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Comparing Scientific Literature Drafts

Submitted by rmmcdonald on Thu, 09/12/2019 - 11:44

Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch and Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth share relatively similar level 1 headings. Although Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella gives a more descriptive title than the other document. In addition,  Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch has more traditional level 2 headings, outlining the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth, however, has level 2 headings that reflect the progression of thought rather than following the traditional scientific paper set up. 

The first paragraph in each section plays a key role in setting up what is about to be discussed in the coming section. The authors often use it to incite interest and provide a preview of what will be explained or argued in the following section. As for the structure of Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch each section had varying lengths. The results section of that article seems significantly longer than other sections, suggesting the importance of detail and explanation needed when reporting results. In contrast, every section of Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth is uniform in length and level of descriptive detail.

Each paragraph appears to have some form of a topic sentence that helps transition the logical flow of ideas to a new topic. For instance, in the slime mold paper Nakagaki states, “The plasmodium is interesting in terms of the size of the organism and its individuality.” (798). This topic sentence gives a broad statement in order to invoke interest in the following section while also informing the reader about the switch in topic from the previous paragraph. In general, each of these papers organize their ideas in slightly different ways but essentially following the same central idea of discussing similar ideas in a logical progression. Both authors make sure that the ideas flow into each and continually support their overall argument. 

 

 

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