Jump to content
Attention: In order to reply to messages, create topics, have access to other features of the community you must sign up for an account.

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

larsmars223

By larsmars223,
in New York City Subway

Recommended Posts

larsmars223

larsmars223 0

Posted
Posted

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Charles

Guest Charles

Posted
Posted

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SevenEleven

SevenEleven 3,040

Posted
Posted

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 4.7; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920)

 

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
7LineFan

7LineFan 256

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
yearsnowlost

yearsnowlost 0

Posted
Posted

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. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SubwayGuy

SubwayGuy 2,321

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FlushingExpress

FlushingExpress 2

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RokuSix

RokuSix 3

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
larsmars223

larsmars223 0

Posted
  • Author
Posted
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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SubwayGuy

SubwayGuy 2,321

Posted
Posted
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 :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FlushingExpress

FlushingExpress 2

Posted
Posted
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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BJC

BJC 4

Posted
Posted
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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest Charles

Guest Charles

Posted
Posted
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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept