把LZ发的帖子通看了一偏，非常好！！
俺把一些重要信息敲下来，方便其他的板油看。（另外，个人认为这篇instruction的文章主要针对ISSUE,换句话说，对GRE的ISSUE写作也有帮助）
Writing Essays
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Answer the Question: this is paramount.
Questions take a variety of forms. The commonest offers you a proposition to test.
“Life is just a bowl of cherries.” Discuss.
This is virtually the same question as:
To what extent is life just a bowl of cherries?
Or:
How far is life just a bowl of cherries?
Or the direct:
Is life just a bowl of cherries?
External examiners tend not to like the latter(direct) style of question because they say that it could be answered in one word “yes” or “ no”. It is an easy answer also a very bad answer, because you may also get question that ask you to explain something.
经典的地方：
Some questions look deceptively simple. For example:
In what ways, if any, does life resemble a bowl of cherries?
This may suggest that you just have to list a number of ways, but you can be pretty sure that , of this type of question is asked, there is some kind of controversy or debate at its root.
In many ways the trickiest type of question is presented in these forms:
How do we know if life is just a bowl of cherries?
How can we tell if life is just a ….
Why do researchers find it hard to measure life in terms of cherries?
These are methodological questions. You are expected to know something about the research methods used to produce the empirical data involved and their strengths and weaknesses.
Next, there is the question that asks you to read the future.
To what extent if life becoming more like a bowl cherries?
“In ten years time, the comparison between life and cherries will be meaningless.”
Discuss.
This doesn’t ask you to make wild guesses or read tea leaves. Science normally forecasts the future by looking for patterns in the past.
“Life will never resemble a bowl of cherries.” Discuss.
Never is a long time and nobody will be around to say that in the final split-second of time cherries and life became identical. .
“Trade unions are in terminal decline.” Discuss.
The short answer is that we cannot answer this question, because trade unions could decline for decades or indeed thousands of years and then suddenly revive.
Finally, there are those questions that seem to ask you to make a moral or normative judgement, although sometimes this may be ambiguous.
To what extent would the government be justified in banning strikes in essential services?
Should strikes in essential services be out lawed?
Strikes in essential services ought to be banned?
On one level this does call for a moral judgement. On another level, justification requires some assessment of the politics, economics and practical issues involved.
Justification may require some calculation involving both moral and practical issues. Moral absolutes, for example, are rarely found in employment relations.
2.Make a Plan: decide what to leave out
总结几点：(1). How many words are you going to be able expend on each point? The importance of planning is therefore to avoid producing a front-heavy essay where words are wasted early on, and everything is chopped back at the end (这点值得注意－避免头重脚轻).
(2). The other thing about planning is that it may help force you to focus on the precise meaning of the essay question.
(3). Have you really read it properly?
(4). Have you missed any small nuance that might be important?
Such as: “ Life is just a bowl of cherries.”
3.Keep the Introduction Short: edit it last and don’t get too obsessed by the need to define.
4.Use Evidence and Softening Words: never use the word ”prove”.
IMPORTANT: While it is vital to use supporting evidence and quotations in your essay, it is imperative not to turn it into a “scissors and paste” mosaic of other people’s words and evidence. Especially, you should not quote other people’s precise words without attribution (this is plagiarism and viewed very seriously)恩，这点很多人都不太注意。. Nor should you quote verbatim at length, even if you acknowledge the original author. An essay should therefore be almost entirely your own words.
5.Be Argumentative For &Against: engage in a debate with yourself.
Most essay questions require you to examine a debatable proposition or decide among different explanations of a particular phenomenon. Ideally you should put the various arguments as forcefully as you can, even if you disagree with them. Also, competing strongly-made arguments encourage you to engage in detailed analysis and grapple with conflicting evidence, rather than just making lists of contradictory points and forcing the reader sort it out for herself这一点很不错，会是个闪光点.
6.Avoid Historical Narrative.
Historical narrative is usually the wrong way to approach a question.
First, it tends to use up words rapidly and you get trapped in the past trying desperately to reach the present day. Your essay, therefore, is likely to be front-heavy.
Second, the history becomes “ potted”- a simple one-dimensional story.恩，认同
Third, in writing your narrative, you are likely to get sucked into the “inevitability” of certain outcomes.已经没有辩论的价值了。You become the prisoner of your narrative. Essays should be structured by issues, ideas and concepts rather than by time.
7.Make Connections: don’t compartmentalize your arguments.
(1)Paragraphs become less effective when they are trying to pack too many points together.很对！
(2)Clearly words and sentences at the start and finish of paragraphs that make links with what went before and what is coming next are one of the crucial elements in a smoothly and clearly structured essay.
(3)As well as an introduction that tells the marker how the essay is structured, it is important to provide signposts that lead the reader through the essay from paragraph to paragraph.认为这点是基本且重要的。
8.Develop your Paragraphs: this is the key.
It should pull together the strands of your argument and underline your predominant theme or line of reasoning. Avoid introducing new ideas or evidence. End with a strong sentence.
9.Don’t Just Stop: leave some words for a conclusion; avoid new material and offer your judgement or opinion on the discussion you’ve just had.
10.Derive your Concluding Opinion from the Evidence you Present or from the Logic of your Argument: not from prejudice or some sudden brainwave.
Your conclusion should contain your opinion of the evidence as you have examined it and the ideas involved as you have explored them. Moreover, there is an academic tradition of avoiding the word “I” at all costs, as if using it jeopardizes academic detachment. However, you may just use “I” when necessary, provided you don’t keep repeating “ I think this….I think that…..”. So be very sparing if you do use it-mainly do so to avoid cumbersome English rather than to make speculative statements.
[ 本帖最后由 tracy24 于 2006-9-21 08:32 编辑 ]
