Research Project: Here we go!

    For my research project, I have decided to focus on dog symbolism in fiction chapter books. Specifically, I plan to research more about how dogs represent characters and vice versa. However, I am going through a different route than what you would think. Instead of studying texts where the dog is a main character, I plan to look at books where the dog is a minor character at best. I think that this will be a very interesting project as you don't often realize how much symbolism a dog can have when it's not the main focus of the story. I already have some chapter books in mind, though I need to start finding some research papers to provide some solid theories and examples other than my own,

    I do know that this will be a difficult project. By using chapter books instead of picture books, I will have a lot more reading material to go over. And through studying the connection between the dog(s) and the character(s), I have to have a good understanding of the story and its people. It will also be hard to find case-specific studies about dogs that do not play a major role in the book. Many people focus on stories like Because of Winn-Dixie and Lassie and research about the books I'm looking into don't tend to focus on the dog aspect of the story. So I need to find some solid research that will support my ideas even though they may not specifically focus on the same thing I am. Aside from longer and more difficult reading materials and a limit on research, I will also have a hard time finding a good way to present my research. Many people won't get the full effect of my research if they haven't read the stories I'll be focusing on. I need to provide enough context that people will understand what I'm talking about, but I also need to understand that many won't quite get the significance to some of my findings. I need to find a way where I can present my research in a way that will have the most impact, but that is also easy to understand and fun as well.

    To summarize, I will be studying fiction chapter books where the dog plays a minor role in the story and will focus on how to dog(s) represents characters and vice versa. This will be a challenging project but it's one I look forward to and I know it will help me gain a deeper understanding of the human-dog relationship.