoinvestigateperceptionsofEnglishneedsinamedicalcontextamongcollegestudentsinTaiwan.
Thesubjectswere341medicalstudentsintheDepartmentofMedicine,including97freshmen,74sophomores,90juniors,and80seniors,and20facultymembersinthemedicalprogramatChungShanMedicalCollegeinTaichung,Taiwan,China.
Twoquestionnairesweredevelopedforthesurvey,basedontwoearliersurveyinstrumentsbyTaylor&Hussein(1985)andGuo(1989).ThequestionnairesweretranslatedintoChinese,piloted,andmodifiedaccordingtothefeedbackfroml0respondents:
sixmedicalstudentsandfourfacultymembersfromChungShanMedicalCollege.Thequestionnairegiventothemedicalstudentsconsistedoffivesectionsof23questions,thetopicsofwhichweretheimportanceofEnglishincollegeandprofessionalcareers,perceivedlanguageskillneedsandproblems,theactivitiesneededinafreshmanlanguagecourse,andsuggestionsfordevelopmentofcoursecontentandmaterialsaswellasdemographicinformation.Thefacultyquestionnaireconsistedoffoursectionsofl6questions,whichwereparalleltothoseintheversiongiventothestudentsexceptnodemographicinformationwasgathered(seeAppendix).
Oneoftheauthors,afacultymemberatChungShanMedicalCollege,selectedonerequiredclassforeachgroupofstudents(freshmensophomores,juniorsandseniors).Copiesofthestudentquestionnaireforadministrationtothestudentswerethensenttocooperatinginstructorsteachingthesecourses;copiesofthefacultyquestionnaireweregivento20teacherswhowerewillingtocompletethesurvey.
Thedatawerecomputer-analyzedusinganSPSSprogram:
inthequestionnaire,percentagesweredeterminedforallquestionsexcept8and13forwhichmeanswerecomputed.Chi-square,t-tests,andANOVAanalyses(方差分析)wereconductedinordertodeterminetheperceptionsofEnglishlanguageneedsofmedicalcollegestudentsandtheirfacultyandtocomparetheperceptionsheldbythevariousgroups.
(Pang,2008)
1.3ReadingComprehension
1.3.1Fillinthefollowingtablewithrelevantdetailsfromthepassage.
Researchobjective
Researchsubjects
Researchlocation
Materials
Procedure
Statisticalanalysis
1.3.2Understandmoreaboutthemethodsectionofthisresearch.Whatdoyouknowaboutthequestionnairesusedinthesurvey?
2.LanguageFocus
2.1Passivevoice
Thepassivevoiceisusuallyusedinacademicwriting,becausepassivestructureshavelesssubjectivecoloringinmostcasesthanactiveones.Whendescribingaprocessorascientificexperiment,itisimportanttowriteinaneutralstyle,asanobserver.Todothis,youcanusepassivevoice.Therearethreeinstancesinwhichthepassivevoiceisrecommended:
1)whenwedonotknowordonotcareaboutwhohasperformedtheaction;2)whenwefocusonthereceiverinsteadoftheperformeroftheaction;and3)whenwewouldliketoremaininaneutralorobjectivepositioninwriting.Moreexamplesfromthemethodologysectionareasfollows:
1)Thestudywasconductedatthebeginningofthesemesterandthefinalonewasgivenattheendofthesemester.(procedure)
2)Insummer,thegreenhousewascooledbypullinginairthroughwatersaturatedpadsonthesouthendofthebuilding.(speciallydesignedmaterial)
3)ThequartzreactorstestedforthisworkarefabricatedbytheA&BSalesCompanyofWheeling,Leeds,UK.(instrument)
4)Inordertoprovideabroadsamplingofcollegestudents,respondentswererecruitedfromdiversefieldsofstudy.(sampling)
5)Thefinalscoreswerecomputedintomeanaverages(X)andstandarddeviations(SD).(statisticalanalysis)
2.1.1GoovertheReadingPassageandmarkverbsinthepassivevoiceandthencompletethefollowingtable:
InformationelementsinMethod
Verbsinpassivevoice
Procedure
Materials
Instrument
Dataanalysis
2.1.2Rewritethefollowingtextwithpassivevoice.
Somepeopleconsiderapoisonivyinfectiontobehumorous.Butitisnotfunnyatall.Contactwiththeplantcausesarashthathastheintensityofafreshmosquitobiteandlastsforseveraldays.Scientistshavestudiedpoisonivyinfectionforcenturies,buttheyhavefoundnopreventivepillorinoculation.Thepoisonoussubstanceintheplantiscalledurushiol.Afterurushiolhastouchedtheskin,blistersandweepingsoreswillsooncovertheexposedarea.
2.2Sequentialmarkers
Aprocessparagraphexplainshowtodosomethingorhowsomethingworks.Processparagraphsareusuallydevelopedstep-by-stepinachronologicalorlogicalsequence.Thefollowingsequencingexpressionsaremorefrequentlyusedtolinkstepsinadescriptionofaprocessortodivideaprocessintosteps:
●Firstly…Tobeginwith…Firstofall…etc.
●Secondly…Next…Afterthat…Inaddition…etc.
●Finally…Lastly…
Thefollowingsentencesdescribeaprocessofmakingpaper.Usesequentialwordsandrewritethemintoacohesiveparagraph.
1)Thelogsareplacedintheshredder.
2)Theyarecutintosmallchipsandmixedwithwaterandacid.
3)Theyareheatedandcrushedtoaheavypulpwhichiscleaned.
4)Itischemicallybleachedtowhitenit.
5)Itispassedthroughrollerstoflattenit.
6).Sheetsofwetpaperareproduced.
7)Thewaterisremovedfromthesheetswhicharepressed,driedandrefinedandthefinishedpaperisproduced.
3.WritingPractice
Awellorganized,logicallyorderedandeasilyunderstandablechapteronmethodologymakesthethesisareallyoutstandingwork.Normally,amethodsectionincludes:
1)Overviewoftheexperiment:
onesentencebrieflytellswhatwasdone(likeatopicsentence);
2)Population:
statethepeople/subjectsstudied,orthethingstested;
3)Location:
wherethestudytookplace;
4)Restriction/Limitingconditions:
precautionstakentomakesurethatthedataarevalid;
5)SamplingTechniques:
describehowthesubjectareselectedforthestudy;
6)Materials:
describethematerialsusedtoconductthestudyorexperiment;
7)Procedures:
Statethestepsoftheexperimentinachronologicalorder;
8)StatisticalTreatment:
describehowthestatisticsareexamined.
Ofalltheitemsonthislist,theonlyitemsthatarealwaysincludedinthemethodsectionarethematerialsandprocedures.
3.1Readthefollowingsentences.Theyarealltakenfrommethodsectionsfromdifferentresearcharticles.Ineachcase,determinewhichinformationelementisrepresented.
(1)Atotalof369participantsofEuropeanorigins(52.7%female)withameanageof27.2yearswererecruitedbyresearchassistantsinpublicplacesintheMontrealregion.
(2)Thedatausedforthecurrentanalysisconsistsof60textstakenfrom20engineeringjournals.
(3)ExperimentersapproachedpotentialparticipantsbyintroducingthemselvesasstudentsfromtheUniversityofQuebecinMontrealandthenaskediftheywouldaccepttoparticipateinashortstudyonfacialexpressions.
(4)ThestudyaimstoexaminetheuseofSEFasatoolforprovidingevidenceofteachingeffectivenessintertiaryeducation.
(5)TheresultsofthetwoquestionnairesweresubjectedtostatisticaltestsofreliabilityandsignificanceusingSPSS.
(6)Envelopescontainingthesurveymaterialsweresenttothelocalbusinessmanagerofeachunion.Intheenvelopes,therewasacoverletterexplainingtheproject,thequestionnaireitself,andapre-paidreturnenvelope.Theunionbusinessmanagerwascontactedandaskedtoselectworkersfromhisunionandtosendtheenvelopestothechosenworkers.
(7)Theparticipantswere90first-yearstudentsfromtheSchoolofForeignLanguagesatamajoruniversityinNanjing.Theiraverageagewas18yearsold.Theyconstitutedaconveniencesample.
(8)Theinvestigationwasperformedinanationallaborato