- University Libraries Databases
- WMU Research Guides
- ENGL 1100: Literary Interpretation
- Research Topic and Research Focus
ENGL 1100: Literary Interpretation
Generating Ideas for a Research Topic for Literary Analysis
There are many ways to develop a research topic. Here is one technique:
- What aspect of a work caught your attention?
- Is there a theory that can be applied to the work?
- New Historicism
- Feminist Literary Theory
- Disability Theory
- Ecocriticism
- Postcolonialism
- Queer Theory
- Do a simple search of the work. What is the scholarly community discussing? What do you want to know more about?
- Do a search of the work with keywords about the aspect or theory you will focus on.*
*You may not find anything and that's okay
Sometimes, no one has written about your specific research focus. In that case, you will need to break it up into a few different searches and synthesize/combine the information.
For example, if you search birthmark Hawthorne postcolonial in Library Search, there are no results. But there are results if you search birthmark Hawthorne and do a separate search for postcolonial literary theory.
- Writing a Literary Analysis PaperThis is a how-to guide from Germanna Academic Center for Excellence. It has a lot of questions you can ask yourself to brainstorm topics.
Forming a Focus
After seeing some directions that your topic can take, you need to find your research focus. Visualize your topic as branching arrows with the different subsections of your topic flowing out from your topic. Your research focus can be one of these arrows (aspect) or a grouping of arrows (theme).
Aspect
Some topics can be broken down into many individual parts and while they are all related, one part stands out to you. It can be discussed on its own and has enough resources available for your project. This can be a specific instance of your broad topic. For example, if your topic is LGBTQIA2S+ representation in media, an aspect would be a specific character.
Theme
Other topics have individual parts that are best discussed in small groups. There's an overarching theme that ties them all together. While this is more specific than the broad topic, it still has a few separate ideas. The theme approach is best used when each individual aspect of a topic does not have enough information on its own. For example, if your topic is social media influencers, a theme would be authenticity which can be broken down into self-branding, ethics, and self-image.
Books to Start With
These books provide overviews of specific theories and/or literary criticism. They may help you develop your research focus.
The Literary Theory Handbook by
The Literary Theory Handbook introduces students to the history and scope of literary theory, showing them how to perform literary analysis, and providing a greater understanding of the historical contexts for different theories. A new edition of this highly successful text, which includes updated and refined chapters, and new sections on contemporary theories Far reaching in its inclusion of a detailed history of theory and in-depth discussions of major theories and movements Four distinct perspectives on theory--historical, thematic, biographical, practical--are carefully intertwined, so that key concepts, terms and ideas are developed in different contexts and cross-referenced, in the text and in the index. Includes alphabetically-arranged biographies designed for quick reference, and sample readings to illustrate the practical application of theory
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781118332474Publication Date: 2013
Introduction to Literary Analysis by
This book provides a complete guide to analyzing literary works, from an introduction of basic principles to the finer details. Separated into three sections, the book covers: * Principles--this looks at what literary analysis is, its three main components, and the various possible objects of analysis. * Main components--introduces nearly 30 aspects of text analysis, such as style, themes, social aspects, and context, and then goes on to introduce nearly 50 approaches, such as literary history, ecocriticism, narratology, and sociology. * The process of analysis--details the general structure of the analytical text, the structure of a pedagogical essay, the analysis of a theoretical element, possible "plans" for the analytical text, methods of argumentation, statements of opinion, hypotheses, the structure of paragraphs, and the use of citations. This book is a synthesis of established scholarship with new, original insights, making it an ideal introduction to the study of literature as well as a valuable companion throughout further study.
ISBN: 9781000589665Publication Date: 2022
Feminist Literary Theory by
Now in its third edition, Feminist Literary Theory remains the most comprehensive, single volume introduction to a vital and diverse field Fully revised and updated to reflect changes in the field over the last decade Includes extracts from all the major critics, critical approaches and theoretical positions in contemporary feminist literary studies Features a new section, Writing 'Glocal', which covers feminism's dialogue with postcolonial, global and spatial studies Revised chapter introductions provide readers with helpful contextual information while extensive notes offer recommendations for further reading
Call Number: PN98.W64 F44 2011ISBN: 9781405183130Publication Date: 2011
The Bloomsbury Introduction to Postcolonial Writing by
Covering a wide range of textual forms and geographical locations, The Bloomsbury Introduction to Postcolonial Writing: New Contexts, New Narratives, New Debates is an advanced introduction to prominent issues in contemporary postcolonial literary studies. With chapters written by leading scholars in the field, The Bloomsbury Introduction to Postcolonial Writing includes: ·Explorations of key contemporary topics, from ecocriticism, refugeeism, economics, faith and secularism, and gender and sexuality, to the impact of digital humanities on postcolonial studies ·Introductions to a wide range of genres, from the novel, theatre and poetry to life-writing, graphic novels, film and games · In-depth analysis of writing from many postcolonial regions including Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, and African American writing Covering Anglophone and Francophone texts and contexts, and tackling the relationship between postcolonial studies and world literature, with a glossary of key critical terms, this is an essential text for all students and scholars of contemporary postcolonial studies.
ISBN: 9781474240079Publication Date: 2020
The Limits of Literary Historicism by
The Limits of Literary Historicism is a collection of essays arguing that historicism, which has come to dominate the professional study of literature in recent decades, has become ossified. By drawing attention to the limits of historicism--its blind spots, overreach, and reluctance to acknowledge its commitments--this provocative new book seeks a clearer understanding of what historicism can and cannot teach us about literary narrative.
ISBN: 9781572338319Publication Date: 2012
Same Old by
Same old offers a rethinking of positions that have defined queer theory since its inception in the early 1990s. Steeped in philosophical and political commitments to 'difference', queer theoretical frameworks have tended to assume that ideas related to 'sameness' only thwart and stymie queer forms of life. But this book takes a number of these ideas as its focus - uselessness, reproduction, normativity and reductionism - and reveals their unexpected formal and thematic importance to a range of queer literary genres from across the long twentieth century: fin-de-siècle aestheticism, feminist speculative fiction, lesbian middlebrow writing, and the 'stud file' or record of serial sex. Demonstrating how queer cultural objects often stand at odds with the frameworks that have been meant to help interpret and comprehend them, Same old interrogates the genealogy of the aversion to sameness that has kept those frameworks in place.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781526132833Publication Date: 2020
Research Focus vs Thesis/Argument
An argument or thesis statement is best developed closer to when you begin to write your paper or create your project. At that point, you have found most of the available information on your topic and can form a solid, unchanging opinion or idea around it.
A research focus helps guide your research just as a thesis statement guides your writing but a research focus changes and evolves as you encounter new information.