Writing a research paper about the subway and don't know what to include

Hello everyone. I'm writing a research paper for school about the history of the New York City Subway and I was wondering what I should include. I was on nycsubway.org (which I visit very often). I went to the history section and it was WAY to detailed for a 10th grade paper that is supposed to be 6-7 pages. So my main question is, simply, what should I include? I know to include about the elevated railways and the BMT, IRT and IND. I'm not sure if I should include car types. Also, thank you in advance for everyone that helps.

P.S. Also, can anyone tell me some good books I can use?

A Century of Subways by Brian Cudahy celebrates the centennial of the subway and more. It's quite a well-written book. I actually bought a copy. Good luck with your paper!

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Discuss the cars. The wave of NTT cars are coming in and its steadily replacing the older fleets. (Which definitely had an impact when they were first introduced) Try to not get too boring with it. If you're talking about NTT, point out the new features such as the FINDs, announcements, etc.

In Addition, I was thinking that you should add a section where you discuss how the subway system is being improved and preparing for the wave of the future. (Second Ave Subway, New S. Ferry, CBTC & ATO, etc.)

Relating to the events as they happen will definitely bring in those points. (The R38s are retired since this past Friday.. The new South Ferry terminal opens tomorrow.

Good luck with your paper.

Research paper, eh? Is it called American Studies, or is it something different?

Definitely use the cars... they are quite representative of the conditions the subway was in at various times.

In terms of history, you might want to discuss how the methods of building the subway varied from the els to the original stations to dual contracts to IND to the tunnel boring machine. I would also discuss the impact of the subway on the city itself, and how the subway not only influenced popular culture (a la "Take the A Train") but significantly expanded the city limits (before the els and the original IRT places such as the Upper West Side were relatively undeveloped).

I would recommend reading Uptown/Downtown by Stan Fischler, and 722 Miles by Clifton Hood, which is on Google Books, at least for the most part (this book is great at explaining the impact the subways had on the idea of what residential areas should be in and outside of the city). For the car information, your best bet is probably nycsubway.org but I would also recommend New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars by Gene Sansone. They have this book in Barnes and Noble in the NYC section, and it has detailed technical diagrams of all the subway cars to the present.

Good luck! If you need any help or more suggestions, feel free to message me.

I'd recommend starting with some back story about the el's and street transportation, the issues with that, and then getting into the IRT first, then talking about the BMT, and later the IND. Then you can talk about how the city began operating all of them, and how the system has grown and changed (destruction of the Manhattan els, etc.)...I wouldn't focus on the specifics of cars, but they generally fall into the pre WW2 era cars (arnines, lo v's etc), SMEE (R10-42), "space age" (R44/R46), R62/68 kind of stand alone, then you get into the new techs. But if you're writing a paper you should focus on the history of the system and how it relates to the goal of moving people around and how that changed more than the car types although you can mention it as far as the technology in the system has gone over the years.

Try to including the history of Grand Central Terminal....when the 1st IRT ran to/from....so I guess including stuff from 1904 to 2009. Good luck with the paper.....keep us posted on it!

Hey again,

I am not really sure what to write about the 70's to 80's and the grafitti wars. Does anyone have any insight on this?

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

this reminds me of when i was in 10th grade and wrote a 14 page-long research report about all the subways in our system from the R32s to the R160s. the minimum was only four paragraphs and my report was so long, i could not present it in class . anyway, i used nycsubway.org as my primary source and i think you should to. you do not have to go into detail like i did. just write the main points and include anything that would make them understandable to the reader.

Chances are, you'll have to include the subway's social and economic effects. My junior-year paper on Rapid Transit focused largely on the city's expansion, and I found some great books in the library.

this reminds me of when i was in 10th grade and wrote a 14 page-long research report about all the subways in our system from the R32s to the R160s. the minimum was only four paragraphs and my report was so long, i could not present it in class . anyway, i used nycsubway.org as my primary source and i think you should to. you do not have to go into detail like i did. just write the main points and include anything that would make them understandable to the reader.

For my paper though, I am writing about "an event or person who changed American history" and fortunatly am able to write about how the subway changed New York City. I am trying to focus on the first subways, IRT BMT and IND, the dual contracts, the graffiti eras (70's and 80's) and the subway today, all relating to how this changed the city, and surrounding areas.

Hey again,

 

I am not really sure what to write about the 70's to 80's and the grafitti wars. Does anyone have any insight on this?

You're welcome:

http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/history-nycta1970s.html

http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/history-nycta1980s.html

That's all the info you could ever really need, more for your own knowledge since if you're writing the paper you're obviously interested in it. I wouldn't recommend getting too detailed on the equipment, or this or that particular line, but the overall themes should be pretty obvious and those links can provide plenty of supporting info for a paper. Just dont plagiarise cuz you'll probably get caught

Thank you everyone who contributed. This was really helpful, and I now know what do to and where to start.

Don't forget to write about the beautiful rust patterns on the roofs of car classes R32 to R42...

Don't forget to write about the beautiful rust patterns on the roofs of car classes R32 to R42...

first of all, he is not writing about subway cars like i did in the 10th grade and second of all, rust is not beautiful to look at. it shows how deteriorated the cars are and why they need to go now!!!! (especially the R42s). i wanted to write about how ugly the rust made those cars look in my paper, but was only allowed to write facts, not opinion.

first of all, he is not writing about subway cars like i did in the 10th grade and second of all, rust is not beautiful to look at. it shows how deteriorated the cars are and why they need to go now!!!! (especially the R42s). i wanted to write about how ugly the rust made those cars look in my paper, but was only allowed to write facts, not opinion.

LOL!!!I don't think he was serious about it.

National geographic, history channel, discovery channel 7 other networks have really good material on the subway. Check the library for dvd/vhs.

- A

LOL!!!I don't think he was serious about it.

Exactly. I wasn't being serious.

first of all, he is not writing about subway cars like i did in the 10th grade and second of all, rust is not beautiful to look at. it shows how deteriorated the cars are and why they need to go now!!!! (especially the R42s). i wanted to write about how ugly the rust made those cars look in my paper, but was only allowed to write facts, not opinion.

Sarcasm, my friend. It's a beautiful thing.

Out of curiousity, what did you get on that paper?

 

Sarcasm, my friend. It's a beautiful thing.

How true.:cool:

 

Sarcasm, my friend. It's a beautiful thing.

Out of curiousity, what did you get on that paper?

i got an A on it. if you want it to read it, click on the link below:

http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smreadtitle.cgi?action=display&file=essays/ThaiW-StateOfTheSubwayCars.htm

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters