Record any particularly relevant or pithy quotations
Section 5f says that recording "particularity relevant or pithy quotations" and their page numbers will help you in the long run because you will be able to differentiate your words from the author's during the summary. I should create a place where I will record all my quotes with page numbers, so I do not get mixed up or confused when I need to write the data I observed in my paper.
In this sense, the digestion itself might be viewed as another kind of translation, a revisioning of the text, not in terms of itself, but with respect to your own thoughts, ideas and observations.
5f defines digestion as a form of translation that assesses your own thoughts, ideas, and observations. This tells me I need to explain how the sources I use help me understand my film community more. I will ask questions such as "How does this theory of ... explain what I saw in the communities Reddit page?" This will hopefully help me to go beyond summary.
Consider the date of publication, the publisher and the location/position/expertise of the author.
The text advises that you consider the date of publication because it will give you more context about the knowledge about the topic. If the text/book/site is more than 10 years old, you may want to look elsewhere for more updated information. I could use an older source for my "historical evidence" and then look for sources for current "arguments" and see if anything aligns.
Spend serious time with the Table of Contents. Rather than simply skimming this part of the book, take some time to really consider a) whether this work will be useful and, b) what you see to be the guiding thought behind the logic of the work
When trying to pick out what source may work for you, it is important to comprehend enough information without having to read the whole book or text. You should check the table of contents and the index to look for key terms, so you don't waste time. When looking for my own sources, I will make sure to check the index and table of contents for my film communities' "themes".
only seeks “refereed†or “peer-reviewed†pieces.
The text emphasizes selecting refereed or peer-reviewed pieces to ensure they are correct and good ideas. As you discussed in the first video this week (Why Scholarly Sources Matter), academic sources are essential because they provide a foundation for our information. When I search for databases for my research, I will make sure they are all peer-reviewed to ensure credibility.
These are the articles and books that contain both lists of keywords and of references that may help you in your search
This section is about searching for specific keywords or ideas that will help you to narrow down your search of a topic and make it easier to find. This connects to the 2nd video from this week (where to find sources) because you mentioned building effective search strategies. Some of those include genre-based searches such as "horror films" + "fandom".
but you have to consciously and actively raise questions about what that significance might be.
This tip will help me define my research focus. A proposal is not just about showing what I know but about asking about things I don't know yet. In my proposal, I'm going to focus on the "local" significance to build identity, but I'll also push for the "global" connection.
The central elements include: a discussion of what you hope to accomplish with background information an explanation of why the research is important to you (local) and how you have framed the central questions or lines of inquiry for your research a detailed of your research plan — when and where you will conduct research a description of the methodology for your research — how you will collect data a discussion of how your research or idea or plan connects to the wider community (global) and what others have written, said, or done before you.
I'm going to use this list as a cheat sheet to help me in the future. I'm going to use these five points as the headers for my proposal. It ensures I don't "wade through" the project but actually have a "particular thought process and plan" ready to go.
you are ethically obligated to let the people you are studying know what you are doing when you begin and you should seek to establish some kind of mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationship.
The book says my mission shouldn't be "undercover" or "hidden camera" style work. In my proposal, I need to be clear that I am "ethically obligated" to let the people I'm studying know exactly what I'm doing from the very start. For my proposal, I'm also thinking about how I can volunteer my time to a group while also establishing the research I need at the same time, because I want the relationship to "establish some kind of mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationship" with the group.
No matter how excited you are about a group or site, if you don’t have access to a community, you cannot conduct ethnographic research.
I think this is going to be hard for me because I have to make sure I can prove that I have a site that is physically accessible and isn't a "closed community" that would keep me out. I will also mention in my plan if I have the go-ahead to attend meetings or anything else that might be closed off. I want to make sure I don't run into the "locked doors" problem the book warns about.
The “insider†perspective is challenging because it can be quite difficult to see yourself and your friends with the eyes of a researcher
I plan to look for "patterns of meaning" in things that we usually take for granted. Specifically, I would look for patterns in who picks what movie, where everyone would choose to sit, what suggestions other people make, etc. I want to make sure to see the power dynamics that I otherwise wouldn't look too far into.
The most important consideration as you narrow your search for a research site is to identify some kind of a connection with the place/space, even if you might not consider yourself a complete insider, even if you believe you know very little about the culture.
This makes me at ease knowing that I should choose a film group that I already know. The book (3b) says that having a personal connection can give you an advantage because it is already something that you are interested in, so the work doesn't feel like a chore. Since my proposal is probably due soon, I'm going to make sure I pick something that will keep my interest and keep me wanting to learn more so I can get started with the analysis.
Imagine a triangle with three points: first, your interpretation; second, the interpretation of the people who belong to the site community; third, the interpretation of other outside observers/scholars (secondary sources)
I'm going to use this "triangle" strategy to make sure my research isn't one-sided. I plan to mix my own notes with interviews from many different sources. This will help me find those "partial truths" the textbook talks about rather than assuming my own view is the only one.