Writing the Research Paper The research paper is the capstone project of the English composition sequence. It demonstrates the student’s understanding of the course objectives, serving as documentation that he or she is ready for the demands of the transfer institution and workplace in regard to managing information efficiently, analyzing and evaluating it accurately, and communicating it effectively. The paper’s primary purpose is to examine an issue from multiple perspectives and reach a research-driven conclusion based on the analysis and evaluation of evidence that represents those perspectives. Each claim the paper makes must have supporting evidence from multiple sources which are credible and relevant. Prior to the drafting process the student is required to compose a research proposal that identifies the focus of the research along with strategies and sources that will be employed. An annotated bibliography is also required. One Student’s Research Paper Experience For her research paper topic, Haley Akeson and her classmates are asked to choose a historical event and argue a claim about its consequences, supporting the claim with evidence that might change or alter the audience’s point of view. As one possibility for focusing the paper, Haley is encouraged to choose a Hollywood film that focuses on a historical issue and argue how accurately or ineffectively the film addresses the issue. After some deliberation, Haley chooses the film, Memoirs of a Geisha, released by Columbia pictures in 2005 and based on author Arthur Golden’s novel, published in 1997. In her proposal written prior to her research, Haley expresses her reasons for selecting her topic noting the misunderstanding that varying perspectives often present: Fascination with the differences of culture has always been a part of my life. Growing up as a navy brat I saw the world in a somewhat broader scope than most my age. Color and race have never been something that defines a person in my eyes. To me it is the beauty of personality, the richness of culture, the love of one’s heritage, and the expression of tradition that makes a person. I chose to write specifically about geisha because of their vibrant nature, secretive traditions, and artful back rounds. However, there are those who as Edith Wharton said in her book Roman Fever, “see each other through the wrong ends of their little telescopes”. I feel that as a person who has experienced the true nature of diverse cultures it is my duty to open the minds of others and with this research paper I can fulfill said duty through dissection of the lives of the lovely geisha. Memoirs of a Geisha: Flowers in a Fading World Commented [HA1]: I am asking Haley to provide a title. Haley’s first paragraph illustrates her exemplary command of the language, choosing precisely the right word to convey the beauty that the Japanese geisha traditionally represent. Her concluding sentence serves as her thesis, presenting her specific argument about the challenges the geisha culture faces today. There once was a time when beautiful young girls were raised in small flocks to become swans. Tan by nature, they hid their lustrous skin under a creamy pale clay mask. Their hair was painstakingly arranged into waxy black sculptures atop their heads and their lips were stained satin rouge. Such swans still exist today in what is known as “the floating world” of Japan and they are called geisha. However, these modern day geisha are an evolved species compared to the originals. Though geisha are meant to uphold the old traditions of the fast advancing country of Japan, there are ways in which they, too, are affected by the technological and social changes of the world today. In her second and third paragraphs, Haley creates a transition between her thesis and the essential information her audience needs to understand about the history of the geisha before she continues with her argument. In particular, Haley takes steps to refute the common assumption that geisha were traditionally prostitutes: Before one can understand the subtle changes in the ways of geisha today, one must first be informed of the history that lay behind their origins. In truth, their story begins as far back as the seventeenth century, when they would entertain in small businesses such as bars or inns. Geisha are not to be confused with prostitutes though, because there were certain parts of the town that prostitutes were restricted too called ‘pleasure districts’ that a geisha would find beneath her. As Jeffrey Hays writes in his informative website on Asiatic culture,” In a world where women were either wives or prostitutes, geisha lived in separate communities known as the ‘flower and willow world,’” which gives support to the fact that geisha were entirely separate from prostitutes, and even wives for that matter. Geisha lived a single life and were almost similar to nuns in that instead of worrying about relationships, they focused on bettering themselves and becoming educated. In fact the very name geiko (in Japanese form), means “arts child,” because most of their education/profession revolved around artistry. One surprising fact about geisha is that many of the first geisha weren’t women, but men. It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that women dominated the profession and took the artistic skills of geisha to the next level. And, she also challenges that, in spite of their focus on the art of beauty, their lives were frivolous or charmed as many westerners seem to assume. Life as a traditional geisha was hard. They had to go through a stepping stone of ranks which required grueling work. Every young prospect had to start out almost as if they were a slave of the Okia that purchased them. The Okia would pay a hefty sum to buy the young girls (or boys sometimes), then the owners would feed, clothe, and educate their protégée. As Johnson and Wales University student Lauren Lockard notes in her research, “Once a child was in the pleasure quarter, yes, they did indeed have the opportunity for a better class of life, but they were now the property of the brothel owner and saddled with an outrageous level of ever increasing debt.” In order to return the large debt the geisha to would take on as the maid of the house. Then when old enough they would go to school, and if they were obedient and trained enough the time would come for them to become ‘maikos’, or apprentice geisha. All young maikos were given big sisters known as onesans, who guide them through the toughest years of their training. Some believe that mizuage (the selling of a maikos virginity) has been a necessary part of a maiko becoming a geisha, but a true geisha only becomes so when all of their training is complete. Mizuage was really only invented as an opportunity for the young geisha to pay off their debts to their Okia sooner. Typically a geishas’ debt would take many long years of work, if not a life time, to pay off. In her fourth and fifth paragraphs, Hayley introduces her audience to Chiyo, the primary character in the film. She describes the life that Chiyo, whose name is changed to Sayuri, must endure in order for herself and her family to survive. However fanciful the geisha may appear to be, the molding of their persona is not quite what one might first perceive. To fully understand one must imagine walking down a must cobble street in a small Japanese village nearly a century ago and as the market place stalls come into view, watch as a couple of small girls are being hustled around among the array of wilting vegetables, molded teas, and pungent spices. It is in this setting that the film audience is first introduced to nine-year old Chiyo in Memoirs of a Geisha, released in December 2005 and directed by Rob Marshall. A diamond in the rough, she is sold to a local teahouse in order to provide money for her family who live off the meager nourishment of the land. For Chiyo, being sold in order to learn the ways of the geisha means the chance to not only save her family from poverty, but also to gain an education, live in a comfortable home where she can earn food and all of her necessities, as well as establish a respectable career through the artistry she will be taught. Sadly, Chiyo’s struggles in life are only just beginning once she sets foot inside the world of the geisha. Her name is changed to Sayuri and as she matures and learns more of the art of geisha, she must endure her time as the maid of the house, the pain of a geishas’ beautiful attire and hairdos, as well as quarrels with other geisha. As Haley continues with her paper in the next two paragraphs, she examines the perspective of those who visited pre-World War II Japan and the consequences that arose because many in that era misunderstand its culture. Sayuri’s experience is just a smidgen of the raw reality of a geisha’s life experiences director Rob Marshall tries to illustrate in his film considered to be one of the more historically accurate depictions of traditional geisha life. It was in 1930s time period in which the movie is set that the face of geisha was first represented to the outside world. Many may expect such publicity to have been a good thing for the geisha, but quite the opposite is true. As Sayuri experiences, many westerners who visited Japan during and after the war couldn’t tell the difference between a common prostitute acting as a geisha from a real geiko.