On Wednesday, NOvember 14th we had a double session of English. First we finished reading “Reading Lucy” by Jennifer Egan in class. In the second class hour we went to a computer room and we mapped our research places. I found this session very helpful and interesting. The class pinpointed out the places they wish to reseach, which was mostly the Nacy Yard and a few others around City Tech. I picked the Brooklyn Bridge to reseach because i haven’t been there since a grade field trip to it, many many years ago. I dont remember much but i know it was a longg walk for my short legs. Professor Rosen had us look through databases and try to start our research project. I actually found out that we are part of Long Island. I was really shocked. I feel kind of silly not knowing this earlier since i have been living in Brooklyn my whole life but i guess that is the point of a reseach project. I also found a really cool website that has a webcam of the Brooklyn Bridge, live!
Looking at the map projected on the smartboard made me think how close our history really is to us and the advantage we have in learning everything about our hometown. I think i will have a good time researching this project. especially with the databases that City Tech offers us, which is techinically free and very useful.
Although I still don’t know what my research question is going to be, i went on EBSCO (Academic Search Complete) and found a few articles that gave me interesting facts and history about the Brooklyn Bridge. This useful source might just help me figure our my thesis statement for my research essay/assignment.
Thanks so much for this summary of Wednesday’s class, and for your reflections on the research project. Please consider the readings we’re doing for Monday’s class as you’re doing your research–they won’t necessarily offer you the factual information you’re looking for about the Brooklyn Bridge, but they will offer you two authors’ points of view about the bridge and insight into what they saw as important to focus on. In the case of Trachtenberg, the prologue I’ve asked you to read on pages 3-4 is just the start to a whole book that you might want to consult for your project.