2005年英语专八真题听力原文

2005年英语专八真题听力原文

　　听力原文

　　Part 1, Listening Comprehension

　　Section A, Mini-Lecture

　　I think as seniors, you are often required by yourinstructors to do some library research on this topicor that. And, in the end, you have to write aresearch paper, right? Then what is writing aresearch paper like? How are we going to write one?What are the steps in producing a research paper and what are the points we need to take careof? In today’s lecture, I’ll try to answer these questions.

　　First of all, what is writing a research paper like? We may start by comparing it to an ordinaryessay, a form of writing you are very familiar with. Writing a research paper is much like writingan essay. Both kinds of writing involve many of the same basic steps. That is, choosing atopic, asking questions to define and develop the topic, identifying the audience, getting rawmaterial to work with, outlining the paper, writing it, and, finally, revising it. These are the stepsshared between research paper writing and essay writing.

　　Is there any difference, you may ask. Yes. What makes a research paper different is that muchof your raw material comes not from your own head, but from printed sources: mainly booksand periodicals in the library. Collecting raw material, that is reading books and taking notes, isvery much like the process of brainstorming at the prewriting stage of an ordinary essay.

　　Generally speaking, there are two basic types of research papers, and a paper may belong toeither type. It may be a survey of facts and opinions available on a given topic or ananalytical argument that uses those facts and opinions to prove a point. Your instructor maytell you which kind of paper you are expected to write. If not, you yourself should eventuallychoose between surveying and arguing. You will then have a definite way of managing yoursources.

　　Now, let’s take a look at how you are going to write a survey-type research paper or anargumentative research paper. In a survey-type research paper, you gather facts and avariety of opinions on a given topic. You make little attempt to interpret or evaluate whatyour sources say or to prove a particular point. Instead, through quotation, summary, andparaphrase, you try to provide a representative sampling of facts and opinions to give anobjective report on your topic. You explain the pros and cons of various attitudes or opinions,but you don’t side definitely with any one of them.

　　While in an argumentative research paper, you do considerably more. You do not simplyquote, paraphrase, and summarize as you do in a survey-type paper. You interpret,question, compare, and judge the statements you cite. You explain why one opinion is soundand another is not; why one fact is relevant and another is not; why one writer is correct andanother is mistaken. What’s more, your purpose may vary with your topic. You may try toexplain a situation to recommend a course of action, to reveal the solution to a problem, orto present and defend a particular interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. Butwhether the topic is space travel or trends in contemporary American literature, anargumentative research paper deals actively – I say it again, actively – with the statements itcites. It makes these statements work together in an argument that you create, that is, to anargument leading to a conclusion of your own.

　　In the next part of the lecture, I’d like to talk about one of the basic steps in writing Imentioned earlier in the lecture. That is how to choose a topic. Choosing a topic for a researchpaper is in some ways like choosing a topic for an ordinary essay, but there are somedifferences. As you think about your topic, ask yourself these questions:

　　Question number one: Do you really want to know more about this topic? This is the initialquestion you have to ask yourself, because research on any subject will keep you busy forweeks. You certainly do not wish to waste your time on something you have little interest in.You do it well only if you expect to learn something interesting or important in the process.

　　Question number tw Are you likely to find many sources of information on this topic? Youcannot write a research paper without consulting a variety of sources. If only one source ornone at all is readily available, you should rethink your topic or choose another.

　　Question number three: Can you cut the topic down to a manageable size? Be reasonableand realistic about what you can do in a short period, say, two to four weeks. If your topic is“The American Revolution”, you’ll scarcely have time to make a list of books on your subject, letalone read and analyze them. So try to find something specific, such as “The Role of ThomasJefferson in the American Revolution” or “The Franco-American Alliance”

　　Question number four: What questions can you ask about the topic itself? Questions help youget the topic down to a manageable size, discover its possibilities, and find the goal of yourresearch, that is, the specific problem you want to investigate. Suppose you want to writeabout the issue of financing a college education – A topic not only current, but also directlylinked to the lives of most college students and their families. You could ask at least two orthree pointed questions: How much does educational opportunity depend on financial status?Is financial aid going to the students who need it most? How much should universities andcolleges charge their students? You can ask yourself these questions or more as you start workon the research paper.

　　Okay. To sum up, in today’s lecture, we’ve looked at some of the issues in research paperwriting, like the basic steps, types of research paper, and how to choose a topic. In our nextlecture, we’ll concentrate on how to identify the audience, how to work out an outline, andhow to edit the draft.

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