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Justin Su
Doug Bradley
WRIT 159A
January 29, 2019
Assignment #2: APT – Analyze Scientific Content
I have chosen a published article from a reputable science magazine to analyze and describe
its scientific content. Published on December 13, 2017, the Journal of Virology article “Upon
Infection, Cellular WD Repeat-Containing Protein 5 (WDR5) Localizes to Cytoplasmic Inclusion
Bodies and Enhances Measles Virus Replication” was authored by Dzwokai Ma, Cyril X. George,
Jason L. Nomburg, Christian K. Pfaller, Roberto Cattaneo, and Charles E. Samuel. This APT
analysis will describe the audience, purpose, and tone of this article.
The audience of this article mostly comprises experts in virology. From the publisher’s
online demographics, the Journal of Virology
aims to cater working male and female Figure 1. Journal of Virology mainly composes
scientists with the latest, impactful of Chinese and American audiences.
publications and citations. According to
PayScale.com, as of October 2016, the
approximate yearly income for these
scientists is $80,103. ResearchGate’s
calculation of the Journal Impact Factor for
the Journal of Virology was 4.69 in 2015, a
proxy index that indicates the amount of
times publications were cited in 2014.
Furthermore, 21.9% of the audience who
accessed the magazine online were from
China (Figure 1), while 21.8% were from the
United States (Figure 1). Interestingly, the Figure 2. Viewership of the Journal of Virology
publishers have catered the site audiences is concentrated on a selected audience.
strictly through the use of the English
language, and do not offer reliable translation
methods for their non-native English
audiences. The daily time spent on the
magazine online is about two minutes and 27 seconds (Figure 2) – a three percent increase in the
previous three months (Figure 2). However, each audience only visited about 1.75 pages daily
within the magazine (Figure 2) – a 6.42% decrease in the previous three months (Figure 2). In
addition to the geodemographics and audience retention statistics of the Journal of Virology, the
published article had a Gunning Fog Index of 15.68 – signifying a college junior level of
readability. Although its readability score is lower than its intended audience, the Gunning Fog
Index has an intrinsic assumption, where it assumes all three-syllabus words are sophisticated and
would impede readability. The SMOG Index of the article, however, achieved 17.51, matching the
expected readability of experts. These online demographics evidently show the audience of this
magazine article to be a pool of experts, specifically in virology.
The purpose of this article was to inform the audience of a new discovery. In addition to
providing information, the article methodically defends the authors’ findings. These intentions
strive to prove that a host factor protein WDR5 promotes measles virus (MeV) replication. The
use of figures to demonstrate their findings illustrate WDR5 localize in the inclusion bodies –
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where MeV replicates. Furthermore, the diction of the authors consists jargon that are familiar to
the intended audience. Words such as “knockdown” or “endogenous” signify the author’s
experimental rationale and procedure. The outline of the article serves to provide and persuade
their basic science findings to other researchers in the field.
Like the intended tone of the magazine itself, the tone of the article remains strictly
academic and scholarly. As it is a peer-reviewed science magazine, the article outlines itself to an
academic paper – where the hypothesis, results, and concluding discussion resemble the beginning,
middle, and end, respectively. The introduction hooks the audience into the discovery by informing
the audience to the significance of the research topic and providing a multifaceted background to
the purpose. The results were both informative and persuasive, where the authors had to
holistically consider and explain caveats to validate their findings. Lastly, the discussion was the
authors last attempt to establish their credibility through methodically disambiguating the results
and persuade the audience of the implications of their findings. Appropriately so, the tone used
throughout the article was sufficient to carry out the article’s purpose to the intended audience.
The Journal of Virology article “Upon Infection, Cellular WD Repeat-Containing Protein
5 (WDR5) Localizes to Cytoplasmic Inclusion Bodies and Enhances Measles Virus Replication”
contained scientific content that addressed its audience, purpose, and tone.
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References

Asm.org Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2019,

from https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/asm.org

Upon Infection, Cellular WD Repeat-Containing Protein 5 (WDR5) Localizes to Cytoplasmic

Inclusion Bodies and Enhances Measles Virus Replication | Journal of Virology. (n.d.).

Retrieved January 29, 2019, from https://jvi.asm.org/content/92/5/e01726-17