写作风格

我们最后看具体的写作风格，包括主动语态、脚注、尾注、图；各种引用的风格（MLA、APA、Chicago），如何写作数字。

我们首先看 《A Guide to Researching and Writing a Senior Thesis in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality》中对写作风格的要求

MATTERS OF STYLE

写作风格：主动、脚注、尾注、图

What constitutes a well-written thesis?

A well-written thesis posits a sophisticated argument, supports it amply, builds in complexity, utilizes vivid, accessible language, and is no longer than absolutely necessary. Such a thesis can be understood by somebody lacking specific background in its subject matter, and can be read either at once, or in isolated chapters.

Writing Mechanics: How to Make Your Writing Sing

• Whenever possible, use active rather than passive verbs (especially all forms of the verb to be).

• Make certain that your pronouns have clear precedents.

• Explicitly define terms central to your project (for example, “sex” versus “gender”), and justify your use of your chosen definitions. Consistently adhere to these definitions in your usage throughout the thesis.

• Avoid both unnecessary jargon and colloquialisms.

• Do not assume that your reader has read all of the texts under discussion; your readers may be familiar with your topic, or with your general area of research, but the responsibility remains yours to transmit your research in a manner accessible to the intelligent adult of general education. Explain the logic and relevance of cited arguments, and make transparent any assumptions that underlie your work.

• Non-sequiturs are a common problem; be sure that each clause, sentence, paragraph, and chapter follows clearly from the prior one. Your reader has no access to the inside of your brain, so be sure that the connections you formed appear on the page.

• Be thoughtful in your use of gendered pronouns and of descriptive terms for human beings. The use of “he” as a universal pronoun for an individual human, or of “men” or “man” for all adults, is misleading. Excessive reliance upon the clunky phrase “he or she” can be avoided by using plural forms or “one,” structuring the sentence so as to eliminate the pronoun altogether, or giving more specific information about the individual in question. Where relevant, use appropriate pronouns for transgendered people; keep in mind that particular communities may have their own preferences, and be sure to avoid ahistorical usage. Similarly, avoid ethnic labels where more specific geographical labels could be substituted (e.g., “Hispanic” versus “Mexican American”).

• Vary your sentence length and structure; one good way to check for this is to read your thesis out loud to yourself. This may feel silly, but the ear catches rhythms that elude the eye.

• Specific, vivid detail has a place even in the most rigorously analytical writing.

• Beware of imputing emotions or thoughts to actors in your thesis unless you have clear evidence.

• In every case use the simplest word you can to convey your idea clearly. Undue reliance on specialized language ensures stodgy writing.

• One often-overlooked aspect of writing well is recognizing good writing. Make an effort early in the process to identify essays or books in your discipline that you believe to be gorgeously written. Think about whether you’ve encountered a writer whose style is so compelling that you would be willing to read almost anything he or she wrote. What exactly do you admire in his or her writing? Can any of those aspects transfer to your prose (without re-inventing your voice as a mere imitation of your admired writer)? Regularly read that person’s work in small chunks while writing your thesis; it helps to get the kind of language you admire most into your head.

• The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning’s publication “Twenty Tips for Senior Thesis Writers” offers a series of short writing and brainstorming exercises to assist you in the various stages of writing a thesis.

Footnotes and Endnotes

Each discipline has its own standard format for citations, and your thesis should adhere to the format appropriate to its methodology. If you have any doubt as to this, check with your advisor early in the year, to save yourself the tedium of re-typing citations.

The most common citation styles can be found in the MLA Handbook and the Chicago Manual of Style. Since ignorance of the rules is no defense where citation is concerned, we recommend that you purchase a copy of one or the other (both are easily available at the Coop) and refer to it regularly; doing so will save both you and your advisor any number of headaches. (As a beginning, you might look at http://www. chicagomanualofstyle.org/cmosfaq.html or http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/writersref/index.html). Whichever manual you choose, stick with it. In citation, consistency is all.

You must footnote all verbatim quotations from primary and secondary sources as well as summarized, reworded, or paraphrased ideas derived from outside sources, whether in the form of books, documents, lectures, or even substantial conversations with a faculty member or friend in which you were given a new idea or new information. You also need to provide a citation if you adopt a source’s unique structure or method. You should neither provide citations for common knowledge (facts easily obtainable from multiple sources), nor cite when a source (including its page number) is obviously from a previous citation. On the whole, a good rule is “when in doubt, cite.” Your advisor can let you know if you are over-citing.

It’s good practice to put in your footnotes or endnotes as you work, rather than saving them all for the end. It’s amazing how many things you think you’ll “never” forget will have slipped your mind by the end of a large project, and it’s a huge waste of time to be track down a citation for the second time.

Illustrations and Figures

In every case, insert a complete caption, including copyright information if relevant. Be selective with illustrations. They can add a good deal to a thesis but often create last–minute difficulties with formatting and printing. And remember that they do not speak for themselves; they are not substitutes for solid argumentation. You may integrate illustrations into the text or append them to the end of the thesis.

Wilson sample papers

APA、MLA、Chicago 引用风格的范文

https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/aphorisms/sample-papers

https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/files/jeffreywilson/files/jeffrey_r._wilson_a_sample_mla_style_paper_0.docx

https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/files/jeffreywilson/files/jeffrey_r._wilson_a_sample_apa_style_paper_0.docx

https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/files/jeffreywilson/files/jeffrey_r._wilson_a_sample_chicago_style_paper_0.docx

One hundred percent? Or 100%? Tips for writing numbers.

Rule #1: When should you write out numbers and when should you use the number?

For papers in the humanities and in some social sciences, you will often use either the MLA or Chicago citation styles. In those styles, when you are writing a non-technical paper, you should write out numbers less than one hundred, using a dash for two-digit numbers: eight, fifteen, forty-five, sixty-two, eighty-seven, etc., etc. And, for numbers over one hundred: 1,435; 2,870; 5,740; 11,480. Someone here is bound to ask: “Well, does that mean one trillion should be written as 1,000,000,000,000?” No, of course not. If the number (even if it’s above one hundred) can be easily expressed in words, then keep it in words: four hundred, eight thousand, three billion, nine quintillion, etc.

If you’re using APA style, you should generally only write out numbers 1-9 and use numerals for everything else. But there is an exception: If you are using a number at the beginning of the sentence, you should write it out.

Rule #2 What about percentages?

Just like with regular numbers, different style guides express different preferences for percentages. I like the MLA style, which advises that for a percentage less than one hundred, you should write it in words: two percent, seventy-six percent, ninety-nine percent, but, for a percentage greater than one hundred, write it in numerals: 110 percent, 500 percent, 999 percent. Besides that, as you can see, in non-technical writing, it is better to use the word “percent” rather than the percent sign, “%.” It’s ugly.

In this case, Chicago and APA style both call for using use numbers in percentages.

Rule #3: What about years?

MLA, Chicago, and APA style all say that years are better written in numerals, not words: 1967, not “nineteen sixty-seven.” (Sometimes students write out the years to pad their paper’s word count; it’s not a good look! Everyone can see what you’re doing.) It’s also considered poor style to start a sentence with a year, i.e., “2020 has been a bad year.” You could rephrase that, writing instead: “Many people thought 2020 would be a better year.”

Rule #4: What about decades?

If you’re talking about a series of events that occurred in a certain decade, say, from 1980 – 1989, you can refer to that period in three different ways: the eighties, the ‘80s, or the 1980s. But stay clear of the “nineteen eighties.”

Rule #5: If you ever find yourself writing about a score or a court decision or a ratio, you should stick with numerals (even if said numbers are less than one hundred). For example, “The Red Sox were up 4-2 before losing 6-4,” or “The contentious 5-4 Supreme Court ruling says…”

参考文献

• Rebecca Wingfield, Sarah Carter, Elena Marx, and Phyllis Thompson, A Guide to Researching and Writing a Senior Thesis in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, PDF 链接

• 哈佛写作中心，学位论文写作指南，网页链接

• Raymond DeLuca, One hundred percent? Or 100%? Tips for writing numbers. Sept. 21, 2020, 网页链接

• Joseph Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 11th ed. Longman, 2013. ISBN 978-0321898685. Williams discusses the common conditions that bleed writing of force and meaning and suggests his corrections.