Magic
Doing this research paper didn't really help me find anything extraordinary about the word magic. I pretty much knew what the word magic meant, from the comic books I read and the television I watch. It did however, make me view the word in more depth. Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying in any way that the word magic, is dull, because it is just the opposite. I'm simply stating that because of my fascination with the subject of magic, I am already familiar with its background and capabilities. I chose the word magic because the concept of any human being possessing unexplainable, supernatural powers intrigues me to the point where I wish I had been endowed with those powers. If I had to choose a favorite; I would have to go with the two poems I obtained from the Concordance to Shakespeare and the Granger's Index to Poetry. It all started when we received our word list. I looked for a word that I interested me, and that I thought would be easy to find information on. I guess, for the most part I was right. All the references available in our school library were pretty easy to find; such as the Roget's Thesaurus, the Unabridged Dictionary, and surprisingly the Book of Quotations and the Concordance to the Bible. On one
The last reference available in our school library was the Fifth Edition Roget's International Thesaurus, by Robert L. Chapman. Thanks to my helpful peers this was also easy to get to hold of. I think this was probably the next easiest reference to use next to the unabridged dictionary. I found my word on page 464. Some of the synonyms for the word magic are sorcery, wizardry, witchcraft, voodooism, shamanism, enchantment, and spellcraft. I liked looking at all the different words for magic. Some were funny looking words, like, jujuism, obeahism, wanga, hoodoo, and fetishism. I like looking at Thesauruses to see all the bizarre words there are for everyday normal words. And saw them dance by moonlight merrily in a ring. Well as any normal teenager would agree the plan of doing work during vacation vanished as soon the final bell rang to start vacation. On the first day back to school I took a trip to a local library near my house. I already knew that I wouldn't find everything that I needed, but I checked it out any ways. I was only able to find the Oxford English Dictionary, but luckily I bumped into my wonderful English teacher Ms. Frausto who informed me that the Uptown Whittier Library would have the sufficient amount of information I needed to complete my research. In deed, my very wise mentor was right. I did find the rest of the items I was in search of, which were a periodical, a poem, and an excerpt from a Shakespeare play. It may have taken two hours of pen biting, flipping page after page, making copies, and looking up call numbers, but I did it. I definitely worked the hardest I've ever worked in a library working on this research paper, and I lost all my patience in the process. Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Even though it was sort of a children's poem I still enjoyed the story it told. The next thing I looked for in the St. Paul library was the Thompson and Stock Concordance to the Bible. I didn't even have to look for it, just borrowed it from one of my peers who already had it. On page 1034 it said my word was located in the Book of Wisdom chapter 17, verse 7. The excerpt read, " A mockery, now, seemed those magic arts of theirs; ignominious the rebuff to their boasted cunning." I read the whole passage and I thinking it was talking about the prisoners in Egypt. The concordance to bible wasn't even difficult to use.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Las Vegas, Witch Fillet, , Oxford University, Chapman Thanks, St Paul, Whittier Library, Brown Dwarfs, Index Poetry, Merriam Webster, word magic, research paper, book quotations, concordance bible, concordance shakespeare, poems magic, school library, st paul library, index poetry, unabridged dictionary, granger's index, available school library, granger's index poetry, oxford english dictionary,
Approximate Word count = 1831
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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