Edward, S. (2023, December 18). How our ancient ancestors used caves. Stump Cross Caverns – A Fun Family Day Out in Yorkshire. https://www.stumpcrosscaverns.co.uk/how-our-ancient-ancestors-used-caves

Background: A rather strange source, from the stump cross caverns website, in Yorkshire. It’s a website dedicated to said Stump Cross Caverns, which is a tourist attraction dedicated around caves. While a strange source, the caves themselves are a preserved cavern system that hadn’t been touched by humans. It serves as a good reference for how caves had been and could’ve been used.

How I used it: I used it mainly in my Causal Argument, giving myself a rather broad yet expansive usage in how caves have served humanity during antiquity. It helped to sort of detoxify myself from other cave information, and use previous information I know about exploring caves or maybe even mining information. It served to ground myself in the idea of Humans living or using caves as tools, rather than actual locations that exist without humans. The point was to give general information so I could begin to explain my point.

From old to new: How the English language evolved throughout history: UT Permian Basin Online. UTPB. (2023, April 4). https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/humanities/from-old-to-new-how-the-english-language-evolved-throughout-history

Background: An article from another university, which goes over the concepts of how language has evolved over the times. Even in recent history and how words go out of fashion or are twisted into completely new ones. It gives some background information about how English naturally evolved, then explained a point in time where it drastically changed in an unknown direction due to outside forces, specifically Norman conquerors.

How I used it: I used the article as a good way to introduce a historical example in my writing. It serves as not only a reference point for the average reader to understand my argument, but also as an idea in their heads. A foundational part of a culture that changes overtime, morphing into something new. English is a great example to show how this happens, and that language and writing are not something that will last for a long period of time.

How stories change over time. How Stories Change Over Time | New York City Center. (n.d.). https://www.nycitycenter.org/education/study-guides/once-upon-a-mattress-behind-the-curtain-guide/how-stories-change-over-time/

Background: The article is based on a story published in 1835, which is an anthology of several fairy tales. Though unlike many modern fairytales, this one has its message be much more obscure rather than completely out there. The moral is not easily found, which has led itself to be adapted in a multitude of different ways to mean different things. The point is that things will nevertheless twist and turn throughout time, and that even a more obscure meaning can turn into something vastly different, especially when interpreted by people, for others to consume.

How I used it: I used it much like the article above, just in a much more different manner. I used this to give myself another reference, yet in a more abstract way. The article provides a change that has no natural evolution, just the way humans will change the source material of something. Be it changing the story entirely to fit characters that didn’t exist previously, or to fit a form of content that it wasn’t intended to fill. I use it to give myself both an answer to a question and a basis in which I formed my own solution to the problem I discuss.

Licht, K. de F. (2017, December 13). Hostile Urban Architecture: A critical discussion of the seemingly offensive art of keeping people away. research.chalmers.se. https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/253746

Background: A very in depth article about hostile infrastructure. It goes in to great depths about the concepts in how hostile infrastructure works, the ideas then behind it, and also the consequences that they hold for not only those it is attempting to fight against. It uses both examples to show the ideas, which then relates to how the people and society the infrastructure is in is reflected upon by it.

How I used it: I used it much more so as an answer to a solution that I thought of earlier on. The whole idea of keeping this pandoras box from somebody is one with many solutions. Yet what better than an area to hold our in seen killer than terrain covered in hostility? But this article more so quelled that idea, booby traps will eventually fail, and an area designed to exterminate anything that encroaches is rather counterintuitive to the concept of keeping danger away from our future selves. It gave me the idea that even if I keep our danger away from the future, using something that negatively affects everyone as long as it is hidden, is not the best of ideas.

Magazine, S. (2022, March 8). How much medieval literature has been lost over the centuries?. Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-much-medieval-literature-has-been-lost-over-the-centuries-180979696/

Background: A Smithsonian magazine that goes over how much literature has been lost. It uses many examples of currently known literature from the time period, and then identifies how much is estimated to be lost. It uses the idea of how information is distributed to come to the conclusion of lost ideas, especially those where people either are good at or bad at preserving their own history through this saved literature.

How I used it: I used it as a point of arguing. While I am a very large fan of history, I see the merit in losing things like this especially because of the point I attempted to make. I use this as an argument in how forgetting something will lead to us never asking what something may be. As human in the modern day, we wonder what we have lost since time has past, yet we never really wonder what exactly we lost. I use this to then explain how forgetting about this dangerous object, buried extremely deep underground, will eventually lead to us never having to worry or be curious of something. It creates a void in knowledge so large that the void is not acknowledged, solely because it is known that nothing is there, even if there was truly something there in the past.

Martinez-Conde, S., & Macknik, S. L. (2024, February 20). How the color red influences our behavior. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-color-red-influences-our-behavior

Background: A dissection on the color red. It explains the psychological connotation the color carries, especially in how humans recognize the color. It is an eye catcher, it draws the attention, it warns of danger, or even of pain. The color can mean many things, yet we are naturally drawn to it just by its presence.

How I used it: I use it much less than the article right after this, but still one in the same. It serves as a psychological reference in my decision making. Attempting to answer for somebody in the future is an impossible task, yet if I can pull apart the decision making to answer based on known variables, I could make a presumable answer. Obviously attempting to correlate the color of something with an expected action is practically impossible, it gave me the foothold to then find the next sources that I could possible use.

Mobbs, D., Adolphs, R., Fanselow, M. S., Barrett, L. F., LeDoux, J. E., Ressler, K., Tye, K. M., & Neuroscience, N. (2024, February 20). On the nature of fear. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-the-nature-of-fear

Background: The article explores the concept of fear in humans and answering questions about it. It gives insights into the biological and psychological aspects of fear on a deeper level. It explores the role that fear has in humans, and how the human brain response to threats to survive.

How I used it: I used it much less than expected, especially because it was one of the first sources I grabbed in the starting stage. Yet, I based much of my hypothesis and idea based on it. The whole concept is one surrounding human psyche, and trying to answer an unanswerable question. Its difficult to grasp the idea of how a human process information, and I used the article to give myself some sort of insight on a more primal level. It serves to give me a small idea in how people will function based on an instinctual level, especially because I’m trying to solve a problem that I made. While you can’t communicate to these humans in the future, you can more than bet that they have the same instincts humans have had since time immemorable.

Sapiens. (2022, November 29). Why symbols aren’t forever. SAPIENS. https://www.sapiens.org/culture/symbols-shifting-culture/

Background: A very on the nose article, discussing the change in symbolism as the times change. Either using direct symbols, especially of Nazi imagery and how the meanings will change based on who would use them. Its especially overt in how the swastika was one of well-being, luck even, and how a single power would change its iconography forever. The change in symbol, its meaning, is hard for people. It may take years for the idea of something to change, or a moment for it to shift.

How I used it: Besides a direct quote from the article in my writing, I use the article to both reference the idea of symbols and change, and also how a symbol is a terrible way to communicate. Symbols serve to convey meaning, yet without either knowing of that meaning, or a change in that meaning, a symbol will have a different meaning. If you were shown a temple in Asia with a swastika, you would be repulsed. Yet when the locals see it, their meaning is that of the original one, not of one most westerners associate with it. A testament to both the preservation of symbols and the change of them.

Storage and disposal of radioactive waste. World Nuclear Association. (n.d.). https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-waste/storage-and-disposal-of-radioactive-waste

Background: The article describes how nuclear countries around the world effectively store and dispose of their waste product. It explores the multiple different ways nuclear waste can be safely hidden away to slowly decay in peace. It also digs a little deeper into historical and current ways nuclear waste has been stored, and does a very good job in giving an in-depth look into how these solutions keep the waste safe. It also goes into some ideas into how we could store waste in the future.

How I used it: I reference the article in discussing how nuclear waste is stored. It served as an excellent refresher of my own knowledge in how the waste in stored, so that I could effectively explain how my idea may work, or just how storage in the modern day functions, yet may not function in the future. I go into how many steps they go to keep the fuel from being accessed, and then talk about how this could be a double-edged sword, especially in communicating what may be inside.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, October 30). Cave dweller. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_dweller

Background: A very brief explanation about how humans used to live in cave. As a Wikipedia article, its not exactly the most in-depth article, but it does the job in explaining both living arrangements, along with usages. It serves to give brief ideas about the topic, and some examples of it.

How I used it: I used it more as just a brief reference in my causal argument. Nothing super in-depth, but still there. It just served to give an idea of humans living underground, or more so using caves as shelter from the elements. It never serves as anything besides that, considering caves can be very inhospitable compared to literally anywhere else on the surface, even in harsh terrain.