Curious Reseacher - Blog #3

When writing a research paper, a lot of times, it is easy to think you can just jump into writing. We start to research a few topics that relate to your main topic and maybe find some interesting facts that will add to your research.  But while looking for information, you don't really have a specific problem you are trying to relate to. You are just looking at everything that is relatable.  A very important step in writing a research paper, as we are learning in "The Curious Researcher," is an inquiry question. When you have a question that you are trying to answer it is so much easier to search for the answers as opposed to just looking up a subject. There were three steps we were to follow for this next exercise in writing.

First we were asked to come up with an inquiry question: 

• What might explain the fact that Haiti was dedicated to Satan in the year of 1804 in a vodou ceremony and what were the effects of that dedication in the long run?

Secondly, based off of our inquiry question, we were to ask additional questions to further explore the topic and think of a thesis to go off of:

• What events were leading up to the island's dedication? Who were the people involved? What were the circumstances? How did this all come about? Where did this take place? Why was it dedicated to Satan and not God?
• My thesis: The Haitian slaves knew more about Satan at the time than they did God and they were fearful of vodou witch doctors. They wanted to Satan's approval so they promised Satan the island if he would help them win their revolt against the French.

The third and final thing we were asked to do was to state whether we had any personal or prior belief's that have made me feel the way I do about this subject.

• One thing that got me started on this topic is my love for Haiti in general. I was a missionary there for almost ten years. There is so much about Haiti that is very interesting especially its culture. The year we moved to Haiti was the end of the 200 years of dedication to Satan. I fully believe that the dedication was real and completely has shaped how Haiti has been for the last 200 years. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and I believe that a lot of that has to do with the fact that it was "Satan's island."

Curious Reseacher - Blog #2

As we continue with learning how to write out and plan a research paper, one of the first things you have to know is how to come up with a topic. Today we looked further into coming up with a topic to write about. Instead of just thinking randomly about a topic and trying to figure out what to write about, we were asked to take several steps to come up with that topic.

The first step we were to take was to just make several lists of things that fall into certain categories. We were given several different general ideas and asked to just come up with specifics falling under that particular subject.  Places, jobs and people were three of the general topics I chose to just make a list of specifics under.

Places:
Haiti
Dominican Republic
Venezuela
Antarctica
Greenland
Jamaica
Bermuda
Sahara Desert
Indian Ocean

Jobs:
Missionaries
Librarians
Dentist
Physical Therapists
Lawyers
Artists
Writers

People:
Henry Christoff
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Edison
Henry W. Longfellow
Harper Lee Montgomery
Aristede

The second step was to chose something on the list that stood out to you. My choice was Haiti. Lastly, when we had chosen a topic, we were asked to generate a list of questions that concerned that particular topic. The following questions are questions that I would love to answer in a deeper study of the topic.

Why is Haiti still so poor after all the aid that has come through the country?
Is Haiti really as dangerous as people think it is?
Why was the island of Haiti dedicated to Satan in 1804?
What is the percentage of Catholicism in Haiti?
How does it relate to people there?
What were the largest areas affected by the earthquake?
How do people respond to the natural disasters that happen there?
Where did the language come from?
What happened to the French who lived there and the slaves?
What is the relationship that Haiti has with the Dominican Republic?

Curious Reseacher - Blog #1

Coming into college, one of the first things that went through my mind was, "How are I going to get through all the papers that I know there will be?" I was nervous about the amount of writing there was going to be.  In my English Composition class that I have been taking, we were recently introduced to book called "The Curious Researcher." Not only does it teach you how to be a better writer, but it also walks you through the process of writing a paper. Boy, was I glad when I saw that. I wouldn't be alone in my writing after all! Taking it one step at a time, I know I will be able to reach my goal. One of the things this book has us do is different exercises to work on the project. The first exercise guides us through a thought process of different beliefs in writing. Here is my response to this exercise.

A belief about research papers that I found to be true is the belief that you have to be objective.  If there is no goal that you are headed towards, there is no point in your writing.  A movie without a plot would simply be boring. A book without a result would be a waste of time.  Just like a paper without an objective would be pointless.  With an objective in mind, you can build on a certain point creating building blocks to the end goal. Objectives are important in writing.

The second belief I found to be true is that there is a big difference between facts and opinions. Facts are thoughts that have been proven over time to be true. They have the same result every time. A fact has a universal answer that is true. Opinions on the other hand may be only true to some people. Tonight while I was eating dinner, I decided to mix my peas and chocolate pudding together. In my opinion, I thought it was very tasty while the opinion of my friends thought it looked nasty.  I cannot say that it is fact that peas and chocolate pudding are good because that is a personal opinion that can be different for someone else.