Professor Pedantic 教授的考究學問
TPS的編輯教授在此歡迎關於學術文章的所有詢問，當然，其實他並沒有足夠的時間給你。他擁有終身教職的教授身份，也是著名的學術巨作作者。即便如此，他仍大方地接受你們的詢問。將關於學術方面的詢問寫在下方，你將獲得教授的親自指導，陶冶對學術的探索與啟發。
The professor awaits your query on academic writing, though in all honesty, he doesn’t have a lot of time for you. He is a tenured full professor and working on yet another magnificent academic tome. Even so, he has graciously consented to entertain your question. Submit it and prepare to be edified.
QUESTION: I write well I am told, but my papers are faulted for being “superficial.” How do I know when I have researched a topic deeply enough to satisfy my professor’s need for in-depth analysis and presentation?
教授說我文章寫得不錯，就是有點「膚淺」；寫文章時，我要怎麼知道自己研究已經夠深入，能夠寫出教授要求的深度分析與報告？
Unfortunately, I cannot answer that definitively because in all probability I don’t know your professor. A level of research that satisfies your professor might be deemed overkill by another professor or insufficient by a third. Besides, some topics have voluminous amounts of material available for probing while other topics are a slim volume on the library shelf. Still, some general expectations exist for academic researchers. The general one is that a paper should give evidence of being complete—that is, it should be without loose ends, unanswered questions, and holes.
很可惜我沒有辦法給你最可靠完整的答案，因為再怎麼說，我都不認識你的教授。讓你教授滿意的研究，第二個教授可能覺得太過火，第三個教授可能還覺得不夠。此外，有些題目可供探討的資料俯拾即是，有些的資料則寥寥無幾。不過，學術研究還是有個大概的標準要求，也就是不能虎頭蛇尾、提出的問題必須解答，以及不能有漏洞。
Sometimes a researcher gives himself a superficial topic, unwittingly or on purpose. This makes it difficult to do in-depth research because the pool of available information is quite shallow. Conversely, sometimes a chosen topic is so deep and wide that a researcher cannot completely explore it without producing a book. Therefore, it is important to wisely pick and frame a topic. Next, a writer should brainstorm a topic’s chief facets. Even if this initial mental outline is not conclusive, it guides a writer as he plumbs a topic. Guided research is less apt to miss something.
有時候研究者有意無意中選了一個膚淺的題目，可供探討的訊息很少，自然也很難深入探討。相反的，有時主題的範圍太廣且內涵精深，想詳盡探討非得寫本書不可。因此，好好選擇、界定題目非常重要。接下來，寫作前應該對題目腦力激盪，思考題目有哪些重要面向，即使初步大綱無法涵蓋所有面向，也給了作者鑽研的方向。有了研究方向，就不容易錯失重點。
Finally, an academic researcher must know himself or herself. It is not a question of character or intellect, but of mindset and habit. Ask yourself: How inquisitive am I? Am I content to offer a generally correct answer or do I want to indisputably pin down the facts? The latter thinking characterizes the best researcher. Again, how thorough am I? Am I OK with lightly surveying a topic or do I want to examine it in detail? A survey, after all, tends to be wider than it is deep. To produce a paper of depth and completeness, a researcher must be geared for the work.
最後，研究者必須了解自己；重點不是自己的個性或能力，而是了解自己的思考方式與習慣。問問自己：我的好奇心夠強嗎？我只要能找出大概正確的答案就滿意了，還是想確切驗證事實？好的研究者應該具備第二種思考特性。此外，我的研究徹底嗎？我只會略為調查題目，或者我會詳盡檢驗？調查通常廣度有餘、深度不足，想寫出深入完整的文章，研究者必須做好準備，放手一搏。
The professor awaits your query on academic writing, though in all honesty, he doesn’t have a lot of time for you. He is a tenured full professor and working on yet another magnificent academic tome. Even so, he has graciously consented to entertain your question. Submit it and prepare to be edified.
QUESTION: I write well I am told, but my papers are faulted for being “superficial.” How do I know when I have researched a topic deeply enough to satisfy my professor’s need for in-depth analysis and presentation?
教授說我文章寫得不錯，就是有點「膚淺」；寫文章時，我要怎麼知道自己研究已經夠深入，能夠寫出教授要求的深度分析與報告？
Unfortunately, I cannot answer that definitively because in all probability I don’t know your professor. A level of research that satisfies your professor might be deemed overkill by another professor or insufficient by a third. Besides, some topics have voluminous amounts of material available for probing while other topics are a slim volume on the library shelf. Still, some general expectations exist for academic researchers. The general one is that a paper should give evidence of being complete—that is, it should be without loose ends, unanswered questions, and holes.
很可惜我沒有辦法給你最可靠完整的答案，因為再怎麼說，我都不認識你的教授。讓你教授滿意的研究，第二個教授可能覺得太過火，第三個教授可能還覺得不夠。此外，有些題目可供探討的資料俯拾即是，有些的資料則寥寥無幾。不過，學術研究還是有個大概的標準要求，也就是不能虎頭蛇尾、提出的問題必須解答，以及不能有漏洞。
Sometimes a researcher gives himself a superficial topic, unwittingly or on purpose. This makes it difficult to do in-depth research because the pool of available information is quite shallow. Conversely, sometimes a chosen topic is so deep and wide that a researcher cannot completely explore it without producing a book. Therefore, it is important to wisely pick and frame a topic. Next, a writer should brainstorm a topic’s chief facets. Even if this initial mental outline is not conclusive, it guides a writer as he plumbs a topic. Guided research is less apt to miss something.
有時候研究者有意無意中選了一個膚淺的題目，可供探討的訊息很少，自然也很難深入探討。相反的，有時主題的範圍太廣且內涵精深，想詳盡探討非得寫本書不可。因此，好好選擇、界定題目非常重要。接下來，寫作前應該對題目腦力激盪，思考題目有哪些重要面向，即使初步大綱無法涵蓋所有面向，也給了作者鑽研的方向。有了研究方向，就不容易錯失重點。
Finally, an academic researcher must know himself or herself. It is not a question of character or intellect, but of mindset and habit. Ask yourself: How inquisitive am I? Am I content to offer a generally correct answer or do I want to indisputably pin down the facts? The latter thinking characterizes the best researcher. Again, how thorough am I? Am I OK with lightly surveying a topic or do I want to examine it in detail? A survey, after all, tends to be wider than it is deep. To produce a paper of depth and completeness, a researcher must be geared for the work.
最後，研究者必須了解自己；重點不是自己的個性或能力，而是了解自己的思考方式與習慣。問問自己：我的好奇心夠強嗎？我只要能找出大概正確的答案就滿意了，還是想確切驗證事實？好的研究者應該具備第二種思考特性。此外，我的研究徹底嗎？我只會略為調查題目，或者我會詳盡檢驗？調查通常廣度有餘、深度不足，想寫出深入完整的文章，研究者必須做好準備，放手一搏。
Posted at 2011-10-19 12:15:26
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