Learning about researching Papers

During these first 5 weeks of classes I've learned a lot about the various styles of research papers, and the methods that are going on in the background.  And our discussions about them in class have also expanded my own understanding of what exactly I'm reading. It has also helped me look deeper into the books I'm reading about my research topic. For example, while reading Rich Wagner's book on the history of brewing in Philadelphia I thought more about how he sourced his information, and contemplated whether I could emulate this with my own research, or if it's even something I want to do in my research

The cover of Rich Wagner's book Philadelphia Beer : A heady history of brewing in the cradle of liberty

One of these reading's that really influenced me was Steinberg's article about the use of food at the Tenement Museum. He talks about how important food is to telling stories.[1] This is something I would really like to create while working on my research paper, the stories behind the beers that were made here. In the early 1800s, and even in the years leading up to the prohibition, many resources vital to brewing were still very limited in upstate New York; this made the recipes used to make the beer a story on their own. The article we read that made me think about my own research was Fekete's article on the garbage plate, but it was more of a what not to do when thinking doing a survey.[2] I have met a lot of people I can source information from and they're all come from very different places. I feel like if I were to construct some sort of questionnaire about their thoughts of current day brewing in Rochester, and why or how that has developed, I would be able to get an interesting array of answers, instead of the extremely biased or uninformed answers I would probably get if I were to pose the question on my personal Facebook.

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[1] Adam Steinberg, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Food: Using Food to Teach at the Tenement Museum,” The Public Historian (2012): 80-81

[2] Emily Fekete “’I Know I’m Home When I Have One:’ The Cultural Significance of the Garbage Plate of Rochester, NY,” Journal of Material Culture 46, no. 1 (2014