Discussion就是termpaper中的讨论部分,也是termpaper的核心内容之一。Discussion写的好,就有很大几率得A。那么discussion部分到底是什么?我们一般理解为,讨论部分是查看自己的研究与研究所处的更广泛背景的关系。因此,需要回顾一下你在文献综述中为你自己的研究提供的基本原理,并讨论自己的研究在此背景下添加的内容。此外,还要阐述你了解所做的研究的局限性,以及这些可能会如何影响研究结果的有效性或有用性,这一点很重要,同时报告你的研究发现对理论,研究和实践的影响。 首先我们来看看具体的写作步骤:
解决结构问题
在开始写termpaper时首先要考虑,你的选题是否适合把结果和讨论作为一个整体部分,还是各自独立成章更加合适。
建立讨论部分与论文综述部分之间的紧密联系
1. 写之前先回顾你前面所写的文献综述部分(literature review) 2. 开始写的时候通过参考文献综述,将你的研究结果也就是finding部分与以前的研究结果进行比较,尤其要比较与先前研究的结果相矛盾的结果。 将你的结果与文献综述中讨论的理论联系起来。找到与研究空白(gaps)相关的证据以及研究目的或主要的研究内容。 3. 讨论你的研究的局限性。 4. 为未来的研究提出方向。 如果需要的话,在这一过程中还要不断优化你的文献综述部分,确保讨论部分重要的问题也在文献综述部分存在。
建立讨论部分和各个分论题(themes)之间的紧密联系
进行这一部分的写作时有一个小窍门,就是列出literature review中每个themes的关键信息清单。 这一清单可以作为你写作过程中的对照检查清单。 针对每一个结果的讨论,你不用对下面清单的每一个要点做出解释说明,但是起草讨论部分时值得花时间依序思考每一个要点。 这个清单中的内容需要包含: 1. 最重要的研究发现的综述,一般按顺序写出其重要性 (1)这些重要发现是否支持原始假说、如何支持研究主要活动、如何回答研究问题(themes)、如何符合研究目标; (2)与先前的研究发现是否一致。 2.研究主要目的或假说相对应的参考文献,或研究主要活动概述。 3.研究的限制,把研究限制在一定范围,在实验,或者调查问卷,或者访谈条件下概括出研究的发现。 4. 研究发现的解释,.猜测你获得某些结果的原因。但是解释须有参考文献支持;以及关于研究发现的思考推断,同样需要引用参考文献支持。 5. 进一步研究的建议以及/或实际应用。 6. 研究的蕴含(从结果归纳总结,在更广泛的范围内研究结果含义是什么) 总之,step3的核心就是回顾你的研究问题并说出你是否回答了他们。 Useful Phrases for the Discussion section Background information (reference to literature or to research aim/question) A strong relationship between X and Y has been reported in the literature. Prior studies that have noted the importance of ...... In reviewing the literature, no data was found on the association between X and Y. As mentioned in the literature review, ...... Very little was found in the literature on the question of ..... Statements of result (usually with reference to results section) The results of this study show/indicate that ....... This experiment did not detect any evidence for ...... On the question of X, this study found that ...... The current study found that ...... The most interesting finding was that ...... Unexpected outcome Surprisingly, X was found to ....... Surprisingly, no differences were found in ...... One unanticipated finding was that ..... It is somewhat surprising that no X was noted in this condition ...... What is surprising is that ...... Reference to previous research (support) This study produced results which corroborate the findings of a great deal of the previous work in this field. The findings of the current study are consistent with those of Smith and Jones (2001) who found ...... This finding supports previous research into this brain area which links X and Y. This study confirms that X is associated with ...... This finding corroborates the ideas of Smith and Jones (2008), who suggested that ...... Reference to previous research (contradict) However, the findings of the current study do not support the previous research. This study has been unable to demonstrate that ...... However, this result has not previously been described. Explanations for results: There are several possible explanations for this result. A possible explanation for this might be that ..... Another possible explanation for this is that ...... This result may be explained by the fact that ...../ by a number of different factors. It is difficult to explain this result, but it might be related to ...... Noting implications This finding has important implications for developing ..... An implication of this is the possibility that ...... One of the issues that emerges from these findings is Commenting on findings However, these results were not very encouraging. These findings are rather disappointing. The test was successful as it was able to identify students who ...... Suggestions for future work However, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken before the association between X and Y is more clearly understood. Further research should be done to investigate the ...... Research questions that could be asked include ..... Future studies on the current topic are therefore recommended |