Tarot essay?

[Seserous]

I have to do a protraite essay for my college writing 121 about a person, group or place. I am trying to do it on people who read the cards. I am having trouble staying focused on the people who do the readings, its to easy to stray into other aspects of the cards such as how to use them.

Can anyone offer any advice on how I can fill 4 1/2 pgs just on the people who do the readings?

 

[Teheuti]

Can anyone offer any advice on how I can fill 4 1/2 pgs just on the people who do the readings?

Create a short questionnaire and ask people here to respond. What do you most need to know about people who do readings to create an accurate portrait?

Collate the responses, pick a couple of good quotes, and you should have everything you need.

You could also gather data from the MBTI poll and the posts that go with it:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=12143&highlight=MBTI+poll

 

[shadowdancer]

that is a good suggestion there, and there could be a wealth of questions you could ask including:

when you first got into tarot
when you first did your first reading
how was that experience
how you have evolved to how you do readings today
what decks you use and why
what spreads you like and why
how you believe you get the information (bit deep that but could be interesting)
your personal tarot ethics and responsibilities you follow
funny or unusual stories
set up they use when reading cards, reading space etc


heck I think you are going to find it hard keeping it to the 4.5 pages

Personally if I were doing this essay I would focus on three people only, one who is new to tarot, one who has been doing it for a while, and maybe someone who only reads for themselves as opposed to others. that would lead to three different dynamics and would be easier to do a compare/contrast if that makes sense.

Can you tell I used to love my essay writing when I was at school My favourite subject. As soon as the topic was sent I was off at a rate of knots, much to the annoyance of my friend who invariably stared at a blank page for half an hour trying to figure out what to write. I just loved that free flow feeling. Now maths.... different story entirely. (Bringing me out in a cold sweat just thinking about it)

Davina

 

[Seserous]

@shadowdancer: I love essays too, they're so easy and fun.

Thanks for the advice you two. Although I have to use three outside sources and if I do this then where ever I get the interview will have to be an outside source. I am not sure that any tarot forum would be considered legitmiate....

Do you know of anyone famous who has an interview on the tarrot anywhere? I could reference the heck out of something like that.

 

[Grizabella]

Sure! Mary Greer, Rachel Pollack, tons of bloggers, Ciro Marchetti and Baba Prague who have created fabulous Tarot decks just to name very few. But if you use parts of interviews, be sure to ask permission first. And if you want a good grade, just be sure the interview doesn't comprise very much of your 4 1/2 pages. Maybe just use a line or two but do all the rest of your writing yourself.

As for keeping it on topic, I should think that would be very easy if you focus on Tarot readers as a general group, mentioning the old traditions and scammers and then the way it's morphed into the new tradition of using it for counseling, the certification debate, self-improvement, etc. and mention there are now the people keeping it more old school traditional with fortunetelling but trying to make it more respectable as opposed to the the "new school" who are also trying to make it more respectable but without the emphasis on fortunetelling. Then include a couple of short interviews done by you---we're probably at the 4 1/2 pages already without even tapping into the more famous (Tarot speaking) who have written books or created decks and their interviews. The subject is a goldmine, really.

 

[Seserous]

wait, there's a certification debate? who would do the certifiying! I've been away from here for two long! thanks for all the help, now I just have to write the dang thing before next tuesday....

 

[Teheuti]

But if you use parts of interviews, be sure to ask permission first.

Permission is not needed to quote something for a school paper that will not be published - just make sure the material is properly acknowledged in the text itself and in a footnote and bibliography and that the quote or paraphrase (correctly attributed) is not overly long.

If you use interview material (good idea, Grizabella) then the point is probably to compare and contrast what many readers say. You could, for instance, analyze how tarot readers describe themselves and what they do by investigating a number of tarot reader promotional websites.

A portrait of a single tarot reader would simply be a professional biography, and not necessarily tell you anything about tarot readers as a "type."

In terms of the paper, the important thing is what you do with your raw data - your analysis and the resulting conclusions that you draw.

By the way, since your introduction and conclusion should take at least a half page each and should probably be written last as a summary of the paper content, you are really only talking about a 3 to 3-1/2 page paper. If that's any help.

 

[Teheuti]

I am not sure that any tarot forum would be considered legitmiate....

Do you know of anyone famous who has an interview on the tarot anywhere? I could reference the heck out of something like that.

I would think a forum where people talk about their own experiences as tarot readers would be a great resource.

To find an interview just search on the person's name plus "interview" and that should do it.

Mary K. Greer

 

[Seserous]

Thanks for all the great advice. I wrote my rough draft and I focused just on one reading that a friend did. I compared how he viewed the cards with how I read them. I got just about enough wordage out of that. I also found that MLA format does have rules for fourm posts so I guess she would have to accept this as a source if I were to use it.

 

[Briar Rose]

@shadowdancer: I love essays too, they're so easy and fun.

Thanks for the advice you two. Although I have to use three outside sources and if I do this then where ever I get the interview will have to be an outside source. I am not sure that any tarot forum would be considered legitmiate....

Do you know of anyone famous who has an interview on the tarrot anywhere? I could reference the heck out of something like that.

The standard MLA form of writing reads that web sites are accpetable as long as you do a works citied area at the end. AT should count.