Zombie Ideology

Research Question:  With the rise in popularity in zombies what are they portrayed as in the real world?

Why I chose this question: I decided to write about this topic because I have always been fascinated by zombies. I wanted to further my knowledge in this field of portraying societies fears to zombies. I have noticed there can be hidden messages or life lessons that one can learn from seeing any type of films.

Helpful Tips: Some may say to choose a partner to write a team paper, but I believe that its not all that necessary. I was capable of completing the task very well on my own. There are advantages of working together because of less workload. But also disadvantages because sometimes a partner can not be relied on.

There is no need to start really early but as soon as you can because of other assignments (essays) you have to complete. But it is helpful that you start looking at probable sources you can use maybe skim through some?

Do NOT Procrastinate!!!!!!!!!!!!! or else!

CSULA Database is very helpful learn how to maneuver through the website

Here are some articles I used:

Bishop, Kyle. “Raising the Dead.” Journal of Popular Film & Television 33.4 (2006): 195-205. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 May 2013

Bishop, Kyle. “Dead Man Still Walking: Explaining the Zombie Renaissance.” Journal of the Popular Film and Television 37.1 (2009) 16-25 Print 28 March 2013

William Bishop, Kyle. “The Idle Proletariat: Dawn of the Dead”, Consumer Ideology, and the Loss of Productive Labor. Journal of Popular Culture 43.2 (2010): 234-248. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 May 2013

Brandon Brown, et al. “Zombie- - A Pop Culture Resource for Public Health Awareness. “Emerging Infectious Diseases 19.5 (2013): 809-813. Academic Search Premier. Web 13 May 2013

Cruz, Ronald Allan Lopez. “Mutations and Metamorphosis: Body Horror Is a Biological Horror.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 40.4 (2012): 160-168. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 May 2013

Rick, Worland. “OWI Meets the Monsters: Hollywood Horror Films and War Propaganda, 1942 to 1945 Journal of the Cinema Department (1997) Web. 16 May 2013

Boluk, Stephanie, and Lenz, Wylie. “Infection, Media, and Capitalism: From Early Modern Plagues to Postmodern Zombies. “Journal of the Early Modern Cultural Studies 10.2 (2011) 126-147

Disney Princesses and Race

Research Question: 
What messages are Disney Princesses inferring about race?

Why we chose this question. 
We both had similar questions about Disney Princesses which led us to collaborate and write one research paper. Both of us being from cultural backgrounds, had difficulty accepting who we were and seeing ourselves through the Disney Princesses as little girls.

Helpful tips from us to you! 

• Work with a partner if possible, because it is easier in  terms of completing the research paper successfully and thinking about ideas to incorporate into the paper. 
• Save any source that you may find, regardless if you find them unhelpful at first. Things that may not seem related to your topic at first can actually be useful for counterarguments in you paper. 
• RESEARCH BEFORE YOUR RESEARCH. Many times people choose topics that are dead ends which result in not having enough to talk about. Consider writing your paper on something that interests you but also that is not too concrete so that you cannot find information. 
• Prepare to begin writing your research paper as soon as Professor Hicks gives out the research paper guidelines. (We did this and had little trouble with applying our research to the questions that were given.) 
• JSTOR was VERY HELPFUL in finding journal articles. 
• Go into depth when analyzing your sources and even your personal perceptions. 

Helpful sources for this topic. 

1. Hurley, D. (2005). Seeing white: Children of color and the disney fairy tale princess. The Journal of Negro Education, 74(3), 221-232. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.mimas.calstatela.edu 
2. Orenstein, P. (2011). Cinderella ate my daughter, dispatches from the front lines of the new girlie-girl culture. (1st ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
3. Gibbs, A. (December 2009/January 2010 ). Disney's Princess Tiana. Ebony, LVX(2), 62. Retrieved from www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic 

Don't leave to the last minute! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN! :) 

P.S.. Notice how the photo above only has one princess of color and the way she's dressed compared to the other (white) princesses. 

Do

Don

Aliens and fairies

1.)What I would have done differently was not doing my research at night because the next morning I would have forgotten much of the article and I think doing a research review of your results will help you write the paper faster. I would have also tried to write the Parts in different days because I wrote the whole paper in one day thinking it was do the next day and it was not. I would also say start early if you are a procrastinator because you do not want to be locked up in your room trying to write the research paper especially when the weather is unbearably.

2.) My research question was " how are beliefs in aliens related to our old beliefs of aliens". I used a blog that had quotes from a scholarly journals and books but I only used the quotes that were cited. I did most of my research from the library database using the Academic search primer. I used search terms like extraterrestrial and fairies which gave me a pretty decent results which i mostly used them all. It is a good topic because you find stuff that you didnt not expect would be related to aliens and fairies.

1.      Brin, D. (1994). Extraterrestrial nightmares: Aliens aren't the first creatures to capture our dark imagination. Omni, 16(9), 4.

2.      “Faerie A-E,” Last accessed Saturday, December 25, 2010

3.      Gromacki, G. (2012). Ancient Aliens or Demonic Deception?. Journal Of Ministry & Theology, 16(2), 24-62.

4.      Hiebert, R. (2002). Little green gurus. Report / Newsmagazine (National Edition), 29(20), 52.

5.      In: European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies,( 2000) , p113 -118

6.      Susan Blackmore and Marcus Cox, “Alien Abductions, Sleep Paralysis and the Temporal Lobe.” 

Evolution of Vampires

In completing my research paper, there are a few things I can advise that I think will make your lives easier regardless of your topics. First of all, when you first hear of the research paper in English 102, you might freak out a bit just like I did. However, in all honesty this paper wasn't that bad at all! and for your information, this is coming from someone who dislikes writing papers. I advise you to take this paper step by step because you do have sometime to finish. when it comes to actually finding research which I believe is the most time consuming, go to a pair tutor that im sure Mrs. Hicks will tell you about. It helped me a lot to see a pair tutor. It must have only taken me no more than ten minutes to find great articles! Also, I would obviously have to say to not slack off TOO much and literally put off the research paper until the last week. I wish that I knew about pair tutors before I started doing research at home because I was so lost . I was already starting to doubt the topic I had chosen but with help in searching for research, I found that my topic was great! probably what I would've done differently is start working on part III instead of I and II because III is definitely the most difficult.

Now, my topic was on vampires and their roles throughout time. I basically started with the origins of vampires and how they were first seen as a horror figure and through time progressed to symbolizing things such as homosexuality, STDs, and including somewhat stereotypical gender roles. My question for this paper was " How are the roles of vampires from back then different from the ones shown in more modern times?". In searching for answers to my question, the sources that I found  most useful were...

Day,Peter. "Vampires Myths And Metaphors Of Enduring Evil". Volume 28. Amsterdam-New York, NY 2006.

Dresser, Norine. "American Vampires fans, victims, and practitioners". w-w- Norton and Company- New York- London.

McGunnigle, Christopher. "My Own Vampire The Metamorphosis of the Queer Monster In Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula".

Fink, Marty. "Aids Vampires: Reimagining Illness in Octavia Butler's Fledging". Science Fiction Studies, volume 37 (2010).

Bode, Lisa. "Transitonal Tastes: Teen girls and genre in the critical reception of Twilight". Continuum: journal of Media and Cultural Studies Vol.24. No5, October 2010, 707-719.

for these sources, you could find them on the school's data base.  For the two books , I found them in the GR section in the library (Second Floor). I recommend asking a pair tutor for help if you cant find them.

*********The Symbolism of MERMAIDS***********

Topic:
My topic is on mermaids. I chose this topic only because I have always loved mermaids. I always thought they were graceful and beautiful. However, finding information on my topic led me to new thinkings of mermaids. Not only are they beautiful and graceful but they are also evil and can be scary at times.

Research Question:
My research question is this: What do mermaids represent in our society?

Advice:
I know everyone always says "start early," but the reality is, its very difficult to start early. Not only do you not have a full understanding of what the paper entails but you learn more and more as the class goes on. I actually recieved a lot of help from doing my presentation today from my peers!

Process:
I would find a topic that interest you first. Brainstorm terms that might be associated with your topic. Use the library's sources such as the website on multi-search, literally go to the library and get a book, search on actual databases too. One source which I thought would be crapy, that I found was very helpful was Google! Found a lot of information! After you've done research in the beginning of the quarter!!!!! Save all articles, books etc. When you have a more clear idea of the research paper, start looking into what exactly your going to focus on. Start to read the articles. Maybe make an outline. Then start working on ideas!
Don't wait till the last day to do it. You'll probably want to die!

These are some of the sources I found:
Book in library- Sea enchantress;The tale of the mermaid and her Kin

google- The mermaid Myth

Articles

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/marvels_and_tales/v018/18.1ross.html

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2010.516167

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3175418.pdf?acceptTC=true

http://mimas.calstatela.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=12407185&site=ehost-live

http://search.proquest.com/docview/229637782

HOPE THIS HELPS FUTURE STUDENTS!!


P.S.
I love Professor Hicks (not like that)! She is the best teacher and person! I loved this class, even though my life was turned upside down this quarter!

Hunger Games: A Dystopian World Not Unlike Ours

Hello English 102 students. My name is GordontruonG. 

If you are reading this, then damn, you really scrolled down a lot. I'm submitting this homework assignment the first day it's released, so I assume that it will be beneath more recent posts.

By the way, congratulations! You have a really great English professor.

I did my research paper on Hunger Games and how it is so popular. Elements I discussed revolved around the fact that I believe the Hunger Games world is a mirror to our world today. Think about it. People are entertained by violence. In Hunger Games there is more than enough of that. People are entertained by the idea that the oppressed will break through the long standing regime. The Hunger Games trilogy focuses on one girl's contribution to the overthrow of the Capitol. People are entertained by a break in the norm. In Hunger Games the female protagonist can emerge victorious in a 24 player battle to the death. In my essay, all these points are considered, as well as how Hunger Games connects to our class themes of obedience and gender roles. Hmm, I think I just came up with my abstract. Thanks, blog assignment!

But enough about my topic. I'm to give you some advice. Some blogs may tell you to start early, to start as soon as Ms. Hicks hands you the instructions to the paper. However, I say to hell with that idea. I'm don't like to have multiple homework assignments clustered in my mind as I work; I like to take steps when doing assigned work. I'll finish one thing before starting the next. It makes me focus on one thing at a time, and that probably makes my work a lot more profound.

Hence, when Ms. Hicks gives you your assignment, you'll probably have to worry about your 2nd essay. So, my advice is to get that s*** out of the way first. Plus, you have other homework assignments to worry about as well. Do those first. Get the smaller assignments completed before writing up your research essay. You wouldn't want your other work distracting you. I know I wouldn't.

Another piece of advice I will share is don't be afraid to ask for help. I suck at writing and I loathe writing for a grade. Hence, I tend to put random stuff that may or may not relate to the topic at hand. In fact, you may notice that my name above is hyperlinked. If you click on it, it will take you to my Youtube channel. Subliminal advertising for the win. Well, not subliminal anymore. 

Anyway, go ask for help! The class requires that you undergo peer review. If you feel like your classmates are better writers than you, don't hesitate to bug them. If they like you enough, they might help you. If anything, ask Ms. Hicks! She's been teaching English for over 8 years, and although she admits that she doesn't like writing either, she's probably written more essays than you or I have ever written, combined! Even if she doesn't particularly like you, she's mandated to help you if you ask for help, I think. But if you are someone that asks questions instead of shying away in the back of the room, you are bound to be liked! So, ask any questions if you come up with any. Ms. Hicks has helped me a couple times when I emailed my first drafts to her, and she always responded with comments just hours later.

If you are interested in Hunger Games, I am also required to include a list of what sources I think are useful, so here they are. 
The Hunger Games is an Appeal to our Baser Appetites: if you want to know specifically why the author thinks Hunger Games appeals to us.

The Dark Side of Young Adult Fiction: if you're looking for reasons why authors and english professors think apocalyptic and generally "dark" novels are popular.

The Hunger Games by the Numbers: if you need to look up Hunger Games statistics. 

Good Luck. If you're complaining about this research paper, at least be glad that you aren't sent off to fight 23 other children in a battle to the death. No, whether you do good in this paper, chances are you'll still be alive at the end of the quarter.

Dear English 102 class, Spring 2013
If you have made it here, you are in the right place. Take a minute or two to look around and see the other posts before posting. Thanks for your contribution for future 102 classes, and I look forward to reading your researched papers!
Jenny Hicks