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Posted to ACW-L, WCenter, NCTE-Talk,
and TEACH on 8/11/98.
Most of the students I see think only of
books and articles when we turn our attention to research
papers. To get around their over-reliance on these sources
and show them the range of sources available, I use some
version of the list below. I've simply given writers the
list and asked them to use at least two of the categories as
they search for information for their papers. But I've also
given them a shorter list, highlighting kinds of sources
that make sense for the assignment; and I've given them only
one of the items, using the questions as a short, and
usually informal, writing assignment.
These categories work well with basic
research papers and with I-Search papers. I typically use
either I-Search papers or papers that ask them to
interrogate the sources that they find. In the latter, I ask
them to focus on the ways that the conception of the idea or
subject that they are researching changes depending upon who
doing the reporting and how the reporting is done. Because I
urge students to do lots of reflection on the ideas they are
researching in these assignments, the kinds of questions
that I ask them about their sources in the activities below
should lead to material that they can include in their rough
drafts. If your students are writing a more traditional
research paper, you should probably talk with them about the
difference between personal reactions and reflections that
belong in their research journals and the kind of writing
that belongs in their research papers.
These sources make for good "show &
tell" -- each student can have a few minutes to share one
unusual source with the rest of the class or with small
groups. Often, this can be a loud session: students may want
to play parts of their songs or interview or to look at a
clip from their movie. There can be a lot of giggling over
the absurd articles, too. Be sure to make arrangements to be
in a location where exuberant students won't cause trouble
for other classes.
Because of the range of sources included,
the list also gives me the opportunity to talk about
documenting unusual sources. We spend time talking about
which of the example citations in the handbook fits the
sources that they have found or which of the templates in
BiblioCite or BiblioCite Pro would be the best choice.
- Find an absolutely absurd article about your subject. It can be
blasphemous, unbelievable, obnoxious, ridiculous, or silly. If
you're not sure what you're looking for, think about the kind
of articles that you see in the tabloid papers at the grocery
store checkout. The articles in those newspapers are often about
current events or well-known or exceptional people, but they don't
talk about things in the same way that you'd find the information
covered in the New York Times or Newsweek. Once
you've found your article, think about how it compares to the
other resources that you've found. What makes it ridiculous? What
believable information is included? How can you tell the difference
between an absurd article and a reliable one? **One word of
caution: while you can choose a pretty silly article, please
do not choose anything that would be unacceptable if I were to
ask you to read it aloud in class to me, your classmates, the
principal, and your family. Silly is OK, but rude and offensive
are not.
- Find a personal narrative
written in first-person. A first-person narrative tells a
story using words such as I, me, and my. The author of
the story is writing a personal piece about the event.
You could find a diary, a letter, or an essay. As you
read the narrative that you've found, compare it with the
other sources that you've consulted. How does the
author's point of view change the details and description
that are included? What emotional language is used? What
does this source tell you about your subject that you
wouldn't have known or realized if you had not read this
person's first-hand experiences?
- Find a piece of art that
relates to your subject -- a print cartoon, painting,
drawing, lithograph, or sculpture. The work of art you
find might depict the event that you're researching, or
it could be referred to in one of your sources. For
instance, you might have found a quotation about your
event that refers to the Mona Lisa. Your paper may
not be about the Italian Renaissance, but the Mona
Lisa would be an appropriate source. Once you've
found your piece of art, think about how it's related to
your subject. If it depicts an event that you're
researching, how does the depiction compare to the
information that you've read in printed resources. If the
work of art is referred to in one of your other sources,
think about the reasons that the author mentioned the
work. What did the author want you to think? How did the
reference affect what you learned about the subject?
- Find a movie, film, video,
television program, or animated cartoon that relates to
your subject. Is the item you've found a documentary or a
fictional account? Are there clues in the title or
advertising -- do you see a phrase such as "Based on a
True Story" anywhere? What is depicted, explained, or
shown in the movie or film that you've found? What events
or information are not included? What do the director and
screenwriter want you to think about the subject after
viewing this film? How do they attempt to convince you?
What parts of the film are most compelling?
- Find a world wide web page
that relates to your subject. There seems to be a web
page for everything these days. Your job is to find a
VALID and RELIABLE web page. Does the page include facts
that you've verified in other sources? How does it
present the information? Where is the source located --
is it on a reliable server? For help evaluating pages,
check the Research Station
at http://writing.msu.edu/station
(choose the "Web Evaluation" link). Once you've found
your page, think about how it differs from other sources
that you've found. How is the information well-suited for
a web page? Would it work just as well in a book? What
makes the page valuable to your project (or why isn't it
valuable)?
- Interview someone who knows about your subject. If you know someone
who is an authority on your subject, you might ask specific questions
about your research. You could ask about very particular facts
or details. On the other hand, you might interview someone just
to find out what another person thinks about the issue. You might
ask older family members what they remember about the Woodstock
or D-Day. If you interview someone, be sure to ask some questions
about how the person has learned what he or she knows -- was the
person you're interviewing at the event? Did he or she watch reports
about the event on TV or newsreels or read about it in the newspaper?
Be sure to take good notes so that you can use quotations from
your interview. ** You might ask the person you're interviewing
if you can record your interview so that you can play the tape
back later as you work on your paper.
- Find a song or other piece
of music that relates to your subject. Get a copy of the
lyrics for your song, and take a good look at the details
and information that are included. What can you tell
about the subject from the lyrics in the song? Make a
list of the facts that are included, and a separate list
of the opinions. How many hard details are included? How
do the details fit with the personal opinions that the
songwriter is expressing? How does the way that the ideas
and facts were expressed in the song compare to the ways
that they are presented in your other sources? What does
a listener gain from this song that can't be gained from
reading about your subject in a book or article?
- Find a piece of literature
-- short story, novel, poem, play -- that relates to your
subject. How much creativity has the author used in
talking about your subject in the piece of literature
that you've found? Which details are fictional, and which
details are factual? How can you tell the difference?
What experiences does the piece of literature focus on?
What do you know about the author and the author's
background? What qualifications does the author have to
write about your subject?
- Find an editorial or a
letter to the editor that relates to your subject. Check
the editorial section of newspapers, journals, and
magazines. Editorials and letters to the editor are
usually opinion pieces. The author wants to make a
particular point about a current event or issue. Good
editorials and letters include facts and details in
addition to the author's opinions. Outline the facts and
opinions in the source that you find, and consider how
they compare to the facts and opinions that you have
found in other sources. How emotional is the piece that
you've found? Is the author reliable? What do you learn
from this piece that you wouldn't have known
otherwise?
- The OTHER category -- find
some non-book, non-article resource that is related to
your subject. Be creative. You might find a map, a
recipe, some technical instructions, an advertisement, a
computer program, or a speech. For the source that you
find, you need to do two things. First, explain why the
source is relevant to your research. What does it tell
you or show you? Second, explain what the source gives
you that other sources haven't. If you had stuck to books
and articles, what would you have missed?
Originally
Posted August 11, 1998 on the Daedalus Website.
Posted Sunday, 12-Jun-2005 09:09:10 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836.
These materials may be referenced, linked to, and indexed, but their contents
may not be duplicated without express written consent of the author. See the
Copying and Sharing page for more details.
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