B - "Text type" is only a cover term. There are a variety of text types in a given linguistic tradition, such as literary vs. non-literary texts, and further within literary texts such as novels, dramas, and poetry, and within non-literary texts such as news reports, commercial ads, contracts, business correspondence, and instruction manuals. My translating experience has been mostly with commercial ads and instruction manuals. Therefore, I may decide to find out about the strategies used in translating these two types of texts. The improved topic may read as follows: "Text Type and Translation Strategy: An Investigation into Commercial Ads and Instruction Manuals".

C -"Texture" explains what makes a text a text. A number of properties can be described for a given text. For example, cohesive devices are among many that guarantee "texture"; and the conjunction is one type of cohesive device. I have been interested in how sentences hang together to make a paragraph. Thus, I might explore how connectives are used in the corresponding paragraphs between the translation and the original. The improved topic may read like: "A Comparative Study on the Use of Connectives in a Translation and Its Original".

H - I think I already have a specific enough focus, that is, how the subject in an English sentence is treated when translated into Chinese. I know what kind of examples I must collect and analyze. Probably the only thing I need to consider is what kind of implications I am interested in. I could revise the topic as "Translating English Subject into Chinese: A Linguistic Perspective".

O - I have to define the aspect in which different translations of the same original are to be compared. Otherwise, the comparison will not have a point to start with. Stylistic features may be examined. For example, I may choose to investigate the average length of sentences, the characteristics in lexical choice, the tendency in using connectives or subordinate clauses, etc. The improved topic may be "A Stylistic Comparison between Different Translations of the Same Original".

Q - Obviously, I do not have direct access to the translating mind although I might want to know what is going on in the mind of a translator in the process of his/her translating. What I will be doing in the research is to examine the verbal introspective report of a translator and the final translated text in a way to see what factors might have concerned the translator. It is important to remember that a study on a small scale cannot lead to any claim with general implications. To be on the safe side, I will revise the topic as "An Investigation into Factors Involved in the Translating Process: A Pilot Study".