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Binary Star Systems

John Morales
English 1312
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Binary Star Systems
BY Camelopardalis

Scholarly journal articles and posters both are great genres of communication.
The genres that this paper will be comparing are both on BY Camelopardalis. It is a
magnetic cataclysmic variable with very irregular and complex light curves and
astrophysical qualities. This paper will compare Evidence for Pole Switching in the
Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable BY Camelopardalis by Paul A. Mason, Gavin Ramsay,
Ivan Andronov, Sergey Kolesnikov, Nickolay Shakhovskoy, and Elana Pavlenko, which
is a scholarly journal article, and Optical Photometry of BY Cam Modeled using a
Mulitpolar Magnetic Field Structure by John Morales, Paul Mason, Andrey Zhilkin,
Dmitry Bisikalo, and Edward Robinson, which is a poster. In both pieces they argue for
an explanation to BY Camelopardalis complex light curves. The scholarly article claims
that these irregularities may be due to pole switching while the poster acknowledges the
pole switching and claims a multipolar magnetic field is a great way to model the star
system. The purpose of this paper is to compare both scholarly journal articles and
posters and determine which one conveys knowledge and information more effectively.
Audience And Purpose
The first genre is Evidence for Pole Switching in the Magnetic Cataclysmic
Variable BY Camelopardalis by Paul A. Mason, Gavin Ramsay, Ivan Andronov, Sergey
Kolesnikov, Nickolay Shakhovskoy and Elana Pavlenko is an article in the Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1997. The purpose of this article was to
inform interested readers about discoveries made about the cataclysmic variable BY
Camelopardalis. It was also meant to convince them that pole switching was occurring on

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the white dwarf, which produced the irregular light curves. The second genre Optical
Photometry of BY Cam Modeled using a Multipolar Magnetic Field by John Morales,
Paul A. Mason, Andrey Zhilkin, Dmitry Bisikalo, and Edward Robinson is a poster that
was presented at the American Astronomical Society 223rd Meeting in Washington D.C.
in 2014. Its purpose was to inform the interested audience of even more discoveries
related to BY Camelopardalis and to convince them that along with pole switching a
multipolar magnetic field is the cause of the irregular light curves.
The intended audience of the scholarly journal article is well-educated
astronomers and astrophysicist. The astronomer and astrophysicist audience are most
likely in the PhD, Graduate, and maybe even Undergraduate level. For this reason it is
assumed throughout the paper that the audience is aware and can understand advanced
terminology and astrophysics in general. For the poster on BY Camelopardalis the
audience is are usually Undergraduate and Graduate students. In some cases PhD level
astronomers and astrophysicist may find interest in the posters content. It is assumed that
the audience has some general understanding of astrophysics and astronomy but not as
much as the scholarly journal article.
Both genres differ in the audience interest level. The scholarly journal article has
much more information, depth, and terminology that the audience reading the material
must have a great level of interest in the subject. Also since the subject is so specialized it
increases the amount of interest needed to analyze all the information. The poster has less
information and less depth than the scholarly journal article. The audience is not assumed
to be as engaged or interested in the topic as with the scholarly journal article.

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The genres purpose is to inform and convince the audience that their ideology on
star systems is correct, but both do so differently. The poster presents this information but
also tries to actively capture the interest of the audience. Its generalized information and
terminology facilitates any member of the audience in understanding the information.
Thus, you can see that the poster has three purposes, which are to inform, to convince,
and most importantly to capture attention and interest. The scholarly journal article, once
again, assumes that the audience already has this great interest in the subject. Thus, it
spends no time in trying to capture attention or gain interest. The scholarly journal article
only has two purposes to inform and to convince.
Ethos
Both genres establish credibility in a somewhat similar manner. The scholarly
journal article establishes credibility through the reputable journal in which it is
published. Publishing in an astrophysical journal is a long and complex process. The
process involves submitting papers to evaluators, usually three, who read the paper and
then decide whether it has value on their journal. There are often times where they are
rejected or sent back for revisions due to lack of clarity or evidence. Since there is a hard
process involved in publishing papers in a journal, most papers in a reputable journal are
deemed very credible.
The poster also establishes credibility through an outside source. When presenting
a poster at a conference one must submit an abstract and poster to the conference for a
similar approval process. This insures that all material presented at the conference is very
valuable information and does not harm the credibility of the conference itself. Also
posters tend to use well known astrophysicist and astronomers who have published

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papers to review and also help with the writing process. One clear example of this is
through the two genres that are used in this analysis. Paul A. Mason is one of the authors
in the scholarly journal article but he is also a contributing author on the poster on the
same subject. This is a way to also establish credibility in the scientific community.
Pathos
Both genres do not use emotional appeal to extract an emotional reaction from the
audience. The only small example of this may be the posters use of colors and graphics
to try to influence the audience to read the information and get their attention. This would
help the posters purpose of gaining attention and establishing an interest within the
audience. The scholarly journal does no attempt to use colors or graphics to call attention.
In the written information there is no evidence of the genres trying to get an
emotional reaction from the audience. The genres are very technical and logical and try to
influence people through reason and not emotion. The reason for this is that any attempts
for an emotional response may hurt credibility of the scientific genre. The author is
expected to convince people through facts and evidence, so leaving out emotional appeals
is in the best interest for both genres.

Logos
Both genres use similar types of evidence to support the claims of their
information. The scholarly journal article uses previously published papers and evidence
collected by the author. The previously published papers used in the scholarly journal
article are either to support or refute with the goal of strengthening the articles argument.
The scholarly journal article makes many references to other papers and ideas. It also

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showcases evidence and raw data obtained in the field. Through this, the article can show
that its claim matches the evidence.
The poster also uses previously published paper and evidence collected by the
author but to a much lesser extent. It would not reference as many previously published
papers as the scholarly journal article in an effort to keep the information shorter and
easier to comprehend without requiring much supplemental reading. The evidence
collected is also used to a smaller degree. The scholarly journal article will use evidence
and raw data obtained years and even decades in advance, but the poster limits itself to a
few months or maybe a year.
Structure and Delivery
The genres are structured differently and their purpose and audience influence
this. The scholarly journal article is not limited to space and can be several pages long.
Thus, they usually are packed with information and go into great depth on the specialized
subject. They are very formal and use very complex terminology since the audience is
expected to be well educated on the material. The delivery of the information is strictly
text based.
The poster is limited on space. There is only a finite amount of space on a poster,
and because of this, there is less information on it. Since its audience is not expected to
be as knowledgeable as the one for the scholarly journal article
Conclusion
In conclusion, both genres are great at communicating information, but the
scholarly journal article communicates the information to the audience better. The depth
and formality shown by the scholarly journal article gives the educated audience much

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more information when compared to the casual form used by the poster. Along with its
formatting, graphs, and other attributes, it is easy to see that the scholarly journal article
is superior to the poster.

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References

Mason, P.A., Ramsay, G., Andronov, I., Kolesnikov, S., Shakhovskoy, N., & Pavlenko,
E. (1997). Evidence for pole switching in the magnetic cataclysmic variable BY
Camelopardalis. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 295 (3), 511518.

Morales J, Mason P.A., Zhilkin A.G., Bisikalo D.V., Robinson E.L. Optical Photometry
of BY Cam Modeled using a Mulitpolar Magnetic Field Structure. Poster session
presented at: American Astronomical Society 223rd Meeting; 2014 Jan 5-9;
Washington, DC.