This course is designed for those students who are interested in pursuing a career in academic research and writing. I am going to presume that students already got the basics of expository writing, and will hence concentrate on several key areas of expertise in this course as listed in the tentative schedule. Central to the course would be the question of plagiarism, which I believe is not a simple crime nor an easy way out of a difficult task, but the starting point of learning a complicated set of conventions as well as an important lesson in processing information and demonstrating independent thinking--both are vital skills for an academic career. Students are required to actively surf the internet and learn about how other institutions of higher education have dealt with problems of thesis-writing and plagiarism. It would be through consulting these other resources that we formulate our own understanding of academic production. That, in itself, is a practice in research methodology. Students may use writing assignments from other courses as raw material to be worked on in this course. Two types of homework assignments are required: oral reports are marked in blue and written reports are marked in red (due at midnight on the Sunday before).

Please bring in a sample paragraph from your own writing pool for the first class. This course requires a certain degree of sophistication in writing in order to qualify for enrollment.

Course materials can be found at http://sex.ncu.edu.tw/papers/

Written homework is to be emailed to johomework@gmail.com, with a clearly stated subject "thesis writing--due date--your name in full"

Tentative Schedule:

date	Course plan
2-20	Intro to the course
2-20	Homework: definitions of academic writing. 請閱讀論文寫作網站首頁，特別是下方的兩個演講記錄，並請預讀下週課內討論材料。
2-27	什麼是「論文寫作」︰說明學術論文在學術文化圈裡擁有的特殊位置與意義，其於專業上、實踐上的文化意義，其不同之使用場域和成規，其與既存學術經典文獻的關係，其性質和操作上的策略等等。更重要的則是顯示這些和「學術體制」密切相關的面向如何影響也決定了論文的撰寫模式和成規，這是一個有關institutional history, institutional conventions的思考工作。 Definition--What is Thesis Writing 何謂學術論文？──中文篇主體寫作經驗
2-27	Homework: collect and analyze formulation of paper topics, what are the general trends of research as reflected in the topics and target texts
3-6	形塑研究方向和問題意識：分析題目如何標示了學術論文題目的多種建構模式，討論如何選擇研究方向和進路，如何參考比較他人既有的論文題目，如何決定題目的寬廣深入程度，如何建立並呈現問題意識，如何評估資料蒐集和處理。這是一個有關個人整體orientation of research、如何與學術趨向接合的構思工作。 What is an Academic Paper? How to Write a Research Question Formulating the Research Question 1 Structure of Research
3-6	Homework: skim a bunch of papers and locate their choice of “relevant” materials and citations
3-13	文獻探討與引用︰要對一個題目進行探究，就必須對前人的類似研究作一徹底的文獻探討，這不但是對所要撰寫的題目更進一步的認識，也是瞭解迄今哪些問題已有答案，哪些還可以修正、充實、擴充、甚至取代，哪些問題仍然眾說紛紜有待耕耘等等，最終也可藉此瞭解自己對選擇的主題認識有多少。這是一個鳥瞰學術領域、評估自己前景的工作。引用文獻也要原創思考關連性──文獻探討的創造性思考 The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It Write a Literature Review
3-13	Homework: search for definition of and education about plagiarism, bring in relevant sites and report on key discussions what is plagiarism and how to avoid it
3-20	如何避免抄襲瓢竊：對初學論文寫作的人而言，抄襲瓢竊不是學生的道德問題，而是教育體制沒有提供適當的訓練，沒有教導如何處理他人的寫作、如何討論他人的觀點、如何表達自己的觀點等等。因此關鍵的學習是：如何處理所參考的引用的材料，如何從眾多閱讀中形塑自己的研究進路。 How to Avoid plagiarism: The Scourge of the Academe
3-20	Homework: read sample introductions and reviews and bring in analyses of writing strategies
3-27	批判閱讀與思考（一）︰眾多文獻需要細讀，以爬梳學界對目標問題已經形成哪些模式的思考，而個人的研究進路或提問方式又對這些既存的說法進行怎樣的對話，這些都需要具備批判閱讀和批判思考的基本工夫。本區塊將練習基本的批判閱讀方式，從撰寫簡短摘要、到mapping多種文獻、到整理辯論、到展現對於各種思想路數的掌握，具體的練習。如何練習批判閱讀 Examples of Paraphrasing Successful vs. unsuccessful paraphrases How to Recognize Plagiarism Writing for the Humanities
3-27	Homework: select one key essay for your research topic and write a 500-word summary that would make clear its specific relevance for your research
4-10	批判閱讀與思考（二） Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing What Is Critical Reading? 寫作範本：Review
4-10	Homework: select one piece of critical writing on comparison/discussion of at least two pieces of document, and write your own simulation
4-17	批判閱讀與思考（三）如何寫高級的評論
4-17	Homework: select one piece of critical writing that surveys one general area of research, write your own simulation
4-24	論文結構與撰寫（一）︰寫作並不是僅僅記錄已經思考透徹的結果，相反的，寫作正是摸索、嘗試、創造、形塑思考的具體過程。因此寫作的過程才真正是思想成形的過程。本區塊將帶領示範資料的處理、擺佈、敘述分析可以如何串連轉折，呈現出一個有把握、有觀點、有洞見、有系統、有組織的論文寫作。
4-24	Homework: bring in sample essays and demonstrate how they open and move on to their themes
5-1	論文結構與撰寫（二）
5-1	Homework: bring in sample essays and analyze how paragraphs and sections string together
5-8	論文結構與撰寫（三）如何促成文章的一致性
5-8	Homework: bring in sample essays and analyze how they present their conclusions
5-15	所謂技術層面：文獻的引用和書目的呈現，一般被認為是技術層面的工作。就某一層面而言，這些確實也是很快就能上手的東西，但是引用如何融入正文、如何詮釋、如何扣接個人論點、如何判斷是否加上註腳、如何融合引文和自身的討論，這些都還是需要特別練習的技巧以形成個人的論點。正確使用學術文獻必學的MLA Style 1 必學的MLA Style 2
5-15	Homework: construct bibliography in the specified format
5-22	永無休止的改寫過程：改寫不是讓文字通順而已，改寫往往可以翻轉原先的立場。這個區塊將示範一些改寫前後對比，以顯示思路的變化流動。 The Elements of Style
5-22	Homework: collect sample abstracts and analyze strategies, prepare own abstract
5-29	摘要和口頭報告︰撰寫論文摘要是一門特殊學問，因為在寫摘要時可以同時檢驗自己的問題意識是否已經在文中清楚架構呈現，也可以進一步思考研究的理論蘊涵。換句話說，摘要是對論文本身問題和研究結果的檢驗，本區塊也將列舉進行口頭報告的技巧，作為一種口頭摘要的學習。 How to Prepare for the Oral Defense of Your Thesis/Dissertation 20140529 Definition of an abstract
5-29	Homework: prepare an oral report for about 10 minutes on a paper
6-5	口試應對︰論文口試大約會遇到哪類的情況？哪種問題最常被提起？如何應對無言以答的問題？如何巧妙帶進本身擅長的問題？本區塊的目的不在於準備應付口試，而正在於透過練習並預期口試的這些內容，而再次檢驗本身論文的鋪陳和論証。這方面的檢視修訂澄清當然會幫助口試時的應對。 preparing-for-the-oral-defense-of-a-dissertation How to Prepare for an Oral Defense
6-18	final report due

Tentative Schedule:

相關連結