干货——耶鲁写作老师教你提高英语写作（讲座精炼版）！

　　两周前，我们邀请了教耶鲁本科生写作的老师Emily Ulrich和大家分享了她对美国博雅教育的看法和她作为英语教育者对学生提升英语写作提出的一些有用的小贴士。讲座中，我们美美的Emily收到了大家热烈的欢迎和各种踊跃的提问。不幸错过了讲座的童鞋们，下面小编就来放福利啦！

（2）Emily以一个教育者的角度，讲到自己的教学经历。其中，她和大家分享了“博雅教育”Liberal Arts Education的价值，以及“写好文章”在博雅教育课程中的重要意义；

（3）她还分享了从她教耶鲁本科生写作和她设计外国学生写作课程的经历中，所总结出来的一些提高写作的建议。

　　咱们的超级文学学霸Emily本科毕业于达特茅斯学院，主修历史和语言学。本科毕业后，Emily进入伦敦国王学院深造，获得了英文文学硕士学位。回到美国后，她投身于中世纪文学和历史的研究，获得了耶鲁大学的中世纪研究文学硕士和哲学硕士学位。目前，Emily在耶鲁大学继续着中世纪文学的研究，正在攻读中世纪文学研究的博士学位。在研究之外，她同时负责本科生写作课的教学，给本科学生开设讲习班，并负责审批学生论文等工作。

　　那么，攻读中世纪研究文学博士学位是一种怎样的体验呢？Emily说，中世纪研究是一个独特的领域，因为和其他学科不同，它使用了多个不同的方法来更好地了解一个历史阶段，而不是用同一方法去研究不同时期的某一个领域。在对中世纪的研究中，她可以通过掌握艺术、历史、文学和哲学，在耶鲁Beinecke图书馆中，研究从中世纪流传至今的各类手稿。

　　现在，Emily正在和Beinecke图书馆研究员一起，为本科学生撰写中世纪文学研究的教材。同时还在为她博士论文的创作，研究14世纪用古英语、古法语和拉丁文书写的古老手稿。

　　她认为，在写作领域中，并没有什么人能够无师自通。提高写作需要大量的阅读、练习和专业的指导。在她任教的论文写作课程中，她给学生设计和布置过下面两种写作任务：

　　作业一通常在开课几周后就布置给学生。目的是希望通过这样的作业，让学生学会如何在阅读文段之后，可以组织语言并阐述出文段的思路和主旨。而作业二通常是在作业一完成，在几周的授课后布置下去的。作业二的要求会更高，其中她会让学生跳出文段，针对整篇文章或材料进行写作，页数也从之前的3-4页提高到6-7页。

　　在这样的课程中，学生可以达到30页以上的练习量。然而，即便是聪明到进入耶鲁深造的学生也在写作中有各种各样的毛病，例如缺乏论据论点，主旨不连贯不清晰，观点不具有创新性等等。所以在教学中，她针对学生提出了第三部分的几点练习建议和小tips。

阅读材料通常分为两类，一类是第一手资料，例如文学作品；另一类是第二手资料，例如影评和各类评论。大量地阅读第一手资料可以帮助学生融入英语语境，也能从中得到许多乐趣。

　　这本书被耶鲁新生广泛传读。书中都是一些精简的非小说类的小故事，文笔很好。这样只需要每天抽空读一两个小故事，潜意识中你将慢慢地内化和模仿出作者的写作水平。有研究显示，对美国高中生来说，这样的阅读可以有效的帮助学生提升英语的SAT成绩。

　　而在阅读第二手资料时，Emily会推荐学生在读完材料后做如下的练习：

1）三句话总结出作者的论点

2）列出你认为作者写的最好的两个支持性论据

3）列出你认为作者写的最薄弱的三个论据，并思考换作是你，你会怎么样作出修正

　　本书精炼了美国论文写作的犀利技巧，是美国大学新生的必读书目之一。

　　如果你对研究类论文感兴趣，这本书可以帮助你提高研究技能和阐述研究结果的水平。

　　当你进入美国大学学习后，你可以去学校的写作辅导中心寻求帮助。不过在此之前，你也可以提前寻求专业辅导，这样可以帮助你在大学期间省下很多追赶进度的时间。

以下是精彩的问答环节节选～

The best way to respond to the questions is with specifics. Don’t flood someonewith a list and don’t just say this is a great school so I want to go there.But write the essay with specific motivations for that school and organize itso that you go from small details to larger concepts over the course of theparagraph.

Theanswer is an absolute YES. There is no one who cannot benefit from a little bitmore writing tutoring before going to college. I wish that I had gotten moretutoring before going to college. Any time you could do before you have gottento college  up to make more of thetime that you actually can have in the class with the professor.

Mybiggest tip is know your audience. Because different things are going topersuasive for different people  You aretrying to persuade someone that your research is correct. You are going to havedifferent types of technique, then you are trying to persuade someone that theyshould look for certain type of candidate or that they should buy a certaintype of good. So writing a specific essay there is no easy one-size, fits-allanswer. You will have to concentrate on a particular type of essay that aregiving to a particular type of person.

Itdepends on whether or not you are going to professional school or academicschool. If you are going to a professional school, you are less responsible forproducing the information that you are trying to communicate. So you shouldwork more genuinely on hanging your language skills If you are going toa Research institutions or getting an academic degree, then you want to ensurethat you look at the book that I suggested, Thecraft of Research, so that your writing skills are focused on communicatingon raw data.

Tutoringis about your skill set. It is not about where you are in life. It is better todo it earlier to learn to write as soon as you can, because it is easier as itprogress. However there is no reason that you can’t be tutored as a graduate orundergraduate student. If it improves your writing skills then you shouldabsolutely consider it.

Oneof the joys of working one-on-one on students is that I can modify the lessonplan according their strengths and weaknesses. That said the general premise ofthe course is that for 3 months, I move them through the 3 stages of essaywriting. In the 1st month we break down the research and response paper, so howto do close reading, how to distinguish primary and secondary sources, how toanalyze scholarship and how to develop the graphy and the thesisstatement. In the 2nd month, I work on how to draft outline and actually writethe research paper. And in the last month, I talk about and work through theediting techniques and revisions. And after the 3 months, the student submit tome a complete research paper.

Writingis required in American high school for all 4 years. There is then a minimumwriting requirement in college that students have to be able to pass in orderto get their degree. What normally happens is that in high school is studentsare taught the basic structure of an essay and are taught compositionalwriting, so more formal type of written English rather than spoken English.When they get to college, they are taught whatever they were able to learned inhigh school in terms of essay structure and sentence structure. but they alsoadd a much more significant research component, which makes the structuring andcommunication of ideas significantly more difficult.

Lessonsare conducted via Skype for Chinese students. There are 2 lessons a week. Andwriting assignments can range from 1 paragraph to 1-2 pages at a time. Whathappens is that at the beginning of the course we are working one paragraph toone paragraph and the student is getting regular feedback from me. As theirskills increase, the writing assignments increase. At the end of the firstcouples of months, the student has actually written a relevant amount ofmaterials because all of the assignments are linked to a general researchtopic. The material can be edited together to be an essay paper. This enablesus to work on the editing and revision portion at the end of the tutoringsections. Otherwise there are the intensive courses that I will be teachingmyself in China. In these obviously I will be there in person.