PB3A: Penguin Fun Facts

The scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic publication that I found was “Molecular evidence for the loss of three basic tastes in penguins” by Huabin Zhao, Jianwen Li, and Jianzhi Zhang. The authors are interested in looking at the relationship between specific penguin genes and the ability for penguins to taste. In their introduction, they state: “Vertebrates typically can detect five basic taste qualities: sweet, umami, bitter, sour and salty.” The interesting thing about this article is that by looking at the specific genes for each taste, researchers are able to tell which tastes penguins can perceive. The results indicated that penguins can perceive salty and sour tastes, but they lost their umami and bitter tastes in the common ancestor of all penguins, and their sweet taste was lost even earlier than that.

Because I chose an academic article about penguins, I thought it would be interesting to do a restaurant activity for kids. Many family restaurants have packets or sheets of paper for kids to doodle on while the adults talk, eat, and order food. They’re meant to keep the children entertained, and many of them are educational. They usually have lots of activities on them, such as coloring, connect the dots, and word searches along with the interesting facts about the topic. There are other conventions such as bright colors, cartoons, big font, animals or people, it can be educational, and it can have the kid’s menu on it. I was thinking about doing a restaurant activity about penguins, where there are activities to do on the side but also important information about the articles next to the activities.

For the older generation, I was thinking about doing a magazine cover. I thought it would be interesting to do a magazine cover because many adults read magazines in their spare time to get information. People usually order magazines from a catalog and have them come to their house or place of business every week or month, but many people read magazines when they are waiting. They could be waiting in line at a grocery store, waiting in the doctors or dentist’s office, or waiting at their hair salon. Because of this, magazine’s audiences have a wide range of people. The age ranges could be from teenager to grandparents. Magazines are often not read by children though, unless they are specific magazines for children such as Highlights for Children or Time for Kids. The magazine covers I’m thinking about are magazines for older people—people in their 20’s to people in their 80’s—magazines like Star, People, Time, Men’s Health, Forbes. Magazines usually have the title of the magazine in big bold words across the top with the same font in each issue, and a picture in the background to catch the reader’s attention. This cover image usually comes with a cover line that relates to the person or animal on the cover. There are also teasers and promotions on the cover to get the reader to look at specific articles inside the magazine. They also have barcodes for purchase, along with the price and the date (month and year) of release. I was thinking of doing a magazine cover with a penguin in the background and interesting taglines about penguin genes and the new discovery made in the scholarly article.

A question for the class and for Zack: do you think that I should do a magazine cover, or should I do a magazine article? A magazine article would have more text and could include more information from the scholarly article I read, but a magazine cover has its own interesting conventions that draw readers in. 

Here are some examples of the kids activity pages and of animal magazine covers that I plan on referencing: 

PB2B: "Moves"

PB2B: “Moves”

In the reading “Style in Arguments,” the author makes many “moves” and choices. One of the first choices I noticed was the “move” to put in pictures at the beginning. The author started off his/her argument by showing three images and describing them. The author described the pictures’ “unique styles,” which was a good hook to get the reader to be interested, and also a good introduction to the argument and main point the author was trying to make. It let the reader know that the reading was about “style” and the different ways to create your own style. In contrast, in the reading “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn, Bunn begins his essay with a story. This was a different kind of hook, that I believe was more interesting and caught my attention more, but did not let me know in the first paragraph or so what to expect when I began reading.

On the other hand, Bunn does use this story he gives in the beginning as an example of his main points throughout his essay, while in “Style in Arguments,” the author does not reference the beginning pictures again. This is another “move” that both authors chose to make. Bunn chose this way to introduce his essay because he wanted the reader to read his story like they would read any story they were interested in, without thinking about anything else. The main point of his essay is to show the reader how to “read like a writer,” and to help the reader learn how to do so, he started the reader off with normal reading and then walked the reader through the steps of understanding the many choices made with sentence. So it makes sense why Bunn decided to use his introduction “move.” Conversely, the author of “Style in Arguments” used their introduction “move” as a simple hook and example of what to expect in the reading. They had many more pictures and examples they were planning on using, so they chose not to base most of their argument on their introductory example.

These two readings also have some “moves” in common. Both readings separate their main ideas by sections, and each section has a heading that leads the reader into what the main idea of the section is. Bunn begins each section with a question, and then spends the rest of the section answering the rhetorical question asked. In “Style in Arguments,” the author begins each section with a simple heading that includes a few broad keywords that the section is about. The author then goes into specifics and gives terms and examples of the terms. These “moves” are successful because they effectively separate the main arguments into “chewable” pieces so that the reader isn't trying to read one giant paper, and they allow the reader to know what to expect with each section title. 

 Both authors also use italics throughout their essays. The “Style in Arguments” author uses italics for terms that the author is describing, such as semicolon or exclamation point. The author also uses italics if he/she wants to point out specific words from an example. But he/she also uses bolds for examples/quotes used and for bigger terms such as parallel structures or anaphora. Bunn uses italics often throughout his essay for emphasis (“what would you call it?” or “try to answer before you start reading”) and when he references his introductory story. The only time Bunn uses bolds is for the headings of each section. These are successful “moves” because they help the reader understand the stress on certain words, which helps with the flow of the readings and helps the reader recognize that some words are terms or are emphasized when read.

One interesting “move” that the “Style in Arguments” reading has is that it has “respond” sections throughout. The “respond” sections try to give activities for the reader to do while reading and give the reader questions to answer. In one “respond” section, it asks the reader to work with a classmate. This “move” reminds me of a move often used in textbooks to try to involve the reader more in work that relates to the reading but is outside the normal style of classroom reading. Almost like giving teachers ideas for what activities the class should do for this assignment that could help them apply what is in the text. For example, another section asks the reader to “try writing a brief movie review” or to “use online sources [ . . . ] to find the text of an essay.” I thought this move was not successful, because many students do not like doing the “respond” sections, and while the “respond” sections are meant to involve the reader in outside activities, I believe these types of sections break up the flow of the reading and bring the reader’s attention away from the reading.

In his essay “How to Read Like a Writer,” Bunn also gives the reader questions, but the questions are more like teaching questions that are used to help the reader better understand the main points Bunn is trying to make in his essay. He tells the reader to write down certain questions as they are reading and writing and be to able to answer them. I think these questions are helpful for Bunn’s main point and help illustrate what Bunn means by “reading like a writer” and that this was a successful move.

PB2A: Comparing SCIgen and a Scholarly Source

An interesting academic research paper I recently read was called “Golden eagles, feral pigs, and insular carnivores: How exotic species turn native predators into prey,” which investigates the ecology of the animals on the Channel Islands in Santa Barbara—specifically the relationships between the island fox, the feral pig, the golden eagle, and the island spotted skunk. I found this paper by going to the UCSB library website, logging in through the off-campus log in, going to the Article Indexes and Research Databases quick link, and clicking on the Web of Science Database link.

            Research Papers have a specific format that many follow, and these many conventions tie in with rhetorical features of this genre. The audiences of the SCIgen papers and the "Golden eagle..." paper differ, mostly because SCIgen is a genre generator that is mainly used for entertainment. While its format can be reviewed as a scientific research paper, its purpose is to create fake Computer Science research papers. Therefore, its audience is the viewers who want to read them for pleasure or the unsuspecting people who are being played on and believe they are reading real scientific papers. The audience for the “Golden eagles…” paper, however, is the community of ecologists or graduate and undergraduate students that are interested in the topic or writing papers. The purposes of this research paper are to explore the question being asked and provide the authors’ interpretation of the answer to the question based on the data and models being used. The tones for SCIgen and the “Golden eagles…” paper are true to their genre of scientific research papers and are scholarly, confident, and respectful.

The format of these research papers allows readers to know what to expect when reading a research paper. By taking a superficial glance at the pages, readers can tell by the sections, graphs, and references that what they are holding is an academic research paper. The specific organization of these papers also helps readers find particular information very quickly. For example, if the paper is six pages long and the reader is specifically looking for the methods that the authors used, then he/she can easily flip to that section in the paper.

            The usual order for research papers is: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References. SCIgen papers and the scholarly source I found mostly follow this order. One difference is that SCIgen often adds an “Implementation” section that has diagrams (usually diagrams are mostly found in the results section) and a “Related Works” section. This could be because the generator’s creators believed that adding these sections would improve their research papers, or it could be a convention of Computer Science research papers that is often used.

           

            Usually, the Results section is filled with the graphs, tables, charts, or observations with explanations of the data, and the Discussion has the analysis of the results and the interpretation of them. Both SCIgen and the “Golden eagles…” paper combined their Results and Discussion sections. SCIgen follows their Results section with Related Work, Conclusion, and References sections, while the “Golden eagles…” research paper has a combined “Results and Discussion” section and no “Conclusion” section. The “Golden eagles…” paper also does not have titles for the Abstract, Introduction, or References sections, and the titles for Methods and Results and Discussion Sections are not numbered like the titles in the SCIgen research paper are.

Both SCIgen and the “Golden eagles…” research papers follow the usual conventions and rhetorical devices, and the minor differences seen are from each author’s individual preferences. SCIgen follows the conventional rules for the stereotypical structure more precisely because it is a genre generator and the papers it produces are not actual papers written by certified scientists. That means that the SCIgen papers rely on the conventions of research papers to match the expectations of their viewers. In other words, SCIgen relies on looks, not contents—so they have to make their papers look like stereotypical Computer Science research papers. The “Golden eagles, feral pigs, and insular carnivores: How exotic species turn native predators into prey” research paper, however, is a real, published and peer-reviewed research paper written by biologists and ecologists who have their own ideas on how they want their paper to be organized on top of the usual conventions.

Scholarly Source

SCIgen 

Project Builder 1B: Inspecting Genre Generators

Genre generators use a genre’s conventions to create a random example of work from that genre. For instance, SCIgen “generates random Computer Science research papers, including graphs, figures, and citations”(SCIgen website). This genre generator follows the conventions of a research paper. Each research paper created is divided into several sections with the same order each time. Scientific papers usually begin with a title that highlights importance of topic followed by the author of the paper. Then, there is an abstract that summarizes the question asked and explains the motivation for asking it. After the abstract is the introduction. It presents the background of the question and what to expect in the rest of the paper. Next is the explanation of the methodology used and what models were used in trying to answer the question being asked. For these computer science research papers, charts and diagrams were also included in this section. Then there is an implementation section and a results section that includes the data and analysis of the project. Finally, there is the conclusion section and references section. This specific organization of the research paper (the sections, graphs, and references) is the same each time a new paper is generated, even if the words and topics are different. The research papers are often around 5-8 pages long, and often use Computer Science jargon. They have a scholarly tone that is confident and respectful.

Another example of a genre generator is Pandyland, which is a genre generator that creates random comic strips. The conventions for comic strips significantly contrast with the conventions for Computer Science research papers. While computer science research papers have text and diagrams, the Pandyland comic strips have three panels of pictures. Comic strips are usually short sequences of cartoons meant for entertainment. Some panels have text in bubbles and in captions while others have no text and have the characters performing actions. The Pandyland comic strips are easy to understand and colored. The text in these comic strips is very short; there is often a single statement in each panel or none at all, and the tone is humorous and light.

Similarly, an online meme generator (memegenerator.net) produces memes, which are usually popular images in social media that have white text over them. The text is usually large and in all capital letters. The generator makes single images of people, animals, or cartoons with text on the top and bottom of the photo, depicting what the character is saying. Like comic strips, memes are meant for entertainment. The text is often no longer than two lines and the tone can be sarcastic, witty, or comical.  

An additional genre generator is the Postmodernism Generator (http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/), which produces Postmodernism Essays. Similar to a research paper, the postmodernism essay generated is academic-based and is meant to explore and expand on a theory or question being asked. These essays also have titles that contain the key words of the essay, followed by the author’s name. For these postmodernism essays, the department and university of the author are also included. These essays are divided into sections and numbered. Each section also has many quotes. At the end of the essay, there is a list of references. These generated essays can range from 2-6 pages of text.

How can thinking about what’s happening in these websites help someone better understand genre?

Each of these websites creates a random example of their genre. After trying out the website multiple times, many examples of each genre are created and can be compared and contrasted. How is a research paper different than a comic strip? Some surface level features are easy to spot. For one, they look completely different. One has pictures and cartoons, and the other has pages full of text with paragraphs. Each individual genre’s conventions and rhetorical devices make that thing that thing, and recognizing these creates genre awareness and an understanding of the genres and the term genre. When someone compares and contrasts the multiple examples from that genre, they can identify the patterns that are used in all of the examples. This is why the genre generators are so helpful. It doesn’t matter what you put into it, no matter what, you get the same patterns each time for each specific genre. This helps that person understand the genre and what to expect from any other pieces from the generator. For example, after generating many research papers, I can see that each research paper created has the specific conventions mentioned in the first paragraph, such as an introduction section and graphs and references. Now I know how to recognize and distinguish a research paper from a comic strip based on the conventions I understand about both of those genres. It also allows me to know what to expect when I read a research paper or what is appropriate when I need to write one. All of this information is given to me from experimenting with these genre generators and gaining genre awareness.