Sources. I have been entrenched in the midst of many sources throughout my college career thus far, so I've learned some good research strategies. Source mapping, however, has not been one of them. How I've survived thus far without source mapping is beyond me.
Well, I take that back. I have done a form of source mapping, but it was a more physical form of it. When researching and drafting a paper, I will often sit down on the floor and spread out every single source that I have around me. Because of this, I typically print out online sources because having text in front of me is important--it makes the whole research experience more visual and kinetic. When I participate in this form of source mapping, I can see the texts around me and begin to see how they relate to each other and how I want to organize them in my paper. It's a very sensory experience. But I had never source mapped on paper. I found it entirely helpful. In fact, I think I will have my freshmen students source map, because it was very helpful to see how everything fit together.
In my source map, I had three categories: essay theory, exemplary British essayists, and personal interests. There was a lot of crossover between exemplary and theoretical essays and essayists, which was good to see. The "personal interests" category might sound selfish and slightly irrelevant, but I think it will be helpful because it included the sources I've found for travel and food writing, both of which I am interested in. These personal interests will inform the content of my essays, rather than form, which is something that I will need to focus on as well.
But rather than just summarize my experience, I want to mention one specific insight that I received from source mapping. Once I had my sources on paper, I could see where I was lacking, and one category that thus far I have skipped entirely: contemporary essayists. There are a lot of contemporaries whose writing is very much informed by the classical essay, and some that exemplify the attributes I wish to include in my essays. Before, I didn't think it would be essential to include modern essayists, because I was going to be the connection between classical and contemporary, but more and more I need to look at examples of how current essays demonstrate the techniques that I will study as a part of my project. I need to look at how other people are doing it. This way my writing will be informed by a larger variety of influences, rather than imitating one or another essayist exclusively. (I don't think that will necessarily happen because there is a great variety in the classical essayists themselves, but anything I can add to the pool of influence will be great.) So source mapping was entirely helpful because I was able to see what areas I already had developed, and what areas I could expand on and include.
And that's all I have to say about source mapping.
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