As Hannah pointed out in her most recent post, my understanding of the thesis research & writing process has changed & grown significantly since the start of this class. One of the things that I've learned over the past 6 weeks, which has particularly stuck with me, is the way in which even a simple chart can be surprisingly beneficial for clearly laying out the data that is covered in one's thesis. This has been apparent in a few different articles, but seemed particularly clear in Whitney Baker's article on bumper sticker history. In Table 1 of her article, Baker provides an overview of a broad range of data, such as historical dates, substrate materials, ink types, and design features.1 In her long, written out format, she examines these different pieces of information over several pages. Utilizing the table format, however, allowed her to provide, compare, and contrast the most important details in a space of less than half a page. The was one of the easier articles to digest, but even so, her use of the chart really helped me to grasp the information quickly & accurately. I expect that such a method of data conveyance could be particularly useful for my thesis, as at least a small section will likely detail physical aspects of the different wooden printing presses that have existed throughout history.
In a somewhat similar vein, the way in which Amy Starecheski used footnotes in her article on squatting history really helped me come to understand how useful Chicago-style can be when writing a thesis. For example, her twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty-third citations, all on one page, offer additional sources for the reader to explore, explain nuances of the squatting culture, and cite the source for a quote that she utilized.2 My thesis will likely need to include a variety of footnotes, as it will be utilizing books about printing presses, scholarly articles on education, and personal conversations with various individuals involved with the Uncommon Press project. I think my writing will be far clearer with this citation style than it would be with APA or MLA, due to way in which Chicago-style will let me cite all of these sources, while also having the ability to explain specific terminology or design details.
As I've been delving into writings that are specifically related to my topic, I've found it interesting to see the differences between some of the scholarly articles we've read, and the books about printing presses that have been published. I'm really looking forward to doing further research, to learn more about my topic, but also to learn more about the process that goes into researching & writing.
1 Whitney Baker, “Soapbox for the Automobile: Bumper Sticker History, Identification, and Preservation,” Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 7:3, (Summer 2011) pp. 251-270.
2 Amy Starecheski, “Squatting History: The Power of Oral History as a History-Making Practice,” The Oral History Review, 41:2, (Summer/Fall 2014) pp. 187-216. ↩
I really enjoyed Baker's paper too, and I also think that in cases like this tables and charts are very effective ways to contain pages of information into a visual medium that can be quickly and efficiently analyzed.
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