Read & Create Bulleted Notes: Source 1

Read the following passage from the book The Mystery of Vampires and Werewolves by Chris Oxlade. You will now seek information that answers research question 1. Remember the question is: What does a Werewolf look like? We are looking in the passage for a description of the werewolf.

Identifying a werewolf
According to myths, werewolves have strange features, often similar to vampires. Like vampires, werewolves have pale skin. Hairiness is another common feature. Werewolves’ eyebrows meet in the middle, and their hands and feet have more hair than normal peoples’. They also have long, pointy fingernails. They have small, pointy ears.

The following is an example of bulleted notes using this passage. These notes will be collected and used for your research.

Question 1, Source 1:

· pale skin

· hairy

· eyebrows meet in the middle

· long pointy fingernails

· small, pointy ears

Now read another passage from the Chris Oxlade book and look for information regarding question #2: How does a person turn into a werewolf?

How a Werewolf is Made
Different parts of the world have different theories about how an ordinary person can become a werewolf. A person may become a werewolf from sleeping outdoors during a full moon, being born when there is a full moon, drinking water from a stream from which a wolf had drunk, or drinking from a wolf’s footprint! Also, a person may become a werewolf by wearing a wolf skin belt from a real wolf or by rubbing magic ointment into their skin.

Here are just a few points to note. Use these notes and find at least 4 more of your own.

Question 2, Source 1:

· Sleeping outdoors during a full moon

· Born during a full moon

· ?

Now read another passage from the Chris Oxlade book and look for information regarding question #3: How does a werewolf turn back into a human?

As soon as the skin belt or ointment is removed, the wolf is said to turn back into a human! According to myth, a werewolf can be turned back into a human by saying its human name while hitting on the head three times!

Can a werewolf turn back into human form? According to the passage they can! Please write in bullet form two ways that a werewolf can change back into a human.

Question 3, Source 1:

· ?

Now, you will answer question #4: What are logical and scientific reasons behind the myth of the werewolf? (What causes people to believe werewolves exist?)

Read the following passage to take notes answering the last question of your research. Be sure to include an explanation for each reason.

Question 4, Source 1:

· ?

Explanations for the Myth of the Werewolf
Psychiatrists now know that some people suffer from a rare condition of mental illness called lycanthropy. People that suffer from lycanthropy believe that they are a wolf. They imagine themselves as truly being a wolf!
Another theory for the myth of the werewolf lies in brain poisoning from poisoned grain. During the Middle Ages, harvested grain was often contaminated with a fungus called claviceps. This is known as ergotized grain. When eaten, the person suffered hallucinations. Some may have thought they were a werewolf.
Finally, there were people that suffered with a genetic disease, a disease passed on to children from the parents, called porphyria. Persons with this condition cannot tolerate sunlight. It causes the victim’s skin to crack and bleed. Often times it makes the skin, eyes, and teeth look red and makes the upper lip pull back revealing the teeth. You can imagine the rumors that spread about these strange-looking children who had red eyes, whose top teeth showed. People of course thought they were monsters…possibly even werewolves.

Now, after taking notes on your research questions, you will want to use these same skills of note-taking with other sources.

Remember, you will always need to create your citation for your source, and then you will answer the four questions shown below in bullet form.

1. What does a werewolf look like?

2. How does a person become a werewolf?

3. How does a werewolf turn back into a human?

4. What are logical and scientific reasons behind the myth of the werewolf? (What causes people to believe werewolves exist?)

Congratulations!

You have just finished with Source #1: The Mystery of Vampires and Werewolves! You have completed the first step of your research!