科技論文寫作英語寫作

1、Research Reports for Business and Technical WritingWayne LosanoA surprising amount of ones time as a student and professional is spent reporting the results of ones research projects for presentation to teachers, managers, and clients. Indeed, without basic research skills and the ability to present

2、 research results clearly and completely, an individual will encounter many obstacles in school and on the job. The need for some research-writing ability is felt nearly equally by college students in all fields, engineering and science as well as business and the humanities. Graduate study often ma

3、kes great demands on the students research-writing skills, and most professions continue the demand; education, advertising and marketing, economics and accounting, science and engineering, psychology, anthropology, the arts, and agriculture may all require regular reporting of research data.ELEMENT

4、S OF THE RESEARCH PAPERThe standard research report, regardless of the field or the intended reader, contains four major sections. These sections may be broken down into a variety of subsections, and they may be arranged in a variety of ways, but they regularly make up the core of the report.Problem

5、 Section. The first required section of a research report is the statement of the problem with which the research project is concerned.This section requires a precise statement of the underlying question which the researcher has set out to answer. In this same section there should be an explanation

6、of the significance - social, economic, medical, psychological, educational, etc. - of the question; in other words, why the investigation was worth conducting. Thus, if we set out, for example, to answer the question What is the effect of regular consumption of fast foods on the health of the Ameri

7、can teenager? we must explain that the question is thought to have significant relevance to the health of this segment of the population and might lead to some sort of regulations on such foods.A frequent subsection of this problem section is a review of past research on the topic being investigated

8、. This would consist of summaries of the contributions of previous researchers to the question under consideration with some assessment of the value of these contributions. This subsection has rhetorical usefulness in that it enhances the credibility of the researcher by indicating that the data pre

9、sented is based on a thorough knowledge of what has been done in the field and, possibly, grows out of some investigative tradition.Procedures Section. The second major section of the research report details, with as much data as possible, exactly how the study was carried out. This section includes

10、 description of any necessary equipment, how the subjects were selected if subjects were used, what statistical technique was used to evaluate the significance of the findings, how many observations were made and when, etc. An investigation of the relative effectiveness of various swim-strokes would

11、 have to detail the number of swimmers tested, the nature of the tests conducted, the experience of the swimmers, the weather conditions at the time of the tests, and any other factors that contributed to the overall experiment. The goal of the procedures section is to allow the reader to duplicate

12、the experiment if such were desired to confirm, or refute, your findings.Results Section. The third, and perhaps most important, section of the research report is the presentation of the results obtained from the investigation. The basic rule in this section is to give all data relevant to the resea

13、rch question initially asked. Although, of course, ones natural tendency might be to suppress any findings which do not in some way support ones hypothesis, such dishonesty is antithetical to good research reporting in any field. If the experiments undertaken fail to prove anything, if the data was

14、inadequate or contrary to expectations, the report should be honestly written and as complete as possible, just as it would be if the hypothesis were totally proven by the research.Discussion Section. The final required section of a research report is a discussion of the results obtained and a state

15、ment of any conclusions which may be drawn from those results. Of primary interest in business and technical research reports is the validity of the results as the bases for company decisions: Will our planned construction project meet federal environmental guidelines and be approved for building? W

16、ill this new program attract skilled personnel to our company? Will this new oil recovery technique be financially feasible? Thus, the discussion section of the research report must evaluate the research results fully: were they validly obtained, are they complete or limited, are they applicable ove

17、r a wide range of circumstances? The discussion section should also point out what questions remain unanswered and perhaps suggest directions for further research.STYLE OF RESEARCH REPORTSResearch reports are considered formal professional communication. As such, there is little emphasis on a lively

18、 style, although, of course, there is no objection to writing that is pleasing and interesting. The primary goals of professional communication are accuracy, clarity, and completeness. The rough draft of any research report should be edited to ensure that all data is correctly presented, that all eq

19、uipment is listed, that all results are properly detailed. As an aid to the reader, headings indicating at least the major sections of the report should be used, and all data should be presented under the proper headings. In addition to their function of suggesting to the reader the contents of each

20、 section, headings enhance the formal appearance and professional quality of the report, increase to some degree the writers credibility by reflecting a logical and methodical approach to the reporting process, and eliminate the need for wordy transitional devices between sections.Research data shou

21、ld be presented in a way that places proper emphasis on major aspects of the project. For different readers different aspects will take on different degrees of importance, and some consideration should be given to structuring research reports differently for different audiences. Management, for exam

22、ple, will be most concerned with the results of a research project, and thus the results section should be emphasized, probably by presenting it immediately after the problem section and before the procedures section. Other researchers would be most interested in the procedures section, and this sho

23、uld be highlighted in writing up research projects for publication in professional journals or for presentation at professional conferences. For non-technical readers and federal agencies, the implications of the results might be the most important consideration, and emphasis should be placed on the

24、 discussion of the report for this readership.For additional clarity and emphasis, major results should be presented in a visual format - tables, charts, graphs, diagrams - as well as in a verbal one.Beyond checking the report for clarity and accuracy in the presentation of technical data, the autho

25、r of a research report should review for basic grammatical and mechanical accuracy. Short sentences are preferable to long in the presentation of complex information. Listings should be used to break up long passages of prose and to emphasize information.The research writer should try to use the simplest possible language without sacrificing the professional quality of the report. Although specialized terms can be used, pretentious jargon should be avoided. A finished re115 search report should be a readable a