PB2A

The genre generator, “SCIgen,” creates a fake computer science research paper that looks real because of the way it looks. In research papers we see specific rhetorical features and conventions that must be present in order to make the paper a research paper. In a scholarly journal that I looked up that consisted of communication and media, you can also see how it can relate to the research paper as they are very similar. Though these two are already contrast in their topics, computer science versus communication and media, they are both under the same genre, a research paper. Research papers are particularly distinguishable from other papers. Research papers usually consist of data, experiments, analysis, methods, results and other key factors. Both the computer science paper and the communication paper share these characteristics, yet they differ mainly in that the communication paper is an academic journal, while the computer science is a non-academic source.

Both the genre generator’s research paper and the academic journal share what most research papers have to have to make it a research paper. The first thing that you will notice is the abstract of the report, which gives the overview of what the report consists of. The difference between the two is not only the material, but the way it is presented. In the genre generator it is clearly stated that it is the abstract while in the academic journal it is not. I believe it is structured in this way because research papers have to follow the convention of the paper being in APA format. If you were to see a research paper in a different format, you would think twice about it; maybe you would not consider the paper to be reliable to you or something in that sense. Another similarity is that research papers have to have some kind of data to show results of experiments; the data can be shown in different contexts like in tables or graphs. Both also contain a conclusion that states the results and outcome of their research as well as a references section.

The major difference I see between the two is that the academic journal is almost like a genre within a genre. In the SCIgen website, the research paper provided is a standard research paper; anyone could have made it. On the other hand, the scholarly academic journal can only be done by an academic. These journals are based on research from a scholar and is peer reviewed, while the other is just a standard research paper that anyone could do. If I were looking for reliable research topics I would most likely consider the academic journals rather than the non-academic contexts. Though the research papers may share some similarities in their structure and format the material will be different and have different credibility. 

Reference:

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=531eed15-f631-4f74-aa00-34f883ac799b%40sessionmgr112&vid=7&hid=124, Helen Yost Si Fan, "Social media technologies for collaboration and communication: Perceptions of childcare professionals and families." University of Tasmania. June 2014.

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/#generate