【如何阅读，如何写作：学术类】

2009-06-22 07:33:20 来自: .

这年头，似乎谁都能读能写；可是，真正会读会写的又有多少人呢？
我承认，断章取义的读、自由发散的读、鹦鹉学舌的读、曲解原意的读都是读。同理，所谓的写作自然少不了形形色色的胡言乱语。
发起这个讨论，是想得到朋友的意见和支持，在明确并试图继续完善特定领域里的阅读和写作规范的同时，也想抛砖引玉，期待更多的人来谈其他类型的读与写。
我不敢自称学者，只是做了很多年学生，也矢志为自己的学生负责。所以，底下给出的，是学术阅读和写作训练的具体提示，针对面是本科学生。英文版摘自某师姐的syllabus，中文版是我的进一步整理。
如果有人对文艺作品的细读感兴趣，我们可以另行开帖讨论。
如果有其他行业的朋友（诸如创作、出版、媒体等）愿意发言谈读写，也请另行开贴讨论。


阅读提要：

1. 关注细节：
a. 标题、副标题; 作者信息、推荐语
b. 关键词、生僻词
c. 脚注、书目、索引

2. 把握结构：
a. 前言、序、目录
b. 句子、段落、章节、全文乃至全书的逻辑结构

3. 积极笔记：
a. 随书笔记（备注、记号笔、彩条）
b. 阅读报告（具体信息、整体论点、个人意见）

写作提要：

1. 相关性
a. 写作时清晰表达本文的问题、观点、论据
b. 明确本文价值何在，所用材料意义何在

2. 准确度
a. 用自己的语言准确复述并解释所阅读材料中的观点
b. 运用所阅读的材料来支持/反对他人观点并建立自己的观点

3. 逻辑性
a. 论点鲜明，表达直接明确
b. 论据起到实际的支持作用，论证过程有条不紊
c. 语法正确，词汇至少达到本科应有程度，学会应用阅读中接触到的关键词
d. 每个段落都围绕特定主题，段落与段落之间有清晰的逻辑关系，所有段落构成有机整体

4. 深度与广度
a. 准确把握所阅读材料中的前设、设定、和含义
b. 指出所阅读材料中的复杂性、缺陷，提出自己的问题
c. 学会自行检索、运用相关材料
d. 客观看待、思考并评估不同观点

On Reading: Some General Guidelines

Here are some steps to follow in making sense of the assigned reading, some of which may be difficult:
1. Note titles and subtitles. Titles and subtitles are carefully chosen by an author to express the unifying theme of the work of the whole, so it is likely to give you important information about the author’s intent. Analyze the title word by word: Why did the author choose the call the work by that particular title? What does it mean?
2. Note “blurbs.” If you copy of the text has comments on the cover or flaps, they can be useful in identifying the book’s thesis and/or significance. Look also for other clues like the author’s perspective, area of expertise, and purpose.
3. Note table of contents. This can be one of your most important tools in understanding a book. A table of contents is much like an outline, providing the structure of the book as a whole. In general, if you flesh out the meaning of the topics listed in the table of contents, you will have gone far in understanding the argument of the book. You might consider making notes next to the table of contents, giving greater detail about the contents of particular chapters and subheadings listed there.
4. Note preface and introduction. Prefaces and introductions are designed by the author to prepare you to understand the work to follow, so pay very close attention to them. Often the author will use the preface and introduction to situate herself (within disciplinary boundaries, in relation to broader theoretical concerns, in relation to specific thinkers, etc). A preface might contain a narrative as to how this particular work came to take the shape it does. It may discuss issues of method: how will the author support her thesis? What will count as evidence? How will it be analyzed? This is often a good place to discover what will not be examined in the book, what will not count as evidence, what kinds of questions will not be asked.
5. Think structurally. As mentioned above under “table of contents” each and every book, article, piece of music, artwork, etc. has a structure through which it conveys its message. When reading, you will be richly rewarded by paying attention to structure. Note the overall structure of the work, the ways in which it is organized. A book is divided into chapters, which break down the general subject of the book into subtopics. Chapters might be divided by subheadings, which help to organize the information within them. Within these chapters (with or without subheadings) are paragraphs, themselves made up of sentences, themselves made of words. If a work does not “make sense” to you, it is usually because you have not (yet) understood the relationship between these constituent parts. If a particular reading is particularly troublesome, begin at the level of the sentence, with your list of key terms (see below) and a dictionary in hand, and begin to piece together the meaning of the sentence, word by word. If you can’t figure out the subject of a sentence or paragraph, identify the nouns and the verbs, using the structures of grammar to help you.
6. Identify, and define, key terms. Which words are central to the author’s argument? Which does she take the time to define for you? If a term is used over and over again, is it used the same way throughout? What seems to be at stake in the particular usage of this term? Carefully note these key terms, both in the author’s own terms, and then in your own words. As the course progresses, you may find that certain terms are common to many of our readings. How do different author use them differently? What is at stake in those differences? In addition to key terms, you are responsible for looking up any words with which you are unfamiliar; if you don’t know the meaning of the words in a sentence, you cannot understand that sentence, or the paragraph of which it is a part, or the chapter of which it is a part, or the book of which it is a part.
7. Note footnotes or endnotes. Those little numbers suspended at the end of a line? They often lead you to very important information. They might contain ideas marginal to the argument of the work at hand, but extremely interesting to you or to our work in this course. They will also tell you which sources the author has relied upon in constructing his or her own work. Those of you new to these fields of inquiry might not recognize those sources, and so they might hold little significance for you, but the work of any scholar, including yourself, is only as good as his or her sources, and a scholar who uses poor sources has poor credibility.
8. Take notes. Different people have different strategies for note-taking. Some recommend using marginal notes, written in the book. I generally take careful notes in a notebook, as the very act of writing helps me to better comprehend what I am reading. Take notes about key terms, as mentioned above. Take notes about pieces of evidence used by the author to support her claims. Note page numbers, so you will be able to find the relevant passages when you wish to return to them later. You might consider making an outline of the argument of the book or article; is it coherent, i.e., do the ideas relate to one another in a way that is logical and produces a unified whole? I always try to write at least a full paragraph immediately upon fishing a book or an article, with my immediate impression about the author’s thesis, how well I felt she supported it, any weak places in the argument, etc.


On Writing: Standards for Evaluation
Below are the criteria, I, and you, will be using to evaluate your work:
1. Clarify and Logic.
a. Your sentences are grammatically correct and express your ideas as directly as possible.
b. Each of your paragraph is organized around a single, identifiable theme.
c. Your positions can be supported with appropriate evidence and sound reasoning.
d. Your writing uses appropriate language, including college-level vocabulary and “key terms” used by the author.
e. The parts of your assignment are related to one another in a coherent way, together forming a unified whole.
2. Accuracy.
a. Using your own words, you correctly describe or explain what the author is saying.
b. You include evidence from the work to demonstrate your reliability in conveying the author’s position.
3. Relevance.
a. You can identify the most important problem, idea, or piece of evidence for the task at hand.
b. You can identify and express the overall value or importance of the material.
4. Depth and Breadth.
a. You can identify assumptions, presuppositions, and implications of the material.
b. You can address complexities, ask questions, identify (if not resolve) problems in the material.
c. You can draw broadly from relevant sources, even beyond the material in question.
d. You can draw broadly on different points of view, and given them serious and balanced consideration.