研究生学术英语写作教程Unit4DescribingMethodology

1Unit4DescribingMethodologyObjectives─Beclearaboutthesignificanceofthissection─Trytounderstandtheimportanceofpassivevoiceinacademicwriting─Learntobeskilledinusingsequentialmarkersinwritingaprocess─Befamiliarwithproof-readingskills─LearntodesignaquestionnaireContents─Briefintroductiontothissection─Reading&Discussion:Whatinformationelementsareusuallyinvolvedinwritingamethodologysection?─LanguageFocus:Passivevoiceandsequentialmarkers─WritingPractice:Understandingthesentencepatternsandsentenceorderinwritingaprocess─WritingProject:Howtodesignaquestionnaire21.ReadingActivityInnaturalsciencesthemethodsectionisoftencalledMaterialsandMethods.InsocialsciencesitiscommontointroduceasectioncalledTheoryandMethods.Sometimesitisdividedintwosections:TheoreticalFrameworkandMethods.Researchmethodologyismainlyconcernedwiththeanswerstothefollowingquestions:1)Whyisaparticularresearchstudyundertaken?2)Howhasoneformulatedaresearchproblem?3)Whattypesofdatahavebeencollected?4)Whatparticularmethodshavebeenused?5)Whyisaparticulartechniqueofanalysisofdataused?1.1Pre-readingTaskThefollowingisthemethodsectionofaresearcharticleinthefieldofappliedlinguistics.Thinkaboutthefollowingquestionsbeforereadingthetextandthenhaveadiscussionwithyourclassmates:1)Whatisthefunctionofthemethodsection?2)Whatinformationelementsdoesamethodsectioninclude?3)Whatverbtensesaremainlyusedinthetext?Whatistheproportionofactivevoiceverbstopassivevoiceverbsinthismethodsection?1.2ReadingPassageEnglishforCollegeStudentsinTaiwan:AStudyofperceptionsofEnglishNeedsinaMedicalContextTheexperimentwasinitiatedtoinvestigateperceptionsofEnglishneedsinamedicalcontextamongcollegestudentsinTaiwan.Thesubjectswere341medicalstudentsintheDepartmentofMedicine,including97freshmen,74sophomores,90juniors,and80seniors,and20facultymembersinthemedicalprogramatChungShanMedicalCollegeinTaichung,Taiwan,China.Twoquestionnairesweredevelopedforthesurvey,basedontwoearliersurveyinstrumentsbyTaylor&Hussein(1985)andGuo(1989).ThequestionnairesweretranslatedintoChinese,piloted,andmodifiedaccordingtothefeedbackfroml0respondents:sixmedicalstudentsandfourfacultymembersfromChungShanMedicalCollege.Thequestionnairegiventothemedicalstudentsconsistedoffivesectionsof23questions,thetopicsofwhichweretheimportanceofEnglishin3collegeandprofessionalcareers,perceivedlanguageskillneedsandproblems,theactivitiesneededinafreshmanlanguagecourse,andsuggestionsfordevelopmentofcoursecontentandmaterialsaswellasdemographicinformation.Thefacultyquestionnaireconsistedoffoursectionsofl6questions,whichwereparalleltothoseintheversiongiventothestudentsexceptnodemographicinformationwasgathered(seeAppendix).Oneoftheauthors,afacultymemberatChungShanMedicalCollege,selectedonerequiredclassforeachgroupofstudents(freshmensophomores,juniorsandseniors).Copiesofthestudentquestionnaireforadministrationtothestudentswerethensenttocooperatinginstructorsteachingthesecourses;copiesofthefacultyquestionnaireweregivento20teacherswhowerewillingtocompletethesurvey.Thedatawerecomputer-analyzedusinganSPSSprogram:inthequestionnaire,percentagesweredeterminedforallquestionsexcept8and13forwhichmeanswerecomputed.Chi-square,t-tests,andANOVAanalyses(方差分析)wereconductedinordertodeterminetheperceptionsofEnglishlanguageneedsofmedicalcollegestudentsandtheirfacultyandtocomparetheperceptionsheldbythevariousgroups.(Pang,2008)1.3ReadingComprehension1.3.1Fillinthefollowingtablewithrelevantdetailsfromthepassage.ResearchobjectiveResearchsubjectsResearchlocationMaterialsProcedureStatisticalanalysis1.3.2Understandmoreaboutthemethodsectionofthisresearch.Whatdoyouknowaboutthequestionnairesusedinthesurvey?42.LanguageFocus2.1PassivevoiceThepassivevoiceisusuallyusedinacademicwriting,becausepassivestructureshavelesssubjectivecoloringinmostcasesthanactiveones.Whendescribingaprocessorascientificexperiment,itisimportanttowriteinaneutralstyle,asanobserver.Todothis,youcanusepassivevoice.Therearethreeinstancesinwhichthepassivevoiceisrecommended:1)whenwedonotknowordonotcareaboutwhohasperformedtheaction;2)whenwefocusonthereceiverinsteadoftheperformeroftheaction;and3)whenwewouldliketoremaininaneutralorobjectivepositioninwriting.Moreexamplesfromthemethodologysectionareasfollows:1)Thestudywasconductedatthebeginningofthesemesterandthefinalonewasgivenattheendofthesemester.(procedure)2)Insummer,thegreenhousewascooledbypullinginairthroughwatersaturatedpadsonthesouthendofthebuilding.(speciallydesignedmaterial)3)ThequartzreactorstestedforthisworkarefabricatedbytheA&BSalesCompanyofWheeling,Leeds,UK.(instrument)4)Inordertoprovideabroadsamplingofcollegestudents,respondentswererecruitedfromdiversefieldsofstudy.(sampling)5)Thefinalscoreswerecomputedintomeanaverages(X)andstandarddeviations(SD).(statisticalanalysis)2.1.1GoovertheReadingPassageandmarkverbsinthepassivevoiceThequestionnairetostudentsincludes:·····5andthencompletethefollowingtable:InformationelementsinMethodVerbsinpassivevoiceProcedureMaterialsInstrumentDataanalysis2.1.2Rewritethefollowingtextwithpassivevoice.Somepeopleconsiderapoisonivyinfecti