Research Paper Cont.

[AslingMusic]

My Research paper has been approved, my topic is the evolution of the community over the years. I need 5 sources and I am using the Documentary as one. I have no clue what I can use as other Sources. I am thinking statistics of tournaments and such but I need to find Forum posts and such. Can you guys help me out and help me find a few informative sources to prove the communtty's growth? Thanks!

 

[EddyBearr]

It's questionable to look for things like forum posts. If at all possible, regular publications are best for things like this, and if not those, then static websites. A "forum post" is basically a personal testimony that could have not even come from a person -- not a good source.

Search for newspaper publications about tournaments (Things like TBH usually got mentions in local papers).
The eSports ePapers are good too (daily dot esports, etc.)
Try to set-up a skype interview with a famous & storied smasher, use that as a primary source and get their word as a veteran professional about how the game has grown.

At the risk of almost doing your paper for you...Here's a framework I would personally use off the top of my head:

Source 1: Documentary
Source 2: Local newspaper article about local "big" tournament, exemplifying that it used to be a sporadic/local thing
Source 3: (Primary Source) Skype Interview with professional veteran
Source 4: eSports news about smashers being sponsored by famous eSports organizations like TSM, exemplifying we esports now
Source 5: Sakurai or Nintendo action against EVO or community in general to show the struggle
Source 6: eSports news/article that generally speaks about Smash and its history/progression
Source 7: How Nintendo got into EVO by raising money for cancer research and/or how Smash The Record does so much for charity
Source 8: meleeitonme is a great source of information ofc.
Source 9: Primary research using smashboards tournament rankings to show how tournaments are insanely widespread and have grown over the years (http://smashboards.com/rankings/melee/league/events?sort=value&order=DESC)
Source 10: Mew2King's clashtournaments-published list of frame data and etc. can be used as a source to exemplify how obsessed this game makes people.

Good luck with your paper, make it worth reading.

 

[MurphyPrime]

Try an interview with someone with more of an analytical mind, like Blur or Tafo. Don't try asking Mango. People have twitter accounts you can contact them with. Just be uber professional. Even interviewing one of the better people in your area might not be too bad. But getting a veteran who was playing during Ken's time would be best I think.

Remember with this paper, they don't care about the tech of the game specifically, but how the community evolved. Look at how the community handles adversity, how the community has grown, and what issues still impact them (maybe gender imbalance or something).

 

[AslingMusic]

It's questionable to look for things like forum posts. If at all possible, regular publications are best for things like this, and if not those, then static websites. A "forum post" is basically a personal testimony that could have not even come from a person -- not a good source.

Search for newspaper publications about tournaments (Things like TBH usually got mentions in local papers).
The eSports ePapers are good too (daily dot esports, etc.)
Try to set-up a skype interview with a famous & storied smasher, use that as a primary source and get their word as a veteran professional about how the game has grown.

At the risk of almost doing your paper for you...Here's a framework I would personally use off the top of my head:

Source 1: Documentary
Source 2: Local newspaper article about local "big" tournament, exemplifying that it used to be a sporadic/local thing
Source 3: (Primary Source) Skype Interview with professional veteran
Source 4: eSports news about smashers being sponsored by famous eSports organizations like TSM, exemplifying we esports now
Source 5: Sakurai or Nintendo action against EVO or community in general to show the struggle
Source 6: eSports news/article that generally speaks about Smash and its history/progression
Source 7: How Nintendo got into EVO by raising money for cancer research and/or how Smash The Record does so much for charity
Source 8: meleeitonme is a great source of information ofc.
Source 9: Primary research using smashboards tournament rankings to show how tournaments are insanely widespread and have grown over the years (http://smashboards.com/rankings/melee/league/events?sort=value&order=DESC)
Source 10: Mew2King's clashtournaments-published list of frame data and etc. can be used as a source to exemplify how obsessed this game makes people.

Good luck with your paper, make it worth reading.

Thank you so much, that is such a big help. I hadn't even thought of the Evo ban. I'll try and use some of these for my paper, thank again.

 

[Pauer]

For some facts and figures, I would look at the player count and the player to price pool ratio of nationals, look at player earnings or the amount of people with sponsorships. Perhaps you can obtain meaningful data about the growth of the community by using Google trends.

Remember you were lucky enough to get a topic approved that's important for you personally. This means you'll have to get creative in how you get your data and put more time and effort into the paper than others because information is not available in the format you need.