Blog 11: Research Draft

Jennifer Donovan

ENG3029

Dr. Chandler

4/29/12

Murder mysteries are a popular aspect in literature in the world. There are many people who read the books for the thrill, the suspense and the excitement. There are so many turning points in the book that can keep a reader interested. Readers want to keep interested into the books that they read otherwise they can be turned off and stop reading completely. Reading murder mysteries keep readers of all ages turning page after page to see what happened or if the body was found or if the person they suspected from the beginning was really the murderer.

Literature can take a reader in multiple directions. They can have ironic twists to keep the reader thinking that there is one murderer or two and end up at the end of the book being a completely different person. Murder mysteries are so popular due to them keeping interesting facts, how people died, and statistics and can relate to everyday events. Numerous people keep up on everyday events and can connect those mysteries with what is happening in the world today.

Mystery readers are people who are intelligent and have a sense of curiosity (web, Mystery Novels). Clues and events from history can be found all in one book. There are also many factors that come into play such as culture, romance and travel. They can help make the literature interesting to read about if they can relate to it. The reader can bring their own experiences and bring it into the read to imagine a new beginning or end to a chapter.

From an interview I did with Betty Webster, many interesting questions were asked. One was want intrigues you to want to read murder mystery literature? Her response was her liking the action, turning points and it having so much suspense for her to keep reading. Betty raised an interesting point that adventurous people like outgoing books with many twists and turns and want to keep the reader going. Adventurous people like to not put the book down and to read all the way to the end.

As an interviewer, I conducted a small questionnaire that consisted of about twelve questions that related to murder mystery literature of action and spontaneous adventurous. According to Betty the best way to read a murder mystery is with silence and the willingness to keep reading in an upbeat mood. One question that raised an interesting fact was what are your interests? Betty stated her interests were cooking, being outgoing, and spontaneous trips and being able to go out and have fun and deal with the problems that may occur as you go on.

With Betty’s statement about her interests, it showed how she relates the literature with her own life. She reads what she knows and is able to relate her life with and see what happens to a character compared to her own real life. She is able to know it is not all true but she likes to see what others can go through and conquer. It made herself feel like she is able to do a lot more. Many sit around and are very cautious, but not Betty. She likes to go out and have fun and not worry about anything. She is very daring and is able to let life bring whatever may come and she deals with it.

Murder mysteries are a popular genre in literature. They let us portray our lives to a certain extent. They allow us to see what challenges one can face and how we can feel it based upon suspense and the tone of the story. They sometimes have cliff hangers that keep us wanting more and we have to wait for another book or a series to come out. There are many factors people like murder mystery; it is a genre that mixes everything into one book. Anything can be put into a murder mystery and so much detail can make a difference from facts to articles from newspapers or details of clothing to scenery. Such vivid imagery can keep us focused to see how a writer will take the characters to another level.

Blog 10: Research Project Writing

Project: Murder Mysteries
Question: Why are murder mysteries so popular in literature?
Methods: Interview (oral) and discourse analysis

I want to research the reasons as to why murder mysteries are so popular. What is it that attracts people to read books and other things about murder mysteries. Is there a certain type of person that is more susceptible to like murder mysteries. I am going to interview a person. I am also researching and looking at murder mystery books to see if there is a recurring theme.

DA Essay

Jennifer Donovan

ENG 3029

4/11/12

In the chatroom transcript that was provided it demonstrated how a girl was unfamiliar with new technology only because she was not exposed to it as a younger adult or was aware the dangers of what could happen. The new technology is computers. She not only discovered how to use photoshop and AOL but her computer class also taught her how to chat with other children her age. She later found it can be dangerous from talking over the internet. Her idea of having fun on the internet to meet new friends turned into an event that she remembers when brought up about an internet problem.  The situation eventually changed her views on computers for a small period of time and then as she became older learned to use them for homework and to talk to her friends.

The girl and the interviewer were comfortable with asking questions and sharing information of what had happened in the past given from the following quote, “S      so how do you think you felt about computers (when you were young- in grade school/middle school).” They sounded as if they were a guidance counselor and a student from her younger years. There sounds like a connection as if they were interviewed as a way to teach younger girls the dangers of what can happen online without even realizing it. Someone can get so caught up and just give their number out without even thinking of what can happen later in the future.

The girl thought it was just fun and games until she realized it can be serious as a young child who did not know the dangers at first, until she grew up as an adult that the internet is not that bad if you just be careful on who you talk to and what sites you go into.  As she states in the script (A), “I was careful, and then I was strict on my younger sister and my brothers using the computer.  I also hogged the computer because I liked talking to my friends…”  There are numerous strangers that one can contact with over the internet. The stranger that she met who she thought was her friend really turned out to be a guy who pretended to be a younger male just trying to make friends.

With talking over the internet, the girl became nervous and scared when the guy she was talking to called her on the phone. She never told her parents before about any of this happening until maybe she started college. Her younger sister became knowledgeable of the internet so she would be over her sisters shoulder and watching everything she did   and paid attention to who her younger sister was talking to over the internet.

In the discourse of the paper using “I” demonstrates her feelings and emotions of her event that occurred over the internet. (A)” I was in fifth grade I gave him my phone number when he called me I hung up I was so scared”. This statement demonstrates her feelings towards how she felt when the guy had called her and she was unsuspected of the situation. The situation illustrates a real life event that can happen to anyone. It shows that we cannot trust everyone who we talk to based on what they say or read on a profile.

The interviewee felt that she was the only girl who could have a situation like this happen to her.She felt as if she was violated and was very nervous and scared to see what could happen in the future with her brother and sister. She would be worried when her younger siblings went on the internet as she stated in this quote “But when my sister started going online I would check up on who she's talking to, I would look over, I would check the history, see what websites she went on”.

 She was so worried she made the internet just a place to check their homepages and their e-mail. Until she felt more comfortable in high school to learn more about computers she then started going on the sites to

An underlying truth in this interview is that the girl was really nervous about new modern technology. As an adult she trusts the internet to a certain extent and is more comfortable with it since she has been using it for quite some while. She is in control of what she does on the internet. She thinks that the internet is not for talking to other children of same age in chat rooms and how she feels that it is an unsafe thing for younger ages who are not aware of the dangers of the internet. There could be imposters on sites and chat rooms and even some who lie about their ages. As she states in the conversation from the interviewer to the respondent, “S:        so what did you and your friends do on the computer in a typical session - if you went over to your friend down the street.”

”A:            check our emails, check our home pages, see if people left us messages, go in chat rooms and chat with our friends, exchange pictures with people that lived in our area that was our age, which could be dangerous, cause they could be imposters, we really didn't care.” With this statement made it is implied that at that time she was not concerned with what happened at a young age until the situation occurred.

An element of speech that outlines the interviewee is the unsuccessfulness of adapting to computers. In the second chat, the pastor’s son feels that the internet was great and had a good time learning about what he can do and who he can talk to from all over. I believe that the girl is in control of what is happening in the conversation. She fears that as an individual that she could be taken advantage of and that the internet is not a good place for girls or young aged children to be a part of due to the fact that she was so nervous and scared of what could have happened to her over the internet. She gave her number without thinking and is paranoid that her younger sister may do the same. She is being over protective when in modern technology there are parent controls and what not that can be taken into consideration to prevent such events happening again.

Blog 8: Farrell, Azipe &McAdam

Farrell, Azipe &McAdam studied a classroom of children. The students were being observed for the purpose of how they visualized things (method: visual analysis). Images in a picture book were provided. A lot of people think that children do not know how to interepret things because of their age. When in reality, children are more knowledgable than we think. Children hear and see a lot of what is going on in the world. They are much more impressionable than adults.
Some of the children that were looked at were immigrants. The researchers noticed that the immigrants interpreted the pictures in different ways than the non-immigrants children. The immigrant children intrepreted the pictures based on their own experiences. No interpretation in wrong, it is just based on how a person views things.

DA Essay Draft/Notes

For my Discourse Analysis Essay I chose the Chat Room Transcript. This transcript interested me because I think there is a certain relationship between the interviewer and the person being interviewed. At some points in the transcript the interviewer does not even have to ask the person being interviewed any questions in order to get feedback. I felt as if this interview was very laid back. The interviewer seemed to actually have a normal conversation with the person. Does an interview have to be all about questioning? Can it be an actual conversation? Does it make the person being interviewed more relaxed and comfortable?
I would examine this essay by looking at the importance of social contexts. Are there certain ways that people interact with eachother? How do people interact with strangers? Does casual conversation make it easier for a person to feel comforable rather than using questions?
I noticed that in the beginning of the transcript the interviewer makes a joke about publishing the interview; does humor help a person relax?
One question I would definitely ask throughout my essay is:
Why is it easier for a person to talk to someone through a computer? Does face-to-face interaction make a person feel inferior?
The person being interviewed talked with a person in a chatroom and told them their telephone number. If the person being interiewed had seen the person they were talking with face-to-face, would they have even spoken to eachother?
I think that technology makes people too trusting and vulnerable.

Blog 5: Research Project Revised

I have narrowed it down to researching why murder mysteries are so popular in literature. Since I have narrowed it down, I have come up with a few ideas on how to begin my project. I want to research the age groups of the people that read murder mysteries and when it first became a fad. I want to interview one person and ask them several questions.

1. What makes murder mysteries so interesting?
2. What made you read this type of literature? (school or personal reasons)
3. At what age did you become interested?
4.Have movies based of murder mysteries made you read more books?
5.Do you strictly read murder mystery books or do you read poems/short    stories/articles also?

I am considering a particular question to base my paper on:

What made murder mystery books so popular and why?

I am still unsure about the question but I am sure with further investigation I will decide on a more permanent question.
 

Jessica Stern's Methodology

Jessica Stern is a researcher in terrorism. Stern was always curious about the causes of evil and violence. When she was fifteen years old her and her sister were raped. They both went on to lead normal lives after the trauma. However, the trauma affected her schoolwork and reflected upon her choice in career.
Later in her life she revisited her rape case. Her community seemed to be in denial about what happened. It seemed impossible for two young girls to be raped at gunpoint in a small Massachusetts town. She realized that since she put her rape aside, she was searching for answers as to why a man would do such a thing. Similarly why a terrorist would commit such a terrible act.
I think the methodology that Stern is using is an autobiography. She tells the reader about her life and events in it. She tells the reader about events that occurred early in her life before the rape and how it affected the rest of her life.
Evan's limitations related to Jessica Stern's story because it let the reader empathize with her story. I felt a lot of emotion when reading her story. It was something very personal and I felt bad that she had to go through a lot in her life.