artist's statement by anna maria kawecka
Chasing Footnotes: Depicting Bates and Kuhlthau Through the Graphic Novel
When given the opportunity to creatively portray my findings in our group research, I was ecstatic to think my hobbies and course interests could intersect. Throughout the process, I found myself wondering how to position myself within both Team Internet's collected data, and the readings we had looked at over the course of the semester. I was drawn to Bates' approach to research in itself, as well as Kuhlthau's research, and decided this as my direction.
My idea for my comic sprouted from countless rereadings of both sources, and what felt like endless piles of sketches. My main idea - a student, in no mood to research but finding a way out of their despair using Bates' methods - began to take form. After drafting several pages of possible outcomes to my LIS equation, the idea to include the essence of a would-be trip to a Wonderland-esque (rather, Internetland?) place became an essential plot point (Carroll 1865). I wanted the focus to be on the student's negative outlook on their task, and to show it gradually becoming both easier and enjoyable while incorporating Bates' "footnote chasing" method of inquiry (Bates 1989). My own way of conveying the negative to positive spectrum of emotions students experience in Kuhlthau's article is through colour and emotion (Kuhlthau 1988). The comic's panels begin in dark, murky colours, mirroring the student's despair, nervousness, and overall distress of their assignment; they gradually lighten into bright, cheerful, and pleasing hues echoing the student's changes in mood and perspective. The changes from positive to negative relay Kuhlthau's findings among the students the author surveyed, becoming more happy and confident in themselves as they completed more research, and reached conclusions (Kulhthau 1988).
I chose to incorporate the data as much as possible, and have noted used netSquares on the back of each comic page. The images have been used directly, or with slight changes to fit into the comic, without necessarily altering their meaning.
My idea for my comic sprouted from countless rereadings of both sources, and what felt like endless piles of sketches. My main idea - a student, in no mood to research but finding a way out of their despair using Bates' methods - began to take form. After drafting several pages of possible outcomes to my LIS equation, the idea to include the essence of a would-be trip to a Wonderland-esque (rather, Internetland?) place became an essential plot point (Carroll 1865). I wanted the focus to be on the student's negative outlook on their task, and to show it gradually becoming both easier and enjoyable while incorporating Bates' "footnote chasing" method of inquiry (Bates 1989). My own way of conveying the negative to positive spectrum of emotions students experience in Kuhlthau's article is through colour and emotion (Kuhlthau 1988). The comic's panels begin in dark, murky colours, mirroring the student's despair, nervousness, and overall distress of their assignment; they gradually lighten into bright, cheerful, and pleasing hues echoing the student's changes in mood and perspective. The changes from positive to negative relay Kuhlthau's findings among the students the author surveyed, becoming more happy and confident in themselves as they completed more research, and reached conclusions (Kulhthau 1988).
I chose to incorporate the data as much as possible, and have noted used netSquares on the back of each comic page. The images have been used directly, or with slight changes to fit into the comic, without necessarily altering their meaning.
