網路城邦
上一篇 回創作列表 下一篇   字體:
學術英文寫作中的hedging
2023/03/16 15:30:52瀏覽2189|回應0|推薦4

廖柏森

撰寫英文論文時,我們雖然應積極就研究結果提出個人的論述,但在寫作的語氣或宣稱的強度 (strength of claim) 上會比較保守、謹慎、甚至低調,通常只作出嘗試性的推論 (tentative generalization),而非普遍性的論斷,給自己的結論保留一些安全空間,用以降低可能詮釋錯誤的風險。這種在論文中常見之弱化論述的現象稱之為hedging 

hedging是西方學術寫作的概念,有些臺灣同學以中文撰寫論文常使用「一定是」、「必定是」、「完全是」「絕對會」、「確實會」等強烈肯定和普遍性的語氣,以顯示對自己論述的信心,或強調研究結果的貢獻和意義。但這種寫法在英文論文寫作上卻是不恰當的。以下簡述英文論文寫作上常用的幾種hedging strategies 

1. 使用表「可能性」的情態助動詞如 may, might, could, would 等字,顯示對所陳述的事件或現象並非百分之百完全確定,保留安全的論述空間。例如: 

  • The data suggests that there may be a correlation between caffeine intake and anxiety levels.
  • The results could potentially be explained by a variety of factors. 

2. 加入表「可能性」的副詞如 probably, possibly, perhaps, maybe, apparently, presumably, likely,或形容詞如likely, possible, probable, partial 等字。但有些同學受中文寫作影響,在撰寫英文論文時也喜用強烈的肯定語氣,在句中加上 certainly, undoubtedly, absolutely等極端的副詞,應儘量避免這些用字。例如: 

  • The findings possibly indicate that further research is needed.
  • The studys limitations likely impact the generalizability of the results. 

3. 使用一些表「可能性」的名詞如possibility, probability或「建議性」「主觀性」的動詞如suggest, propose, seem, appear, believe, speculate, tend to等。例如: 

  • The results suggest a potential correlation, but more research is needed to confirm this conclusion.
  • These results appear to have theoretical implications. 

研究論文寫作者應交替使用以上三種技巧作嘗試性的概括推論,而非只使用一般動詞或be動詞來作論述。其它hedging的常用句型如下:

l   It may be inferred that …

l   It may be reasonable to assume that …

l   It seems likely that …

l   This seems to imply that …

l   It has been suggested that ...

l   Our findings suggest that …

l   A possible explanation for … is that …

l   One possible reason could be …

l   It is possible that … caused …

l   It is highly probable that …

l   Probably the major reason for its success is …

l   A partial explanation for this may lie in the fact that …

l   One reason for these results could be that …

l   These results may be explained by considering …

l   might have been a small factor in ...

l   may have contributed to ...

 

*參考文獻:廖柏森 (2020)。《英文研究論文寫作:文法指引》(第三版)。台北:眾文。

( 知識學習語言 )
推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
上一篇 回創作列表 下一篇

引用
引用網址:https://classic-blog.udn.com/article/trackback.jsp?uid=trjason&aid=178613527