The graduation paper in Translation Studies: Nuances of critical thinking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.18.2.1Keywords:
research, critical thinking, translation studies, systematicityAbstract
Critical thinking skills play a vital role in a knowledge society and have a direct influence on the quality of teaching and learning. We aim at highlighting the way in which the graduation paper in Translation Studies can become an excellent opportunity to encourage students to test the applicability of key concepts from this field and to tackle research systematically. Based on our experience of supervising graduation papers on translation studies-related topics, we have identified students' typical approaches and recurring difficulties. This allows us to suggest possible solutions for the problems encountered, depending on each stage of the process. Our purpose as supervisors is to endow students with the cognitive flexibility they need in order to draw up an adequate research plan, use translation assessment criteria creatively and hone their critical skills for future real-life situations.
References
Baer, B. J., & Koby, G. S. (Eds.) (2003). Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/ata.xii
Baker, M., & Malmkjaer, K. (Eds.). (2001). Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Routledge.
Catford, J. C. (1965/2000). Translation Shifts. In L. Venuti (Ed.), The Translation Studies Reader (pp. 141-147). Routledge.
Chesterman, A. & Wagner, E. (2002/2010). Can Theory Help Translators? A Dialogue Between the Ivory Tower and the Wordface. Routledge.
Davies, M., & Barnett, R. (2015). Introduction. In M. Davies & R. Barnett. (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education, (pp. 1-25). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378057_1
Ennis, R. H. (1962). A Concept of Critical Thinking. Harvard Educational Review 32(1), 81-111.
Fawcett, A., Guadarrama García, K. L., & Hyde Parker, R. (Eds.) (2010). Translation: Theory and Practice in Dialogue. Continuum.
Lau, Joe Y. F. (2011). An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118033449
Lipman, M. (1988). Critical Thinking: What Can It Be?. Educational Leadership 46(1), 38–43.
Lungu-Badea, G. (2005). Tendinţe în cercetarea traductologică. [Tendencies in Translation Studies Research]. Editura Universităţii de Vest.
Reiss, K. (2014). Translation Criticism - The Potentials and Limitations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760407
Reiss, K., & Vermeer, H. J, (1984/2014). Towards a General Theory of Translational Action: Skopos Theory Explained, (C. Nord, Trans.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315759715
Risterucci-Roudnicky, D. (2008). Introduction à l'analyse des œuvres traduites. [Introduction to the Analysis of Translated Works]. Armand Colin.
SkillsYouNeed. (n.d.). Critical thinking skills. https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html
Venuti, L. (Ed.) (2004). The Translation Studies Reader (2 ed). Routledge.
Vinay, J.-P., & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative Stylistics of French and English. A Methodology for Translation (J. C. Sager and M.-J. Hamel, Trans.) John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.11
Williams, J., & Chesterman, A., (2014). The Map: A Beginner's Guide to Doing Research in Translation Studies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760513
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Iulia Bobăilă, Manuela Mihăescu, Alina Pelea

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Access Policy and Content Licensing
All published articles on the ESNBU site are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes. The terms on which the article is published allow the posting of the published article (Version of Record) in any repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Note that prior to, and including, Volume 10, Issue 2, 2024, articles were licensed under the Non-commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. The transition to CC BY 4.0 is effective as of Volume 11, Issue 1, 2025.
In other words, under the CC BY 4.0 license users are free to
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms:
Attribution (by) - You must give appropriate credit (Title, Author, Source, License), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notice: No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, authors will notify ESNBU at the time of submission, and in such cases the article shall be released under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver CC0 1.0 Universal.
Copyright
Copyright for articles published in ESNBU are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. Authors retain full publishing rights and are encouraged to upload their work to institutional repositories, social academic networking sites, etc. ESNBU is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
Exceptions to copyright policy
Occasionally ESNBU may co-publish articles jointly with other publishers, and different licensing conditions may then apply.