我们将继续上次的文书开头话题，来讲讲UCAS文书学术部分该如何写作。

UCAS文书的学术段落逻辑：八字方针——背景、习得、反思，拓展

什么是文书的学术段落？

在展开解释前，先澄清概念。我在这里讲的文书学术段落，是指文书的第二和第三段。

UCAS文书4000字符，大概600字，从阅读体验来说，一般分为五段写作。第一段描述自己学习的目标专业，以及学习该专业的动机。

文书的第二和第三段，就是文章核心段（Core），一般用来描述自己为何适合学习该专业，作者可讲述自己从课程等学习经历中习得的知识和体会，来展示自己的知识量，对专业的思考深度和学习热情。

本篇中，我们着重讨论核心段的结构和内容。这一部分也是UCAS文书核心中的核心。

· 背景：“背景”是指学习或研究经历的背景。这是学术段落的开头句。我们要简单交代自己的学习经历场景，以及参与学习活动的目的。可以是校内课程学习、暑期学校、科研项目、学术竞赛等。你从事的学术活动是什么，是读书、上课，还是科研或暑期学校？参与目的是什么？这句相当于故事背景，是首先要说明的。

· 习得：交代背景后，我们就要描述自己的学习内容了。从这段经历中，我具体做了什么？比如进行了哪些实验操作，研究了哪些理论，我学习到了哪些专业知识或相关技能？提升了哪些能力？这部分要提供一些细节，来体现经历的真实性和深度。

· 反思：反思一般放在段尾。在这段经历中，你习得的知识对于你理解该专业起到了什么积极作用? 你是否对该专业有了更多理解？或者在过程中是否收获了快乐、成就体验？

· 拓展：拓展是最为高阶的写法，能否在文书中体现，取决于学生的思考深度和学术经历的含金量。在学习经历中，你是否关注到了新的问题？举个例子，你学习了某个理论后，发现很多人对这个理论的解读比较模糊，甚至有误区。于是你独立学习其它相关的理论，来深化自己认知。你在某实验经历中学习了某种技术，你发现这种技术还可以应用到另一个领域，于是你做了独立尝试。这种例子能展示你探索性的思考，是很优秀的学习者素质。能写到这层的人，是实锤的学霸，更是同龄人中的前沿探索者。

"To explore my interest in engineering further, I took a six-hour course designed by a PhD researcher at Sheffield Hallam University for local schools through ReachUni. The course focused on plasma applications in materials science. One application is plasma nitriding. I learnt how nitrogen can be ionised by a strong electric field, accelerated toward a target metal, and embedded in its surface to improve the hardness and durability of the metal. I really enjoyed combining my knowledge from different areas of A-level physics to understand the application. I think this is important in engineering and the experience helped me to decide that I want to read the subject at university.

我们用来分解一下上面这个段落。

背景：To explore my interest in engineering further, I took a six-hour course designed by a PhD researcher at Sheffield Hallam University for local schools through ReachUni. The course focused on plasma applications in materials science.

习得：I learnt how nitrogen can be ionised by a strong electric field, accelerated toward a target metal, and embedded in its surface to improve the hardness and durability of the metal.

反思：I really enjoyed combining my knowledge from different areas of A-level physics to understand the application. I think this is important in engineering and the experience helped me to decide that I want to read the subject at university.

我们可看到，这段工程学的段落内容比较完整，将基础三个成分都呈现了。还可以提升的就是“拓展”方面。学生是否在课程学习中发现了问题，做了探索式思考或探究，我们并没有看到。

反面案例分析：

I find it peculiar that a subject that has such a ubiquitous undercurrent in our society is so undefined and obscure; it is undoubtedly this which draws me to it. Consequently I strive to keep up with Economics in the modern world by reading the “I” and “Guardian” newspapers, and the “The Economist” magazine regularly. For wider background reading I have read Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” Tim Hartford’s “The Undercover Economist” and “Too Big To Fail” by Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

这一段，我们可看出，作者尝试在讲自己为了解经济学，读了一些相关的杂志和报刊。然而，作者从书中学到了什么，学习的内容对他了解经济学有哪些帮助，都没有提到。尽管行文比较流畅，其内核只不过是一个书单概述而已。这段只停留在“体验”的层次。

点评人对该段的评论也较为负面： 

Interviewers are unlikely to be impressed by simply mentioning that you’ve read a book, but they will be more impressed by your response to it and what you gained from the experience of reading it.

翻译：（录取）面试人员不会只因你提到读过一本书，就认为你很了不起。但他们可能会因你针对书中内容的反馈而对你刮目相看。

我们再看一段有同样问题的段落：

My interest in the events of history encouraged me to pursue historiography, reading E.H. Carr’s “What is History?”. Although intrigued by Carl’s exploration of topics such as the importance of the historian, I was aware of the fact that the book is half a century old, so I decided to read David Cannadine’s modern counterpart “What is History Now?” in order to draw parallels with Carr’s magnum opus; and explore the way historiography has evolved. Cursory reading of Herodotus has also been useful in observing how the writing of history has changed since the infancy of the subject. 

看起来作者引用了三本书，但并没有提出自己从两本书中习得的知识和自己的体会。不过，比起第一个案例，作者描述了读这些书的目的，所以相比之下要好一些。

我们看一段正面案例，来自一篇IB学生写的心理学的文书：

My exceptional curiosity led me to follow the IBO program. Thanks to its curriculum, I relished the opportunity to extend my private research and put it into academic framework. While working independently on my Extended Essay “Should Introversion be Treated?”I discovered Susan Cain and her book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts”. My puzzle of introversion developed into educated distinction for introversion, social anxiety disorder and behavioral inhibitions. In addition, the EE helped me understand the role of biology, encouraging me to start an online course “Introduction to Psychology” taught by the University of Toronto. My curiosity still reaches far beyond these introductions and I am looking forward to studying details of brain lobes during biological modules of the course.

这个段落不长，但层次分明，把背景、习得、反思三个都表达出来了。

这种模型不止可用在经济学这种相对较为理论的学科，也可以用在基于实践经历的学习中，比如Management管理学。我们来看一段申请管理学的文章：

While representing my school in ICAEW’s BASE competition at the national finals, I gained more of an understandingof how reliant businesses are on others, miles away from themselves, which encouraged me to read Joseph Stigliz’s “Making Globalization Work”in which he calls for reforms to how globalization is managed. I found it interesting that he believes globalization is failing because of the way governments are guiding it rather than inherent failures and also how dominant the USA appears in global governance. 

这是一段起始于比赛的学术兴趣。本段看起来很多字，然而只有两句话。第一句话中，作者使用 “I gained more of an understanding…”在总结了自己在竞赛中的体会，并引出了他后续读的一本书- Making Globalization Work。第二句，他又用 “I found it interesting that he believes….”描述了他觉得这本书吸引他的地方。

问大家一个问题，这一段，作者的层次达到了哪层？是否达到 “反思”了？通过观察粗体字，我们不难看出，这段主讲的只有“我习得”，并没有提出作者的反思内容。

我们再看一段异曲同工的段落，作者也体现了“打破沙锅问到底”的学术探索欲望，将“拓展”发挥的淋漓尽致。

Studying history at A-level has strengthened my interest in the subject through learning about periods in time which have tangibly shaped the current state of the world. I supplemented my study of Nazi Germany by reading the Czech historian Dusan Hamsik’s biography of Heinrich Himmler; while Paul Preston’s The Spanish Civil War expanded my knowledge of the complex international relations which led to Franco’s victory in the conflict. Studying 20th century British history alerted me to the importance of individual political figures to the course of history. I pursued this further by attending Vernon Bogdanor’s Gresham College lecture on Roy Jenkins which opened my eyes to the effect of personal circumstances on his politics, and subsequently British history.  

“背景”部分，作者只用了4个单词“studying history at A-level”就概括了，学习的经历来自课堂，很简练，上课学习天经地义，一点没必要啰嗦。

本段写的最为精彩的，在于作者应用了一系列拓展型的短语，来表现自己不断向前的求知过程。

本文介绍了一种学术段落的写作结构。UCAS文书虽然有相对普遍的模式，不过在写作风格上也对其它符合逻辑的风格包容，同学们不需要十分教条地学习本文的原则。

此外，需要强调的是，好的写作来自于好的思想，如果一个人不思考，也很难写出“反思”和“拓展”部分。不只是写作阶段，在我们学习的过程中，也可以借助今天我们介绍的八字原则，来梳理自己的学习经历，为文书写作准备素材。