Adding widget area to homepage for post slider

Hello!

I’m creating a blog site for someone, and this is my first WordPress site. Everything I’ve done before has been from scratch with html/css. My theme is based on Twenty Thirteen.

I’m having major issues with the widget areas and php files. The person I’m creating the blog for would like to have her recent posts featured at the top of her main page (above all the posts) in a slider. My problem is whenever I install a slider plugin I can only add it to the sidebar or the footer.

I tried adding a new widget sidebar, which resulted in the “white screen of death” on both the blog and the wp-admin after I edited the functions.php file. So I had to delete everything and start over, and I’m nearly at my breaking point.

How do I create a widget area above my posts without this happening? Again, I know nothing about php so I will need step by step.

I would greatly appreciate any help!