Hello, I have a few things I need help with. Could someone please tell me who wrote the biography of Bradbury on this site? I need it for a source. I also would like to know your opinion on what I should research for a short (2-3 pages) paper on Fahrenheit 451. It needs to be a topic expanding on the subject matter of the book. I was thinking about censorship, but I'm not sure how much I could find on it that wouldn't get too far away from the novel itself. Can you help me? I need to get this done tonight...

Writing a research paper in one night is quite a task. We have a generation of students who seem to think (or have been taught?) that everything is accessible on the internet . . . a few clicks of the keys and the answer is there. Libraries. Books. Journals.

Does the assignment require secondary resources? If not, there is plenty of material in the book to fulfill a three-page assignment.

The Cliff Notes have two volumes on Bradbury -- one specifically dedicated to F451.

In addition, these are references:

RAY BRADBURY. David Mogen. (Twayne's United States Authors Series) Twayne Publishers, Boston. 1986.

RAY BRADBURY. Ed. Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg. (Writers of the 21st Century Series) Taplinger Publishing Company, NY. 1980.

READINGS ON RAY BRADBURY: FARENHEIT 451. Editor, Katie De Koster. (The Greenhaven Press Literary Companion to American Literature) Greenhaven Press, San Diego. 2000.

RAY BRADBURY: FARENHEIT 451 AND RELATED READINGS. Ray Bradbury, and various authors: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., William Stafford, Bernard Malamud, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Sylvia Townsend Warner. McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, Evanstan/Boston/Dallas. 2002.

RAY BRADBURY'S FARENHEIT 451: MODERN CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS. Ed Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia. 2001, 2003.

RAY BRADBURY: A CRITICAL COMPANION. Robin Anne Reid. (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers). Greenwood Press, Westport. 2000.

BRADBURY: AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE -- A JOURNEY TO FAR METAPHOR. Jerry Weist. William Morrow, NY. 2002.

THE RAY BRADBURY COMPANION. William F. Nolan. Gale Research, Detroit. 1975.

These should give you a start. With Bradbury, it is also helpful to get his books and read through the introductions and afterwards he often provides.

It's funny that you should mention Cliff's Notes, because that's exactly what I needed help with. The entire project, research paper included, is intended to be a sort of Cliff's Notes-type report, so there's been synopsis, character analysis, etc. I'm glad I chose to do it on Fahrenheit 451, though, because I was very impressed with the book and I'm definitely going to start on more Bradbury once I am done with this. Thank you for all the sources, Mr. Dark, those will be very useful in the future. I appreciate it!

[This message has been edited by Crazy Clarisse (edited 01-09-2004).]