Difference between revisions of "2703: Paper Title"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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(Explanation: In a more mature exaplanation, this link would have more more mature version of the link. Leaving it up to the next few editors to sort out.)
(Transcript: complete)
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==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
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:[Megan is standing behind and looking over the shoulder of Cueball who is sitting in his office chair at his desk typing on the keyboard. A line from the keyboard goes up to two boxes above them. A smaller one at the top, half the length and a third the hight of the larger on below. There are text in both. The bottom box is not filled out with text. At the end of the text the line indicating the courser can be seen, as in this is what Megan can read of the screen:]
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:Paper title
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:''Check out this cool microbe we found''|  
  
Paper title
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:[Pan to only showing Megan who has taken a hand up to her chin. Cueball replies from off-panel.]
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:Megan: Isn’t science supposed to be about formulating a hypothesis and then testing it?
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:Cueball: Oh. Yeah, I guess.
  
Check out this cool microbe we found
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:[Same setting as in the first panel, but now the bottom box is filled out with text, but still with the courser shown at the end:]
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:Paper title
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:''Is our lab really good at finding cool microbes? Some preliminary data''|
  
 
Isn’t science supposed to be about formulating a hypothesis and then testing it?
 
 
Oh. Yeah, I guess.
 
 
 
 
Paper title
 
 
Is our lab really good at finding cool microbes? Some preliminary data
 
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
  

Revision as of 22:33, 25 November 2022

Paper Title
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: The authors hope these results are correct because we all want to be cool people who are good at science.
Title text: CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: The authors hope these results are correct because we all want to be cool people who are good at science.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a COOL MICROBE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

A scientific paper usually present a hypothesis and the result of testing the hypothesis. Scientific papers also have titles which describe the content of the papers. Or should do.

Transcript

[Megan is standing behind and looking over the shoulder of Cueball who is sitting in his office chair at his desk typing on the keyboard. A line from the keyboard goes up to two boxes above them. A smaller one at the top, half the length and a third the hight of the larger on below. There are text in both. The bottom box is not filled out with text. At the end of the text the line indicating the courser can be seen, as in this is what Megan can read of the screen:]
Paper title
Check out this cool microbe we found|
[Pan to only showing Megan who has taken a hand up to her chin. Cueball replies from off-panel.]
Megan: Isn’t science supposed to be about formulating a hypothesis and then testing it?
Cueball: Oh. Yeah, I guess.
[Same setting as in the first panel, but now the bottom box is filled out with text, but still with the courser shown at the end:]
Paper title
Is our lab really good at finding cool microbes? Some preliminary data|


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Discussion

Finished transcript added clickbait category and started the explanation on clickbait titles and title text. For sure it needs to be revised, but hope it can be used to build upon. --Kynde (talk) 22:47, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

You know you've been editing too long when the captcha shows you traffic lights within walking distance. 172.70.211.145 23:39, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

Technically the bacterium in reference [3], Candidatus Thiomargarita magnifica, isn't a microbe. But Frigoriflavimonas asaccharolytica in reference [4] is indisputably cool. 172.71.158.91 05:05, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

I don’t understand the claim that the title text disclaimer means that their intrinsic motivation aligns with the goal of producing high quality work. High quality work in general, yes, but not in this case? I mean, the study concerns wether they are good at finding cool microbes, while they have an intrinsic motivation to be good at it. Doesn’t this mean that their desire to be good may cause them to overrate their goodness in their study of their own goodness? —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 23:43) 05:42, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if the person who wrote the interpretation was considering Cueball's original title, since that wouldn't motivate them to lie about their abilities, and an accurate description of the "cool microbe" would be executing their desire to be "good at science". But I agree that the joke seems to stem from the updated title, where their abilities are the hypothesis under question.162.158.107.245 14:56, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

I'm getting an Alex Trebek vibe here — "I'm sorry, we can't accept that since you did not put it in the form of a question." RAGBRAIvet (talk) 04:35, 27 November 2022 (UTC)

I didn't read the paper title as being clickbait (or puffery) at all, just informal and playful. How is "cool microbe" deceitful or misleading? If anything, most scientists would probably be less likely to read (or even find) a paper with that title, I imagine. Same type of humor as 2456: Types of Scientific Paper 172.71.102.215 08:06, 29 November 2022 (UTC)