English Academic Writing——Being Critical

 学术写作中，要对所引资源保持批判态度，不可因其已出版就盲目信真。除判断正误，还需找到其观点或方法中具体问题的所在，引述他人对这些问题的批判观点，并提出改进建议。

        As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical cal also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true. This can require you to identify problems with a writer’s arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other people’s criticisms of these. Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in which a piece of research or writing could be improved.

        介绍理论、方法、实践中的疑问、问题、局限

        Introducing questions, problems and limitations: theory/ method/ practice

                (Theory)

                A major criticism of Smith’s work is that ...

                One question that need to be asked, however, is whether ...

                A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that ...

                One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does not explain why ...

                One criticism of much of the literature on X is that ...

                The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y.

                Smith’s interpretation overlooks much of the historical research ...

                Many writers have challenged Jones’ claim on the grounds that ...

                (Method)

                One major drawback of this approach is that ...

                The main limitation of biosynthetic incorporation, however, is ...

                However, this method of analysis has a number of limitations.

                However, approaches of this kind carry with them various well known limitations.

                Another problem with this approach is that it fails to take X into account.

                Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that ...

                (Practice)

                Difficulties arise, however, when an attempt is made to implement the policy.

                All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that ...

                However, there are limits to how far the idea of X can be taken.

                However, one of the problems with the instrument the researchers used to measure X was ...

                Nevertheless, the strategy has not escaped criticism from governments, agencies and academics.

                                                                                                                                 limitations.

                However, all the previously mentioned methods suffer from some serious    weaknesses.

                 disadvantages.

                 drawbacks.

        指出研究的不足之处

        Identifying a study’s weakness

                              the main weakness of the study is the failure to address how ...

                              the study fails to consider the differing categories of damage that ...

                              the research does not take into account pre-existing ... such as ...

                              the author offers no explanation for the distinction between X and Y.

                              Smith makes no attempt to differentiate between different types of X.

        (However,)    Jones fails to fully acknowledge the significance of ...

                               the paper would appear to be over ambitious in its claims.

                              the author overlooks the fact that X contributes to Y.

                              another weakness is that we are given no explanation of how ...

                              Smith fails to fully define what ...

                              no attempt was made to quantify the association between X and Y.

        提出建设性建议

        Offering constructive suggestions

                 Smith’s paper                                       more                useful

                The conclusions     would have been      much more       convincing       if she/he had     ...

                The study              might have been        far more           interesting       if the author had  ...  

                The findings                                                                   persuasive

                                                                                                     original

                A more comprehensive study would include all the groups of ...

                A better study would examine a large, randomly selected sample of societies with ...

                A much more systematic approach would identify how X interacts with other variables that ...

        使用评价性形容词

        Using evaluative adjectives to comment on research

                                     excellent

                                     comprehensive

                                     detailed

                                     useful

                In his             thorough                    analysis,

                In their          ground breaking         examination,         Smith (2012)       found ...

                In this            timely                         study,                  Jones et al.          were able to show ...

                                     important                    survey,                                           concluded that ...

                                     impressive                   investigation,

                                     limited

                                     small-scale

        介绍批评观点

        Introducing criticism

                (General Criticism)

                Non-government agencies are also very critical of the new policies.

                The X theory has been vigorously challenged in recent years by a number of writers.

                These claims have been strongly contested in recent years by a number of writers.

                Smith’s meta-analysis has been subjected to considerable criticism.

                The most important of these criticisms is that Smith failed to note that ...

                Critics question the ability of poststructuralist theory to provide ...

                (Critical Stance of Particular Writers)

                Jones (2003) has also questioned why ...

                However, Jones (2003) points out that ...

                The authors challenge the widely held view that ...

                Jones (2003) is critical of the conclusions that Smith draws from his findings.

                Jones (2003) has challenged some of Smith’s conclusions, arguing that ...

                Jones (2003) is probably the best known critic of the X theory. He argues that ...

                Smith’s analysis has been criticised by a number of writers. Jones (2003), for example, points out that ...