Summary of Project

I have recently decided to change the subculture I will be exploring.  I had previously thought about writing about my high  school marching band but thought that I was too much of an insider to properly write about it.  I have since decided to write about the people that work at the front desk of my dorm tower.  I have no interviewed anyone yet for this project but I have informally observed some of them.  I plan to ask them what they do at the desk, why they wanted to work there, what kind of activities they do on the weekends or during times they aren't working, and just find out some general background information like what they're interested in, their majors, what year they are, etc.  There isn't really any research I can do on this topic.  The only research I could do would be to find out who the previous workers were and possibly talk to them to widen my study.

Yes, I do think that there is a difference between academic and nonacademic research.  I would consider academic research when you are looking in books or print sources.  This would also include anything done by a "famous" person or expert on the topic.  Nonacademic research would be observing and informal experiments.  It would be like something I would be able to do.

Fieldsite

The topic I'm choosing to write about is my high school marching band.  I was in band for all four years of high school.  The possible field sites I could use is the band field, the band room, and the buses.  Through my many years of being in band, the one thing that stands out in my mind is the smell of the band room.  Over the course of the three months of marching band season, the smell increased exponentially.  During band camp, the smell would start.  People would leave their smelly shoes and socks in their lockers over night and it would smell up the entire band room.  Once competitions started, the smell continued to get worse.  People would forget clothing in the room and it would just sit and fester.  Some of the things I hope to discover would be more about the people in the band and the different interests they have.  I already know that we have a lot of different people. including cheerleaders and homecoming kings and queens, but I know there is going to people involved in things I'm not aware of.  

Problems?

There are many stereotypes associated with marching bands. Some of the over used ones are "band geek" and "band nerd" among others. There are also the references to the American Pie movies regarding band camp. Then there are more specific steroetypes within the band itself. For instance, the flute section generally gets a stereotype of whinny, "prissy" girls. If there are any boys in the section, they generally get typed as gay. A problem I'm going to have to work at is being too close to my subject. Since I was in band for four years, I will know a lot more than the average person will. I'm going to have to work at making sure I explain things properly for everyone to understand. I don't think I will have a problem with people being unwilling to talk about their experiences. For the most part, the people that are in band, enjoy being there for one reason or another. It may not be because they specifically enjoy marching band or playing an instrument, it may be because they enjoy the social aspect of it.

Analyzing the band

The subculture I'm thinking about is my high school marching band. Some methods I think will be beneficial to my research are interviews, surveys, and experience. Over the course of the four years I was in marching band, there were about 210 people each year so I will have a wide variety of people to choose from. I also still keep in touch with some people that are still in high school so I will be able to ask them. The people that are and were in there are a wide variety of ages so I will be able to get different aspects and opinions of the same activities. I may also be able to make up surveys to gather a general opinion of some topics. I was in marching band for all four years of high school so I may be also able to use my own experience.

I'm not sure I will be able to use many books and documents for my research because it most likely wouldn't have useful information. Marching band is something you have to experience to fully understand. The only paper sources I may be able to use would be newspaper articles written about my band. This would give another opinion as well about the program and everything that is involved in it.

There are many rituals and behaviors, etc that people in marching band have. They are also very different depending on each person and the musical section they beliong to. Different sections have different rituals and rules they are required to follow. From there that even turns into bigger sections. So the flute section might have a specific rule to follow but the overall woodwind section has rules to follow as well. Then there are the rules of the overall band. Our directors had specific rules for us to follow.

I'm awake...what more do you want?

As I lay in my bed, enjoying the sugar plums dancing in my head, I am rudely interrupted by a sudden loud ringing noise.  It resembles a phone ringing but the sound is all too familiar to me, it's the sound of my alarm going off.  Surely it can't be this early already.  I feel like I just fell asleep, there is no way it's 8 o'clock in the morning already.  I roll over to turn off the alarm and glance at the clock on the microwave, just to make sure my alarm wasn't wrong, secretly hoping it was.  Sure enough it read 8 a.m.  Darn it, this means I have to get up.  I very carefully and somewhat magically climb down from my lofted bed and take one last look at the clock to make sure I hadn't read it incorrectly.  Nope, it's 8:02 now.  I scrounge around in the dark to find my keys and ID, very quietly as to not awaken my much more fortunate roommate who has the privilege of being asleep still.  I find them and unlock and open the door, only to be greeted by a much too bright fluorescent light.  I begin my trek down the long hallway to the bathroom to begin my day, at 8:05 in the morning.

Editing vs. Revising

I was required to write a research paper the last semester of my senior year in high school.  I choose to write about the problems with No Child Left Behind.  I had to research all my information before I could do anything.  I printed off tons of info and highlighted what I thought was important or I could use later.  We had class time to do this but I ended up doing a lot of it at home, especially typing.  While I was at school, we had to sit in the computer lab and work.  I found this distracting because I felt like I couldn't focus with all the other people in there.  When I was at home, I would have music playing quietly in the background.  Once I finished researching, I had to write the paper.  While I was writing the paper, I found I couldn't have any background noise at all.  I would find myself off track or distracted if I tried to listen to music or watch television while writing my paper.  For this reason, I did most of my typing at home where it was quiet.

I think the difference between editing and revising papers is the amount of errors you are looking for.  I think of editing as thoroughly reading the paper and making specific corrections or suggestions like "move this sentence up and talk more about how this happened".  Revising would be more of skimming or quickly reading the paper and making more vague correction suggestions such as "add more information".