TIP Sheet
如何组织一篇文章:避免论文中的六大弱点

写论文很像粉刷房子:大部分工作都是在准备阶段, sanding, cleaning, applying primer. 如果你在准备工作中失败了，那么最终的产品就不那么优秀了. Similarly, it is the quality of prep work-the brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising-that makes some papers stand out as excellent.

这是一个常见的错误，学生想要开始编辑之前，他们已经大幅修改他们的论文. 在你开始重读单个单词和标点符号之前, give your paper a critical read. 你的观点是否能让受过教育的读者理解? 优雅的措辞和多音节的词汇并不能弥补你论点发展中的弱点.

Identifying six major weaknesses
六个主要的缺点会让你的论文变得平庸甚至更糟:

1. A too-broad thesis statement
2. A poorly formulated thesis
3. Inadequate or unfocused topic sentences
4. Writing off-subject
5. Failing to anticipate objections
6. An inadequate conclusion

下面的清单可以帮助你发现你的论文是否存在这些错误. Ask yourself whether all of the following statements are true of your paper.

• 我的主题是有限的，对这篇论文的长度进行了充分的处理.
• 我的论文陈述是一个可讨论的点，是一个陈述句的形式.
• 我使用了具体的、有重点的主题句来支持我的论文陈述.
• 我所有的句子都直接或间接地支持我的主题陈述——我没有偏离主题." I have not contradicted my thesis statement.
• 我已经预料到对我的论文的主要反对意见，并试图解决和克服它们.
• 我的结束语重述了论点(如果有必要的话)，并根据我在论文中已经讨论过的观点得出结论.

If any of these statements are not 没错，先往下读，找到可能有用的解释和建议.

1. The too-broad thesis statement
许多论文之所以失败，很大程度上是因为作者试图写一个太宽泛的主题，以至于他根本无法充分地阐述它. Narrow down the topic to one that interests you, and for which source information is available, and that you can discuss adequately in the length assigned. 下面这句话可能在论文中有合理的位置(作为引言的一部分), perhaps), 但这句话不适合作为主题陈述，因为对于一篇典型的三到四页的论文来说，它太宽泛了。

在美国的学校里，有许多可接受的着装规范和课堂行为.

The phrase "American schools" includes pre-, elementary, intermediate, and high schools; public and private colleges; technical schools; adult schools; schools with and without uniform requirements; schools in conservative Midwestern towns and those in diverse urban areas; religious schools; progressive schools–too many schools, too many populations of students to discuss all at once.

许多城市地区的公立学校正在权衡要求学生穿校服的利弊, 有不少人认为校服是最合适的选择，原因有几个.

2. The poorly formulated thesis
A thesis should treat a discussable point-that is, 一个值得讨论的话题，因为不止一个观点是合理的和合理的. While it is possible, for example, to support the following statements, 最终的论文可能不会很有趣，因为这些观点是不可讨论的:

A dog is a four-legged domestic mammal.
A friend is someone who is always there for you.
Humans need oxygen to live.

重新表述，这些陈述可以变得更有讨论性和有趣:

狗是又臭又笨又会吃东西的机器，没有我的狗我活不下去.
我的朋友Brad用幽默来鼓励我为自己设定高标准.
在没有游离氧的情况下，地球上可能会出现非常不同的生命形式.

Even a discussable thesis can fail to make its point clear. This is frustrating to the reader, 谁至少有权清楚地陈述你的主张(除非它显然是隐含的——这是一种不建议初学者使用的技术)!). 将以下模糊的论点与上面给出的更有力的例子进行比较:

What do most people think about dogs? Are they man's best friend or worst enemy?
In my estimation, a sense of humor is a valuable thing.
Oxygen is especially vital for animal life forms.

Try the following to help sharpen a vague thesis statement:

• Avoid questions, which are useful as attention-getting devices, but are difficult to use as a thesis statement. 例如，避免“为什么应该给学生更多选择选修科目的自由??应该给学生更多选择选修科目的自由," or even "Students should not be given more freedom to choose elective subjects."
• Avoid "I think," "I believe," "In my opinion," or "To me." Such expressions are overly subjective and unnecessary; remember that you are presenting evidence 支持你的主题陈述，即使你正在写一篇叙述性或描述性的论文. 此外，一个简单的陈述句是一个更有力的方式来表达你的想法.
• Contrary to what you might think, absolute statements do not strengthen a thesis. Avoid them unless you are certain you can support them. 很少有陈述(除了已知的事实——比如上面那些不可讨论的观点)能被完全证明让每个人都满意. If you overstate your case with an absolute statement, and then fail to support it, you lose credibility. 使用像“似乎”、“很少”、“也许”、“可能”、“可能”和“几乎”这样的词." Avoid "certainly," "absolutely," "always," or "never."

3. Inadequate or unfocused topic sentences
Do not, out of enthusiasm, haste, or laziness, 在你的主题陈述之后的段落中，放弃基本的段落结构. 从开始到结束，论文应该遵循一个连贯的进程，连贯地引导到一个合理的, well thought out conclusion. Therefore, 确保你论文中的每一段都有自己明确的主题句，以及支持每个主题句的具体细节, though not necessarily in that order–the following example, for instance, 以插图开头，以主题句结尾:

At George Washington Junior High School, after students had been wearing uniforms only five months, 以前占据午餐场地不同区域的一群群学生开始彼此坐得更近，彼此交谈得更多. 学校管理人员得出的结论是，穿校服模糊了学生之间的社会经济差异，导致了不同群体之间的社会融合.

将上面的例子与下面这个过于笼统的说法进行比较:

初中学生穿校服对社会有好处.

简而言之，主题句的模糊性暗示着思维的模糊性. If you settle for vagueness in your topic sentences, 你会更有可能跑题，或者从一个话题跳到另一个话题. 理清你的主题句——理清你的思路——对写出一篇条理清晰、令人信服的论文大有帮助.

4. Writing off-subject
你的主题陈述是对你的读者的承诺，关于你将在你的论文中涵盖的内容. Don't write "off" this subject; don't include sentences that do not support or elaborate on this main idea. For instance, 如果你的解释性“过程”论文的主题陈述是“制作一套书架需要精确的技能,不要用描述你最喜欢的作者或你打算放在书架上的书的句子. 如果你的描述论文的主题陈述是“我的房间是一个避难所,不要过多地提及房子的其他部分或你的邻居.

叙述有时似乎特别难以包含在主题陈述句的范围内. 例如，考虑一篇关于你捕获过的最大的鱼的记叙文. 这个人说:“我在巴斯湖钓了一天鱼，钓到的最大的一条鱼正好落在我的备用钥匙上.一个常见的错误是讲述整个钓鱼之旅的故事:当你离开家的时候, where you stopped for gas and bait, a description of the scenery, and so on. Remember that what you have promised to tell your reader is about catching the biggest fish ever; every sentence and paragraph should relate to this.

5. Failing to anticipate objections
Especially for an argumentative or persuasive paper, 你必须承认并努力克服对你论文的反对意见. For example, 考虑下面的论文陈述:“西方文明课程不应该是美国大学生的必修课. If they prefer Asian, African, or Native American Studies, for example, these should be acceptable alternatives to Western Studies.以下是对上述说法的两个貌似合理的反对意见:

Western civilization represents the core culture of American students; to be successful in this culture, they must understand it.

除了学习亚洲文化外，还应该学习西方文化, African, or other cultures, 为了促进对现代全球社会的理解.

尽管有些人坚持认为所有的美国学生都应该学习西方文化..."–or broken down and discussed in detail, point by point. 决定你的主题——或者反对意见本身——是否足够强大，足以保证对反对观点进行详细的讨论.

6. An inadequate conclusion
Usually, 学生作者应该写一个结论段落，总结主题句(用不同于之前使用的词)，并重申论文(再次), in different words). 结论应该包括你论文中最重要的观点, the one you most want readers to remember. (Some papers may differ; the conclusion to a narrative essay, for example, may not follow this pattern.)

我的房间是我见过的最安静、最漂亮、最宽敞的房间之一. 在我的房间里，我可以工作，可以思考，可以休息. 的确，它是一个在嘈杂、拥挤、常常丑陋的世界里的避难所.

一个有效的结论“回归”到引言中的材料——意象, metaphor, or analogy found there, for instance. 一个令人满意的结论也可能包含最后一个轶事来说明这个论点. 选择一种看起来适合你的主题和论文基调的技巧.

尽管初学者应该坚持上面列出的技术, 经验丰富的作家通常还会做一件事——他们会在已经提出的观点之外得出结论.

如果我没有被迫以诚实的态度看待我的生活，我就不会有今天的成就. 很多次酒精差点要了我的命，我离地狱般的生活只差一杯酒了. 我已经戒酒快两年了，我从未感到如此快乐和平静. With God's grace, I will stay sober today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

While not introducing new material, 这种结论既总结又指出了更为深远的影响, gives a warning, 或者提供一个由已经提出的想法建议或基于已经提出的想法的替代方案.

 

Minor Weaknesses
In addition to the major weaknesses above, 微小的错误可能会削弱你的论点的明显力量，导致一篇勉强够用的论文. After 纠正主要问题，检查下面的一些错误:

• Weak, vague or poorly developed introduction
• Sentence errors including
  
  • Unintentional fragmentary sentences
  • 连句，尤其是“逗号拼接”——用逗号分隔两个句子
  • Short, choppy sentences or lack of sentence variety
  • Poor or nonexistent transitions
  • 由于缺乏平行结构或由于悬空或错位的修饰语而造成的尴尬句子
• Word errors such as
  
  • Use of the wrong word or phrase, for example, its or it's
  • 不标准的英语——“they was”，“he don’t”——使用双重否定，等等
  • 诸如“hit the hay”、“give me a turn”、“acid test”等陈词滥调。
  • Monotonous or ineffective repetition
  • Wrong word choice for the style, tone, or content: formal language in an informal paper, for example, or informal language in a formal paper.
• Verb tense disagreement
• 错误地使用虚拟动词形式，例如在条件陈述句中
• Subject/verb non-agreement
• Errors in pronoun reference
• "Padding"–using words simply to fill space
• Plagiarizing, that is, failing to cite source material

最后，充分校对以纠正标点、拼写和打字错误