PB2A: Comparing "SCIgen" and a Scholarly Source

As we have been learning in class, there are many different types of genres that can be exemplified by a variety of sources. The “SCIgen” genre generator program creates its own genre of made-up scientific papers. Another type of genre is made up of academic publications from a scholarly source, which are found from http://www.library.ucsb.edu. A specific example of a journal article is “Should Cats be Given as Gifts?”. Both writings come from different genres and possess many similarities and differences. These genres differ in their rhetorical features, such as with the audience, purpose, context, and style, and conventions. 

The audience for the scholarly source is made up of individuals who are interested in researching and learning more about a particular topic or experiment. The “SCIgen” website, even though the papers are fictitious, would have a similar audience because individuals read those papers intending to become knowledgeable about a specific experiment.

The authors of “Should Dogs and Cats be Given as Gifts?” published this academic piece to inform other scholars about their survey findings. The conclusion was that “receiving a dog or cat as a gift was neither significantly associated with impact on self-perceived love/attachment, nor was it associated with whether or not respondents still had the dog or cat in the home” (996, Weiss). This shows this particular paper was written about a specific researched finding, which is similar to the “SCIgen” genre generator program’s papers. Comparatively, “A Case for the Transistor” contains new discovered findings about a scientific topic. Both genres present detailed information and have similar audiences. Additionally, the purpose and context of both are for the authors to receive credit and acknowledgment for their work and for other scholars to read their work in order gain knowledge.

The formal style of both papers includes pronouns such as “we” and are both written in a straightforward manner. It is clear that the authors wish to relate their findings to the reader in a more personal manner, even though the publications are formatted in a proper way; they include the formal use of abstract, introduction, results and discussion, conclusion, and reference titles and sections. These make up the foundational organization of the writings.

Furthermore, there are conventions, which are expected elements that appear throughout particular genres and hold the genre together. They are patterns that may vary but, for the most part, are relatively consistent across the genre; they are assumed rules that traditionally are followed. For example, a recipe for food is unlikely to appear in a published scholarly academic work or a cartoon drawing in a scientific study. One convention is that both have tables mixed within the papers. However, the “SCIgen” genre generator program's work additionally has pictures and figures and the scholarly academic publication does not. There are extra titles in the “SCIgen” website such as “Framework” and “Implementation”. “A Case for the Transistor” has a summary section that the other does not have. The scholarly academic publication also includes a section each for acknowledgments and a statement about whether or not there is a conflict of interest along with a copyright statement. The generated scientific papers do not have these conventions. A similarity is that both number their references instead of having a formal works cited page. Lastly, because a website and a journal article from a PDF are being compared, the website does not include page numbers but the article does.

All in all, both the "SCIgen" genre generator program and a scholarly source are genres that are very similar, but they each have rhetorical features and specific conventions that are unique to only them. 

Works Cited:

Freeze, Sarah. "A Case for the Transistor." SCIgen. Web. 1 Feb. 2015.

Weiss, Emily, et al. "Should Dogs and Cats be Given as Gifts?" Animals (2076-2615) 3.4 (2013): 995-1001. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Feb. 2015.