Louisa+May+Alcott-Choo+C.+8E

 Phase 1  1. What do I already know about my historical figure? Louisa May Alcott. Extrovert, tomboy, and an un-lady-like woman in the 1800s. She wrote uncountable number of literary pieces, including her most famous novel-Little Women. Little Women was an inspirational novel, commonly read by young ladies. Louisa was different from other ladies of that period, where females were the house keepers. The fact that she advanced in her education conveyed the impression of complexity. She did not stay home for lady lessons nor did she find any talents doing the "duties." She loved writing and writing was all she could find fascinating. Her imaginations were conspicuous compared to other girls of her age, and her writing matured more quickly relative to her friends. Her talents, passion, and ambition in writing led to the greatest writer of her time.

Louisa had three sisters and fine parents. Three sisters: Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were the supporters of Louisa's dreams. May was the oldest of the Alcott family, who had an ethereal mask and delicate mind. May followed the most common lives of female of that era. Elizabeth, the third of Alcotts, was a quite and naïve girl. Anna was an active little girl, who was the troublesome of the family. Likewise, her family was a merry family regardless of their poverty.

Little Women is the literary novel that inspired magnificent number of ladies to read and imagine. This has the real characters of Louisa's sisters and therefore it is one of the most awe-striking piece to read. Her events and character sketch is all based on Louisa's sisters and the events in the former Part (Little Women was originally divided in to two novels-Part I and Part II) almost directly illustrated the real situations. However, the latter Part is false and it is because of the readers, who were fond of Jo, Louisa it self in the novel, and wanted her to marry with a fine man.

 2. What more do I want to learn? Through her novel Little Women, I was able to depict many attributes of her family atmosphere, her sisters, events, and other little details that were unintentionally written. However, I'm still curious of Louisa since Little Women held my rapt attention. I want to know her basics including birth, achievements except Little Women, quotes, and special events in her adulthood. Other than the "most-plain-things", I have questions:
 * Did she have any agony, or events that led her to melancholy? If so, what were they?
 * Why didn't she marry?
 * What was her religion? (I think this might have been in the novel, but I don't remember)
 * What impact might her religion play in her life, and her writings?
 * How did her success with Little Women help her family's finance?
 * Did she receive any formal studies in college? If so, who were the teachers?
 * Since she was poor, what were some jobs she did?
 * Which sister was she closest with? Is there any specific reason?
 * Could she possibly be an abolitionist as well? Just like her father?
 * Did she participate in "active" events to support women rights? or was her literary achievements all she did?

and so on... : )

 3. Where can I go to find out more information? First I can google her for basic information, but I would rather use louisamayalcott.org site. It might have more fascinating facts about her other than the basics. I read the biography on the first page of Little Women to have a better grasp of her background. I think I might ask someone who is very passionate about her novels and a person who have read all of her novels. So, I will not limit my research on google and ask.com; I will extend my research to people, videos, and her novels. Furthermore, I would like to have a visit to library for her biography novels, perhaps? : )

 4. What have I learned? Through all my hard research, I learned that Louisa really had big impact on United States' culture although she was only a writer, not a campaign manager. Also, I did not know that she could not marry because of Lulu (May's daughter) and did not want to marry anyways. She was not as strong as I thought. There were much more novels than I thought of and I was amazed to see her list of books. Furthermore, I had no clue that she served as a Civil War nurse since the latter half of the __Little Women__ is different from the original story. I did not beleive anything after the former part of __Little Women__. I'm so thankful to have her as my "I AM" person. : )

 Phase 2

 What is your historic question? How did her literary achievements affect the culture of United States in the 1800s?

 What information do you expect to find from your research? First, I expect to find her list of achievements such as official recognitions, or awards and her list of literary pieces. Then I want to research how impactive the most famous pieces were in to the society and why it was such a great success. Not only this but I'll need to research the culture of United States during the 1800s, before her presence. This is to scholarly compare the difference and the significance of Louisa's works. I would like to introduce fair amount of quotes to see what she was like and her mind. It will allow me to interpret beyond her quotes and observe how her spirit was portrayed in impacts in the culture. This not only includes the culture, but the general ideas, which prevailed like a philosophy. Furthermore, I need to research her religion and her fondness of it; I need to find any religious beliefs unconsciously illustrated in her pieces. The readers could have observed and believed Louisa's belief, which could have had an impact as well.

 What information resource(s) will you use first to find the answer to your question? Louisamayalcott.org, her biography novels, other educational sites explaining the culture before her presence, and other various sites other than wikipedia.org will be resources that I will use freely. Since my question is not about her, but rather the general picture and comparison of culture with and without her, I'll use secondary sources more than the primary sources. Primary sources could be more actively used in research for the culture. Are there any analysis about Louisa May Alcott's works? I would like to read them as well.

 List at least two primary resources that you used to research your question:
 * Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women . New York : A Bantam Classic, 1983.
 * "Women in Popular Culture:Rare Book and Special Collections Division." American Memory from the Library of Congress - Home Page . 20 May 2009 .
 * [|Easier link for the bib above]
 * "Open Library: Details: louisamay00alcorich." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Open Library (Open Library) . 31 May 2009 <http://openlibrary.org/details/louisamay00alcorich>.

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> Lis <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;">t at least four secondary resources that you used to research your question: <http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html>. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/ALCOTT/aboutla.html>.
 * "Louisa May Alcott." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UUA Server for Other Organizations' Web Sites . 31 May 2009
 * "Louisa May Alcott Text." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Orchard House - Home of the Alcotts . 20 May 2009 <http://www.louisamayalcott.org/louisamaytext.html>.
 * "Little Women, Louisa May Alcott: About the Author." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American Studies @ The University of Virginia . 20 May 2009


 * "Louisa May Alcott Biography." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oracle ThinkQuest Library . 20 May 2009 <http://library.thinkquest.org/27864/data/alcott/lmabio.html>.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> If you want to visit the sites, please copy and paste the URL in the bibliography : )

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 150%;"> Phase 3

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;">Document-ish Writings [|Louisa May Alcott Biography online book:]
 * It includes (chapters):
 * Genealogy and Parentage
 * Childhood
 * Fruitlands
 * The Sentimental Period
 * Authorship
 * The Year of Good Luck "Hospital Sketches"
 * Europe, and "Little Women"
 * Europe
 * Family Changes
 * Last Years
 * Conclusion

[|Louisa May Alcott Journal] Journal image:

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;"> Quotes <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"> //**Personality**//
 * "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
 * Bright, very positive
 * "Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy."
 * loving, not solid rather emotional person despite the fact that she was a spinster
 * "Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood."
 * Believe strongly in helping/ shows strong affection about her sister.
 * "'Stay' is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary."
 * Emotional, not rigid woman
 * "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents."
 * materialistic??? NO NO, still kept her immature thoughts/ perhaps the key for success as a writer? keeping old memories.
 * "It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women."
 * Her story? did she not think of herself as a talented writer?
 * "I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship"
 * adventurous, always eager to learn

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"> //**Women Rights/ Reason for becoming a unmarried woman**// <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"> //**Quote Bib.**// Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Louisa May Alcott Quotes." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women's History - Comprehensive Women's History Research Guide. 31 May 2009 <http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_lm_alcott_2.htm>.
 * "I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us."
 * "I put in my list all the busy, useful independent spinsters I know, for liberty is a better husband than love to many of us."
 * "I like to help women help themselves, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to settle the woman question. Whatever we can do and do well we have a right to, and I don't think any one will deny us."
 * "People don't have fortunes left them -- nowadays; men have to work, and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world...."
 * "Now we are expected to be as wise as men who have had generations of all the help there is, and we scarcely anything."

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;"> Image

<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 150%;"> Phase 4 <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;"> Basic Documents: [|Louisa May Alcott Doc_1] [|Louisa May Alcott Doc_2] [|Louisa May Alcott Doc_3] [|Louisa May Alcott Doc_4]
 * The documents listed above are in order of length : ) 1 is shortest and 4 is longest.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;"> Video media type="youtube" key="ARI8WJVP3bY" width="425" height="350" <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> *Relatively short video, but still nice preview/overview

<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 20px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Timeline <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 150%;">Phase 5 <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> <span style="font-size: 150%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Phase 6 <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> media type="file" key="L.M. Alcott_Choo C. 8E.m4a"
 * I don't know how to upload via PDF.. : (
 * One is to just watch, other one is to download : ) ENJOY~