Okay - who wants to help me?

[C.Ann]

Please keep in mind that I haven't been in school since the one-room school house - LOL - (a bit of an exaggeration, but I'll be 61 soon) - and there's something that I want to do, but I'm not sure how to go about it..

I never went to college (married out of high school - the first time) and back in the day, a project such as the one I would like to tackle wasn't all that common.. So - I need some tips on how to do this..

As many of you know, I have become very interested in the Amish - and even more so since I learned of all the different Orders; other "plain people"; etc.. It's gotten to the point now where there is so much information that applies to "this group but not that group"; this group gets immunizations and that group doesn't; this group has this sort of home and furnishings and that group doesn't; some groups have rare blood types - while others don't; some have rare genetic illnesses - while others are spared; etc. - my head is just spinning in circles..

But - I really want to "learn" all there is to learn - similar to if I were taking college courses related to the Amish and other Old Order groups.. I don't want to read it once and forget it - I want to learn the facts and remember them..

So - I'm thinking I have to find a way to organize the info that I already have (via my non-fiction books) - as well as info I can obtain (or have obtained)on the internet - and any other sources that might be available to me.. What would be the best way to do that? How would I break it down into "sections" - and how would I decide what those sections would be?

Also - when I find conflicting information (which I have a few times already), how do I go about finding the most accurate, up-to-date information that's available - and how do I determine the validity of that information?

Although I have already started on this now, I'm thinking it will also be a great project to continue to work on during the winter months..

The problem is - I've never had to do a term paper - or anything even close to it - so I'm not sure how to start a project like this..

I'm not looking to become an expert on this subject - I just find it very interesting and when I have conversations with others about it, I would like to have the correct information stored in my "head" - without having to run off and look for this book or that book.. Just this past Monday, DD and DGD were asking me some questions - that I remembered having read the answers to - but I had to resort to finding the right books in order to give them the answers they wanted.. Of course they didn't mind waiting, but I found it very frustrating.. (I think my fascination with this subject is rubbing off on others now too as a number of people at that birthday party I attended over the weekend had a bunch of questions for me as well when they heard about all the reading I've been doing on the Amish and Old Orders.. )

So - is there anyone willing to give me some tips? If so, you'll be helping me to scratch something off my "bucket list"..

Thanks!

 

[themilesfamily]

What an interesting topic and an ambitious project! I love it!

I would start by recording the sources I've read. Break down the sources by category and list them.:

Books
Magazine Articles
Internet Sites
Videos
TV Programs
etc.

List each source under it's heading and perhaps do a small summary with 1-2 key points that stand out.

I would then start compiling notes by Amish Order. Keep a folder or binder for each order, and as you find articles or info that apply to that particular Order, pop it in.

 

[Mrs. Darcy]

I'm sorry I can't help with such a big project, but I wanted to ask if you have ever visited the towns around Lancaster PA where many of the Amish live? I'm asking because a few years ago i was obsessed with them for some reason and a couple of girlfriends and I drove there for a few days. It was fantastic the way they were so nice when we met them in the stores and at their driveway vegetable stands. They have a local newspaper called The Budget that I was going to subscribe to, but the interest left me as suddenly as it appeared lol. But I bought a black hat that the men wear from a real store where they shop for those kinds of things. That was during my fantasy days before I met my husband and I'd romanticize about the strong Amish men in their black hats. I think it was because I saw the movie Witness and loved the Amish character Daniel played by Alexander Gudunov (spelling).

Anyway, good luck with your wonderful project and I hope you stick with it longer than I did lol!

(What I meant by "real store" is it wasn't a tourist gift shop.)

 

[AKL_Megs]

No real suggestions or help from me, but I just have to tell you, C.Ann, how inspiring it is how you have made this such a hobby... a PASSION! It really makes me want to find something to be so interested in!

Oh, and I did just think of something... perhaps you can contact professors who specialize in these studies and get accurate information from them. Or, better yet, an Amish person themselves. They are usually pretty good about wanting to share their information, from what I understand... but that could be just another piece of mind spinning speculation

Good luck to you, and keep us posted!

 

[barkley]

very o.t. but i just wanted to mention to you that if the only reference to your age is that your last schooling was a one room school house-you could be awfuly young! dd (16) just graduated from her 1 room school house in 2008, and ds won't graduate from his till 2012! they've both attended one room school's in 2 schools from k/1st grade on!

btw-one resource on the amish you might wish to look to is remain publications. they do multiple magazines including 'reminisce', which in it's earlier days did articles on the amish, including having amish contributors. if i remember correctly, they published at least one amish cookbook.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Do you want to organize it in hard copy or digital form?

For hard copies I would probably sort it by having a hanging file folder or binder for each sect. Then within those I would have color coded paper folders for various general topics (whatever the big topics might be: dress, technology, etc.). So, each sect would have a file folder/binder. Within each of those would be a green folder on beliefs--or whatever. That way you could quickly grab one unit about one sect, or easily pull out all of the green folders if you wanted to compare beliefs across the board, etc.

 

[Handbag Lady]

The first thing *I* would do is start an Excel spreadsheet.

Start with the basics. What are the sect names? List these down the first column. Then, list the topics across the top, making wonderful cells for information to plot into. Location, blood type, immunization background, furnishing types, creeds, do they all do that thing where the Amish go out and party before they become adults.

Then you grow it from there. In Excel, is it so basic you can learn a lot in a single lesson to get you started, and there are tons of helpful webpages once you get going. You can even note inside of each cell the source you used for the info, so you can easily hide it from view (to keep your spreadsheet tidy).

From there, you can go anywhere. You can make a Word doc that expounds on a certain topic for note-taking and idea-making, yet always having the Excel sheet nearby for reference or updating.

(This is how I learned and memorized the main 24 gods of Greek and Roman mythology over the course of a day back in college.)

 

[Ceila]

The first thing *I* would do is start an Excel spreadsheet.

Start with the basics. What are the sect names? List these down the first column. Then, list the topics across the top, making wonderful cells for information to plot into. Location, blood type, immunization background, furnishing types, creeds, do they all do that thing where the Amish go out and party before they become adults.

Then you grow it from there. In Excel, is it so basic you can learn a lot in a single lesson to get you started, and there are tons of helpful webpages once you get going. You can even note inside of each cell the source you used for the info, so you can easily hide it from view (to keep your spreadsheet tidy).

From there, you can go anywhere. You can make a Word doc that expounds on a certain topic for note-taking and idea-making, yet always having the Excel sheet nearby for reference or updating.

(This is how I learned and memorized the main 24 gods of Greek and Roman mythology over the course of a day back in college.)

For your type of project this is exactly what I would suggest, too. The other nice thing about keeping your notes in electronic form is that you can easily search a topic. So, for example, you note that a certain color of dress is more prevalent in certain groups. You could just do a search for "blue" (just an example) and find every place you typed "blue."

As for finding reliable information, it can be tricky, especially for web sites. One of the best resources is your local library. Many even offer online database access through their web sites. If you aren't familiar with how to use them, the reference librarian would be more than happy to help you learn! All you have to do is stop in or call to ask him/her!

 

[golfgal]

It may help this winter when you are back from your cabin to take a college writing course at a local community college or even a 4 year university. I know in our state they have a senior citizen rate for tuition credits (I think it is $15/credit now). My grandpa went back to college after he retired because he had always wanted a degree. He ended up traveling the world through the elderhostel program at the university and took classes until he was 85. It might also help to take some computer classes in Word and Excel. Those we can take through our local community ed program.

 

[C.Ann]

Thank you all for the words of encouragement - and for taking the time to give me your thoughts and suggestions for how I can accomplish this project..

I haven't decided yet whether I will compile this info on my computer or if I will use a file type method.. What I am currently doing is making pencil notations in the books that I'm reading (jotting down page #'s; etc.) and then copying that info over into a large 5 subect notebook I have..

One of the examples I would like to give about checking facts is that out of the last 11 non-fiction books that I read, I found only one that mentioned (barely in passing) that you can tell an Amish farm is a Swartzentruber Amish farm by the fact that their barns are not white - they are painted a dark maroon.. It seems odd that I didn't read that elsewhere, so I'll now go on an internet hunt to see if I can find other sources that might mention it as well..

I plan on subscribing to both Amish newspapers that I know of - as well as several Amish magazines - and still hope to be able to take a trip to the Amish settlements that are not far from here this fall.. A trip to Lancaster is "iffy" - not sure if that will come about or not..

Last night I came across an internet site regarding the Amish and was very excited to find that recently a book has been written that pertains specifically to the Amish settlements in New York - so needless to say, I will be ordering that soon..

I would also love to hear any personal experiences (which you can PM to me if you prefer) so I don't clog up the board too much with my research..

Again - thank you for being so helpful and encouraging.. As they say, "You're never too old to learn something new".....

 

[NotUrsula]

Scholars use reference management software for this; it is EXPONENTIALLY easier than managing the information in hardcopy.

The most popular software out there is Endnote, but that is an expensive one; for you I would recommend the free program Zotero, created by George Mason University -- it does almost all the same things and is very easy to use. Really, this is MUCH better than using a spreadsheet.

It is actually an extension for use with the Firefox web browser -- you can download it at http://www.zotero.org/

Also, btw, if you don't already own a flatbed scanner, invest. They don't cost much and they make this kind of thing so much easier. (Also be sure to get yourself a second external hard drive to back this all up on; you don't want to risk losing any of that work, even though Zotero does allow you to archive all your items online.)

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I dont know about the organizing part but... I did find something interesting about the Amish in the genetic/medical disease dept. I was actually looking up something else abut a dr.

I think its the University of Miami there is a program that one doctor runs who is dedicated to researching the amish rare/genetic stuff like maple syrup disease. The people in Penn. have a whole fundrasing event to financially supprt his research.

Also a little ot but christianbook.com is running a contest to win a trip to meet an amish author in amish country pa. Have you read any of her books? Wanda B. I think.

I thought I read once that some familys will actually let you stay with them for a while and work on their farm etc. I dont know if that was the mennonites though or the amish?

I admire you for having this passion for learning c. ann.

 

[laurafergie]

Scholars use reference management software for this; it is EXPONENTIALLY easier than managing the information in hardcopy.

The most popular software out there is Endnote, but that is an expensive one; for you I would recommend the free program Zotero, created by George Mason University -- it does almost all the same things and is very easy to use. Really, this is MUCH better than using a spreadsheet.

It is actually an extension for use with the Firefox web browser -- you can download it at http://www.zotero.org/

Also, btw, if you don't already own a flatbed scanner, invest. They don't cost much and they make this kind of thing so much easier. (Also be sure to get yourself a second external hard drive to back this all up on; you don't want to risk losing any of that work, even though Zotero does allow you to archive all your items online.)

Zotero is what I was going to suggest. I use it with my genealogy research. I use Rootsmagic for my database - but I use Zotero when researching background, history, military and religions issues. My college age kids also use it to help when the write research papers. Awesome free software.

 

[Sparx]

The first thing *I* would do is start an Excel spreadsheet.

Start with the basics. What are the sect names? List these down the first column. Then, list the topics across the top, making wonderful cells for information to plot into. Location, blood type, immunization background, furnishing types, creeds, do they all do that thing where the Amish go out and party before they become adults.

Then you grow it from there. In Excel, is it so basic you can learn a lot in a single lesson to get you started, and there are tons of helpful webpages once you get going. You can even note inside of each cell the source you used for the info, so you can easily hide it from view (to keep your spreadsheet tidy).

From there, you can go anywhere. You can make a Word doc that expounds on a certain topic for note-taking and idea-making, yet always having the Excel sheet nearby for reference or updating.

(This is how I learned and memorized the main 24 gods of Greek and Roman mythology over the course of a day back in college.)

I agree with this. This is exactly how I would organize a massive spread of information.

C.Ann, in some of my college classes we have actually talked about the Amish. I've never had a class that focused completely on them but I'm sure these exist. It might be a good idea to look into maybe taking an online class or two about sociology or religious studies focusing on the Amish. If you're wanting access to information, collegiate libraries have massive amounts of information that you simply cannot access elsewhere. Many of these libraries can be accessed from home computers of students too.

 

[kymmyk13]

The first thing *I* would do is start an Excel spreadsheet.

Start with the basics. What are the sect names? List these down the first column. Then, list the topics across the top, making wonderful cells for information to plot into. Location, blood type, immunization background, furnishing types, creeds, do they all do that thing where the Amish go out and party before they become adults.

Then you grow it from there. In Excel, is it so basic you can learn a lot in a single lesson to get you started, and there are tons of helpful webpages once you get going. You can even note inside of each cell the source you used for the info, so you can easily hide it from view (to keep your spreadsheet tidy).

From there, you can go anywhere. You can make a Word doc that expounds on a certain topic for note-taking and idea-making, yet always having the Excel sheet nearby for reference or updating.

(This is how I learned and memorized the main 24 gods of Greek and Roman mythology over the course of a day back in college.)

This i exactly what I thought. Start in an excel spreadsheet and then go from there.

 

[C.Ann]

Thanks for the additional suggestions.. I will look into all of them..

lovmarypoppins: In one of these books I recently read, I came across this "maple syrup disease" - as well as a very rare blood type that was found among the Swartzentruber Amish (can't pull it out of my head right now), but after it was researched, it was later renamed "Yoder blood".. Interestingly enough, after a period of time it is capable of mutating into a non-rare form..

Love finding out all of these little facts here and there that make the groups/Orders different..

 

[themilesfamily]

A person can pursue more than one hobby at a time!! Starting a new hobby doesn't mean you've given up an old one.

I'm that way with genealogy and scrapbooking -- I dabble at one, dabble at the other...

 

[C.Ann]

A person can pursue more than one hobby at a time!! Starting a new hobby doesn't mean you've given up an old one.

I'm that way with genealogy and scrapbooking -- I dabble at one, dabble at the other...

I would be bored to death if I only had one hobby! Actually, I think most people would be.. And now that you mentioned scrapbooking - LOL - I'm finding tons and tons of gorgeous Amish photos online so........ Is there an Amish scrapbook in my future too?

 

[quentina]

I am not sure of the closeness of the relationship so, I am going to ask....do mennonite (SP??) follow the same practices as the Omish?

The reason I ask is because I adopted 2 children and one lived with an amazing mennonite family while in foster care. I know, they would speak to you about their lifestyle. Meeting them was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

I also live quite close to the Omish area. I work in Lancaster and drive by many Omish farms on the way to work (horses and buggy's all over). I could look into getting you some material/photo's etc.

 

[C.Ann]

I am not sure of the closeness of the relationship so, I am going to ask....do mennonite (SP??) follow the same practices as the Omish?

The reason I ask is because I adopted 2 children and one lived with an amazing mennonite family while in foster care. I know, they would speak to you about their lifestyle. Meeting them was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

I also live quite close to the Omish area. I work in Lancaster and drive by many Omish farms on the way to work (horses and buggy's all over). I could look into getting you some material/photo's etc.

Well - this is one of those things that has me so engrossed with all of this right now.. There are some Old Order Mennonites that live like some of the Old Order Amish (no electricity; no phones; etc.).. Then there are some Mennonites that kick it up a notch - such as owning black cars, but painting the bumpers and anything else "flashy" black.. They may have some modern conveniences, none, or all.. Then there are also some fairly liberal Amish (Beachy Amish) that allow things that other groups/orders don't.. It's gotten to the point where it's very confusing to keep it all straight, so that's why I'm venturing into this project..

That is wonderful that you adopted 2 children!! (I'm adopted myself..) Adoptive parents are truly special people..

If I think of anything you can help me with, I'll be sure to let you know.. Thank you so much for the offer.. That's really sweet of you..