英语词汇实用小百科 毕业论文thesis

XH:Welcome to Round Table’s word after week. This week we’re talking about 毕业论文, but exactly how do you say 毕业论文？

John:Well, actually it’s a very good question, and you know I was under the impression that thesis could apply to high school or you know undergraduate, but as it turns out actually thesis or dissertation¹ these two words are, in fact in many cases, interchangeable.

XH:OK. 我一直以为thesis和dissertation 一个是指本科的毕业论文，而一个是指那种更长的比如博士生的毕业论文。

John:Yeah, so the thing is usually the word thesis is going to be used for part of getting a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, or dissertation is usually applied² when you get a doctor’s so a PHD, but really the only difference between the two is actually going to be length. Thesis is going to be shorter or dissertation is going to be longer.

XH:I see. Thesis 比较短, dissertation比较长. That kind of explains, because sometimes when you’re graduating from an undergraduate degree you usually don’t need to write pages after pages of

paper. But a doctor graduate has to write much longer.

John: Exactly, and also because a lot of it about dissertation is about original research, so dissertation is actually normally report on a research project or study, and so the structure again of a thesis or a dissertation actually explains the purpose, the previous research literature which changes of the topic of the study, the methods used and findings of that project.

XH:Also let’s talk a little bit about quotes. So exactly how much quoting is allowed or excepted when you’re writing a thesis or a dissertation?

John: So the thing about quotations³, the most important thing is actually going to be citations⁴. Usually, you want to have as few direct quotes as possible. You’re going to use quotes in certain block formations perhaps or fairly small quotes. But in general, for research paper which is a thesis or dissertation. You want it to be your own actual ideas.

XH:论文里面虽然可以出现引用，也就是quotation，但是呢，直接引用最好还是比较少出现为好。

John: It also depends on what exactly we’re talking about. On a technical research paper, a technical thesis or dissertation like for chemistry, or physics, mathematics. You want no quotes whatsoever⁵, whereas papers on philosophy, psychology⁶ and things like that a lot of the actual paper and research is going to be based on what other people have done.

XH: I see. 还一个词在中文里经常被翻译成论文，那就是essay.

John: Right. So we’re all looking at forms of writing. But usually thesis and dissertations⁷ they include some form of actual research whether they’re secondary or original research, whereas essays, No.1 are going to be much shorter, so a thesis maybe ten pages whereas an essay is going to be two pages. Also it’s going to be usually comes from an author’s personal point of view, so really no research involved whatsoever.

XH: I see. 也许可以把essay翻译成小论文or just a longer homework.

John: Another word that I want to mention really quickly before we finish this week has the word thesis in it, but it doesn’t necessarily relate to a thesis, that is a thesis statement. And so the thesis statement is one of the very first sentences in a paper whether it’s a thesis or dissertation or an essay, or the very first sentence in a paragraph that basically it offers a concise⁸ idea of what the rest of the paper or the rest of the paragraph is actually going to be about.

XH: I see. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s an essay or a thesis or a dissertation.

John: Right. Thesis statement is going to be an all of those.

XH: And that’s all we have for Round Table’s word of the week.

1 dissertation   

n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文

参考例句：

• He is currently writing a dissertation on the Somali civil war.他目前正在写一篇关于索马里内战的论文。
• He was involved in writing his doctoral dissertation.他在聚精会神地写他的博士论文。

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 citations   

n.引用( citation的名词复数 )；引证；引文；表扬

参考例句：

• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Some dictionary writers use citations to show what words mean. 有些辞典的编纂者用引文作例证以解释词义。 来自辞典例句

5 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 dissertations   

专题论文，学位论文( dissertation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We spend the final term writing our dissertations. 我们用最后一个学期的时间写论文。
• The professors are deliberating over the post graduates dissertations. 教授们正在商讨研究生的论文。

8 concise   

adj.简洁的，简明的

参考例句：

• The explanation in this dictionary is concise and to the point.这部词典里的释义简明扼要。
• I gave a concise answer about this.我对于此事给了一个简要的答复。