RESEARCH REPORTS FOR BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL WRITING
Wayne Losano
商業(yè)和技術(shù)研究報告的寫作
作者 威勒·勞沙勒
A surprising amount of one's time as a student and professional is spent reporting the results of one's research projects for presentation to teachers, managers, and clients. Indeed, without basic research skills and the ability to present research results clearly and completely, an individual will encounter many obstacles in school and on the job. The need for some research-writing ability is felt nearly equally by college students in all fields, engineering and science as well as business and the humanities. Graduate study often makes great demands on the student's research-writing skills, and most professions continue the demand; education, advertising and marketing, economics and accounting, science and engineering, psychology, anthropology, the arts, and agriculture may all require regular reporting of research data.
作為一名學(xué)生和專業(yè)人士被要求花費令人震驚之數(shù)量的時間報告他的研究項目的結(jié)果，以便提交給老師、管理人員和顧客。確實，沒有基本的研究技術(shù)和清晰而完整地提交研究結(jié)果的能力，一個人在學(xué)校和工作當中將遭遇許多障礙。對于一些研究報告寫作能力的需要，大學(xué)生幾乎在所有的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域都能感覺到，工程學(xué)和科學(xué)也像商業(yè)與人文科學(xué)一樣需要。畢業(yè)研究在學(xué)生的研究報告寫作技巧上經(jīng)常有很高的要求，而且大多數(shù)專業(yè)繼續(xù)這種要求。教育、廣告和銷售，經(jīng)濟學(xué)和財會，科學(xué)與工程學(xué)，心理學(xué)，人類學(xué)，藝術(shù)，還有農(nóng)業(yè)可能都需要周期的研究資料報告。
ELEMENTS OF THE RESEARCH PAPER
The standard research report, regardless of the field or the intended reader, contains four major sections. These sections may be broken down into a variety of subsections, and they may be arranged in a variety of ways, but they regularly make up the core of the report.
研究報告的要素
標準的研究報告，不管它的領(lǐng)域或者指定的讀者是什么，都包含四個主要的段落。這些段落可以打散成變化的分段，而且它們可以一種變化的方式來排列，但它們有規(guī)律地組成了報告的核心。
Problem Section. The first required section of a research report is the statement of the problem with which the research project is concerned. This section requires a precise statement of the underlying question which the researcher has set out to answer. In this same section there should be an explanation of the significance——social, economic, medical, psychological, educational, etc.——of the question; in other words, why the investigation was worth conducting. Thus, if we set out, for example, to answer the question" what is the effect of regular consumption of fast foods on the health of the American teenager?" we must explain that the question is thought to have significant relevance to the health of this segment of the population and might lead to some sort of regulations on such foods.
問題段。一個研究報告首先需要的段落是對與被關(guān)注的研究項目聯(lián)系在一起的問題陳述。這個段落需要對研究者已經(jīng)著手回答的基本問題的確切陳述。在這個同樣的段落里，會有一個解釋，即問題的社會的、經(jīng)濟的、醫(yī)療的、心理的或教育等等方面的意義解釋。換句話說，為什么調(diào)查是值得進行。所以，如果我們開始了，例如，回答問題："周期的快餐消費對于美國的少年人健康有什么影響？"我們必須解釋這個問題被認為對人口中這個年齡段人的健康有意義，而且應(yīng)該推導(dǎo)出一些關(guān)于食品的規(guī)律。
A frequent subsection of this problem section is a review of past research on the topic being investigated. This would consist of summaries of the contributions of previous researchers to the question under consideration with some assessment of the value of these contributions. This subsection has rhetorical usefulness in that it enhances the credibility of the researcher by indication that the data presented is based on a thorough knowledge of what has been done in the field and, possibly, grows out of some investigative tradition.
這個問題段的一種經(jīng)常的分段是一個關(guān)于被調(diào)查話題過去研究的回顧。這將由以前的研究者對于這個問題貢獻的概要所組成，并附有這些貢獻的價值的一些評估。這個分段有修辭上的用途，它通過指出被提及的資料建立在一個已經(jīng)具有廣泛知識的領(lǐng)域基礎(chǔ)上，加強了研究者的可信性。這個領(lǐng)域已經(jīng)做過調(diào)查，而且這些知識可能由一些調(diào)查的傳統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生。
Procedures Section. The second major section of the research report details, with as much data as possible, exactly how the study was carried out. This section includes description of any necessary equipment, how the subjects were selected if subjects were used, what statistical technique was used to evaluate the significance of the findings, how many observations were made and when, etc. An investigation of the relative effectiveness of various swim-strokes would have to detail the number of swimmers, the weather conditions at the time of the tests, and any other factors that contributed to the overall experiment. The goal of the procedures section is to allow the reader to duplicate the experiment if such were desired to confirm, or refute, your findings.
程序段。研究報告的第二個主要段落詳盡，帶著盡可能多的資料，指出這項研究是怎樣確切地進行。這個段包括任何必需設(shè)備的描述，如果項目被使用這個項目是怎樣被選中的，什么樣的統(tǒng)計技術(shù)被使用來評估這個發(fā)現(xiàn)的意義，做了多少觀察，在什么時候觀察的，等等。一個各種游泳的相對有效性的調(diào)查會有詳細的游泳者的數(shù)字、測試時天氣的狀況以及任何其他參與實驗的所有因素。程序段的目的是允許讀者復(fù)制這個實驗，如果你的發(fā)現(xiàn)期待肯定或者反駁的話。
Wayne Losano
商業(yè)和技術(shù)研究報告的寫作
作者 威勒·勞沙勒
A surprising amount of one's time as a student and professional is spent reporting the results of one's research projects for presentation to teachers, managers, and clients. Indeed, without basic research skills and the ability to present research results clearly and completely, an individual will encounter many obstacles in school and on the job. The need for some research-writing ability is felt nearly equally by college students in all fields, engineering and science as well as business and the humanities. Graduate study often makes great demands on the student's research-writing skills, and most professions continue the demand; education, advertising and marketing, economics and accounting, science and engineering, psychology, anthropology, the arts, and agriculture may all require regular reporting of research data.
作為一名學(xué)生和專業(yè)人士被要求花費令人震驚之數(shù)量的時間報告他的研究項目的結(jié)果，以便提交給老師、管理人員和顧客。確實，沒有基本的研究技術(shù)和清晰而完整地提交研究結(jié)果的能力，一個人在學(xué)校和工作當中將遭遇許多障礙。對于一些研究報告寫作能力的需要，大學(xué)生幾乎在所有的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域都能感覺到，工程學(xué)和科學(xué)也像商業(yè)與人文科學(xué)一樣需要。畢業(yè)研究在學(xué)生的研究報告寫作技巧上經(jīng)常有很高的要求，而且大多數(shù)專業(yè)繼續(xù)這種要求。教育、廣告和銷售，經(jīng)濟學(xué)和財會，科學(xué)與工程學(xué)，心理學(xué)，人類學(xué)，藝術(shù)，還有農(nóng)業(yè)可能都需要周期的研究資料報告。
ELEMENTS OF THE RESEARCH PAPER
The standard research report, regardless of the field or the intended reader, contains four major sections. These sections may be broken down into a variety of subsections, and they may be arranged in a variety of ways, but they regularly make up the core of the report.
研究報告的要素
標準的研究報告，不管它的領(lǐng)域或者指定的讀者是什么，都包含四個主要的段落。這些段落可以打散成變化的分段，而且它們可以一種變化的方式來排列，但它們有規(guī)律地組成了報告的核心。
Problem Section. The first required section of a research report is the statement of the problem with which the research project is concerned. This section requires a precise statement of the underlying question which the researcher has set out to answer. In this same section there should be an explanation of the significance——social, economic, medical, psychological, educational, etc.——of the question; in other words, why the investigation was worth conducting. Thus, if we set out, for example, to answer the question" what is the effect of regular consumption of fast foods on the health of the American teenager?" we must explain that the question is thought to have significant relevance to the health of this segment of the population and might lead to some sort of regulations on such foods.
問題段。一個研究報告首先需要的段落是對與被關(guān)注的研究項目聯(lián)系在一起的問題陳述。這個段落需要對研究者已經(jīng)著手回答的基本問題的確切陳述。在這個同樣的段落里，會有一個解釋，即問題的社會的、經(jīng)濟的、醫(yī)療的、心理的或教育等等方面的意義解釋。換句話說，為什么調(diào)查是值得進行。所以，如果我們開始了，例如，回答問題："周期的快餐消費對于美國的少年人健康有什么影響？"我們必須解釋這個問題被認為對人口中這個年齡段人的健康有意義，而且應(yīng)該推導(dǎo)出一些關(guān)于食品的規(guī)律。
A frequent subsection of this problem section is a review of past research on the topic being investigated. This would consist of summaries of the contributions of previous researchers to the question under consideration with some assessment of the value of these contributions. This subsection has rhetorical usefulness in that it enhances the credibility of the researcher by indication that the data presented is based on a thorough knowledge of what has been done in the field and, possibly, grows out of some investigative tradition.
這個問題段的一種經(jīng)常的分段是一個關(guān)于被調(diào)查話題過去研究的回顧。這將由以前的研究者對于這個問題貢獻的概要所組成，并附有這些貢獻的價值的一些評估。這個分段有修辭上的用途，它通過指出被提及的資料建立在一個已經(jīng)具有廣泛知識的領(lǐng)域基礎(chǔ)上，加強了研究者的可信性。這個領(lǐng)域已經(jīng)做過調(diào)查，而且這些知識可能由一些調(diào)查的傳統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生。
Procedures Section. The second major section of the research report details, with as much data as possible, exactly how the study was carried out. This section includes description of any necessary equipment, how the subjects were selected if subjects were used, what statistical technique was used to evaluate the significance of the findings, how many observations were made and when, etc. An investigation of the relative effectiveness of various swim-strokes would have to detail the number of swimmers, the weather conditions at the time of the tests, and any other factors that contributed to the overall experiment. The goal of the procedures section is to allow the reader to duplicate the experiment if such were desired to confirm, or refute, your findings.
程序段。研究報告的第二個主要段落詳盡，帶著盡可能多的資料，指出這項研究是怎樣確切地進行。這個段包括任何必需設(shè)備的描述，如果項目被使用這個項目是怎樣被選中的，什么樣的統(tǒng)計技術(shù)被使用來評估這個發(fā)現(xiàn)的意義，做了多少觀察，在什么時候觀察的，等等。一個各種游泳的相對有效性的調(diào)查會有詳細的游泳者的數(shù)字、測試時天氣的狀況以及任何其他參與實驗的所有因素。程序段的目的是允許讀者復(fù)制這個實驗，如果你的發(fā)現(xiàn)期待肯定或者反駁的話。