One big rule of dissertation writing - never discuss your progress with friends. David Ellis explores some of the big lessons you'll learn as you write
論文寫(xiě)作的一個(gè)大原則就是別和朋友討論你的進(jìn)度（永遠(yuǎn)別問(wèn)一個(gè)學(xué)生論文寫(xiě)得怎么樣了，好桑感）。大衛(wèi)·埃利斯在此文中探討了學(xué)生在寫(xiě)論文的過(guò)程會(huì)學(xué)到的一些重要心得以及教訓(xùn)。

All hail the dissertation. While they’re painful, prickly things with a bad habit of growing to alarming lengths, they teach some of the finest lessons one could hope to learn.
論文萬(wàn)歲！盡管論文這東西讓人痛苦又棘手，并且總長(zhǎng)得驚人，卻能教會(huì)一個(gè)人所能期待的最好的東西。

Below are some of these lessons that anyone tackling one - both this year and next - should be prepared for.
以下是一些經(jīng)驗(yàn)之談，不論是今年還是未來(lái)要寫(xiě)論文的各位，都應(yīng)該為此做好準(zhǔn)備。

You are not as interesting as you’ve always secretly hoped.
你并不像自己常私下希望的那樣有趣。

None of us are. Early on, all a dissertation demands is a unique idea, wherein your brain will likely think something along the lines of “An original thought. That can’t be too hard, the library must be full of them.” And even that isn’t new – Stephen Fry said it first.
我們每個(gè)人都不是。早年， 論文所要求的無(wú)非是一個(gè)獨(dú)一無(wú)二的觀點(diǎn)，因此你的大腦很可能會(huì)圍繞著“要有一個(gè)原創(chuàng)性的觀點(diǎn)，這不會(huì)太困難，圖書(shū)館有的是。”這種想法進(jìn)行思考，不過(guò)連這句話也不再是原創(chuàng)的了—斯蒂芬·弗瑞已經(jīng)第一個(gè)講過(guò)了。

Discovering an uncovered topic is a deceptively difficult task. Inspiration is unlikely to strike you as you run the corridor, late, toward your tutor’s office for a first meeting.
找到一個(gè)未被涉足的課題是一項(xiàng)艱巨得唬人的任務(wù)。當(dāng)你快遲到了，奔跑在走廊去導(dǎo)師辦公室開(kāi)第一次會(huì)的時(shí)候，不大可能會(huì)突發(fā)靈感。

Spend some serious time turning ideas over in your mind and note them all down for later consideration. Have a list and be prepared for many to be struck off because they’ve already been done– after all, even the metaphysical possibility of unicorns has been analysed before.
花點(diǎn)時(shí)間認(rèn)真思考幾個(gè)點(diǎn)子并把它們記下來(lái)做后續(xù)思考。列一個(gè)清單，做好很多題目會(huì)被斃掉的準(zhǔn)備，因?yàn)楹芏嘞敕ǘ家呀?jīng)被別人做過(guò)——畢竟連“獨(dú)角獸的超自然可能性”這樣詭異的話題都已經(jīng)被人研究過(guò)了。

It's impossible to fake what you don’t like over 10,000 words.
不大可能用一萬(wàn)多字捏造出你并不喜歡的東西。

One simply doesn’t have the stamina. Consider your course thus far and pinpoint whatever engaged you most thoroughly, whatever held your attention the longest and whatever you chiefly enjoyed.
確實(shí)很難有那樣的耐力。仔細(xì)回憶一下你學(xué)過(guò)的課程，找出最讓你感興趣的，最長(zhǎng)時(shí)間吸引你注意力的和最讓你樂(lè)在其中的課題。

It isn’t about picking the most ‘profound’ subject (see Unicorns, above) . If a topic bores you, it’s unlikely you will produce anything particularly gripping. The best writing is pared down, not padded out: enjoy something and your brain will hum merrily, churning out sentences. If it is shut down through disinterest, every word will be a painful extraction.
并不是說(shuō)要選一個(gè)最“深?yuàn)W”的主題（見(jiàn)上文獨(dú)角獸的課題）。如果選的課題讓你厭煩，你不大可能做出吸引人的成果。最好的文章是刪減修改出來(lái)的，而非東拼西湊出來(lái)的：享受喜歡的東西，你的大腦就會(huì)變得活躍，寫(xiě)論文時(shí)就會(huì)文思泉涌。如果因?yàn)椴桓信d趣而沒(méi)法進(jìn)行下去，那么絞盡腦汁寫(xiě)一個(gè)字都是痛苦。

Accept that this is a huge volume of work which will bore other people, and will quickly become insignificant, despite all the effort you go through to produce it.
接受事實(shí)：這是一項(xiàng)浩瀚的工作，其他人可能會(huì)為此厭倦。你所做的很快就會(huì)失去其意義，盡管你曾在這過(guò)程中花費(fèi)無(wú)數(shù)精力。

You will never be able to draw a crowd beginning a story with ‘One time, writing my dissertation…’ A dissertation is a personal hell to be suffered in silence. If someone asks you more about it, the polite thing to do is change the subject.
你絕不會(huì)用一個(gè)以“有次，我在寫(xiě)論文”開(kāi)頭的故事來(lái)博得別人眼球。寫(xiě)論文是你要一個(gè)人默默被地獄歷練的過(guò)程。如果有人問(wèn)你過(guò)多相關(guān)的問(wèn)題，最禮貌的做法就是轉(zhuǎn)移話題 。

This will not be the last piece of demanding work like this.
像這樣費(fèi)力的工作絕不是最后一件。

Writing is difficult.
論文寫(xiě)作絕非易事。

There are no literary oils to make your arguments fluid or your ideas glisten. Amazon don’t deliver good sentences on demand. You will be unhappy with what you write and it will need correction – make enough time to do this.
沒(méi)有什么“寫(xiě)作萬(wàn)金油”能讓你的論據(jù)變得流暢，讓你的觀點(diǎn)閃耀起來(lái)。亞馬遜不會(huì)按照你的要求郵遞好句子給你。你會(huì)對(duì)自己所寫(xiě)的感到不滿意，修改是不可避免的——記得給自己足夠多的時(shí)間來(lái)修改。

Remember, these are your ideas and they should be in your words: while appropriate use of technical language is a must, there’s no reason to draft sentences like you’re a 16th century playwright.
記住，論文中都是你的觀點(diǎn)，而且要用你自己的語(yǔ)言來(lái)表達(dá)：盡管有時(shí)適當(dāng)使用專業(yè)術(shù)語(yǔ)非常必要，但也沒(méi)有理由把句子寫(xiě)得好像你是16世紀(jì)的劇作家似的。

Write as you speak – so long as you speak well. And if you don’t, start to. Say what you mean and correct yourself when you don’t: if you mean ‘regularly’, don’t say ‘often’; never confuse ‘less’ and ‘fewer’; ‘credulity’ and ‘credibility’ are not interchangeable.
像講話一樣寫(xiě)文章——只要你講話講得好。如果你說(shuō)得并不好，那就開(kāi)始練習(xí)。 把你真正想表達(dá)的意思說(shuō)出來(lái)，沒(méi)說(shuō)對(duì)再更正：如果你想表達(dá)“通常”，那就別說(shuō)“經(jīng)?！保粍e把“少量的”和“較少的”搞混了；“輕信”和“可信”是不可互換的。

It sounds peevish to say so, but if you can train your brain to think clearly, writing will become easier and what you produce will be better.
這樣說(shuō)聽(tīng)起來(lái)有些矯情，但如果你能訓(xùn)練自己的大腦清晰地思考，寫(xiě)作會(huì)變得更加容易，你寫(xiě)出來(lái)的東西也會(huì)更棒。

A dissertation is consuming.
論文的完成需要多方幫助。

You will get too close to it and miss your own mistakes. Only another person can identify flaws in logic, holes in analysis and so forth, which means it’s vital to pair with the appropriate supervisor.
你會(huì)太過(guò)于投入以至于忽略自己的錯(cuò)誤。只有其他人能發(fā)現(xiàn)邏輯上的瑕疵和分析漏洞等等，這意味著找一位合適的導(dǎo)師是十分關(guān)鍵的。

Spend time on this, people don’t always suit each other. If there isn’t anyone to invigorate your research, challenge your thoughts and question the validity of your arguments, there may as well be no one at all. Be sure to choose someone with enough time to be able to assist.
花點(diǎn)時(shí)間去尋找合適的導(dǎo)師，并不是人人都適合。如果沒(méi)有誰(shuí)等激發(fā)你的研究興趣，挑戰(zhàn)你的想法和質(zhì)疑你論據(jù)的可靠性，那還不如沒(méi)有導(dǎo)師。一定要選一位有足夠時(shí)間來(lái)幫助你的人。

Never justify your subject choice to a tutor or supervisor by saying you have an ‘overwhelming passion’ for it.
別以你“異常喜歡”某個(gè)課題的方式來(lái)向你的導(dǎo)師證明你的選題。

At worst, you’ll be lying and at best you’ll come across as if you have a very peculiar fetish.
最壞的情況是，你根本就是在撒謊；或者至多你當(dāng)時(shí)是有特殊的迷戀。

You will?resent?the internet and every distraction on it.
你會(huì)討厭網(wǎng)絡(luò)和任何讓你分神的東西。

Contrary to American sitcoms, and all your dreams, work trumps your social life sometimes.
?
與美國(guó)情景喜劇和你夢(mèng)想的相反，工作有時(shí)是排在社交生活前面的。

Do what you can as early as possible because when the deadline cruelly beckons, the simplest of things – a date, other work, eating, breathing – becomes a disastrous interruption. Never compare your progress with friends: one of you will always feel nauseous afterwards.
盡可能早的把你能做的做了，因?yàn)楫?dāng)截止日期殘酷地到來(lái)時(shí)，哪怕最簡(jiǎn)單的事—一個(gè)約會(huì)，其他工作，吃東西，休息——都可能災(zāi)難性地中斷你的進(jìn)程 。絕不要和朋友比拼進(jìn)度：事后你們當(dāng)中總會(huì)有人厭惡這樣的選擇。

Remember these lessons, rather than learn them the hard way – and find that idea quickly. And if you’re at the stage you’re meant to be writing the damned thing, go! Shoo! You’re procrastinating again.
記住這些經(jīng)驗(yàn)之談，就不用以身試法來(lái)痛苦地得到教訓(xùn)了，不過(guò)也要迅速找到論文主題。如果你正是在要寫(xiě)那該死的論文的階段，快快動(dòng)手！千萬(wàn)別再拖延了！

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