Comparing Scientific Literature

The articles Smart behavior of true slime mold in a labyrinth and Monophagous leaf‐mining larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on birch: patterns and differentiation in exploitation of the host have many similarities and differences in their approach to writing a scientific article. 

Informative paragraphs in the introduction are similar. Both articles begin fairly broad and give basic information that leads the reader toward a more in-depth understanding of the subject and what the article is ultimately about. Each article approaches this task differently. The Smart behavior of true slime mold is written in colloquial terms and may be easier to read for someone who is not scientifically oriented. The use of the first person 'we' , and how a question was asked open-endedly 'What sort of behavior could be expected?' are examples. This style is not very common in scientific writing and not present in the Monophagous leaf‐mining article. The Monophagous leaf‐mining article uses passive voice and no first person. It stays focused on the facts. However, this is not to say that the final product of one or the other doesn't achieve what it set out to do. 

Both articles use a level 1 header and some text before the introduction in order to give background information on the study. Both articles have sub-sections and use level 2 headers for their sub-sections. In the Smart behavior of true slime mold article, the subsections give a basic description of what the section will be on, almost like a topic sentence. The Monophagous leaf‐mining article uses a scientific subsection style consisting of an introduction, methods, etc. Both achieve a similar premise of describing what the following section is about by different means. The subsections in Smart behavior of true slime mold usually begin with introductory sentences which give the reader a basic overview of what will be discussed, while the Monophagous leaf‐mining sections immediately introduce the content and skip the 'fluffy' introductory sentences. In both articles, the subsections are used to introduce the new content to continue the flow of the paper. They both follow logical schemes which lead the reader to a final conclusion.