第三篇:Cultural Analysis
怎么说呢,这篇其实没有什么individual expression了,就是选一个文化现象,然后去分析,重点是要做大量的research,找大量的资料,但是文章又不能写成research paper,一定要personal example和research的资料并用才行。如何让这种长篇大论既有知识含量又不令人觉得枯燥?我觉得这是最难把握的。而且写10页的analysis也绝非易事,怎么去构思整个essay,怎么去做research,都是很实在的问题。下面介绍一下我的经验:
(1). 找到自己想研究的文化现象。这个需要时间去思考,也要考虑自己的兴趣,所以不容易,大概需要一周的时间去调查、去思考。选好了一个topic,一定要narrow it down,选一个角度,不太大不太小,能展开分析就好。然后这个一定要列大纲,不列是不行的。一定要从多个角度去论证你的中心论点,而且每个段落的topic sentence一定要想好,然后看这些topic sentences支不支持你的论点,有没有跑题。做好这个是最基本的,虽然辛苦,但是别无他法。
(2). 这么长的文章该从何下手呢?别慌。先想想我之前说的在写作之前要做的那三点,然后如法炮制,就不会太痛苦的。一般来说,在引出你要写的文化现象之前,你需要做铺垫的。先想一下,什么铺垫才能顺理成章的引出我要写的现象呢?这个铺垫怎么样才能抓住读者的眼球呢?怎么样才能让铺垫兴味盎然呢?从Personal story入手是个好选择。写你自己身上的事,然后逐渐引出topic,是个比较自然也比较有趣的开头方式。比如,我写的就是岳敏君大师的笑脸,但是为了引出我对这个文化现象的探索,我必须得在开头铺垫好我是怎么知道这个画家的,我和他的画有什么接触,以及我为什么对他画的笑脸感兴趣?交待好这些,你写这个文化现象才顺理成章,要不读者看不到你和你要探索的现象之间的联系,就会少了一份亲切感,觉得你可能是生搬硬套。
为了引出这个文化现象,我做了好多的铺垫啊,大家可以一看:
As my art teacher Ms. Wang turned to another slide, a painting with a big laughing face came to my sight. What a funny face! A wide-open mouth containing more teeth than one could possibly want, like the expensive smiles of fashion models advertising the whitening power of a toothpaste brand. The figure has a bold head, a somehow twisted body, and a remarkably big laugh. No matter how the motifs of the paintings change, there’s always the same laughing face in every picture. It was in 11th grade when I first encountered those laughing faces, but I didn’t pay particular attention to them. They did leave a deep first impression on me, but I just thought they were nothing but humorous faces. (这一段是写我是怎么知道岳敏君的笑脸的,第一次见是什么时候,以及最初印象)
A week ago, in my friend Joy’s house, we saw a Chinese movie called Color Me Love (2010). It was about an artist, Yihong’s love story and his constant effort to create his unique painting style. In one scene, Yihong was introducing a big laughing face to his girlfriend, which was exactly the same picture as I saw in 11th grade. Excited to see such a coincidence, I listened attentively to Yihong’s introduction. In a professional manner, Yihong said with cool confidence, “This guy, Yue Minjun, the painter, just sold his painting Execution at an auction in London for nearly 6 million dollars. He’s famous for repetitively painting the same laughing face in his artwork. Many artists don’t like his paintings, because they think the laughing face is silly. But I like it. There’s much more behind the grin.” (这段写我再次见到岳敏君的笑脸,更强化了印象,而且开始感兴趣了)
Yihong’s words completely sparked my interest in those laughing faces, and somehow I could sense that Yue Minjun’s artwork is not as simple as what people see on the surface. When it comes to art, people see things in different ways and have their own interpretations. Some people find the laughing faces intriguing while others think they are meaningless and ridiculous. The laughing face has been variously interpreted as a sort of joke at the absurdity of it all, or the illusion of happiness in lives inevitably heading toward extinction. Instead of judging a piece of artwork by the first glance, I believe it’s always helpful to dig into it and find its intrinsic values. A simple laughing face can have symbolic meanings. What may be simply a silly grin to one could actually be a thoughtful reflection and investigation of social and cultural issues. I couldn’t help but wonder why the painter used the same face, with that jaw-breaking grin, over and over again. What lies behind those symbolic laughing faces? (终于,提出了心中的问题,文章自然而然地被引入我要探索的文化现象中来)
有人可能会觉得我喧宾夺主了,太不开门见山了,可是这就是一种策略。一方面,因为文章我写了12页,这个只占了一页,所以其实不多;另一方面,读者希望明白你为什么要探索这个文化现象,所以解释的清楚会消除读者的疑虑,让事情显得顺理成章。最重要的是,整篇文章有大量的research,必须得有一些personal的东西来调和,不然显得太枯燥无味了。
(3). Research这个东西,其实教授是希望你能去图书馆查阅图书的。当然了,这是必要的,因为网上的东西毕竟有限,好多珍贵的资料毕竟有知识产权的。但是如果你觉得网上的资料足够用,也不必瞎折腾去图书馆查资料(至少我是觉得太麻烦了,还担心自己笨手笨脚地不会查)。如果你跟我一样,那么就得在上网查资料时费大功夫了。个人觉得Google Scholars就不错,还能和Umich挂钩,所以图书馆的一些Journal啊还是有电子Pdf版本的。自然,学校自己的Mirlyn就不必多介绍了,这个资源大家应该都会用。我会把我查的资料整理到一个word文档里面当作我的resources,有很多页,我会在重点句子上面标注,并且会在一些句子后面打上括号写下我自己的想法,这样方便查阅,也方便用。
第四篇:Free Topic
到了该写第四篇essay的时候已经临近期末,好心的教授很人性化,不忍心给大家负担,于是这个essay就open topic了,不过有几个方向:可以写你自己和writing有关的任何话题,也可以写关于家乡的,也可以写第三个essay的后续,反正这三个大方向随便挑一个。我就写了一个题目叫“Why I Love To Write”的essay,感兴趣的可以见我上上篇人人日志,我把整篇文章都post上去了。因为话题太宽泛了没有针对性,在此就不多说了。
以上就是针对不同文体的不同应对方法,总而言之,多写多修改才是最重要的。
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