Role as a research writer

I would like to take this role for my paper:
Analytical Thinker Positioned in a Critical Conversation.
Here writers do their own analytical thinking about a disciplinary problem but must relate their views to others who have addressed the same or similar questions. These essays may use few primary sources but carry on a lively conversation with secondary sources.
Examples:
How does Hamlet change in the last act?
What would be the effect on consumer credit card debt of switching from federal income taxes to federal consumption taxes?
Does the earth have rights?

My essay will explore the question "How does Joseph Conrad explore colonialism in Heart of Darkness?"
And hopefully do so by discussing racism, the spread of religion/ values, economics and human nature (possession/control/dominance).

Hopefully I will be able to relate my views with those I learn from interviews and written critiques.

Preliminary research

At this point I am nearly through re-reading the novel. I have quotes for all of the sections of my paper I wanted to develop. I have also started to read critiques of the novel. I have re-confirmined my opinions on the novel, mainly that Conrad is not racist and that he is portraying colonialism in a negative light. Also, I have found a very contrary opinion from a noted author which I will develop as my nay-sayer and I have articles on the historical context of colonialism. In the future I hope to discuss this topic with Professor Ford, who has done extensive study on the novel. I am hoping he will further confirm my ideas.

Internet sources

Book, Not internet
Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" By Peter Edgerly Firchow
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nPfqhqv5k2oC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=chinua+achebe+heart+of+darkness&ots=dbj26XBfkr&sig=XXSTz18PzpChx5iUVbWCpSNBim4#PPA257,M1

Victorians and Africans: The Geneology of the myth of the dark continent
http://www.jstor.org/view/00931896/ap040045/04a00100/0

Chinua Achebe's speech
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=chinua+achebe+heart+of+darkness&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/cgi-bin/search.pl?term1=colonialism&gateway=All&limit=0&submit.x=13&submit.y=14

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1958-aapc-res1.html
"All-African People's Conference: Resolution on Imperialism and Colonialism (1958)
This site contains the full-text of a resolution adopted by the All-African People's Conference December 5-13, Accra 1958. This was a major political conference with over 300 delegates from all regions of Africa. The resolution condemns European colonial and imperial policy in Africa. It then demands political independence and an end to the economic hardship and human rights abuses perpetuated in the empires and colonies of the region. Other features are the implementation of specific human rights for all Africans, including universal suffrage, and support for groups who have to resort to violence to attain independence in so far as this is viewed as a final measure. The document is taken from the All-African Peoples Conference News Bulletin vol.1, no.4 1959, pp1-2. It isa published on the Internet as part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook maintained by Fordham University. "

Clonaid + State Cloning Laws

For first 2 see Clark's Blog

The "Cloneaid" site is and advertisment. The only contact information this site provides is a website-based e-mail requiring personal information and a survey of thier website and product. There is no independent or non-template contact information. It is a .com website with no credentials, it is obviously unobjective, it is selling a product. The website is up-to-date. They posted "news" articles as recently as last week. The coverage is accesible, it does not need a special browser or have a fee for viewing.

The State Cloning Laws website seems to be accurate. There is contact information for Multiple offices in the organizations, phone numbers, addresses and e-mails. This is a .org page, apparently for government legislators. There is no author for this specific site but it is sponsored by the website organization. It is objective and un-biased. The site presents cloning laws without personal commentary on the laws. iT is not current and has not been updated since 2006. The page is accessible and provides a link to an independent article offering discussion of the laws, but does not discuss them on the page itself.

Books
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness/ Search for the Unconscious,Gary Adelman
Heart of Darkness/ A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism, Edited by Ross C. Murfin
Heart of Darkness/ Backgrounds and Criticisms, Editied by Leonard F. Dean
Conrad: The Critical Heritage, edited by Norman Sherry

Key words for search
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, Colonialism, morality, racism, economics, human nature, congo, pilgrim, criticism of H of D

Plan to do

Purpose: Illustrate with examples the racism,economics and human nature of colonialsim. Then convince readers that the novel puts these ideas in a real-life context in which these ideas are negative.

Audience: High school or college instructors teaching the novel or the topics the novel discusses/ philosophers interested in the novel or the topics it discusses

Initial Investigation

Part I: Exploration
1. Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your research project.
I will be writing about how colonialism is explored in “Heart of Darkness”.

2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?
This is one of my favorite books. It is a book I constantly consider and reconsider and I am very interested in it.

3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?
I am of the opinion that Conrad is very anti-colonialist and portrays it in a very dark way.

4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic?
I have read the book and discussed it at length. There is significant debate on the racism of the book, but I am of the opinion that the depiction of racism is a small facet of the depiction of colonialism.
What are your main questions about this topic?
My questions are, what specifically does Conrad write that gives his opinion of colonialism?
What are you most curious about?
I am most curious about how the author shows his opinions without directly stating them. I am also curious about how the author went about creating a book with so many overlapping ideas, all of which are incredibly well developed.

6. Within what scholarly discipline (such as history, biology, psychology) do you expect to do most of your research? How does this discipline approach or study this topic?
I expect most of my research will be done in psychology with a little research on the historical facts of colonialism. Studies of this topic in psychology are done by investigating how the text shows the author’s thoughts, and also how we as readers interpret the text to arrive at what we believe are the author’s thoughts.
Historically this topic will be studied by citing statistics of the examples the book provides.

7. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)? I can interview people who have read the novel and have an educated response to my topic. I would be able to interview at least a few people because I have already discussed this with others.

Part II: Focusing
Write an initial claim, or an open-ended question, to guide your research on this topic. Make it specific but exploratory. Remember that a good claim opens up an area of inquiry about a topic; a claim should invite evidence, support, and debate.
How does Joseph Conrad explore colonialism in "Heart of Darkness"?
racism, spread of religion/ values, economics, human nature (possession/control/dominance)

Why does this matter? Colonialism is a representation of human nature, it has historical significance, it was key in the development of modern world