Writing Project 1

Identifying and Comparing Genre Conventions

in Academic Writing

Ashley Son

University of California, Santa Barbara

Art can be viewed as a freeform technique to portray one's feelings and contains no

certain“correct” way or answer to create. On the contrary, mathematics is perceived as a logical

study of shapes, formulas, and quantities, with a specific answer to a formula or equation.

However, many artists, past and present, are using mathematical techniques to create art. The

topic of the use of mathematics in art has created numerous questions in the two disciplines,

technology and history. Through analyzing the two disciplines and how they perceive the topic,

one can notice that these differences are caused by the different ways that they approach the

topic itself. The technology discipline investigates the topic through the factual side of

mathematics in art and how math is incorporated to create art on computers, where history

studies different artists who have used math to produce their drawings. Despite the same topic,

the two varying intentions from the distinct disciplines create different ways to communicate

through the text through their arguments, use of evidence, and word choices within the

articles.arguments, use of their evidence, and the structure of their articles.

In the first three paragraphs of the article, “Science and Culture: Solving a math problem

to create art,” by Stephen Onres, Ornes incorporates the artist, Bosch, to introduce his main

argument, “Bosch is now known among mathematicians—and the math–art subset of that

community—for his line drawings, mosaics, and sculptures created using solutions to

optimization problems.”(Ornes, p.1). Fundamentally, the article is focused on previous artists

that have utilized mathematics in art, specifically drawing and painting, rather than physical

techniques that can be used. Ornes is able to create and build his credibility through this because

he explicitly presents widely known artists who have used mathematics to create their art. The

audience will be able to recognize these artists'artist’ names and their success through the

mathematical techniques to create art.

The technology discipline, on the other hand, discusses the technological techniques of

mathematics in art rather than how it has previously been used. In the article, “Integrating math
and art - a new way of drawing,” by Wei Xu, the author scrutinizes many techniques and creates

scenarios that use these techniques to build her argument. She creates her academic argument

after “careful reading, accurate reporting, and a conscien- tious commitment to truth” (Lunsford

et al, p.380) which asserts her stance . She introduces her argument through a background

paragraph. She starts out with opposing claims that math and art are extremely opposite of each

other, “Most people believe math and art to be extremely opposite to each other. Math is a

science that mainly involves strict emotionless logic, abstract symbols and definitions, and a

linear sequence of reasons, while art is related to emotions, randomness and visual structures

assembling to real life objects. Even in today's education systems, from elementary schools to

universities, art and math are mostly isolated and taught separately”(Xu, p.73); however, she

follows it with debunking statements throughout the rest of the article, “Writers should take a

guarded stance, especially when presenting argumentation and results” (John, p.570). By

Through utilizing a rebuttal techniquerebuttalthis technique she is able to strengthen her claim

because she has thought out arguments that could weaken her claim and proved them to be false.

It makes it harder for critics or the audience to think of an opposing argument that she has not

approached and debunked. After the background paragraph, Xu quickly follows up with

different techniques of drawing from a scientific approach, “Quadtree [FB1974] is a data

structure that stores a 2D image...Triangulation [BK1997] expresses objects as a soup of

triangles called triangle meshes. Due to the structural flexibility...A bounding box of a 2D object

is the tightest axis-aligned rectangle that surrounds the object. For a detail-rich image, bounding

box...Divide-and-Conquer [CLR2000] is a general algorithm design paradigm used in computer

science. To solve a large scaled problem…” (Xu, p.76). By mentioning the techniques, it

provides a visual of some mathematical techniques that are used to create art≥ for the
audienceLastly, Lastly, she segways into an interview-like format, where she depicts a scenario

where these techniques can be used when creating art, “ Problem A: Given a target object in

front of us, how can we duplicate the object correctly in paper (with a pencil only)? The term of

target object in the statement represents anything to draw: a chair, an automobile, a garden, a

person, a photo, etc. Because the targets bear distinct visual structures or even different

dimensions, we want to unify them first in order to create a general approach…” (Xu, p.78). By

using this interview-like format, it provides hypothetical scenarios which helps the audience

understand when, where, and how these techniques are used. The three techniques for evidence

that the Xu utilizes, rebuttals, visuals, and an interview, all create a visual for how these

techniques would be used in different situations which help assert her argument. The question

that is being asked in these two articles contradict each other greatly; while history discusses past

artists that have incorporated mathematics into art, technology explains how these abstract

mathematical techniques can be used in specific scenarios in art through technological strategies.

As a result, the two different disciplines both build and reinforce their argument in different

ways, however still maintain a unison topic.

When observing the different mathematical techniques that are utilized when creating art,

Xu Wei uses a myriad of mathematical jargon such as convex or boolean operations that can be

difficult to understand to a reader with no background knowledge. Additionally, her sentences

are shown to be long and complex which creates intellectual sentences that can be viewed as

confusing. As stated in Academic Arguments, “some academic writing is clearly aimed at

specialists” (Lunsford et al, p. 381). Because of her elevated technological and mathematical

words and specific sentence structure, it can be assumed that the intended audience of the article
is someone with base knowledge in technology and mathematics who can fully comprehend the

author’s intentions and content.

Contrarily, the history discipline minimizes the amount of mathematical or artistic terms,

if a mathematical or art related term is used, the author defines it in the following sentence. This

helps the audience understand Ornes’ points without having any prior knowledge about the topic.

Additionally Ornes creates short and precise sentences which keeps the article straight to the

point so it does not distract or confuse the audience with unnecessary information. facilitating the

process of understanding the article for the readers. However, Ornes does include artists that

have used mathematics to create art such as Bosch or Leonardo da Vinci, who are viewed as well

known artists. Thus the intended audience can be assumed to be someone with a basic

knowledge in art however does not need to have the knowledge of a historian. Even if the

audience are not cognizant of these names, Ornes makes it easy for the readers to still

acknowledge that they are well known and successful artists.

Comparing the two disciplines, one can see a vast difference between how these two

contrasting disciplines approach a unison topic of how mathematics can influence art. History

which is portrayed in Stephen Ornes article “Science and Culture: Solving a math problem to

create art,” approaches this topic by different artists in the past and how they have utilized these

techniques while technology, in “Integrating math and art - a new way of drawing” by Wei Xu

expresses a visual manifestation on how mathematical techniques can be used to create art in

technology. Just by the way one creates their argument, structurestrucutre of article, and the

words they can use can design a whole new aspect to a topic.
 You have a very clear paper in terms of direction and argument. You answer all of the

‘how’ questions by providing great textual evidence to describe your case. May I suggest you

further answer the ‘why’ questions. By this I mean answering, why does the author of your

articles use the tone/diction/format/writing style in their article? Why does it fit into the

discipline it does?. These can be answered by expanding your conclusion maybe, or another

paragraph. Either way, you have great writing here and you did a very great job with your

evidence and argument!

Sources:

John, A.M. (n.d), Discourse Communitiesand Communities of Practice. Retrieved from

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/6162286/mod_resource/content/1/Johns

%2C%20Discourse%20communities.pdf
 Lunsford et al. (n.d), Academic Arguments. Retrieved from

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/7925168/mod_resource/content/1/Lunsford

%20et%20al.%202016%2C%20ch17.pdf

Ornes, S. (2016, December 27), Science and Culture: Solving a math problem to create

art. Retrieved from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/52/14873/

Xu, W. (2011). INTEGRATING MATH AND ART - A NEW WAY OF DRAWING.

International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 4(20), 73-85. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/docview/926176328?pq-origsite=primo