- interests you
- is sufficiently narrow
- is significant and worthwhile
- is worth researching
That's all fine and good, but how do you create, find, stumble upon, come up with, or vomit a research topic? The book suggests the following:
- talking with others (like in this blog)
- browsing books/textbooks
- reading encyclopedia articles of interest
- browsing the library/bookstore
- browsing the Internet
Take a few minutes and think about the different literary selections we have read so far this summer. In doing so, can you come up with any possible research topics? Just to recap, we have read the following poems and short stories:
- "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros
- "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway
- "The Flea" by John Donne
- "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke
- "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter
- "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold
- "The Dover Bitch" by Anthony Hecht
- "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
- "Ripe Figs" by Kate Chopin
- "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
- "Loveliest of Trees" by A. E. Housman
- "The Span of Life" by Robert Frost
- "Harlem" by Langston Hughes
- "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber
- "Immigrants" by Pat Mora
- "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
- "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent" by John Milton
- "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
- "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal" by William Wordsworth
- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot
- "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
- "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy
- "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks
- "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen
- "Anthem for Doomed Youth" by Wilfred Owen
- "Naming of Parts" by Henry Reid
Post at least one possible research topic and/or area of research interest. Then comment upon the various directions that topic can go...
13 comments:
One of the possibilities for research paper is the imagry in "The Mother"
Hmmm, a good topic may be the alcoholism of ernest hemmingway and how it affected his writing. directions this could go would be, "did it make it dark?", "did it spice it up?", "did it ruin his writing?"
One possible research paper that I would like to do is to compare a lady serial killer and a male serial killer. Show the differences between them.
I could focus on the Idea of perspective in the novel "Anthem for the Doomed Youth". I could possibly fool around with the idea of changing the viewpoint during the poem. The largest problem was the fact that the message of the poem was trite and unmoving. Maybe a change in the viewpoint could help the poem overcome its shortcomings.
or maybe even the ever controversial topic of whether or not the woman in "Hills like White Elephants" had that abortion or not?!
Going back to the story we just read "Where are you going? Where have you been?" This would be a great research topic. The reason i say this is because the end of the story is not specified.
The Flea: Relating the Imagery to the theme.
My Papa’s Waltz: What about the duality of the themes of missed moments and bad memories?
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Oates’ use of characterization to define the main character of Connie.
Immigrants: Do modern day immigrants still up hold the same standard of integration in American society as the immigrant of yesterday?
The Mother: What is the psychology behind the loss of a child?
Anthem for Doomed Youth: How does Wilfred Owen’ thoughts on war and the killing of the enemy hold up to the scrutiny of time and circumstances of the wars that came after his?
I myself am a My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke fan. This is a poem that I actually liked reading. It takes a lot for me to say that. I liked how there was a controversy about if he hit the child or in my opinion if he was dancing with his child. So this is my most probably research topic.
I meant probable... My bad.
Lets see..The Mother..I guess one topic could be how Abortions affected women in the 40's & 50's vs. today? Not too sure..
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
could go in several directions
1)writing about eternity...unchangeable, un-ageable things..
2)write about the scene on the urn...what it might mean to the writer
A possible research topic could be child abuse. I am really concidering doing it. I don't think it will be easy but what the hell, why not?
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