Jerry Rice: Searching For Good Information

II. Search Searching for good information is the most important part of an I-Search paper. I assumed that there would be plenty about Jerry Rice, and there was, but on overwhelming amount of it was career statistics. Although that is important, since it is proof of his remarkable talent and success, I wanted to know more about the personal side of his life. To start my search, I needed to find a good amount of information in various sources: magazine articles, newspaper articles, internet sites, an interview, and books. Locating internet articles were the easiest tasks. Deciding which ones were worthwhile took some time, however. I read through dozens before narrowing it down to the ones I am actually using for my research. It was locating books that turned out to be the most difficult search for sources.
To begin, I started with the magazine articles.
Being that my subject was Jerry Rice, I knew that my obvious starting point could be Sports Illustrated. I was able to find the Sports Illustrated Vault and found the two issues that featured Jerry Rice on the cover. It was in these articles that I was able to find some valuable information, but again a lot of statistics. Next, I located a couple of newspaper articles through Google, but once again a lot of statistics. After looking through numerous articles, I finally came across an article in The New York Times and a couple in USA Today. It was in these articles that I finally found some personal information. Because it was written at the time he had announced his retirement from the NFL, he was reflecting back over his life and career. It was an emotional time for him. The internet articles were not difficult at all to find, however, finding good information would prove to be a very hard task. As with the other sources, many of them contained statistics. I
was beginning to wonder if there was any personal information at all about him. I needed to know more about his life. Then, I came across Biography.com featuring Jerry Rice, and I was able to find information about his early career. I found a few more passages just to make sure that I had enough information. Then, for my interview, I had no idea whom I could speak with about Jerry Rice that was associated with him in any way. I went to Google and found several interviews with Jerry Rice conducted by sports writers. One particularly good interview was conducted by the Shut Down Corner and most of what was discussed revolved around his relationships with teammates and his San Francisco 49ers coach, Bill Walsh. The questions that the interviewer asked were to the point and valuable to my research. Finally, my search for Jerry Rice’s book began. I had found through an internet search on Google that he had written a book and that it would be the best source for personal information. The problem was that the book was published in 1996, so it was no longer available in book stores. I discovered that after a trip to Books-A-Million, Branes and Nobles, and Lamuria Book store in Jackson. I ended up having to purchase it from Amazon. I did, however, find two other books I thought would be helpful for my I-Search. Overall, I believe that I have located a large amount of information that can give my paper good balance about Jerry Rice’s journey through his early life, professional career, and life beyond his retirement from the NFL.