Michelle Young

May 6, 2015
WP #2
Adapting Approaches
Since the dawn of time, living creatures have evolved and are still evolving to this day.
Whether this is due to the random DNA mutations or natural selection, these changes have only

Commented [ZD1]: Normally, Id say: why start this

far back? However, for your topic, I suppose this is pretty
relevant.

benefitted each species to adapt to the harsh conditions of this world. Like any other organisms,
humans, at one point, have originated as a generic group of people before there was any kind of
variations in their traits. Experts from different principles, like biology and anthropology, have

Commented [ZD2]: I think you might be using the

wrong term here, Young. Fields? Disciplines?

researched the many different aspects of these changes and have shared their ideas through a
particular perspective. For instance, on the topic of evolution in skin adaptations, there were
variations in how the articles have introduced their ideas. The biological piece had an

Commented [ZD3]: What biological piece?

(You have introduced it or stated anything about it yet.)

experimental approach, the anthropological piece had a conceptual approach and the non-

Commented [ZD4]: What do you mean by this?

(Experimental/conceptual approach?)

academic piece had a concise approach. Although each of the approach is different, the scholarly

Commented [ZD5]: Extra words?

texts, which are mostly primary research, are far more reliable and resourceful than the

Commented [ZD6]: OK, this seems pretty arguable to

me. Primary research results in a more reliable pieces.
(What do you mean by resourceful? Im a little unclear on
that.)

unscholarly texts.
When one is writing a paper, searching for a reliable source is crucial to support ones

Commented [ZD7]: I thought there was only one.

argument. In order to accomplish this goal, one must understand the difference in credibility
between scholarly texts and non-academic text. While non-academic texts are straight-to-thepoint and use language that is easy to understand, they do not provide enough analysis as the

Commented [ZD8]: Can you give some examples of

this? (Textual support is key.)

scholarly texts. Scholarly texts are more dependable because they are created through primary
research on the topic. Individuals conducting research are producing the articles and reports
found in a library database or in a book. (Driscoll 154) Not only is the article full of ideas
backed up with other multiple scholarly texts utilized prior and/or data, they are written by the

Commented [ZD9]: Id advise you to refrain from

using free-floating quotes (ie, sentences that start and
end with a quote). The reader is probably going to be left
wondering, Who is saying/citing this, and how/why is it
relevant? Wheres it coming from? Try to introduce the
quote and give it context.
Commented [ZD10]: What article?

experts of that particular subject. Plus, scholarly texts are not published as easily as any other
media. For the piece to be published, it usually takes time since they have several other experts

Commented [ZD11]: True! Good point.

review their works before they are officially published. The publisher of each honorable
publications have certain standards for the pieces that are submitted for possible consideration.
With competition from many experts, only the few that accommodated to the publishers
expectations can be published. Therefore, non-academic media do not have as much credibility
because those pieces are not critically examined as the journal articles.
For the biological approach, a publication from the Pigment Cell Research has a certain
style to introduce the subject of evolution of skin pigmentation. Like many of the other scholarly
texts, this article includes a title, an abstract, introduction, method, analysis, results, discussion
and a list of other credible resources. The organization is crucial to the flow of the paper.
Without this model, the information provided would not make much sense. Each part of the
paper depends on the prior section; hence, from the beginning to the end, the argument becomes
stronger as it is supported by how the hypothesis was tested and analyzed. The purpose of this

Commented [ZD12]: I like this a lot, Young. Solid

observation.

type of paper is to challenge some kind of idea, new or old. Because this has a more scientific
approach, the paper focuses on taking ideas that were acknowledged prior and add another
element to prove a particular point. The concept the experts were trying to prove was to
examine the variation in both melanin content and melanin composition in photoexposed and
photoprotected human skin taken from a range of different ethnic skin types. (Alaluf 113). They
support their evidences with other scholarly texts and with data they have recorded through their
experiment. There are several bar graphs that represent how there is a significant increase in the
amount of all melanin components in photoexposed epidermis compared with photoprotected.
(Alaluf 114). In addition to this report, the graphs showed each of the ethnicitys content of

Commented [ZD13]: What kind of data? Get specific

whenever you can.

melanin to show the trend not only in all ethnicities in general. With the explanation of how they

Commented [ZD14]: This comment is in reference to

the whole paragraph:

conducted their research and how they got results similar to those who researched this idea,

When I see thiseven before I start readingI think,

Ahhhhhhh! Attack of the page-long paragraph!

makes their argument strong. When it comes to experiments, it is always important to have a
control and/or test the same way as prior experiments to confirm how the data is accurate. This
article is credible because they have recreated the experiment of testing melanin content. We
therefore adapted this method and applied it to the analysis of melanin content and composition
in human epidermal skin samples. (Alaluf 114). Their audience is most likely to other experts
of the field or other field that may utilize this information for their own research. This is

See if you like this metaphor:

Pretend your whole paper is a big, juicy steak. Do you
want your reader to enjoy that steak in easy-to-chew,
digestable bites? Or do you want them to start eating the
whole thing in one piece (think: zombie).
Paragraphs are like those bites. Give your reader your
argument in little, digestable, one-idea-at-a-time bits.
Readers need to be able to see the different
parts/pieces/bites of the argument that theyre chewing
on.
Commented [ZD15]: Youre switching gears to another
big idea/conceptworth starting a new paragraph?

identifiable by the use of jargon that is not known to most people. Presumably, tyrosinase
activity is once again the key, as the higher the activity of this enzyme, the more this tends to
favour the formation of dark photoprotective eumelanin over pheomelanin. (Alaluf 118). If
someone does not have a background of biology, this statement may feel like a whole new
language. This article does not stop to take a second to explain what tyrosinase activity is and

Commented [ZD16]: Absolutely

it continues to prove their point with more jargon of this discipline. Audiences can expect a full
lengthy and wordy discussion on the actual science and facts about the subject without leaving
out any details.
In the anthropological approach, The Evolution of Human Skin and Skin Color,
provides a comprehensive yet economical survey of the biology, evolution, and culture of
human skin and skin color, with an emphasis on new research especially on the evolution of
skin color. (Jablonski 587). As the biological paper focuses on experimenting or challenging
the concept of skin pigmentation, this paper explains how effective and important it is to have
variation of skin. This article also includes a title, abstract, introduction, many sub categories of
topics with explanations, and a list of references. Unlike the biological approach, this perspective

Commented [ZD17]: Young, Im wondering if your

paper would benefit from re-structuring the
organization. Instead of
Source #1
Source #2
Source #3
Could your paper/argument unfold a more
integrated/interwoven way if you did something like:
Idea #1 (sources 1, 2, 3)
Idea #2 (sources 1, 2, 3)
Idea #3 (sources 1, 2, 3)?

is less aggressive in proving a point. Though they may not have graphical data, they do utilize
visuals to help describe what is happening. For example, in order to explain a certain mechanism
of the melanocyte, they refer to a particular diagram. Melanocytes project their dendrites into
keratinocytes where they then transfer mature melanosomes (Figure 2). (Jablonski 591).The

Commented [ZD18]: For example is usually/always

a great way to provide concrete evidence for the
concepts that youre analyzing.

Commented [ZD19]: Again, remember what I said

earlier about free-floating quotes.

tone is similar to the biological piece, it is very professional and has words that are not
commonly used in everyday language. The explanations of certain mechanisms is not something
one would typically say in a conversation with friends or family.
High-energy UVB photons penetrate the skin and are absorbed by the
7-dehydrocholesterol in the keratinocytes of the epidermis (especially of the strata basale
and spinosum) and fibroblasts of the dermis, catalyzing the formation of previtamin D3.
(Jablonski 598).
In general, this articles range of audience is very narrow. It would be rare to have people
understand what any of the scientific terminologies mean. Again, this piece is geared towards an
audience of this particular field or for other professionals.
Instead of the usual style of scholarly texts, non-academic texts are not as detailed.
Continuing with the subject of human skin evolution, In Human Evolution, Changes in Skin's
Barrier Set Northern Europeans Apart, has a more casual tone. Instead of just mentioning a
certain word or idea, the author utilizes hyphens to further explain something people normally
would not/may not recognize. broken down into a molecule called urocanic acid the most
potent absorber of UVB light in the skin (Norris). Norris writes with words that can be easily
understood by a wide audience. To write a certain piece, it is always important to understand
who the audience is. According to Mike Bunn, Depending on the subject matter and the
intended audience, it may make sense to be more or less formal in terms of language. (Bunn

Commented [ZD20]: OK, so what Im wondering is

this: analyzing audience is definitely super-important for this
assignment, but it wasnt an explicit part of your thesis
statement.
You might want to either revise your thesis to include
audience OR scrap this.
The job of all these paragraphs is to support the thesis
statement.

80). Unlike the previous examples, non-scholarly article targets a wider range of audiences,
typically including people who may not know a lot about this subject. This allows anyone, who
is interested in learning this particular topic, to read a condensed form of a full scholarly text.

Commented [ZD21]: I like this move here, Young

this language shows me the relationship between the ideas
(in this case, the sources) that youre analyzing.
However, Im noticing that moves hasnt been mentioned
at all in this paper, and Im on page 5

This form of writing is especially useful for professionals. When they are trying to find an article
for their own research in a short amount of time, they can use the mainstream version to find the
scholarly texts to use in their own research paper.
Because these news article sites are more obtainable than the scholarly publications, the
author who writes the article may be biased. In some circumstances the article may be great at
explaining a concept, but the author tends to insert a certain particular statement of their own that
may not be credible. These statements tend to be difficult to find. Even though they are not the
experts of the topic, the author can write and prove their statements by selecting certain aspects
of a scholarly text to support their point. Most of the authors that regurgitates the findings on the
websites are not experts of the subject; they are just journalist of a particular column of their
publications. Since they are not the ones researching in their everyday life, it is useless as a

Commented [ZD22]: Damn! Harsh!

resource. Yet, the article is easier to read and more convincing in tone because the goal of the

Are they really? They dont serve any purpose or have any
value? For anyone?

author is to reach a wide audience. They may exaggerate some data here and there to match their
arguments. Because most people are not the experts, they are more likely to be fooled by this
technique.
Primary research is always better than secondary research. Research is compiled by
referring to other primary researches done by other people. By accumulating the data, this only
makes the argument of the research article more trustworthy. Non scholarly articles do not
conduct their own research. Their role is like a news anchorman. They are only able to give a
summary of the important facts so that everyone is able to understand what is happening. In a

professional setting, one would not use the version given by the unscholarly media; it would be
too casual. Instead, referring to the scholarly article can immensely support ones work because
of the idea referred is widely accepted in the professional community.

Citations

Alaluf, Simon, Derek Atkins, Karen Barrett, Margaret Blount, Nik Carter, and Alan
Heath. "Ethnic Variation in Melanin Content and Composition in Photoexposed and
Photoprotected Human Skin." Pigment Cell Research 15: 112-18. Print.

Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like A Writer." 2011: 71-86. Print.

Driscoll, Dana Lynn. "Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and

Interviews." 2011: 153-74. Print.

Jablonski, Nina G. "The Evolution Of Human Skin And Skin Color." Annual Review of
Anthropology 33 (2004): 585-623. Print.

Norris, Jeffrey. "In Human Evolution, Changes in Skin's Barrier Set Northern Europeans
Apart." Phys.org. 30 June 2014. Web. 6 May 2015.