Baseball Superstitions

1. Doing this researched paper was a great opportunity to learn new stuff about baseball (especially the unique and funny superstitions) and Myth America. Some advice would be to try to set up small goals (giving yourself mini due dates; Ex: finishing collecting all your sources by a certain date, finishing a part in a certain number of days, etc...) that will help you finish the researched paper at a steady pace. If the book you’re trying to find isn’t in the CSULA library, try requesting an Inter library Loan, if time permits. If not, try searching for the book in your local library. Oh and try to experiment with different search terms and always be open to adjusting your topic. I wish I had used better search terms right from the start. One word or even one letter can make the difference between finding relevant sources and finding few or no sources.

2. My research question was, Why are there so many superstitions in baseball? The following sources can be searched by using the Academic Search Premier database, found in the CSULA library website (in the articles and databases tab) http://web.calstatela.edu/library/#articles. The key terms used were “superstition” and “baseball”.

Some useful sources include:

Burger, Jerry M., and Amy L. Lynn. "Superstitious Behavior Among American And 

     Japanese Professional Baseball Players." Basic & Applied Social Psychology 

     27.1 (2005): 7176. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Ciborowski, Tom. “Superstition’ In The Collegiate Baseball Player.” Sport Psychologist 

     11.3 (1997): 305. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Eaves, Ted. “The Relationship Between Spit Tobacco And Baseball.” Journal Of Sport 

     & Social Issues 35.4 (2011): 437-442. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Zombie Mania

1. The research process for a paper like this requires a lot of time, patience, and creativity. There 
are a lot of sources out there that can only be found with the correct word combination so it’s a good 
idea to mix those up. The best best advice I can give is go to the reference librarian desk at the 
university library. This is a great place to start your research because they will help you find sources and think of different search terms that open up the possibility for more relevant sources. 
It would also be a good idea to try and connect your topic to Myth America early on, get help with that if you don’t know what that means. This is something I wish I had known before because it’s a healthy portion of the researched paper and probably the most difficult to do on your own.

2. Topic: For this researched paper I wanted to figure out why is American society so obsessed with zombies, especially since zombies are supposed to be terrifying creatures that will eat your flesh and make you “undead”.

A few useful sources:

Behuniak, Susan M. "The Living Dead? the Construction of People with Alzheimer's Disease as   Zombies." Ageing & Society 31.1 (2011): 70-92. Web.

Nasiruddin, Melissa, et al. "Zombies--A Pop Culture Resource for Public Health Awareness."      Emerging Infectious Diseases 19.5 (2013): 809-13. Web.

Rosenberg-Javors, Irene. "Zombies 'R' Us!" PsychotherapyHQ.com. WordPress, 26 Aug. 2013.   Web.

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): 234-48. Web.

Easiest way to find these sources is to search for the source name and author in the library database or google.

Superman portrayed as Christ

To Future Students:

I did my research paper on Superman and how he relates to the Christ thoughtout the film. I did not find A lot of information but I did find a lot of information about the begginning of comics and how Superman played a HUGE role in that. If your interested in Superman specifically, I would reccommend looking into the beginning of Superman and how he was created and how he shaped the comic bok industry. Professor Hicks is an amazing professor and truely the only professor at CSULA who I felt like was there anytime to answer questions I had. Do not hesitate to ask her for help shes really open to all questions and is there to help. Here is a list of my souces on my paper, hope this helps!!!

Daniels, Les. COMIX: A History of Comic Books in America. United States of America: Mad Peck Studios. 1971. Print.

Hoberman, J, and Jeffrey Shandler. Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting. New York: The Jewish Museum, 2003. Print.  

Kozlovic, Anton. “Superman as Christ-Figure: The American Pop Culture Movie Messiah.” Journal of Religion and Film Vol. 6 No. 1. (2002): Print.

Kozlovic, Anton. “The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-figure.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture Volume 8 (2004): Print.

Nobleman, Tyler. Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2008. Print.

Oropeze, B.J. The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc, 2005, 2008. Print.

Superman. Dir. Richard Donner. Perf. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve. Warner Bros. Entertainment, 1978. TV.

Superman a portrayal of Christ

To Future Students:

I did my research paper on Superman and how he relates to the Christ thoughtout the film. I did not find A lot of information but I did find a lot of information about the begginning of comics and how Superman played a HUGE role in that. If your interested in Superman specifically, I would reccommend looking into the beginning of Superman and how he was created and how he shaped the comic bok industry. Professor Hicks is an amazing professor and truely the only professor at CSULA who I felt like was there anytime to answer questions I had. Do not hesitate to ask her for help shes really open to all questions and is there to help. Here is a list of my souces on my paper, hope this helps!!!

Daniels, Les. COMIX: A History of Comic Books in America. United States of America: Mad Peck Studios. 1971. Print.

Hoberman, J, and Jeffrey Shandler. Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting. New York: The Jewish Museum, 2003. Print.  

Kozlovic, Anton. “Superman as Christ-Figure: The American Pop Culture Movie Messiah.” Journal of Religion and Film Vol. 6 No. 1. (2002): Print.

Kozlovic, Anton. “The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-figure.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture Volume 8 (2004): Print.

Nobleman, Tyler. Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2008. Print.

Oropeze, B.J. The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc, 2005, 2008. Print.

Superman. Dir. Richard Donner. Perf. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve. Warner Bros. Entertainment, 1978. TV.

Superman portrayed as Christ

To Future Students:

I did my research paper on Superman and how he relates to Christ throughout the the film. If you are interested in Superman, I would recommend another topic about him such as;  how or why he was created, Maybe looking into the creation of Superman and how it all started, Superman was the first "superhero" and also starred in the first "comic book". Professor Hicks is also one of the best professors I have had at CSULA, dont hesitate to email her late or ask any questions for she really is there to help and wants to make sure you have what you need to succeed.

Daniels, Les. COMIX: A History of Comic Books in America. United States of America: Mad Peck Studios. 1971. Print.

Hoberman, J, and Jeffrey Shandler. Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting. New York: The Jewish Museum, 2003. Print.  

Kozlovic, Anton. “Superman as Christ-Figure: The American Pop Culture Movie Messiah.” Journal of Religion and Film Vol. 6 No. 1. (2002): Print.

Kozlovic, Anton. “The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-figure.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture Volume 8 (2004): Print.

Nobleman, Tyler. Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2008. Print.

Oropeze, B.J. The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc, 2005, 2008. Print.

Superman. Dir. Richard Donner. Perf. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve. Warner Bros. Entertainment, 1978. TV.

Greek Myths in Modern Life

I honestly wish that I would have started sooner you might be reading this to yourself and think oh well its just a paper it can't be that serious but if you have a hard time writing papers then trust me when I say that you are going to need all the time you can use. I would suggest that you focus most of your attention on part 3 it is the longest and worth mot points and also have a clear idea of what your thesis is because if you do not I guarantee that you will start to go off topic.

The research question that I present was how greek myths have influenced modern culture.
Some sources that I found were really helpful were.

Burton, Elizabeth M. "The Value, Viability, and Relevance of Greek Mythology in Today's Society." Teen Ink. Teen Ink, n.d. Web. 06 June 2013

.

Fornaro, Michele, Nicoletta Clementi, and Pantaleo Fornaro. "Abstract." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 07 Oct. 2009. Web. 06 June 2013.

"Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture." Tree.com. Tree, n.d. Web. 06 June 2013. 

La Malinche and Pocahontas

For my research paper I did a comparison of Pocahontas and La Malinche. My advice for these papers is to start early or else you will not not get it done. don't think you can just put it off until the last minute because if you do that it's going to suck trying to finish it. It took me a long time to do this and i started weeks ago. Just pick a topic that you are interested, but if there are not that many sources, it is probably better to pick a new topic. My research question was why do we celebrate and idolize Pocahontas but view La Malinche as a traitor? Here are the sources that I used:

1)Downs, Kristina. "Mirrored Archetypes." Western Folklore. 67.4 (2008): 397-414. Web. 11 Jun. 2013.

       -this was an article on the academic search premier

2)Schwartz, Stuart. Victors and Vanquished. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. Print.

3)Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears. Boston: Beacon Press, 1990. Print.

4)Woodward, Grace. Pocahontas. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. Print.

       2-4 are books from the East LA library

5)Vigil, James. \From Indians to Chicanos. 3rd ed. Long Grove: Waveland Press, INC., 2012. Print.
          -this is a Chicano studies textbook