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2 | <!-- saved from url=(0045)http://englishhistory.net/tudor/research.html -->
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3 | <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Are you conducting research?</TITLE>
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4 | <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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5 | <META content=Marilee name=Author>
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7 | <style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #800000; font-weight: bold}
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9 | </HEAD>
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10 | <BODY text=#000000 vLink=#800000 aLink=#808000 link=#800000 bgColor=#FFFFFF background="pageback.jpg">
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11 | <p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="4"><B>Are you conducting research for a paper/project?</B></font><font color="#FFFFFF"></p>
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12 | </font>
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13 | <blockquote>
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14 | <p><font face="Arial">Conducting research for a paper or project can be a rewarding
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15 | academic experiment. It's a bit like detective work - your teacher or
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16 | professor tells you to write about a subject, and off you go.... You
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17 | have to wade through tons of information, and then - out of thousands of words
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18 | - decide what to include in your paper or project. It can be
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19 | frustrating, and sometimes boring, but you're guaranteed to learn (and that
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20 | is, after all, the ultimate goal of education.) </font></p>
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21 | <P><font face="Arial"><B>The first step</B> is the most obvious - <B>choosing a topic</B>.
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22 | Choose something which interests you! Research can be fun if you're
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23 | actually interested in the topic. But if you're not, it can be boring
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24 | and frustrating. <BR>Now quite often you can't choose your topic. But
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25 | even if you don't have a choice, the right attitude is important. Don't
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26 | look at the research as a chore - look at it as an opportunity to learn new
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27 | things which may be useful to you one day. Who knows? The love of
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28 | your life might turn out to be a Tudor fanatic. </font>
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29 | <P><font face="Arial">Once you're topic has been chosen, you're ready for <B>step two</B> -
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30 | <B>background reading</B>! <BR>Read a general introduction to your topic,
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31 | either in your textbook or an encyclopedia. This will only take a little
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32 | while, and it's invaluable. <BR>After all, if you're doing a paper on Henry
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33 | VIII, it helps to have read a brief biography of his life. Then, while
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34 | you're doing more specialized research, you can place the research in its
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35 | proper context. <BR>If you want to do further reading on Tudor history, please
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36 | visit the <A href="biblio.html">Tudor
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37 | Bibliography</A>. It's a list of the works I used to create this site.</font><P>
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38 | <font face="Arial">Background research leads to <B>step three</B> - <B>narrow your topic to
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39 | acceptable limits</B>. <BR>If you only have to write a 3-5 page paper, don't
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40 | choose something like the Reformation. Instead, choose a particular
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41 | aspect of the Reformation. A good idea is to do background reading, and
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42 | write down some 'key words'. Perhaps one of the 'key words' will become
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43 | your final topic. <BR>Another idea is to use the 'key words' to make questions
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44 | or statements. If you're writing about the Reformation in England, you
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45 | could write the following - The Reformation in England was different than the
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46 | Reformation in Germany. Or, Was the Reformation in England different
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47 | than the Reformation in Germany? <BR>Answering such questions, or finding
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48 | support for the statements, can guide your research. Create as many
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49 | questions and statements as you need. </font>
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50 | <P><font face="Arial">Once you have narrowed your topic, move on to <B>step four</B> - <B>more
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51 | background research</B>! <BR>Once again, head for the encyclopedias.
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52 | They will give you a summary of the narrowed topic and familiarize you with
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53 | the major themes and vocabulary you will encounter later. <BR>Also, most
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54 | encyclopedias include a bibliography which lists the major scholarly works
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55 | related to your topic. Once you have that list, head to the library and
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56 | use the internet. </font>
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57 | <P><font face="Arial"><B>And keep it simple!</B> <BR>Whenever you're writing a paper, always keep
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58 | its length in mind. A short paper (3-5 pages) doesn't require the same
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59 | amount of research as a longer paper. Don't make yourself work harder.
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60 | <BR>If you're interested in a topic beyond what you can include in the paper,
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61 | that's great - but immerse yourself in the topic during personal time.
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62 | Don't let your paper become more than you can handle. And too much
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63 | detail can drown your topic and lower your grade. It's natural to want
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64 | to impress your teacher or professor with the breadth of your knowledge, but
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65 | too much detail can actually be harmful to the presentation of a clear,
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66 | concise argument. </font>
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67 | <P><font face="Arial">If you start feeling lost or confused, talk to your teacher. After
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68 | all, they know exactly what they want in a paper. </font>
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69 | <P><font face="Arial">And now some information about using my sites for research, or the internet
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70 | in general.... </font>
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71 | <P> <CENTER>
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72 | <P><U><FONT size=+1 face="Arial">Help for students conducting research on the 'World Wide
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73 | Web'</FONT></U></CENTER>
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74 | <P><font face="Arial">Conducting research on the internet can be a tricky and confusing
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75 | experience. Luckily for us all, the Department of English at Saint Louis
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76 | University has created <A
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77 | href="http://www.slu.edu/departments/english/research/">a website to help
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78 | everyone</A> - please take the time to explore this valuable resource.
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79 | Also, I have collected information about 'Citing Electronic Sources'.
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80 | With these tools, you should be able to research and write about any topic -
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81 | and use the internet as authoritatively as you use the library! </font>
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82 | <P><font face="Arial">If you prefer to cut and paste links, the link to the Saint Louis
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83 | University site is: <BR><font color="#FFFFFF">
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84 | <a href="http://www.slu.edu/departments/english/research/">http://www.slu.edu/departments/english/research/</a>
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85 | </font></font><font color="#FFFFFF">
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86 | <P> </font><P align="center"><u><font face="Arial" size="4">Copyright
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87 | information for this website</font></u><P><font face="Arial">I'm very happy that
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88 | so many people from all over the world use this site for research. It's
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89 | the reason I created the site and continue to work on it. Many of you have
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90 | written and asked how to cite my work in your papers and reports. This is
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91 | the correct format based upon both the Turabian/Chicago and MLA styles:<br>
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92 | <br>
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93 | Hanson, Marilee. "Contemporary Descriptions of Anne Boleyn." <i>
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94 | EnglishHistory.net</i>. 2001. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/annedesc.html (7
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95 | May 2001).</font><P><font face="Arial">You must change the article title to
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96 | reflect what you are quoting and use the date you read the source here.
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97 | </font>
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98 | <p><font face="Arial">Please visit the following sites to learn more - <A
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99 | href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/cite.html"><font color="#000000">The LOC's
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100 | Citing Electronic Sources</font></A> page and the <font color="#FFFFFF">
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101 | <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html">
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102 | <font color="#000000">Columbia University Press</font></a></font> website.</font></p>
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103 | <font color="#FFFFFF"> </font><p><font face="Arial">Let me clearly state that citing electronic sources is a valid form of
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104 | research and accepted at most academic institutions. And I would also
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105 | like to reassure every visitor to the site that I have checked and
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106 | double-checked every bit of information included on these pages. </font></p>
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107 | <P><font face="Arial">Also, if you are citing 'Primary Sources', you do not need to know the
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108 | original source of the 'primary source'. Again, it is perfectly
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109 | acceptable to cite an internet page as a source and every teacher should be
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110 | aware of this - if they're not, tell them. <BR>As I've discovered over
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111 | the years, simply because a book has its information printed on paper and
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112 | bound in a nice cover doesn't mean it's accurate. In fact, quite a few
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113 | recently-published history texts are woefully inaccurate and
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114 | misleading. So it is best to check and double-check your research,
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115 | whether it comes from the internet or a library. I recently wrote a
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116 | rant about this - <font color="#FFFFFF">
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117 | <a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor/history.html">
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118 | <font color="#000000">click here to read</font></a></font>.</font><P>
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119 | <font face="Arial">If you have general questions about copyright law, <A
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120 | href="http://lcweb.gov/copyright/"><font color="#000000">go to this site</font></A>. This is the
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121 | homepage of the US Copyright Office; it contains information about
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122 | international copyright law, too.</font></P>
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123 | <P> </P><font face="Arial">And now -
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124 | <B>Copyright information</B>.... boring but vital! Here it is, in
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125 | brief - <B>everything at this site was written by me
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126 | (Marilee.)</B> Therefore, I hold
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127 | the copyright for all my original work. </font>
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128 | <P><font face="Arial">And I take all the blame if it bores you to tears or
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129 | confuses you endlessly. </font>
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130 | <P><font face="Arial">The site was created in 1997 and is updated regularly.
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131 | Visit the <FONT color=#FFFFFF> <a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor/new.html">
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132 | <font color="#000000">What's New?</font></a></FONT>
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133 | page to find out the exact dates.</font><P><font face="Arial">If you need a
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134 | last name to credit the site, please use Marilee Hanson.</font><P>
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135 | <font face="Arial">I do not hold the sole copyright to anything at the </font>
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136 | <FONT color=#FFFFFF face="Arial"> <A
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137 | href="primary.html"><font color="#000000">Primary Sources</font></A></FONT><FONT face="Arial">
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138 | section. Those are original historical documents in the public domain
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139 | which I collected and transcribed. Yes, it was loads of work to type
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140 | everything up, but they were simply transcribed (not written) by me.
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141 | That is why they're called 'Primary Sources'. <BR>I do hold the copyright on
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142 | the electronic version of the texts, which I typed. This is where the
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143 | internet becomes confusing - essentially, the words are not mine but by virtue
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144 | of transcribing them into electronic format, I own this particular version.
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145 | So I would ask that no one copies my hard work, at least without asking
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146 | permission and/or giving me credit. </FONT>
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147 | <P><font face="Arial">As for graphics used here, copyright law allows the use of images for
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148 | educational purposes, provided no profit is made and the image is not
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149 | altered. And since I did go to the considerable trouble of scanning the
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150 | images, I like to be asked before someone 'borrows' them. This simple
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151 | act of courtesy goes a long way in the happy-go-lucky world of the internet.
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152 | </font>
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153 | <P><font face="Arial">If you would like to learn more about the legal use of
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154 | images, please click </font><FONT color=#FFFFFF face="Arial"> <a href="art.html">
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155 | <font color="#000000">here</font></a>.</FONT><CENTER>
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156 | <P><font face="Arial">In the end, your visit to this site makes my work worthwhile. <BR>Thanks
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157 | for visiting &
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158 | <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=Copyright">
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159 | <font color="#000000">write to
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160 | me</font></a> with any specific questions/comments.
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161 | <BR>-Marilee</font></CENTER></P>
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162 | <p align="center"><font face="Arial"><FONT size=-1><A
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163 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html"><font color="#000000">to Tudor England</font></A></FONT>
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164 | <BR><FONT size=-1><A href="http://englishhistory.net/byron.html">
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165 | <font color="#000000">to Lord
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166 | Byron</font></A></FONT> <BR><FONT size=-1><A
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167 | href="http://englishhistory.net/keats.html"><font color="#000000">to John Keats</font></A></FONT>
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168 | </font>
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169 | </p>
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170 | <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial">You can also visit this GeoCities site for additional help: <BR><A
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171 | href="http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4184/"><font color="#000000">How to Organize a Research
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172 | Paper and Document It with MLA Citations</font></A>
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173 | <BR>And for further reading on Tudor England, <BR>visit the <A
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174 | href="biblio.html"><font color="#000000">Tudor Bibliography</font></A> -
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175 | <BR>a list of the works I used to create this site.</font></p>
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176 | </blockquote>
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177 |
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