PB2A

            Scholarly academic publications and computer science research papers have many similar features, but they each have specific rhetorical features and conventions that are unique to each that make it up. Looking back at the computer science research papers from the “SCIgen” genre generator, it creates random research papers when you input a number of authors. Each output creates a paper on a different paper, but they all have the basic elements of a computer science research paper. For the scholarly academic publication, I searched up on the UCSB library database for an academic journal relating to economics. I ended up finding the research article, “Economic stress or random variation? Revisiting German reunification as a natural experiment to investigate the effect of economic contraction on sex ratios at birth” by Sebastian Schnettler and Sebastian Klüsener. There are many similar features in both of these pieces of writing especially both are academic-related, but there are still certain aspects that make it it.

             The biggest similarity between the two pieces of writing is that both use almost the same format to organize all their information in their papers. Both the scholarly academic journal and the computer science research paper have sections that divide up and organize all the information from their experiments. The method is very useful since both papers were intended to explain the findings of their experiments. Both papers had a abstract to give insight into the paper, but the abstract for the academic journal was much more in depth than the research paper. The research paper only had a couple of sentences, while the academic journal had the subsections: background, methods, results, and conclusion with a paragraph for each. Each had different titles for the each respective section, but they have the same idea, where they explain how they did the experiment and their findings after doing the experiment. Both also has tables and graphs to physically display their data. A reference page is also present in both to cite the sources they used. Both has numbered their sources and ordered them in alphabetical order based on author. However, the academic journal has bolded the title or each source, which makes it a lot easier to read and locate the source.

            Although both papers have a lot of physical similarities, the rhetorical features are very different since they are each appealing to different audiences. They need to write in a specific way to attract the audience they want to read their papers. The computer science research paper was intended for people very knowledgeable in computer science because it uses a lot of terms and concepts that only these people can understand. On the other hand, the academic journal appeals to a wider audience because it uses very broad terms and is on a topic that everyone can relate to. The purpose of the two is pretty similar in that they both explain their experiments from their methods to the results of the experiments. The context of the academic journal is to discuss the effect of economic contraction on sex ratios at birth, which can be affected by anyone. The context of the computer science paper is focused on trying to come up with a synthesis of congestion control using a lossless model. The computer science paper is a very specific experiment understood only by experts in that field, while the academic source is a much broader topic that can be universally understood. The style of both papers is almost the same, where there are sections with titles, telling the audience exactly what that paragraph is about. Both are academic-related papers in that they both have a academic and professional tone. They both give a lot of information and is intended to teach the audience something new. Each author uses different rhetorical elements to cater their writing to appeal to their intended audience.

            Both the computer science research paper and the academic journal are in a similar format to achieve their purpose of explaining their experiments. However, the pieces of writing each had different contexts that appeal to different audiences. The research paper can mostly be understood by experts in computer science, while the academic journal had a much broader topic, appealing to a wider audience. Other than that, both pieces of writing had a similar style and tone to it, where it was both written in an academic tone and is very informational. The academic journal and research paper had many similar features, but still had significant differences that define each genre.