学习写作是一个渐进的过程。在平时的学习和积累中,会住家接触到一些比较高级的词汇,这样就可以将这些词汇归类摘录并做成自己的词库。例如,可以将extremely,awfully, exceedingly, extraordinary, pretty 和highly归为一类,以替代以前常用的very及quite;将an ocean of, an army of, plenty of等替代many, a great many of等常见词;而so on这类的词语,则可以用to name but a few等替换。通过这样的总结,一方面可以大大丰富自己的词汇,另一方面还可以使自己写的文章富于变化,不至于出现用词过于单一的现象。
修辞学情境可以分为以下五大类: ① 目的:为什么要写这篇文章或画这幅漫画?它想要告诉人们什么信息?它想指导哪些特定人群?它想取悦哪些人? ② 读者:谁会看到这个作品?谁会受它的影响而产生动力去做某件事? ③ 文体:这件作品属于什么类型? ④ 立场:这件作品代表什么观点?这些观点如何符合作者当时所处的环境或读者现在所处的环境? ⑤ 媒介:这件作品采用什么形式、手段和技巧与读者进行交流?
为了展示逻辑学分析文章的不同部分的示例,下面从这篇发表在Online Writing Lab(“在线写作实验室”)网站的位于纽约州奥尔巴尼的Excelsior大学的修辞学分析文章中摘录一些内容,甚至包括有用的评论。这篇文章分析的是一篇关于人们应该还是不应该购买iPad平板电脑的文章。如果你希望获得更多的示例,以便能够建立自己的修辞学分析模板,还可以阅读一篇关于Nabokov’s Lolita的文章,以及Anne Lamott在其写作指导书《Bird by Bird(一只鸟接一只鸟)》中撰写的“Shitty First Drafts(糟糕的初稿)”一章。
Cory Doctorow’s article on BoingBoing is an older review of the iPad, one of Apple’s most famous products. At the time of this article, however, the iPad was simply the latest Apple product to hit the market and was not yet so popular. Doctorow’s entire career has been entrenched in and around technology. He got his start as a CD-ROM programmer and is now a successful blogger and author. He is currently the co-editor of the BoingBoing blog on which this article was posted. One of his main points in this article comes from Doctorow’s passionate advocacy of free digital media sharing. He argues that the iPad is just another way for established technology companies to control our technological freedom and creativity. In “Why I Won’t Buy an iPad (and Think You Shouldn’t, Either)” published on Boing Boing in April of 2010, Cory Doctorow successfully uses his experience with technology, facts about the company Apple, and appeals to consumer needs to convince potential iPad buyers that Apple and its products, specifically the iPad, limit the digital rights of those who use them by controlling and mainstreaming the content that can be used and created on the device.
One example of Doctorow’s position is his comparison of Apple’s iStore to Wal-Mart. This is an appeal to the consumer’s logic—or an appeal to logos. Doctorow wants the reader to take his comparison and consider how an all-powerful corporation like the iStore will affect them. An iPad will only allow for apps and programs purchased through the iStore to be run on it; therefore, a customer must not only purchase an iPad but also any programs he or she wishes to use. Customers cannot create their own programs or modify the hardware in any way.
Overall, Doctorow makes a good argument about why there are potentially many better things to drop a great deal of money on instead of the iPad. He gives some valuable information and facts that consumers should take into consideration before going out to purchase the new device. He clearly uses rhetorical tools to help make his case, and, overall, he is effective as a writer, even if, ultimately, he was ineffective in convincing the world not to buy an iPad.
通过重复你的特质来结束你的文章 “During my high school years, my qualities of leadership, initiative, and hard work have helped shape me to become the strong student I am today. As the head of our school’s volunteer group, I showed that even a teenager can make a big impact. As a student achieving high grades in all three of my AP courses, I demonstrated my dedication to education about all. Finally, as a daughter of working-class immigrant parents, I have used my value of hard work to achieve things my parents never thought possible. These values have contributed to making me the conscientious and successful student and person I am now, and they will surely continue to assist and guide me in my academic and professional career.”
首先,是introduction。有的同学在面对引言如何写的时候,可能会不自觉陷入将引言写成结论的误区。在引言部分,给出一定的自己的观点是可行的。但是引言的基本function并非直接将你的结论在文章的第一个段落就告诉读者。引言更重要的作用在于告诉读者你的研究问题是什么。从what the research question is,可以推导出为什么这是个问题(有的问题其实根本不成为问题),为什么这个问题值得研究(有何现实的必要性)。引言部分的一个重要内容是提出你的研究方法是什么。这里仅仅是简单的提出使用的是什么方法,并非仔细阐述如何使用的方法(具体阐述方法,需要专门放进方法论的部分)。引言还需要写明文章写作的plan。每个部分写什么,这个算是基本要求。
其次是method。有的同学认为method部分特别简单,直接将国内的毕业论文的写作方法部分翻译过来了事。国内有的学校对于本科毕业论文的要求不高,这种操作可能在国内过关。但在国外,是肯定不行的。比如,国内文科论文常用的文献分析法,直接翻译成英语,便是to study relevant literature。首先,国外教授虽然能看明白study relevant literature的意思是研究文献,但他多半不认可这是一种研究方法。其次,国外的method本质上是一种认识世界的哲学观点。我们在认识一个研究对象时,虽然并不会意识到,但其实上是采用了epistemology这种方法论,而该方法论又分为实证分析方法和解释分析方法。此时,需要明确的是,你用的research方法是实证还是解释。