哈佛大学论文写作指南：论文不会开题？先搞清楚哪种论题才算有效！

来自哈佛大学的论文写作指南，快快收藏！

本文来自：Harvard College Writing Center
本文作者：Maxine Rodburg

※本文由InVisor团队翻译

想象你自己是陪审团的一员，当你听着律师的开篇陈词时，你也会想快点知道律师是否认为被告有罪以及理由是什么。学术论文的读者就像陪审团成员一样：在他们阅读正文之前，他们事先就想知道论文的论题是什么，以及作者打算如何进行论证。在阅读完你的论题陈述后，读者会想：“这篇文章试图在某些事情上说服我，虽然我还没有完全被说服，但我很好奇结果会是什么样。”

一个有效的论题并不能用简单的“是”或“不是”来回答。论题既不是一个话题，也不是一个事实，更不是观点。这三者的区别如下：“共产主义垮台的原因”是一个话题，“共产主义在东欧崩溃”是有识之人都知道的事实，而“共产主义的垮台是欧洲有史以来最好的事情”则是一个观点。（类似“最好的”这样的程度形容词几乎常常惹麻烦，因为我们没法权衡欧洲发生过的每一件事，比如：希特勒下台，难道这件事不能成为“最好的事情”吗？）

一篇好的论文要有两个部分：

你想论证的内容
你想怎么去论证（这部分最好可视化，即标明你的论文将使用哪些证据去支撑）

一、构建论题的步骤

① 首先，分析你一手参考资料

寻找时效性、趣味性、模糊性、争议性、复杂性较强的论文。看看论文的作者是否自相矛盾？是否提出了一个观点，后来又自相矛盾？作者论题的深层含义是什么？弄清楚这些问题或相关问题的理由，将帮你更好地提出一个可行的论题。(如果缺乏理由，你很可能只能得出一个观察结果—例如，在一首或多首诗中，有许多不同的隐喻，这种并不算是一个论题。)

② 一旦你有了可行的论题，立刻写下来

没有什么比想到了一个好论题，却在分心时忘掉它更让人沮丧的了。一旦论题被记录下来，你就不得不把思路整理得更加清晰明了、有逻辑。你可能没法在一开始时就写出论文的终稿，但记下思路能让你在后续写作中保持正确的方向。

③ 在引言中突出你的论题

最好把论题放在引言的最后，尤其是那些较短的文章（5-15页）。读者习惯在那里找论题，所以当他们阅读引言的最后一句话时，他们会更加留心。虽然不是所有学术论文都需要这样做，但从经验上来讲，这个方法的确很有效。

④ 预测反论题

一旦你有了可行的论题，你就应该思考会有哪些反驳它的论题。这能够帮助你完善论题，让你思考之后在论文中需要反驳的论题（每个论题都会有一个反论题。如果你的论题没有，说明它不是一个论题，而可能是一个事实或观点。）

“迈克尔-杜卡基斯在1988年的总统选举中失利，因为他在民主党全国代表大会后没有大力开展竞选活动。”

这句话能够成为一个论题，不过我们很容易就能想出可能会有的驳论。例如，一个政治观察家可能会认为，杜卡基斯输了是因为他"对犯罪宽容"。如果你能够通过预测反论题来丰富你的论文，你的论文说服力就会大大加强，如下句所示：

“虽然杜卡基斯 ‘对犯罪宽容’的立场有损他的声誉，但他在民主党全国代表大会后没有大力开展竞选活动是导致他失利的更重要的原因。”

二、一些注意事项和例子

① 论题不能是一个问题

学术论文的读者希望问题能被讨论，探讨，甚至被解答。一个问题（比如：共产主义为什么在东欧崩溃？）这并不是一个论题，没有论题的论文是没有价值的。

② 论题不能靠堆砌

"由于政治、经济、社会和文化方面的原因，共产主义在东欧崩溃了。"

这句话很好地告知了读者能够在文章中读到什么内容——一部分关于政治原因，一部分关于经济原因，一部分关于社会原因，一部分关于文化原因。但是，政治、经济、社会和文化原因几乎是共产主义崩溃的全部可能原因。所以这句话缺乏张力，相当于没有提出论题，因为大家都知道，政治、经济、文化很重要。

③ 论题绝对不能含糊其辞，而且斗争性和对抗性不能太强

像“共产主义在东欧崩溃了，因为共产主义是邪恶的”这种论题是无效的，因为这种论题很难论证（谁觉得邪恶？邪恶意味着什么？），而且你很有可能会被认为是在说教、妄下判断的人，而不是理性和全面思考的人。如果读者一开始就强烈反对你的论题，他们可能就不会再往下阅读了。

④ 一个有效的论题会包含明确、可论证的主张

“虽然文化力量促成了东欧共产主义的崩溃，但经济瓦解才是促使共产主义衰落的关键因素。”

这是一个有效的论题，它让读者预先知道文章中将有一部分关于文化力量的陈述，而另一部分则是关于经济瓦解。这个论题提出了一个明确、可论证的主张：在东欧共产主义崩溃的过程中，经济瓦解比文化力量起到了更重要的作用。读者对这个说法的反应可能是：“也许作者说的是真的，但我不相信。我想进一步看看作者是如何论证这一说法的”。

⑤ 论题要尽量清晰、具体

避免使用烂大街、笼统的术语以及抽象的说法，例如，"共产主义在东欧崩溃是因为统治精英无法解决人民的经济问题 "会比 "共产主义崩溃是因为社会不满 "更加有力。

Reference：

Rodburg, M. (2021). Developing A Thesis [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis

【英文原文】

Developing A Thesis

Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

Michael Dukakis lost the 1988 presidential election because he failed to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention.

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

While Dukakis' "soft-on-crime" image hurt his chances in the 1988 election, his failure to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention bore a greater responsibility for his defeat.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."