批判性写作：5大提示
Critical Writing: 5 Top Tips
曾经有人说过，世界是一个舞台，在这个时代，每个人都是一个批评家。
It was once said that all the world is a stage and that, at times, everyone is a critic.
也许这个世界有很多愤世嫉俗和夸张的声音，事实上，当今的大学生面对着大量的学术课程，如果运用有效批判分析的能力，创造任何文学作品、媒体或其他抽象概念如政治观念或者哲学观点等，正是确保一个人能在大学学业中取得高分的关键。
Cynical and hyperbolic though this view of the world may be,the fact remains that for students across a wide range of courses in today's academic world,the ability to write effective critical evaluations, be they of works of literature, media or other more abstract concepts such a political ideas or philosophical notions, is crucial to ensuring one gets the best possible grade upon completion of university.
中国学生往往在运用逻辑思维的科目如数学和科学方面成绩斐然，却在英国文学、哲学以及社会科学等领域，很难写出有效的、让人易于理解的分析文章。
And yet, whilst students from China tend to score highly in logic driven subjects such as Mathematics and the Sciences, in areas such as English literature, Philosophy and Social Sciences they can, on occasion,struggle to write effective, easy to understand critique.
很多英语学习者，不论是中国还是世界各地的学生都有这样的问题，那就是批判性写作无法与其他学术写作分离开来。明白这些微妙的差别，并且实践产出这些批判性文章的要点，你会被老师评高分的哦。
What many learners, both in China and indeed around the world fail to grasp, is that critical writing differs from other forms of academic writing considerably. Understanding these nuanced differences and acting on them is the key to producing critical content that will be highly evaluated by your lecturers.
今天，就让我展示一下进行高效的批判性写作的五大要点吧。
So today I present my top 5 tips for producing effective critical writing.
1）陈述事实，而非观点。在今天快餐式的新闻世界里， 许多人的个人偏见发挥在新闻媒体上，读者要辨别事实和个人观点变得很困难。然而，大学里要求的批判性写作并不是电视台主持人的水平。大学只是要求你用事实来支持你所说的，我们来看一下这个例子：
1) Present facts, not opinion. In today's fast food news world, where owners' personal biases are allowed to exert themselves across the news media, discerning the difference between fact and opinion can be very difficult. However, writing critically at the university level isn't like being an anchorman for Fox News. Here, at university, you will actually be expected to produce facts to back up what you say. Let's look at an example.
如果你说“我认为气候变化是一个大问题”，估计你的导师不会看好你的论文。但是如果你说“数据分析显示气候转变是一个日益严峻的问题”，那么你铁定能取得一个更高级别的分数。
If you said "I think climate change is a big problem" your assessor is unlikely to look favourably on this part of your essay. If however you said "Statistical analysis suggests that climate change is a real and growing problem" then you'll almost certainly get a higher grade.
2）保持平衡。确保你的论文不会一边倒，即使你讨论的课题是一个时下流行的观点。理解并挖掘一些与你的观点不同或相冲突的观点，不但能让你的论文更上一个档次，还能让你的老师通过这些陈述发现你自身的观点和想法，看到更广阔的画面、你更成熟的态度。
2) Maintain a balance. It is very important to ensure that your essay isn't too one-sided, even if the issue at hand is one where popular opinion leans heavily in one particular direction. Understanding and exploring viewpoints that differ and/or conflict with your own not only makes for a higher quality essay, but it also demonstrates to your teachers your ability to step outside the echo-chamber of your own ideas and opinions and see the bigger picture, with a more mature attitude.
3）明白平衡并不意味着总是50:50的篇幅。
3) Understand that balance isn't always a 50/50 thing.
一个很大的误会是我们认为在媒体当中常见的讨论需要等量的正反观点才能保证公平、公正。
A common mistake that we often see in the media these days isthe idea that two opposite points of view need equal amounts of attention in order to maintain balance and fairness.
但情况不是这样的。与其放眼于正反观点所占篇幅的长短，不如让支持观点的论据来决定篇幅的长短。
This is not the case. Rather the amount of coverage a viewpointis given should reflect the proportion of support that evidence offers to back up that viewpoint.
为了让你知道我的意思，我们再看一下关于气候变化的争论。
To show you what I mean, let's look at the climate change argument again.
全球约有97%科学家都承认气候变化的存在，认为我们必须要付出努力去解决它。否认气候转变问题存在的只占已出版的、受尊敬的科学界的3%左右。然而，不论是在报纸还是在电视上，每当人们讨论气候变化的时候，都会腾出一半的篇幅讨论反对的观点，尽管只有3%的观点是站在反方的。这其实并不平衡，它让读者误会全世界各有一半的科学家支持和反对气候变化。在学术写作中，我们必须始终意识到支持两种观点的论据多寡，并且应该按照论据的多少来安排关于这两边观点的篇幅。
Around 97% of scientists acknowledge that climate change is real and that efforts must be made to deal with it. Those who deny climate change exists make up only around 3% of the established, respected, global scientific community. And yet, in the newspapers and on TV, whenever a debate is held regarding climate change, it is expected that the arguments that climate change isn't real are afforded 50% of the coverage, despite only have 3% of support amongst those in the know. This isn't balance, and it skews the issue, preventing actual informed debate from taking place. In academic writing, we must always be aware of this, and ensure that we afford conflicting viewpoints their due prominence, however much or however little that may be.
4）别人的意见也不一定是不好的。
4) A second opinion is never a bad thing.
作为一篇被修改过的文章，在你通过AF的公众号或者网站读到我这篇博客之前，可能已经有3或4个人读过或者修改过我最原始的文章了。我的文章每一次被编辑，都可能会有细微的变化、编辑、修改或增减。有的人为自己的作品感到自豪而不喜欢被别人改动，事实上我们需要别人的意见来得到进步。所以在你提交论文之前找你信任的人先读一遍你的论文是一个很好的办法。即使他们不能在你讨论的专业领域给予专业的意见，他们也可以就你文章的流畅性、清晰度和中立度给出意见。
As a general rule, before you read this piece on our website here at AF, it will probably be read by 3 or 4 different people after my initial submission. With each review, there are minor changes, edits, corrections, additions and subtractions. Whilst some people are quite proud of their own work and don't like the idea of someone else modifying it, the reality is we need peer feedback to improve ourselves. It's always a good idea to have someone whose opinion you respect read over your essay before you submit it. Even if they don't have a particular knowledge of the subject area you are discussing, they will be able to provide feedback as to the accessibility of your writing, its clarity and its balance.
5）切勿过度修改。
5) Don't over-edit.
大部分的作家本质上都是完美主义者，他们对自己的作品要求非常苛刻。这是让人佩服的，但同时也会让本人头痛不已。可以尽可能地修改你的作品，确保自己写到最好，但你一定要为自己设定一个限制。一旦你已经改了2-3遍了，这篇论文就已经够好了。如果修改得过多，你很可能就会冒着违背初衷风险了。
Most writers are, by their very nature, perfectionists and assuch we tend to be very critical of ourselves, especially where writing is concerned. Whilst this is admirable, it can, at times bring additional headaches. By all means edit your work and ensure it is the best you can do. But set a limit for yourself. Once you've been through 2 or 3 drafts, the essay is probably as good asit's going to get. With too much editing, you risk destroying the essence of what you first tried to create.
