前言：

    對于英語非母語的科研人員而言，學術寫作的捷徑是模仿，而在模仿之前必須了解學術寫作的一些理論和要點。在此，小編打算寫一個系列文章，選取一些功成名就的實操科學家，或者寫作方面專家的文章、書中要點進行介紹。如果是文章，會附上原文鏈接；如果是書籍，會貼出封面。內容上，除了原文，會加上簡單翻譯和注解或一些書籍章節(jié)，以便拓寬、加深理解。今天主要分享麻省理工學院Ezra Zuckerman Sivan的一篇短文Tips to Article Writers。

    原文鏈接（點擊閱讀原文可下載）：

    http://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents/?DocumentID=4448

    正文：

    要點1：告訴讀者為什么你的論文值得讀

    1. Motivate the paper. The first question you must answer for the reader is why they should read your paper. There is A LOT out there to read and it is very easy to find an excuse not to read a paper. Most people don't even read all the articles published in their field's flagship journals. So if you want your paper to be read, you need to sell the reader on why your paper is so great. The introduction of your paper has to be exciting. It must motivate the reader to keep on reading. They must have the sense that if they keep on reading, there is at least a fair chance that they will learn something new.

    解讀：當下是拼文案和流量的時代。類似于app想辦法保持住日活躍用戶：只要有流量，就有效益。科技文為了能夠有好的引用，除了科學知識要扎實之外，就是科學家作為作家的基本功：引人入勝。而Introduction其實就是為論文打廣告。

    要點2：精確定位讀者群

    2. Know your audience. Since different people get excited about different things, you cannot get them motivated unless you know their taste. And different academic communities/journals have very different tastes for what constitutes an interesting question and what constitutes a compelling approach to a question. The basic idea is that social scientific communities are arrayed by two dimensions, where the “rows” are “phenomena” [e.g., area studies; topics such as entrepreneurship or racial inequality] and the “columns” are disciplines or theories. One key lesson is that one typically needs to choose whether one is aiming for a “row” audience/journal or a “column” audience/journal, and motivate/frame one's paper accordingly. Trying to motivate both row and column simultaneously usually does not work.

    解讀：根據(jù)文章“現(xiàn)象”（寬度）“理論”（深度）果決地取舍文章切入點和目標期刊，魚和熊掌不可兼得。結果新穎的文章，現(xiàn)象一端多做拓寬；結果踏實的文章，理論路線多深入?？梢阅每靾蠛腿念愇恼伦鲱惐?。

    要點3：避免華而不實

    3. Use substantive motivations, not aesthetic ones. By an aesthetic motivation, I mean that the author is appealing to the reader's sense that a certain kind of theory or approach should be preferred regardless of its explanatory power （e.g., we should be avoiding “economistic” or “functionalist” or “reductionist” explanations）。 Sometimes aesthetic motivations work （for getting a paper accepted）， but the contribution tends to be hollow because the end of research （figuring out how the world works） is sacrificed for the means （telling each other how much we like certain ideas）。 Another way of putting this is that we should not like a paper simply because it proudly displays the colors of our tribe.

    解析：繡花枕頭爛草包是不行滴。不能因為某個理論更漂亮就拋開實際價值采用之、鼓吹之，即便我們喜歡漂亮的東西。

    要點4：先因后果

    4. Always frame around the dependent variable. The dependent variable is a question and the independent variables are answers to a question. So it makes no sense to start with an answer. Rather, start with a question/puzzle! （Note that I don't mean the literal dependent variable in the analysis in the paper, but the larger process/pattern that it is supposed to represent）。

    解析：行文應是圍繞一個問題展開，如偵探小說逐步解謎；而不是法庭上先設定有罪或無罪，然后用證據(jù)強行證明或駁斥。

    要點5：論文的價值不在于解讀文獻中未報道的內容而是解決這個世界上還存在的謎團

    5. Frame around a puzzle in the world, not a literature. The only reason anyone cares about a literature is because it is helpful in clarifying puzzles in the world. So start with the puzzle. A related point is that just because a literature has not examined some phenomenon, that does not mean that you should. The only reason a phenomenon is interesting is if it poses a puzzle for existing ways of viewing the world. （Too often, I read papers that try to get motivation from the fact that a literature “has not looked at” x, y, or z. So what? There will always be a great deal of unstudied [by academics] phenomena. The question is why that matters. ）

    解析：圍繞一個問題/謎團行文，而不是一篇文獻發(fā)現(xiàn)沒有人報道就上馬研究。沒人做過，不代表有價值；具有可探索性以及其附帶因果邏輯的問題，才有價值研究。Introduction里引出自己研究內容的用詞要注意了，雖然可能是說同一個研究，但表述為since X has not been studied, we…而不是陳述其涉及到的前因后果，就可能讓人覺得這是一個為了研究而研究的無價值工作。也可以簡單理解為“包裝”。

    要點6：一篇論文一個假設

    6. One hypothesis （or a few tightly related hypotheses） is enough. If people remember a paper at all, they will remember it for one idea. So no use trying to stuff a zillion ideas in a paper. A related problem with numerous hypotheses is that it's never clear what implications the invalidation of any one hypothesis has for the theory. （Note: the organizations community apparently does not agree with me on this one）

    解析：一篇文章一個核心假設，足矣?？茖W，就是建立和測試假設。但一篇文章中假設太多的話，場面就會混亂。就如同一個人物關系錯綜復雜的故事，往往會失去很多欣賞、支持者。

    要點7：真理越辯越明

    7. Build up the null hypothesis to be as compelling as possible. A paper will not be interesting unless there is a really compelling null hypothesis. If there is no interesting alternative to the author's argument, why would anyone care about it? Flogging straw men is both unfair and uninteresting.

    解析：零假設要盡量有力有理。敵人越強大的超級英雄電影，主角也越鮮明；對手都是弱雞，超級英雄就是弱雞英雄，甚至不是英雄。作為導演和編劇，要能夠塑造強大的反派。具體參見有希斯萊杰的Batman。

    要點8：任何理論都是建立在特定條件下的

    8. Save the null. Since the null is compelling, it must be right under certain conditions. The author's job is to explain to the reader that s/he was right to believe x about the world, but that since x doesn't hold under certain conditions, s/he should shift to belief x‘。 This helps the reader feel comfortable about shifting to a new idea. Moreover, a very subtle shift in thinking can go a long way.

    解析：反派不能太擺設，劇本中要拿出空間給反派，用來展現(xiàn)反派的統(tǒng)治力。讀者看到一個惡統(tǒng)治未來的昏暗無光后，才能自然地理解正義的光明。經(jīng)過切身的對比，最后選擇才是自然的，不遺憾的。

    要點9：通過行文邏輯來引領讀者

    9、Orient the reader. The reader needs to know at all times how any sentence fits into the narrative arc of the paper. All too often, I read papers where I get lost in the trees and have no sense of the forest. The narrative arc should start with the first paragraph or two where a question/puzzle is framed and lead to the main finding of the paper. Everything else in the paper should be in service of that arc, either by clarifying the question or setting up the answer （including painstakingly dealing with objections）。 A related tip is:

    解析：在問題——答案思路下，引領讀者。文中句子既然存在，則必要有一個功能，且這個功能只能是服務于提出問題——解決問題這條主線。于此主線無關的內容只會讓讀者茫然不知所措。讀者一迷惑，就給差評。

    要點10：不要將論文寫成文獻綜述

    10. Never write literature reviews. No one likes to read literature reviews. They are borrring. So don't write them. But that doesn't mean you should ignore “the relevant literature.” To the contrary. You have raised a puzzle about the real world （see tips 3-5）。 One reason why it is a puzzle is because existing answers are compelling （see point 7）， but flawed. So you review the literature not as an end in itself but because you show what is compelling but flawed about existing answers. Any research that does not pertain to that objective can remain unmentioned. （Ok, ok. Some reviewers will demand to see their names or that of their favorite scholars even when their work is essentially irrelevant. And it is usually good to anticipate that. But try to do as little as possible.）。

    解析：沒人喜歡讀文獻，文獻很無聊；讀者喜歡謎語，也喜歡與謎語相關的提示信息。

    寫這個提示信息。

    是文字游戲么？不是。這里是要強調關聯(lián)性的重要性。

    沒有關聯(lián)性的文獻只是為了引用而引用，為了論述而論述，對解決當下的問題沒有幫助。

    引用文獻務求按照尋寶線索的路子去設置。

    總結：

    Zuckerman這篇文章介紹了幾個核心概念

    強調故事性                            第1、10條

    強調問題-答案這個核心模塊   第4、5、9條

    強調故事情節(jié)的戲劇性           第 6、7、8條

    科技文最難的其實就是在專業(yè)知識本身枯燥的無奈下，想通過結構設計讓論文具有一定的可讀性。

    基于此，所有核心的建議，或是看似無關的細節(jié)，其實都是在為故事性服務。

    作為一篇論文的作者，科學家其實也是作家。

    用心于此，論文才能不僅僅是一個說明書。