Why Shakespeare?

So, what's the big deal about William Shakespeare?

With that curly language and plays that go on forever, is he really worth all the hype? Or is it all just a bunch of pretentious literary snobs trying to make themselves seem smarter than the rest of us?

Yes and... Yes? (But probably not)

Consider this...

Have you used or heard of any of these phrases?  You wouldn't if there hadn't been a William Shakespeare! He invented over 2,000 words to add to the English language.  Languages change all the time, adding words and some falling out of favor or being changed in context.

For even more interesting interpretations, see the Urban Dictionary (warning: explicit content in unexpected places)

You might giggle now, but even these were popular words at one time.  However, they didn't exist before someone made them up and started using them.

 Shakespeare added over 2,000 words and phrases to the English language through his plays and we recognize some of them now but his working vocabulary was so extensive there are many others that are unfamiliar--that is one of the things to be aware of when studying his works.  Be ready to learn some vocabulary! It's kind of like learning a new language and it takes practice but persevere and it will get easier!

Also, what kind of story do you like?

Adventure?

Romance?

Tragedy?

Farce?

If you like it, it's been done by Shakespeare.  His plays span the whole spectrum of human emotions and adds in just enough action and fantasy to keep it moving along. If you've seen a movie with an interesting plot twist, it's likely it was already done in one of Shakespeare's plays.


And what the heck is iambic pentameter?

One of the most noticeable things about Shakespeare is the format of the verse writing.  It looks kind of like poetry, even though it's telling a story.  But this is a very specific style called iambic pentameter. Essentially, that means that it is written to have 4 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed syllable. (the iamb is the "foot" or base of the word and penta means 5, so it's a total of 5 syllables).

My proposed method for learning to appreciate Shakespeare is to:
a. absorb and explore the new vocabulary
b. map out the plots and action of the stories
c. rock to the rhythm of the language



p.s. when you become a Bard fanatic, don't be a literary snob to make someone feel bad for not appreciating the work; be the Bard advocate and say, "let me show you why he rocks".

Fact or Fable?

You pick up a book and read the summary on the back.  It's about the war in Iraq, and the experiences the soldiers had while fighting in the desert. It's highly researched and accurate.  But it's in the fiction section!





You grab another book and read the back.  It's a way-out account of some guy who was the victim of an accident that shoved a rod through his head but he survived.  "Like that would ever happen," you think.  Then you see it's from the nonfiction section!






Wondering and wandering, you search the nonfiction stacks in the library and find some titles about aliens and telling the future in the stars.  What in the world is going on?






What's real?  What's not? And how can we tell?



Like in science where there are two huge divisions that we talk about, plants and animals, the broadest categories we can put books into are: fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction is literature that comes from  imagination.

Nonfiction is literature that comes from fact.

Nonfiction is the broadest category including:

Biography, business, cooking, health

fitness, pets, crafts, home decorating, home improvement

languages, travel, religion, art, history, theology, self-help, true crime

science, humor textbook, thesaurus, autobiography, folktales, almanac, gazetteer

current events, atlas, philosophy...

To name a few.

So if there is some fiction that is hard to tell it's made up, how can we tell if the book we're reading is actually nonfiction?  You can look at the text features and text structure.

The text features include things like bold headings, bullet points, illustrations/graphics.  The text structure means how it is organized; by topic, by timeline or another way.  Many books refer to other research, books, magazines or a lot of other sources to gather the information; this is another feature of nonfiction books.

WARNING! Just because something looks nonfiction, doesn't mean it is.  Here are come other clues to help. *Note* This slideshow specifies websites but this information can be used for any type of resource. 

https://prezi.com/oozjp4bu_c5s/httpgeekclickorgteen-arrested-for-killing-brother-over-/

So, what are some ways that you can distinguish between fiction and nonfiction? 

Can you list some nonfiction books that you've read or want to read?

What about fiction?

Not another research paper! Part 7

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

Well.  This is it!  You've made it this far and you're almost ready to put the icing on the cake!

What is so important about editing?

Well, this is the window dressing that shows your reader that
1. you care enough about what you've written to make sure there are no obvious mistakes
2. your reader doesn't get confused because of misspellings or bad grammar
3. it is very hard to take someone seriously if they can't even take the time to fix a typo.

Your editing is going to put the finishing touches on your masterpiece.

So, before I go into a string of humorous posters detailing why you need to be grammar and spelling conscious, let me remind you that appearances can be deceiving but it's unfortunately important to make a first impression.  No matter how good a doctor is, if the office is dirty and bug-ridden, you're not very likely to go in, are you?

So, how's this for convincing you of the importance of editing?

Read your paper aloud, you might catch some mistakes.  Give it to a friend to read.

 All you have left is the cover page and "Works Cited" page.  Those are just window dressing and citations will be the subject of another post.  But...

Once you are done editing, the body of your paper is done! 

Give yourself a pat on the back and reward yourself with your favorite thing to do.  Eat ice cream, nap, read a book, whatever.  Kick back and know that you did your best.

Congratulations, you have finished your research paper!

Not another research paper! Part 6

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

This is it!  You've made it so far and now you're almost done.  But before you start doing the happy dance...


You have to add some substance to your bare-bones skeleton.  Remember your outline?

Now it's time to flesh it out... 

Take your important points and match up the resources that support them.  Then start explaining how they support your point and how they relate to each other.  You want to tie it all together and tell the reader just how each of these things answers the question you are posing.

DON'T get caught up in trying to write your thesis statement first, do the body of the paper first and THEN go back and write your thesis and conclusion.

Think of it this way:

Your paper is a journey to answer your question.  You write out the route to make sure you know you'll get where you're going, then write the abbreviated instructions at the beginning and then talk about the trip after you're done (for your conclusion).

How about this?

Your thesis is the short answer to your question and the body of the paper is the long answer.

Or this?

The thesis is your elevator pitch and the body of the paper is your presentation.

Let your creativity flow and don't be afraid to enjoy the opportunity to employ your vocabulary.  This is also where you get to use all those transition words and phrases your elementary and junior high school English teacher drilled into you head.  Have fun explaining to your reader how all the dots connect!

Once you have finished with the body, and gone back to write the thesis and conclusion, go ahead and sit back and relax and let your paper sit for 1-3 days (or even longer if you were REALLY on the ball).  Don't even go back and re-read portions until you've let it sit for a little while.  You'll have a much fresher eye and will be able to catch more flaws, mistakes, typos and stuff after you've rested a bit.

Once you've let it set, you are ready to move on to the last, final, ultimate step: 

Step 7 Editing!

Not another research paper! Part 5

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

NO! No huffing with impatience!  This is not a repeat of Step 3.  This is a refinement.  You don't get gold from rock without some effort.  You don't get seedless jelly without straining the fruit.

So, you've got some resources, you wrote your outline, now go back and make sure that the sources you have say what will support your point.  If some are weak or questionable, go search again for more resources.

Personal guideline: Your teacher will probably tell you how many resources he/she wants you to use.  My advice is, look for twice as many and then you can weed through and use the best!

So, since we already talked about how to evaluate your sources, let me expand on places to look for reliable information.  If you are looking in places that are reliable to start with, you make that evaluation process a bit easier.

First off, this is where I tell you why you can only use Wikipedia* for pre-search and not as one of your authoritative sources.

Where to start...

• Anybody can edit it at anytime.  Which means that an expert can write it and a scoundrel can change it and you wouldn't be able to tell.
• It has a lot of trivial information (example:  how important is the detailed definition of "bromance"?)
• Even the less controversial entries have problems.  Here's a tip even I didn't know until recently.  When you go to any entry, there are two tabs at the top.  One is the article and one is labeled "talk".  This is an enlightening series of arguments for and against points in the actual entry.  It will really  make you doubt the truthfulness of anything you just read. 

Databases

I would recommend these as your go-to place to find resources.
This is as if someone took all of the printed journals on a subject and scanned it in for you to search and use.  Nowadays there are lot of databases that offer full-text so make sure that is selected when you are performing your search.  There are generalized databases like Academic OneFile and there are specialized databases like ATLASerials (American Theological Library Association).  Take a look but revert to the general ones if you start to feel overwhelmed.  Information is incredibly easy to come by in the digital age.

And (shameless plug) ask your friendly librarian for help searching the database.  They'll be thrilled to show you!  Check your school, university or public library!

Websites

Here is a cheat-sheet when taking a look at websites.

Periodicals

And here are some ways to decide if something is a reliable journal or a popular magazine.

*Here are four interesting articles about Wikipedia:
Huffington Post
The New Yorker
The Awl
MIT Technology Review

You are almost done!  Next is when you play your own game and fill in the blanks between your resource points in Step 6!

Not another research paper! Part 4

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

This is it!  This is when you make your own template for the fill-in-the-blank!  You are going to take your question and the pieces of information you found and make a skeleton of the answer to your question.  Often what people (teachers) call this is your outline.  This is the backbone of what the answer is going to be.

Essentially you are making a skeleton and will "flesh" it out later.

As you lay down the points, there a lot of ways to organize them.  It will depend on the question you ask, your subject and how you want to go about answering it.  But, if you have a path in mind, it will come clear to the reader.

Examples:

• Chronological--you can put things in the order that they happened, like a timeline, and draw links between the events.
• Relationship--you can put the things that are related together and explain the connection.
• Causation--you can show the cause and effect or something (or show the effect and then discuss the cause).

There are a lot of variations just within these three ways of organization; choose one that complements your sources.

DO NOT worry about a thesis, yet.  You just want to make sure you get the main points down so you know what steps you are taking to get from the question to the answer.  (If you do have thoughts along that direction, though, write them down so you have them to refer to and free up your brain waves to think about something else).

Once you get the major points down, add the little steps that get you from one to the other.  Don't worry about complete sentences at this point; just get your thoughts down on paper.  Also, don't be afraid to look at it and say, "That's not going where I want." and scrap it!  Try again.  Since you're not putting a lot of time into writing paragraphs, you can spend time making sure your organizational method works.

Now that you have your skeleton in place (major points) and your supporting details (tendons and ligaments), it's time to research!

WAIT! I can hear you say.  We already did that in Step 3!

I know, but that was to find information and figure out what steps to take to answer your research question.  This step of research is to refine and strengthen your argument. You're not reinventing the wheel, just aligning it a bit better (I like to see how many different metaphors I can make for one subject. By the way, if you count them, let me know how many I achieved). But that's a subject for another post... 

Step 5 Research!

Not another research paper! Part 3

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

Ah ha ha!  This is where the game begins!  Do a scavenger hunt, be a pirate, search for Easter eggs... whatever prize metaphor you want to use; this is it.

What are the prizes you are looking for?  Why resources for your paper!  The facts and information that are going to explain, defend, and oppose your point (always address at least one point of opposition so you deflate the alternative argument).

I'm sure you remember from grade school and high school that there are:

•  books, magazines and internet articles.  

But there are also:

•  journals, personal interviews, audio/video materials, databases (this lies in conjunction with journals, especially), scientific studies, and theses and dissertations.  

All of these are fair game when searching for information to answer your research question.

BUT 

(and it's a big BUTT)

Not all available resources are created equal.  This is where your intelligence and training come into play.

The main points to look for in all resources (there are nuances between the types but we can get into that later) are:

Author: Who are they?  Have the written other stuff? What are their qualifications for writing this?
     Why is this important?  Do you want parenting advice from someone who never had kids? Would you like scientific data from someone who has never worked in a lab?  Would an atheist give good information about faith-filled living?

Purpose: Why was this written?  Was it to persuade, inform, convince, support something? Was the author biased in some way?
     Why is this important?  If the author is trying to sell you something, they probably won't include information that makes their product look bad.  In the same way, a Christian church website is not going to give you positive information about pagan practices.

Scope: Is this a broad overview of a large topic?  Or does it focus on one or two things?
     Why is this important?  Sometimes a larger view may miss important details.  Conversely, a small focused view might miss out on big-picture connections.

Publisher: Are they well-known? Do they have a specialty?
     Why is this important?  A publisher has someone read, edit and proofread the book before it goes to press to verify quality and accuracy.  A self-publishing company often lets the author do it (whether or not they're good at it) themselves. If the company is known for science tomes, will it have good representations of art?

Date: When was this published?  Is it a first edition or a reprint?  Is the information time-sensitive?
     Why is this important?  It's hard to believe "breaking" news when it's 5 years old.  It's hard to cite something as current when it lists the president as the one who was in office 3 terms ago.

Once you have answered these questions, you have to decide if the answers add up to something you can trust.  Just because a medical book was published 30 years ago doesn't mean you can't use it if you are talking about how treatments for a condition have advanced over the years.

You have to evaluate your potential sources using the purpose of your own paper. 

You are the one to decide, use and defend the resources you are using.

When you are starting out, I recommend actually writing all this information down for each source you are considering using, along with all the pertinent publishing data.  Eventually you will do this fairly quickly and internally and things will go faster.  Until then, you want to make sure you are hitting every point.

So there you are Step 3!  You are well on your way to setting up the fill-in-the-blank template.  Have fun on your treasure hunt and don't be tricked by fool's gold!

Not another research paper! Part 2

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

I can hear you saying now, "OK, pre-search is not even a word."  You caught me.  It's not really a word but it does describe a helpful concept.

Ever have a topic given that you know nothing about?  This is what pre-search helps with.

*unfounded statistic--85% of understanding a new subject is learning the vocabulary*

When you are doing your research, you need to know proper search terms to get the information that will help you answer your research question.  Knowing the vocabulary that is used in conjunction with the topic and how it might relate to other things is vital.  Especially if some of the terms have other meanings in different disciplines.

For example "colon" in English and grammar is vastly different from "colon" in internal medicine!

REMEMBER: the pre-search you do is just a starting point and won't really be used as the research sources you cite in your paper.

With the knowledge that you won't be using these as your authoritative sources (we'll learn more about that in the "research" step) two good and easy ways to find out more about your subject is to:

1. Google it (essentially just run an internet search)
2. Go to Wikipedia*

Sounds simple, right?  Well, it is.  The challenging part comes in when you are evaluating whether or not the results you come up with are accurate and reliable enough to go on.  For that, I recommend looking at at least 5 different results and find what matches up.  If 5 completely different websites are discussing the same topic using similar vocabulary, then it's a safe bet you'll find good information from reputable sources using those as search terms.

Once you get started on your pre-search and are finding more terms and related subjects, write them all down.  You are writing a paper, right? So practice writing everything down (or type/cut and paste into a document, whatever works for you) to leave a trail of breadcrumbs in case you need to retrace your steps.  You never know when the side-idea you have while reading will turn into a major discussion point down the road.

That's it for Step 2 in writing your research paper!

*I am compelled to emphasize that you will NOT be using Wikipedia as your authoritative source in your works cited page but we'll get more into that with the next step.

Not another research paper! Part 1B

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

Bear with me, you're almost done with the first step.

What your paper is NOT:

A game of Jeopardy. When someone is done reading your paper, they should not be playing a guessing game of  "I'll take smoking for $100, Alex.  What are health effects?"

What your paper IS:

The answer to a question.  What is the question?  That's what you get to ask!  This is another place where you have the power to choose your focus and where you start to make your fill-in-the-blank game.  If your paper is the answer to a question, then you have a purpose and a mission to answer it completely.

The trick is, there are good research questions and bad ones.  I think it's good to get acquainted with the bad ones first so you can avoid them in the future.

Let's think of your research question like a photograph.  You know what a bad photograph is:

What would a research question be for each of these?

Blurry

Why is smoking bad for you?
--What do you mean?  Is this philosophical, social or health oriented?  It's also pretty broad.

Double Exposure

What are the cancer and emphysema effects of smoking?

-- You've only got time for one in this paper.  Is it cancer or is it emphysema?  You won't be able to do them justice if you try to answer both.

Flashy

What would the world be like if nobody smoked?
--There's no way you could find anything to back it up because it doesn't exist.  This sounds good only if you want to write a futuristic novel otherwise, scrap it.

Panoramic

What are the effects of smoking in different countries?
--Whoa! No matter how early you started, there's no way you're going to have time to dive into the research for more than one country.  Even if you found information, it wouldn't all be the same type and wouldn't go together easily.  Pull back and think smaller.



So, now that you know what NOT to do, let's think about some that could work.

Going back to our lightning strike of laws/government:

• What are considered the most effective anti-smoking laws within cities?
• How effective are local government-sponsored anti-smoking campaigns?

Or thinking about health:

• What are the identifiable symptoms of cancer caused by smoking?
• Is there a critical time to quit smoking before emphysema is diagnosed?

You want to find something that is pointed, has some research done on it before, and focused enough you don't have to stretch far to tie the ends together.

Once you have settled on your working research question remember:

It's not set in stone, you can change it if you need to!

If you start looking things up and can't find enough information on your question, tailor it.  This is not a one-shot deal.

Now you can breathe a sigh of relief because the hardest part of your research paper is done!  And since you've started early enough, take a break before you start on Step 2: Pre-search

Not another research paper! Part 1A

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit

{Relax, I know that research is listed twice, it's not a mistake.}

But, first off is the topic!  Your teacher probably gave you a pretty broad topic to start off with.  This is NOT going to be the subject of your paper.  Usually instructors give wide ideas to give you the freedom to focus on something about that topic that interests you.  And I'll give you your first hint in writing a good paper.

Are you ready?

If you are interested in what you're writing about, your teacher will be too.

Interest and enthusiasm are tangible in your writing and the person who is reading it will notice.  If you like what you're writing about, you tend to focus on the more interesting aspects and your teacher will appreciate that.  Here's your second hint:

You are writing one (1!) paper but your teacher is grading... how many?  Have pity on your instructor and write something in-depth and interesting to save them from the humdrum of grading dry, boring, painful papers.

So, back to the topic at hand... the topic!

I like to think of the topic that a teacher gives as a cloud.  It's big, fluffy, nebulous, and doesn't have much shape.  But when the raindrops form and the lightning strikes, then you've got something to work with!

Behold--some examples:

This is the cloud idea I am talking about. Ideas and topics don't stand alone, there are a lot of related subjects.  But here is something more specific.

Just with one topic a teacher might give you, there are lots and LOTS of other things that fall under it or are related.  So, how are you going to narrow it down?  Find something you find the most intriguing or that you know the most about.  Then use that to narrow it down and let inspiration strike!

Not interested in laws or government?  Or decide you don't know enough about it?  Change your mind!

So many choices and you are in charge!

OK, I don't want to overwhelm.  We'll finish this section in another post.  Because it's not enough just to talk about a subject, that's just a summary and we're way beyond that level at this point.  You need to actually get down into the research level by asking:

The Research Question

Bum buh buuuummmm (portentous music)

To Be Continued...

Not another research paper! Introduction

This is a step-by-step recipe for how to take some of the pain and guesswork out of writing a research paper.

First off, what I'm taking about is called "qualitative" research which is reading, interpreting and synthesizing information into a coherent paper.  The other kind of research is "quantitative" which focuses on (shudder with me now) statistics and their uses.

I like to break down the assignment of writing a research paper and make it into a fill-in-the-blanks game; I'll outline the thought process of how I do that.  Remember, though, this is a multi-step process, the idea is not just to get enough words on the page to turn in but to actually find something you are interested in learning about.

Common obstacles to writing a research paper:

1. It's an assignment and automatically classified as BORING, UNPLEASANT, UNNECESSARY.  I know, I was a student once, too...
2. The second obstacle is often that you may not like the class you are taking and so the idea of having to spend so much time on the subject is off-putting.
3. And the final and most prevalent obstacle is time.  Very rarely do we plan out enough time to to plan, research, write and edit that darn paper.

I'm hoping that by giving you tips and guidelines for the first two, the third will be less of a problem because you will be less likely to procrastinate because, hopefully, it's no longer quite the oppressive, unpleasant burden you started out with.

First off--DON'T PANIC!  I'm going to list the steps I'm going to cover in this process and it's not the Pinterest-style quick and easy method.  There are 7 steps but that's not even as many steps as it takes to make a skillet chocolate chip cookie for the dough (cookie dough is one of my favorite foods, please no lectures on the health aspects) so take a look and give it a try.

1. Topic/Research Question
2. Pre-search
3. Research
4. Outline
5. Research
6. Fill-in-the-blanks
7. Edit