After reading Chapter 1, the author made me view writing a research paper in a different aspect. I for one loathed research papers, especially when the topic has no interest to me or anything that will help improve my life. Now, if I were asked to research the best shoe stores or True Blood, then I am sold. In my opinion I think that key to a good research paper is simply good timing and preparation. If the topic is not really your cup of tea, like most things, you can always find the good in it. The community that I choose to research was Hyde Park. What interested me the most about this particular area was the stereo types that I had heard about the people lived in the area. And that fact some elite class African Americans lived in this area, which I was not accustomed to growing up in the Austin Area. Growing up in the west side the "thing" was that people that lived on the South Side were considered to be bourgeois or had a tendency to look down on people from the west side. Since I have now become a resident of Hyde Park, I have now noticed that my view has changed, to a certain degree.
Questions:
If you were influenced by someone/something in your community, how were you influenced? Was is negative, positive, or both?
Did the influence make you view your current community or group differently? If so how.
How would you compare/contrast certain stereotypes to the community you grew up in to the one that you live in now?
How do individuals view your community? Do they believe in the stereotypes?
You've got a lot of great questions to lead you into your research and Hyde Park is a great area with a lot of history and mixed perceptions. I know a lot about the area without having been there very much.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you may want to consider is the information provided under the subheading Urban Renewal on the Wikipedia page. The influence that University of Chicago has on Hyde Park is tremendous but creates a lot of unique circumstances!
Colleen makes a really good point. I was just looking at Hyde Park Progress, a blog about Hyde Park. The most recent story, from Sept. 22, is about an early childhood center being built for the U of C lab school. Apparently, the site had once been a hospital.
ReplyDeleteMy sister used to teach math at a U of C charter school in Woodlawn. As I'm sure you know, Woodlawn is a much different place than Hyde Park. And a charter school, even when affiliated with U of C, is far different than the pricey U of C lab school. You might want to try to craft a research question about access to education in the Hyde Park area.