floating blog 9

I was on team 2 for the citation jeopardy game so I'm using my free blog pass on this blog.

the search for research

         Although originally I was a little unsure as to what research for my topic would actually look like, I talked to Kim and was able to broaden my horizons to realize how to get started.

At first I just started Google-ing things. She reminded me to use Google scholar and the library’s website. That definitely helped. Not sure what I was thinking. Also, I was searching for essentially articles that talked about exactly what I was writing my paper on. Thinking that was what I needed to find for my research, I became a little discouraged. Although I did find a few articles concerning gay stereotypes in the show, most of them were very brief or unhelpful. Once I realized what to search for, my results improved very quickly.

Since I’m writing about stereotypes of the gay community I need to make sure I increase my knowledge of gay culture as a whole and focus my research on the history, development, and state of the community. One key aspect I have been trying to find articles on is the representation of the gay community both by the media as well as other ways in society. Researching this representation of gays in the media is crucial to the strength of my paper. Additionally, on an even broader scale, I have researched masculinity in modern America to help shed light on the public’s often skewed perception of homosexuality.

Of course, with the nature of my topic being such a hot button issue in America- today more than ever- content and amount have not been the problem. Literally thousands of articles and journals have been posted online regarding homosexuality in America. This obviously preferable to not having sufficient coverage of your topic, but still has its downfalls.

The difficulties I have found in researching such a largely debated issue is that much of what has been written online is very partial and opinionated and as a result, quality decreases opposite the increase in quantity. It seems everyone has something to say about the way homosexuality is treated in America and ironically, opposing views often share the same complaints. My struggle is sifting through the copious amounts of articles and journals to find one’s that will eventually, if not immediately, aid in the writing of my research paper. A great aid in this has been FSU’s library. Most of what I have found in there has been credible, relevant material that doesn’t seem to waste anyone’s time. This has made the process of “keeping and tossing” easier; most of the sources I’ve found on the library’s site I’ve kept, while a much smaller portion of those I’ve found on less filtered search engines have been worthwhile.

Overall, I have found some quality sources and research for my paper, but I know I’m far from finished. A great deal of work still remains, but I am growing optimistic and believe now that I can do it and finish the job.