Francisco 1

Jose Francisco

Dr. Barbara Fitzpatrick

ENGL 2152.005

28 March 2017

Document Analysis: Research Papers in the Field of Naval Architecture

Dr. Brandon Michael Taravella holds a PhD degree in the field of Naval Architecture and

Marine Engineering from the University of New Orleans. He is currently an associate professor

and graduate program coordinator of the school of Naval architecture and Marine Engineering at

the University of New Orleans. Dr. Taravella provided to me two of his scientific research

papers: The first document titled A Hybrid Method for Predicting Lift and Drag on Semi-

planing / Semi-displacement Hull Forms published in the year 2011 and the second one

Anguilliform Fish Propulsion of Highest Hydrodynamic Efficiency published in the year 2010.

Furthermore, this document is an attempt to produce an objective analysis of the above

mentioned scientific paper focusing on aspects such as the audience, structure, content and as

well as purpose.

The two documents have as audience the scientific community in general and scholars in

the field of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in particular. The use of highly

sophisticated language and specifically pertaining to the field of Naval Architecture is evident on

the two documents. Furthermore, it is clear to notice that these documents have rather a small

and well trained audience. The use of terms such as kinematic boundary condition, hybrid

solution, semihull, and slender body in the first document A Hybrid Method for Predicting

Lift and Drag reveals the level of knowledge one must have in the field of Naval Architecture in
 Francisco 2

order to understand thoroughly topic being discussed on this document.

Similar to the document one, document two titled Anguilliform Fish Propulsion of

Highest Hydrodynamic Efficiency would probably be picked up by a non-Naval Architecture to

read due to the way the information is presented. More often than not people are more luckily to

read about topic that they can relate to. Thus, document two would probably attract more reader

due to the fact that it studies the motion of certain type of fish.

Although, both documents appear to be structurally the same they have some differences.

For instance, on the document one (A Hybrid Method) does not have page numbers while

document two has a strange page numbers. The page numbers start at 164 which is on the top left

corner, however the next page number is on the top right corner. Moreover, In the first document

the abstract is centralized and in smaller font size compared to the rest of the paper while on the

second it is aligned to the left and has the same font size as the rest of the paper.

To engage in the mission of analyzing the content is rather a dangerous one. I will rather

give an objective but superficial option about the content of the document that I was able to

understand. Document ones content is easier to understand just by reading the abstract while

document two has a lot of technical terms and citations in the abstract that would require the

reader to look it up these citations and terminologies in order to fully understand the topic. Since

the purpose of these documents are essentially to provide clear, accurate and concise information

to the audience it is ok to say that the content of these documents meet the standards set by its

audience otherwise it would not be published on various journals such as Journal of Marine

Science and Application.

As mentioned above, the purpose of these documents is to provide information

objectively with high degree of clarity and accuracy. It has to be this way because in the
 Francisco 3

scientific world every experiment has to be replicated by others by following the steps and

assumptions stated on the document.

Also, these documents give a great example of terminologies that I or anyone interested

in field of Naval Architecture should start getting familiar with. Statements like The wake-

induced drag is then also zero with these species, implying high propulsive efficiency it is

difficult to understand given the lack of knowledge that I have of this field. Only someone who is

expert in the field would make sense out of this.

Another pattern that I have notice, these documents have a lot of figures and formulas.

This makes sense because in the engineering field is hard to explain concepts only by words. It is

essential and sometime required to use some kind of drawing or sketch and symbols to clearly

express ideas. Also, it reminds me of my professor for Engineering Statics (fundamental

engineering class) that would not give credit to the students that solves a problem without

showing any kind of illustration (Free body diagram).

The documents that Dr. Taravella gave me are very technical and requires a certain level

of intellectual maturity in order to understand them not just in any field but in the field of Naval

Architecture and Marine Engineering. Even though these documents are difficult to read for

person that is just entering the field I learned that anguilliform fish creates no vortex wake when

in motion which in turns make them achieve the highest propulsive efficiency.