Step 1 in Making a Good Essay: Defining the topic.

Believe it or not, the first thing I had to do was define the meaning of both 'Telegraphs' and 'Dreadnoughts' to most of the Modern Warfare 2 XboxLife community. Telegraphs were related to boxing and war, while dreadnoughts were defined, variously, as boats, ships, planes, missiles, tanks, battle-suits, aliens and a gun.

Firstly, in reference to the 19th Century, telegraphs should not be immediately applicable to boxing. However, amongst the debate I did recover these XBLfacts:

1)Telegraphs use paper.
2)Telegraphs also use electricity (how, as yet to be decided).
3)Telegraphs are used in boxing and they let your opponent know when you are about to attack them if you pull your punch back too far.
4)People with dead relatives receive them during war.
5)Telegraphs are named after their inventor, Sir Arthur Telegraph, who was American.
6)Culturally, people liked them so they weren't scraped.
7)In the modern world, people still like them enough so we keep them.

Genius. Remember, I am not applying any of my learned knowledge on the subject at all to either topic and will a majority consensus of opinion on information given online as 'fact'. Any truly unique comments will be attributed. If anyone wants the 'identity' of the providers of any facts, I will do my best to keep a record so you can be informed.

Moving onto Dreadnoughts:

1)They were really big ships.
2)They were usually warships. The Titanic is an example of a 'civilian dreadnought'.
3)The name is taken from a creature of Greek or Roman myth, the Dreadnought, which was a lion-dragon mixture and entirely amde from metal.
4)They are still used in modern warfare, mainly to take down Aircraft carriers.
5)Submarines cannot sink modern dreadnoughts.
6)In the future, they will be used either as a super-heavy tank or a battle-suit style body armour to battle aliens.
7)Culturally, people had to like them as if they didn't they had to face the dreadnought itself, hence the saying: "Facing the dreadnought".

Yes, this essay is looking very factually correct. I hadn't heard the saying "Facing the dreadnought" until yesterday, but apparently it's a common thing said in certain areas of England. When I asked which areas of England, the player/expert in question left the game. It was also ascertained that despite the fact they were still used to take down Aircraft carriers, they are only half the size.

There was also a debate about the exact weapons inventory a dreadnought had/has. It was accepted that it differed from country to country, but it seems normal for them to be seen fitted with 200mm cannons (AC130 gunships and heavy tanks only use a 105mm for the most part), ground-to-air missiles, ground-to-ground missiles and air-to-ground missiles (presumably for when they are required to take out far-inland targets and take off...). It is also agreed that Japanese ones use lasers and partial cloaking.

Yes, Xbox Live has been a wealth of information. Today and tomorrow, I will continue my research via Modern Warfare 2 and expand my search into the realms of Left4Dead2.

Out-sourcing.

As a student, I have to write and research essays. This is not overly strenuous, especially when you know the territory. But for my current essay I have no pre-course knowledge of the topic. I have read up on it etc etc and am quite ready to write it.

However, an interesting (if un-productive) idea was presented to me the other day. While pretending to be a member of the Spetznaz Special Forces on Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 via Xbox Live earlier today, I mentioned my essay to my brother, also a faux-member of Russia's elite and infamous special forces. Then someone else in the game decided they could educate me on the topic.

There is very little factual information, in my opinion, that Xbox gamers can gift me with on the topic of how Telegraphs and Dreadnoughts were viewed from a cultural perspective.

But, in the spirit of fair play, I have decided to write two essays; one will be a serious attempt to enhance my university grades, and the other will be written purely based on what I am told by gamers on Xbox Live. Simply because I have that much time on my hands, as all the jobs in my university city go to the young, attractive women. That only be a debatable two-out-of-three description of myself I feel the job market is slightly sexist. Rar, arch-feminism.

I will be presenting my findings/research/nonsense-gatherings via this blog, along with the usual rants and internal monologue that appears here, for the entertainment of whomsoever feels the desire to explore my tiny corner of the interweb. I pray to God I do not get the two papers confused on the day I have to hand one in.