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This is not academic writing 學術文章不是這麼寫的
【寫作技巧】
並非所有與學術議題相關的文章，就能稱之為「學術文章」。本篇專欄將節錄不同學術議題的內容，分析常見的寫作錯誤，並分享潤修與寫作的技巧。
Not all articles written on academic topics are written in proper academic English. In this "This is not academic writing" column we examine short excerpts from academic texts to illustrate common writing errors and explain how to correct them.
Unacceptable 不被認可的文章
“Among the explorers of earth a long time ago is Wang Dayuan, whose 14th-century sea wanderings around South Asia and Africa produced fascinating material for modern historians. This includes an account of a 1330 trip to a place now known as Singapore. Dayuan wrote about the city’s Chinese and Malaysian people; he went on to compile descriptions of other people, cultures, and the weather in some 100 coastel cities in the region. Dayuan’s home was Quanzhou, which might have been known in his time as Chinchew, Chinchu, or Zayton.”
This passage about an Asia Pacific explorer is interesting but flawed. A reference to the planet we call home (as did the explorer) should be capitalized—Earth. The first sentence refers to the 14th-century explorer in the present tense, though he has been dead for almost 700 years. To refer to sea expeditions as “wanderings” doesn’t give their planners much credit. The writer incorrectly refers to “Malaysian” people, when he meant Malay. He also gets wordy, saying the explorer managed to “compile descriptions of other people,” which might simply have been stated as, he “described other people.” Do you see other errors?
這段文字討論亞太的探險家，主題有意思，但寫作有些瑕疵。若要指我們居住的星球，英文「Earth」應該要大寫。第一句用現在式，但所描述的十四世紀探險家距今已經將近七百年了；而把海上探險稱為「wanderings」（漫遊）則對規劃這場探險的人有失公允。文中用「Malaysian people」指馬來人，正確說法應該是「Malay」。描述探險家努力「compile descriptions of other people」（編寫對其他人民的描述）也太囉嗦，簡單說「described other people」就可以了。你是否還看到其他問題？
Acceptable 認可的文章
“Among the recorded explorers of Earth in eras long gone was Wang Dayuan, whose 14th-century sea travels around South Asia and Africa produced some valuable material for modern historians. This includes an account of a 1330 expedition to what is now Singapore. Dayuan wrote about the city’s Chinese and Malay residents; he went on to describe people, cultures, and the weather in some 100 coastal cities across the region. Dayuan’s home port was Quanzhou, which in his time might have been called Chinchew, Chinchu, or Zayton.”
Not all articles written on academic topics are written in proper academic English. In this "This is not academic writing" column we examine short excerpts from academic texts to illustrate common writing errors and explain how to correct them.
Unacceptable 不被認可的文章
“Among the explorers of earth a long time ago is Wang Dayuan, whose 14th-century sea wanderings around South Asia and Africa produced fascinating material for modern historians. This includes an account of a 1330 trip to a place now known as Singapore. Dayuan wrote about the city’s Chinese and Malaysian people; he went on to compile descriptions of other people, cultures, and the weather in some 100 coastel cities in the region. Dayuan’s home was Quanzhou, which might have been known in his time as Chinchew, Chinchu, or Zayton.”
This passage about an Asia Pacific explorer is interesting but flawed. A reference to the planet we call home (as did the explorer) should be capitalized—Earth. The first sentence refers to the 14th-century explorer in the present tense, though he has been dead for almost 700 years. To refer to sea expeditions as “wanderings” doesn’t give their planners much credit. The writer incorrectly refers to “Malaysian” people, when he meant Malay. He also gets wordy, saying the explorer managed to “compile descriptions of other people,” which might simply have been stated as, he “described other people.” Do you see other errors?
這段文字討論亞太的探險家，主題有意思，但寫作有些瑕疵。若要指我們居住的星球，英文「Earth」應該要大寫。第一句用現在式，但所描述的十四世紀探險家距今已經將近七百年了；而把海上探險稱為「wanderings」（漫遊）則對規劃這場探險的人有失公允。文中用「Malaysian people」指馬來人，正確說法應該是「Malay」。描述探險家努力「compile descriptions of other people」（編寫對其他人民的描述）也太囉嗦，簡單說「described other people」就可以了。你是否還看到其他問題？
Acceptable 認可的文章
“Among the recorded explorers of Earth in eras long gone was Wang Dayuan, whose 14th-century sea travels around South Asia and Africa produced some valuable material for modern historians. This includes an account of a 1330 expedition to what is now Singapore. Dayuan wrote about the city’s Chinese and Malay residents; he went on to describe people, cultures, and the weather in some 100 coastal cities across the region. Dayuan’s home port was Quanzhou, which in his time might have been called Chinchew, Chinchu, or Zayton.”
