Research
1. I researched books and magazines that I felt were going to help me comprehend the material necessary for my exhibition topic. I also looked up on the Internet and read people's opinions on the issue (this was really important for me, because I got to read different viewpoints).
2. The web-site Radio Free World, Eric Nuzum's Parental Advisory, and Marjorie Heins' Not in Front of the Children were the most important resources I used. They gave me a clear sense of what this topic was about and again, showing different arguments for why and why not music should be censored. 92.3 KGON D.J. Iris Harrison was by far the most helpful person. She gave me her view of the censorship issues, and told me many stories about different artists and how they were banned or censored.
3. I learned that you can't just use one piece of information from one book and use that. You have to look at many resources, because who knows if that piece of info is inaccurate. That happened to me several times, and that was part of my frustrations. One person would say one thing and another would say something totally out of the blue. I overcame them by finding several books and if the information was the same, then I knew it was true and reliable. If not, I decided to not use it in the final product(s).
4. I learned that I could research material with great ease. I knew how to find info using the Internet and I learned to use books and magazines to find what I want. Usually, I would just go to an encyclopedia and I would find all I need there. However, for this project, I couldn't do that. So I had to find other resources, and luckily, they were pretty easy to find.
5. I would like to have more experts. I learned that having an expert can vastly improve an exhibition (especially for mine). But other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.
6. I e-mailed several local radio D.J.s, asking if I could interview them. The highlight was when I got a couple of them: John Murphy and of course, Iris. I just e-mailed questions to Murphy while I physically went to Iris' workplace to conduct the interview. My frustrations involved having D.J.s respond to my e-mails and say "no." My experts were extremely helpful. They told me stories about different artists, their thoughts about the issue, and all about the RIAA and the PMRC.
Writing the Paper
1. I went through many steps. I first started with an introduction, then the body, and finally the conclusion (no duh). Originally, I had a paper that had a lot of great info about past music censorship events, but it didn't show any sides to the big issue nor did it answer my essential question. So after months of tying it in to my essential question, I finally did it in my final draft.
2. Mr. Thompson and my mom helped me with my feedback, ideas, and structure. Both of them helped me organized my paper better along with fixing some conventions & grammar errors. Thompson corrected me when I put the name of the wrong artist/band in or when I got the title of a song wrong.
3. The biggest roadblock was connecting it to my essential question. I had all of this great info and yet, it was worthless unless it was somehow releated to the big picture. I overcame them by giving different viewpoints and then giving my viewpoint and eventually, saying how this does relate to my essential question. Also, I had a tough time trying to end this paper! It was very difficult for me to wrap up all the thoughts into one paragraph and make a conclusion from there. But I managed, by expressing my opinion on the issue.
4. I learned that you are never finished writing your paper. When you think it's done, there's always something that you need to change. This may be frustrating, but when you get it done, it feels oh so good. I also learned that it takes a heck of a lot of resources to make an excellent paper. I always thought you needed four or five, but not twenty or thirty!
5. I learned that I never want to write a paper this long again. But I did write one, so I am proud of that. This will help me, especially when I have to write long, nasty essays on sponges or something medicore like that in college. I learned that I could take chunks of information and tie it in to the question at hand. Overall, I give myself a pat on the back for accomplishing this.
6. 95% of this paper was new to me. I knew the artists really well, but I never knew about their controversies. I learned so much about music censorship (almost too much).
7. I feel that I really tied my thoughts into my essential question. I also believe that my paper is very entertaining to read. The fun & zany facts definitely kept people reading, even though it was gigantic. I also felt I did a great job exploring many topics essential to my question, like whether or not music affects the mind or whether or not Wal-Mart has the right to distribute certain albums.
One thing I felt I didn't go a good job in was explaining censorship through other parts of music. I talked very briefly about rap and jazz, but I didn't go into the depth I would of liked.
8. I used it very well. I did a step-by-step checklist, making sure I had all of the needed components in the paper. The criteria obviously helped me because it showed the stuff you guys were looking for. When I didn't do something, I immediately went on my computer and added it in. |
