PB2A

While comparing and contrasting a sample research paper generated by SCIgen with a scholarly article, I noticed that many aspects of the two pieces of writing, which surfaced as similarities, also underscored their differences. To begin, the formatting of both papers was extremely conventional. Both papers had an abstract, clear bolded subtitles, a title with a large font, usage of italics for emphasis, an abstract, an introduction, and the name of the authors written under the title even though for the generator sample research paper, the authors are a mere pretense. Other than these papers’ similar format, they are similar in the way that they are written in an extremely formal matter. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling is up to par. Both pieces of writing also make sure to cite the sources that they provide. In addition, both papers are not written in the first person for the mere purpose of sounding scientific, unbiased, and overall objective. If one decides to look further into the reasoning behind these stereotypical “research writing” convention, one would notice that these conventions allow the scholar to present an idea, argument, or notion in a purposeful and precise manner that could be understood clearly by his/ her audience. Not only are these conventions imperative in order to convey the typically complex and infatuating research analyses, they are simple enough so that the other could truly focus on his/ her writing and not have to deal with other intricacies. In essence, the intricacies that regard writing music, a play, a poem, a free-write, a diary-entry, and creative writing as whole do not apply to this type of writing. This type of effortless writing style tends to be incredibly efficient because the author is able to focus on the intricacies of his research and its analysis instead of the intricacies of the way in which his/ her complex ideas are presented to the audience.

            On the other hand, there are some apparent differences between the two pieces of writing. For one, every author has a unique style and tone that even when following strict research paper writing conventions could be noticed by the reader. Specifically, the sample research paper produced by the SCIgen generator attempts to depict to the reader the sophistications of the process that took place in order to make the reader understand how the data that is later presented in the research paper was collected, evaluated, and analyzed. On the other hand, the scholarly peer-reviewed article makes sure to mention its sources and introduce them in a way that eliminates any doubt that the reader must have about the credibility of the sources of the data that is presented in the research paper. Comparing the way in which the generator and the scholarly paper legitimize the information that is being presented reminds the observer that the data in the paper generated through SCIgen was produced in a minute amount of time and in an effortless manner with no intention of truly being taken seriously. Yet, the data in the scholarly paper discovered in the University of California, Santa Barbara’s library database was a product of efforts made to legitimize and ensure that the sources of evidence are credible, intensive peer-review and peer-editing, and a process of vigilantly selected words, sentence structure, and formatting (italics). The product discovered through the library’s database obtains characteristics that were intentionally utilized by the scholarly author to spark insight and provoke critical and creative thinking. In conclusion, although the research paper generated by the SCIgen generator and the scholarly article discovered through a university’s database share many similarities, one must note that these similarities are purely external and surface-leveled as well as realize that the differences between the two papers expose the way in which a paper that is produced faster than the speed of sound could never come close to the quality of a paper that has been thought-out, planned, legitimized, edited, and tweaked to perfection.