Research, research, research

Tomorrow our EPQ class is visiting the library located at the University of Hull as we will then have access to a huge number and range of resources that may help us with our research. I think this will benefit me massively as I have been struggling with finding a starting point within my research so I believe having access to thousands of books and resources will inspire me on where to start my research and the direction I want to take it in. I know the areas that I want my research to focus on, but actually finding a specific area to begin with is difficult. As we are heading there tomorrow, I thought I would take the opportunity to utilise the free time I have tonight to search for resources using the uni's library online catalog. So far, I have been quite successful as I have managed to gather a list of books and essays that are relevant to my project that I will specifically look for tomorrow. As well as searching for resources, I am continuing with my preliminary source evaluation that I started last week so hopefully I'll get that done tonight.

I decided to create a preliminary resource evaluation table in order to see which resources I will mainly rely on during my research by comparing their reliability and usefulness, and also how they will fit into the body of my study. Of course, by doing this I am not excluding a particular resource completing from use within my project. I plan on finding useful information from a range of resources, however I think that evaluating different types of resources as a preliminary action will make my research that more efficient and beneficial. Here are the headings of the table:

Resource

Positives

Drawbacks

How frequently do I plan to use this type of resource during my research?

I also created a LITERARY REVIEW TABLE which I forgot to update you on so here are the headings for that too:

Title, type of source, date published

Author (and credentials)

Relevance to topic

Reliability

What are the main ideas?

How do I intend to use the information in the body of my project?

I believe this table will ensure that I evaluate every piece of literature I use as thoroughly as possible, therefore when it comes to using the information within the body of the project, I can easily see the most useful and reliable sources that I will most likely use. Moreover, I may use colour coordinate the ones which I think will be most useful to me so it will be even easier for me to identify the sources that are most useful to me.

Anyway, I'll be back soon with a log on how tomorrow went!

Making A Start?

Since I submitted my proposal and Ethical Approval Form, our EPQ sessions have been very independent and subjective as we have now started to look for literature works that are relevant to our project which we can use as part of our research. Chris, our supervisor, has allowed us to spend our sessions searching for relevant information relating to our project while frequently recommending to us several research methods and tools we can use to make sure our findings are specifically relevant to the topic of our project, such as Google Scholar. Before we broke off for half term, he also dedicated one session to telling us about Gantt charts and several other planning techniques we may want to use to plan out our research and upcoming tasks. This was helpful as it led me to start planning my own Gantt chart which I found difficult to do at first but I think I'm understanding now. It also encouraged me to start planning out my next tasks so I can look at the objectives I need to complete, as well as the ones I need to prioritise.

To help me with my research, I have also created a list of research topics since my last post as I believe this assist me hugely when researching for specific areas.

Here are some of the topics on that list:

• Jane Austen's background; family life, social class, relationships, key beliefs
• Era of Jane Austen; key events, Regency England, Romanticism movement 
• Themes in Pride and Prejudice
• Role of women
• Marriage/economic security
• Portrayal of main characters and their relationships
• Austen's aims when writing the novel
• Feminist/marxism criticisms of the novel

Furthermore, here are a few of the websites and pieces of literature I have managed to find relating to my project: 

• https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/node/1765 - Historical context on late 18th century 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosegreatexpect/0prose_greatexpect_contrev4.shtml - the 19th century social, historical, and cultural setting 
• http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Early-19th-century-Literature.htm  
• http://www.janeausten.org/jane-austen-biography.asp &  
• http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janelife.html  - Jane Austen biography  
• http://www.janeausten.org/jane-austen-timeline.asp

• British Women in the Nineteenth Century / Thompson, Dorothy KG  (1989) 
• Ninteenth century Britain 1815-1914  /  WILLIS, Michael  (1990) 
• Feminism for beginners  /  WATKINS, Susan Alice ,  RUEDA, Marisa  &  RODRIGUEZ, Marta  (1992) 
• Feminism  /  SAUL, Jennifer  (2003) 
• Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction – Margaret Kirkham