Researching Your Artifact

1. Type your list of questions.

2. Use online resources to find information.

3. Add the information to your list under the question it answers.

4. You may cut and paste information. Be Sure to cite the source!!!! Later, you will put the info into your own words.

Citing Online Sources

1. Directly after the information you paste, please copy the URL (www.whatever.com).

2. Use the bibliographic citation guidelines to create the documentation necessary for the article. (Yellow sheet that I gave you at the beginning of the semester.)

Getting Started on Your Artifact Article

Let’s look at the way Molly O’Neill constructs her article about Malinda Russell’s cookbook.

Note structure and sources as you peruse the first portion of the article.

Imagine ways in which you can incorporate quotes from people who are in contact with the artifact.

Introduction to “19th C. Ghost”FOR nearly seven years Jan Longone, an antiquarian

cookbook collector, has been haunted by a ghost. The spirit came into her life as thousands of other vintage volumes from book dealers had before: in a plain brown wrapper. But as soon as she held Malinda Russell’s “Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen,” she could see its author and her world — the small, seldom-discussed society of free blacks in the 19th century — coming to life before her eyes.

Note the important details given in the first paragraph. Not all information is given away in order to pull the audience’s attention into the article body.

2nd paragraph

“I felt like an archaeologist who had just stumbled on a dinosaur,” said Mrs. Longone, who is the curator of American culinary history at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “I was in awe.”

Note that the 2nd paragraph goes straight to a quote from the researcher. You might use a quote from the owner of the artifact.

3rd Paragraph

Mrs. Longone, long considered the top expert on old American cookbooks, knew immediately that she was holding the earliest cookbook by an African-American woman that had ever come to light. Turning the 39 fragile pages of the 1866 pamphlet, she realized, too, that it could challenge ingrained views about the cuisine of African-Americans.

Here, the author describes the artifact itself.

Your Turn

As you begin to write the introductory paragraph for your article, remember that this type of writing is different from literary analysis. You are telling the history of an object.

Draw your reader into the article. However, avoid clichés such as rhetorical questions.

Writing the Introduction

Your article will have a 3-paragraph intro.

1st P: Hint at the importance of the artifact.

2nd P: Use a quote from a credible source.

3rd P: Describe the artifact.

Outline the Body

The body paragraphs of the article should use research and quotes to:

• Detail the history of the object.

• Describe the finer details of the object.

• Relay the family significance of the artifact.

Outlining

I. Introa. Hint

b. Quote

c. Description

II. Bodya. History

b. Details

c. Family significance

III. Conclusion