Junior Varsity English (Prep for AP, Humanities, and Big Time University): SOURCES

Friday, May 9, 2008

SOURCES

1. Assess the quality and types of the particular sources you found. Best sources? Worst sources? Most interesting? Least interesting? Most in-depth? Most general? Most reliable? Most suspect? What types? Primary sources? Secondary sources? Anecdotal? Journalistic? Scholarly? Institutional?

2. Evaluate the sources and information available on the topic. Overall were there many good sources? Were they easy or hard to find? Where there any gaps in information? Any sources of information you expected would exist but didn't?

3. Explain how your sources offer a diverse range of perspectives and information about your topic.

17 comments:

Hannah Benson said...: 1) The quality of the sources I found were all really basic, but factual. I needed something factual because I personally am not Catholic so I needed to get a brief overview of what it was before I compared how it was practiced. The most interesting sources had to have been the interviews because they were people. Sometimes it gets boring to just read article after article, but to really interact with someone about a topic makes it more enjoyable, and I end up finding things out I wouldn't have normally asked. The most reliable sources were the books, they were also the least interesting. The Internet sources were kind of dull but they were the ones with facts that I needed. The most in depth was one of my interviews because I ended up asking questions because one thing lead to another, etc. The newspaper article was very basic but had some personality to it, and also was like an outside source which was killing two birds with one stone.

2)Overall, there weren't too many good sources because no one really posts websites comparing two different Catholic churches because that would just cause issues, and churches really aren't too big on spreading issues. So it was not that easy. However, it was easy to get the interviews and people were very happy to share what they know about religion, etc. I was surprised at the lack of sources relating to newspaper articles, but I guess I should have checked the archives.

3) All of my sources are different because some are interviews with people all going to different churches, while others are just different versions of what Roman Catholicism is like on the World spectrum. There were various articles about Fiesta, but not so many about the Portuguese crowning Ceremony. All together, it was a good variety, and it wasn't either JUST about Our Lady's or JUST about Holy Family. It was interesting.; May 12, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Courtland Kelly said...: Courtland Kelly
E Block
Artists.......

1. The best sources were definitely my interviews. My focus was mainly a personal subject anyway (local influence on artists), so asking the artists themselves was extremely helpful in getting the answers that I needed. My most helpful interview was my first one, which was with the potter Marty Morgan. She was really nice and easy to talk to, partly I think because she had kids of her own and knew how to deal with me, unlike so of the other, more secluded artists that I interviewed. She also gave me the most straightforward information on her inspiration, which was clearly from Cape Ann, and was one of the founders of the Cape Ann Artisans so she could tell me exactly what the organization entailed. My worst source was probably the first book I read, which was a catalogue based on a sculpture show that was held in Gloucester. Most of the sculptors has very little or no ties to Cape Ann and the information was bland and purely biographical. The book Artists of Cape Ann had an introduction that was broad but informative about the cultural history of art and artists in Gloucester. However, I do not find paintings as interesting as pot or as living artists, so although it was a good source, I did not find it particularly interesting. I also read a brochure on the Artisans, as well as a newspaper article about the tour. These were both advertising sources, and therefore informative but not comprehensive about the topic.

2. I had a very hard time finding any written material on the Cape Ann Artisans, although there were some newspaper articles and the Artisan-produced informational pamphlets. Running into this problem is what spurred me to seriously consider interviews and make them happen. I expected there to be a historical article on the artisans to have been published around their 20th anniversary, but I was unable to find any of that nature. It is possible that I would have been more successful if I had tried different search engines or looked in different areas, like Sawyer Free.

3. In just my interviews I have a huge range of perspectives because although they were all from the artists’ point of view, these perspectives varied greatly from artists to artists because of their different personalities and life experiences. I also got factual, historical references from books in the library, which were from the point of a researcher in a similar situation. In addition, the newspaper article gives a point of view from a journalist, which is different because journalists are trained to report certain information, which differs from the information that other sources find important.; May 12, 2008 at 5:32 PM
MHodgkins said...: 1. I had a variety of sources. The best was probably from a magazine, "The New York Observer." It had not only a summary of Davis' life, but covered his style and commented on his works. The least useful were probably the ones about exhibitions that were coming up. They did provide a small tad of information but a lot of it was just commenting on how spectacular the show will be. Most of the sources were about the same though, a majority were a short biography on Davis'. Though one, gave specific information about how jazz inspired Davis' using direct quotes from the artist himself.

2. Most of the sources, though similar were useful. They were similar but never exactly alike. There was always a piece from one source that would fit in well together. Putting all the sources together makes a big detailed piece of information. Once I narrowed down my search to things like his life or his paintings or his relation to Gloucester info was easy to find.

3. There wasn't exactly a "diverse range" but you could definitely notice it in some. The one on jazz was clearly written by a fan of both Davis' work and jazz. It was written with quotes and helpful tidbits on where Davis got his inspiration. Others were simply biographies. Then there were some that went more into his unique painting style.; May 12, 2008 at 6:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Sarah Johnson
Halibut Point State Park

1. The most reliable of my sources was the information I got directly from the park, on the quarry tours and in those brochures. The least reliable is probably the interview with my dad, since it was so informal and based solely on a busy old man’s memory. The most interesting was also the Quarry Tour, seeing as it was interactive and involved walking around in the beautiful sunshine for an hour. The “birding for Beginners” excerpt from the Beacon archive is not exactly an extensive source, and with the addition of the other birding website, makes this one kind of superfluous. The Birding website is non-specific to my topic, and therefore not that easy to navigate/utilize. As mentioned in all of my annotations, the sources varied as far as sources go, most were secondary sources, other than the interview and tour. These were also the most in depth. The most boring was easily the “Essex National Heritage Birding” website.

2. All of the information I found was self-presenting and all were between 95 and 100 percent accurate. I had expected there to be a bit more information regarding it and other state parks, especially for a book in our library, but it was not so. I am confident there is more information in the Sawyer Free, and the websites I used were always of the first 2 or 3 on my google searches, so I’m sure ther is far more information on the web alone that is easily accessible.

3. As pointed out in my annotations, they present a very diverse range of sources. With a first-hand experience in the Park itself, an interview, a physical and online photo journal, an historical reference, a date-time newspaper and newspaper archive, and an informational blog with several connecting blogs all centering around the Park, my sources look at the park from every perspective. From a quarry, to a playground, to a walking path, to a bird-viewing avenue, to a wedding chapel, to a simple landscape, the park has been used by all kinds of people in every way imaginable. The perspectives are the reason the information is so diverse, since each take on the park reveals a new side of the park.; May 12, 2008 at 7:13 PM
leah palazola said...: 1-2) The best source I used was my personal interview with my Grandfather. It was very accurate and reliable information because he had a personal experience with every single St. Peter's Fiesta all the way up until the most recent one of today. This was also one of the most interesting sources I used. A couple of the sources I found online I felt as though were not as reliable, accurate, or interesting. A lot of them had the same information just worded differently. None of the online articles really deep into the topic; most of them just brushed the surface, which is at the same time helpful when starting off. Overall I feel like I found pretty good sources without much trouble that had mostly accurate information. Some started to get a little boring but then I would come across the ones that were new and exciting that would make me want to learn more.

3)My sources range from what was available on the internet to personal first hand experiences to books written by complete outsiders. They provide a range of different views, opinions, and facts; some of which seemed more accurate than others. With this information I was able to compare them to eachother; a first hand experience to and outsider's opinion for example. This made my research much more interesting, exciting, and different.; May 13, 2008 at 6:04 AM
Lucy Fox said...: I only used 9 sources (as of now). Four of my sources were books, the remaining five were from the internet. The best source I used was the book Artists of Cape Ann. Accompanied with some of their best known work was a brief biography of a good amount of artists who painted or were from Cape Ann. A lot of the web pages weren’t too in depth, making them less helpful. As I am still not completely sure what exactly my thesis/topic is, it’s hard to tell what source will be most helpful in my writing. A few sources, like the Escape North site, was a touristy webpage, and therefore less informative and subject to suspicions. Most of the sources used were secondary, including a newspaper article. Again, when I was looking for information, I wasn’t quite sure what information I was looking for. This doesn’t mean that information wasn’t available, but more just out of sight. I had a hard time finding sources; I expected more opinion articles from magazines or newspapers about the importance of Gloucester and Rockport’s harbors in art, but found none. I could have easily been looking in the wrong places. My sources differed in their subject matter, as I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for. I looked at histories of Gloucester and Rockport as well as schooners themselves. I also researched individual artists of Cape Ann. The two are related, but different.; May 13, 2008 at 10:59 AM
alison r said...: My sources consist of 4 books and 6 internet sources. All four of the book sources I found are very helpful and are certainly reliable. A couple out of the six internet sources are useless in some respects but also very helpful in others. For instance, two of my internet sources are glossaries of nautical terms, they both have relatively the same information but do have some different words that I need. I found it difficult at first to find sources to support my thesis, but in terms of informational gaps - there were none. Some of my sources do oppose my thesis and that is helpful because it gives me something to bounce off of when supporting my thesis.; May 13, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Michael said...: Michael McGovern
B Block

1. My best source was the pamphlet by Thomas Dresser. It covered the entire history of Dogtown while also covering all of the important landscape features. Another good source was Carl Carlson's web page. This site focused on all of the literary aspects of Dogtown such as the poems and books. The worst site was definatly the webpage by Eric Dacron. This site presented no new information and injected a lot of personal opinion into the information.

2. Overall, most of my sources were good. They were however very hard to find. In order to find all of the good websites, I had to generalize my search and search a while on the internet. Also, many sources, while reliable, presented the same exact information as other sources I used. This made it difficult to find new information.

3. My sources offer a diverse range of perspectives on my topic because they focous on different aspects of Dogtown. I have some sources that cover people, some that cover landscape, some that cover history, and some that cover literature. Overall, by having a wind range of research, it resulted in my sources offering a wide range of information about Dogtown.; May 13, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Alyssa D'Antonio said...: In my quest for sources on Charles Olson I ran into a variety of sources both rich and poor in quality. The best source I found was a catalogue of articles written biographically about Charles Olson by his sister-in-law Jane Atherton. These articles were published by The Minutes Of The Charles Olson Society and followed both Olson's personal life, and publishing life from his meeting Jane in 1939 to his death in 1970. This first hand source filled the empty gaps left in the no nonsense stiff biographies I found on other various sites, all of which seemed to just blurt out the same basic information, and left out his relationship with Gloucester.
I think that as I researched, I found the sources to be pretty even keeled between the good and the bad, although there really wasn't much to choose from. For instance when googling "Charles Olson" one is confront with maybe seven reputable sources on the first page, and the rest are random myspace pages. There are also many anthologies of Olson's poetry on the internet, but hardly any detailed biographic information, which is what I was after.
My sources are to say the least diverse, from the stiffest biography to the loosest personal interview, where Olson was drinking whiskey and cussing throughout. I think this diversity really lends to the different facets of Olson, and his contributions to both the realm of poetry, and the city that he loved.; May 13, 2008 at 6:11 PM
MegHan said...: Meghan Ciaramitaro

Every source I encountered was similar. They each gave a short short biography or summary of an artist's work and a couple pictures. I only found one site with a full biography. However, it is not very detailed. I think the best thing about all the sites is the galleries. They allow me to get a firsthand look at the photographs of the artists. The photographs are a diverse range of perspectives in the artist’s eyes. I tried to find a few artists who had different styles, and a few who had similar styles.; May 13, 2008 at 8:17 PM
Kaylie McTiernan said...: 1.) The best sources were those that dealt specifically with my topic. The book The First People of Cape Ann was very helpful. Some sources dealt strictly with the settlers perspective and weren’t as helpful. Books from the Native Americans’ perspective were helpful, but sometimes it wasn’t clear if the information applied to Cape Ann Native Americans.

2.) It was hard to find good sources on my topic. There were a few good sources that were very helpful. The information only really begins when the Europeans came to Cape Ann. It is difficult to find out in depth information about their society prior to that. I would have expected there to be a little more information.

3.) My sources give the perspectives of the Cape Ann Native Americans and the Europeans. There is also information differing between the settlers and explorers. Also, some information on Native Americans from different regions gives a variety in perspectives.; May 13, 2008 at 8:19 PM
Emily Castro said...: 1.)Most of the sources I found had valuable information, there were not many sources that did not have substance to them. The best sources were the PDF files I found on the interent, the books, and the film by Henry Ferrini. The movie was by far the most interesting, and the PDF were very useful. I also found the interviews that I read to be very useful because they gave me a true idea of what Olson was like and how he responded to people. The least interesting and worst source that I looked at was the wikipedia page because it was extremely impersonal and really revealed nothing significant about Charles Olson.

2.)I think there were some good sources, not a ton, but I found some really solid sources that provided me with many different perspectives and interpretations of Charles Olson. I did not have to look too hard to find information, Charles Olson is an importatn figure in Gloucester, so information on his work, his ideas, and his life not too too hard to find, but I did have to do a little digging. The film by Henry Ferrini took me by surprise. I didn't expect to be so lucky in finding such a reliable, interesting source.

3.) My sources offer a diverse range of perspectives on my tpois because they are all different. All of the written sources have different authors, thus the ideas presented in the work are not the same. Also, all of my sources do not pertain to the same exact thing, some are about projective verse, some are about the maximus poems, some are about Charles Olson, and some are about his philosophy of place. I think the film by Ferrini also provides a diverse range of perspectives on my topic because there are so many people in the film and each of them has something different to say about Charles Olson and how his life and philosophy related to Gloucester.; May 14, 2008 at 4:55 AM
Mercedes Lane said...: 1.) Overall, the sources I found about Fitz Henry Lane were both informational and interesting. Only one of them seemed particularly better than the others, and none seemed worse than the rest. Most of the sources I found contained general information about Lane’s life and his artwork. All of them appeared reliable, except for Wikipedia which did not have citations for the information that they had. The best source that I found out of all of them was a book called Fitz Hugh Lane. It was an in depth account of Lane’s life.

2.) All of the information that I found about Fitz Henry Lane was easy to locate and to understand. There were many websites that gave a basic recount of Lane’s personal life and his life as a painter. Some sources, such as the book I found, divulged more into the subject of his life, giving more information than any other source. Some sources gave information that others did not have. Putting the information from all the sources together gave me a better understanding of Fitz Henry Lane.

3.) There was not really a diverse range of perspectives and information about Fitz Henry Lane in the sources I used. Most contained basic information about the painter. Occasionally I would come across a newspaper or magazine article that gave me personal accounts about the artist to add to my research. Other than these resources, the information I gathered was general.; May 14, 2008 at 8:45 PM
BHand13 said...: Brian Hand

My best sources were the actual films, in which I was able to see a side of Cape Ann, and of course these were my best sources. Even though they were primary sources, there is a great chance that I will misinterpret them to the point where they will be not only ineffective but detrimental to my project. I found the critical reviews of the films to be most interesting but also the least useful in looking for how the film has been influenced by Cape Ann or vice versa. I also found some newspaper articles in which filmmakers have said what attracted them most to film in Cape Ann.
The most obvious and most readily available sources are the films themselves, which provide anything and everything I need, but rely entirely on how well i can decipher them. I also found the articles without too much searching. The only trouble i've encountered is with the self-righteous old filmmakers who are too enveloped in their overrated and pretentious work to help a struggling student by answering a few questions.
My sources exhibit diversity simply within the films themselves. Each one offers a differing perspective and adaptation of Cape Ann, and its all disguised behind layers of scenery applying to that particular shot or film. From there i have a couple of newspaper articles and I'm hoping to expand with primary sources if i can get a little cooperation.; May 15, 2008 at 4:50 PM
isabel said...: 1.) Interveiwing people who have been around for 1976 helped me imagine what gloucester was really like compared to how it is now. Generally knowing the places they explained helped alot too. Imaging the transformation of things from they way they were to how they are now is beleivable. I truley found that interveiwing my parents, people who just came here that year; and interviewing people who were here they're whole life deffinatly gives me alot to work with.
2.) Trying to develope more of a world wide idea on the web of this year is deffinatly way harder then the interveiws that i have given. It really just states events that had occured but do not go into depth of much of it. So there for i know what happend, what went on, but just the jist of it not detailed the way i wish it could have been.
3.) I like the interviews overall oposed to the internet reasearch or book research only because these people have lived, and breathed that year... they have experienced what i need to know for my project and can really tell me and describe to me the REAL gloucester in 1976; May 16, 2008 at 3:02 PM
aunis said...: I'm so sorry its late I didn't even realize this other sectionof questions was here!

Alicia Unis
E block
Judith Sargent Murray

1. The quality of my sources was mostly reliable, but not complete. If the source had rambled off various dates, than it would completely overlook Judith's personality or character. The worst was wikipedia because I couldn't trust anything it said, therefore rendering it useless, so I didn't include it. Wikipedia's sources for the article didn't even provide me with an alternate source of information that is creditable. I really enjoyed the two sources that included Judith's actual documents, she had written. They were the most interesting because I had been able to examine her own words, enabling me to assess her character myself, because no other source really had. Barely any of the sources had depth. I was so bored reading the same repeatitive facts over and over and was only awaken at the one minor difference from the rest.I have primary and secondary resources, along with Scholarly and institutional. I only wish I could have gotten an interview, but unfortunately, she's dead along with anyone who might have known her personally.

2. At first, the sources were fairly easy to find. But these sources provided me with all the standard facts about her upbringing and various "significant" dates. So they were all generic and uninteresting and i had taken me a long time to search through a variety of useless sites to find something unique and/or interesting. There weren't many gaps, there seemed to be a complete account of her life, and I don't remember seeing one conflicting story. I was disappointed with the lack of personality in any of these sites. I had expected there to be at least a little information about who the women really was rather than what she did. These sites were impersonal and incomplete.

3. As we learned earlier this year, perspective affects perception. Each individual's perspective of specific events or subjects can alter their perceptions of them. So if you were a mom that had a son shot and killed and was on the jury for a murderer, you would probably be bias. Specific events ni your life has given you a different perspective, so when writing about a subject, how you feel about it can change the way its written and projected to the audience. With each source, especially if it an interview or primary source, there will be a perspective affecting the even possibly subtle opinion or account offered.So with each different side of the story, the story may change to fit each opinion and bias and offer a new perspective and maybe even new information.; May 20, 2008 at 5:29 PM
alees said...: 1. I found many sources that just gave brief biographies of Hammond or interesting facts for tourists about his castle. My two best sources were a book by John Dandola and a personal interview with John Pettibone, the curator of the Hammond Castle Museum. The interview was instrumental in the development and writing of my paper. Pettibone did not meet Hammond but he knew all of Hammond's closest servants for twenty five years. He had many interesting and useful anecdotes on Hammond told to him by the servants to share with me. My sources did conflict a bit because Pettibone said that he didn't think that John Dandola had written an accurate biography.

2. There were plenty of sources and they were easy to find. There were many good sources on biographical information (but as I expected)not that many that delved in the man's mind. I expected that there would be some archives (such as personal diary entries or letters) at Hammond Castle but apparently all of their archives are either falling apart or missing.

3. I have sources that have only factual information on Hammond that is widely accepted. I also have a source with ghost stories about Hammond, a book by a researcher, and an interview with someone who is very passionate about Hammond.; May 21, 2008 at 5:20 PM