identifier) if found
*
some articles are only available electronically and may not have page numbers
Exercise 2.
You have now
familiarized yourself with the different sections of an entire primary scholarly article, except for the abstract
. The abstract is a summary that highlights the main findings of an article.
Refer to the link ‘Writing an Abstract for a Research Paper’ on Brightspace.
Other sources may also be used for more information about an abstract.
(i)
In your own words, describe the purpose of an abstract (1 mark)
.
An abstract summarizes the purpose, methodology, results, and conclusions, allowing the reader to quickly grasp the content of an academic paper.
(ii)
In your own words, describe the methods highlighted in the abstract of the chosen article (1 mark)
.
The authors looked at how non-human mammals make decisions by studying literature about the types of decisions they make, and the hypotheses used in analyses.
(ii)
Look at the methods
section of the chosen article. In your own words, elaborate on the methods highlighted in the abstract (1 mark)
. Describe how analysis of the data was performed (1 mark)
.
A systemic database was used to search for literature on non-mammalian species, and then was used again to find literature on decision-making in cetacean species. The analysis was performed through systemic review of the literature.
(iii)
In your own words, describe the one of the results highlighted in the abstract (1 mark)
.
Shared and unshared decision making have both been observed in whales and dolphins.
(iv)
Look at the results
section of the chosen article. In your own words, elaborate on the results highlighted in the abstract mentioned in (iii) (1 mark). The largest decision-making category among mammals is unshared. However, this mostly shows the limited understanding of decision-making in marine mammals (v)
Provide a screenshot of the result described in (iv). What type of the format is the result presented as (1 mark)
?
