Narrowing A Topic

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Narrowing A Topic

• Finding Something Worth Saying

2
You are about to engage in a semesters worth of
intensive research, both primary and secondary.
As you begin to ponder a research topic which
interests you, look back to what you learned in
English W131.

• First, it is important to identify a general
  topicpreferably one about which you are
  passionate, or which strikes you as interesting.
  (There is nothing so stultifying as researching a
  topic which bores you.)

• Having identified a topic, you need to narrow the
  focus. If your research is too broad, you will
  only make generalizations. You need to find
  something very specific to say.

• When you know enough about your topic, questions
  will occur to you. Formulate a research
  question, then set about finding the answer to
  your question.

• If you have come up with a good research
  question, the likelihood is that there will be no
  sources which directly answer it. There will,
  however, be a good deal of information which will
  cast light on the subject. The goal is to use
  what is known to discover that which is unknown.
  In other words, your essay will present an
  original viewpoint based on your research and
  will contribute new knowledge to the field. Your
  tentative answer to the research question will
  form your thesis or argument. Your goal is to
  prove your thesis, in much the same way that a
  lawyer proves his case.

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The best way for me to illustrate what I mean
about narrowing a topic is to share my own
experience with you
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Years ago, when I wrote my Masters thesis, I
knew that I wanted to write about fairytales.
Because my major was French, I narrowed it down
to French fairytales. However, because no one
had actually taught me how to narrow a topic, I
was left to my own devices.
I narrowed the topic to the fairytales of
Charles Perrault. Unfortunately, no one offered
me any guidance, and so I blithely wrote about
all eight of his fairytales, which made for an
incredibly long thesis (223 pages, to be exact).
Had I taken English W131, I would have known to
narrow it down to a single tale. The story of
Blue-Beard has always intrigued mepartly
because it seems too macabre to be a childrens
tale, and because I have always wondered whatever
possessed Charles Perrault to write it.
Blue-Beard is a character who murders seven
women in succession and whose last wife barely
escapes with her life. In what sense is that a
childrens story, let alone a fairytale?
Blue-Beard is often associated, somewhat
tenuously, with Gilles de Rais the character is
also sometimes portrayed as a rich middle-eastern
merchant. I have wondered whether there is a
historical model known to Charles
Perraultperhaps a 17th century serial killer
whose actions terrified Perraults children or
an oriental version of the story known to
himfrom which the tale was derived. (The first
French translation of the Arabian Nights appeared
not long after Perraults tales were published,
and oriental tales were all the rage at the
time.)
Armed with this somewhat scanty knowledge, there
are now several major research questions which I
might ask Is Blue-Beard in fact a childrens
story? Why did Perrault write it? What inspired
it? Was there an identifiable historical model
for either Blue-Beard the character, or for
Blue-Beard the story? Obviously, I cant
answer all of those questions in a ten-page
research paper, so my only option is to choose
which one to explore, and to do enough additional
research to formulate a reasonable thesis (or
claim). It is this claim which becomes the basis
of the research papera claim which I am
obligated to prove (or to defend, if you prefer).
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In the slide which follows, I have visually
represented the process of narrowing a topic.
Notice that you begin with a general topic, and
narrow it down to a very specific research
question. It is the response to the question
which will form the thesis of your essaythe
claim which you will prove to your readers.
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Narrowing A Topic
Fairytales
French fairytales
The eight fairytales of Charles Perrault
Bluebeard

• Possible research questions
• Why did Perrault write Bluebeard?
• In what sense is Bluebeard a fairytale?
• Is Bluebeard really a story for children?
• Is there an identifiable historical model for
  Bluebeard?

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Possible Opening Paragraph for a research paper
on Blue-Beard
The story of Blue-Beard, one of Charles
Perraults classic fairytales, first presented to
the public in 1697, does not immediately strike
one as a childrens story. Nevertheless,
Perrault, a single father of four, may well have
told the tale to allay the fears of his own
children in the wake of a terrible series of
murders which took place in the late seventeenth
century. Indeed, an examination of newspapers of
the era reveals that several serial murders
occurred not long before Perraults tales were
published. Although the story of Blue-Beard
does not mirror any of them in its exact details,
it seems likely that Perrault drew upon a story
well-known in the oral tradition, stemming back
to the Maréchal de Retz (also known as Gilles de
Rais). Perrault appears to have deliberately
modified the folktale in an effort to calm his
own childrens minds about a serial killing spree
well-known in Paris, and to illustrate the
ultimate triumph of good over evilwhich, as
father, Jansenist, and honnête homme, would have
been an important moral point for him to make.
The story of Blue-Beard, one of Charles
Perraults classic fairytales, first presented to
the public in 1697, does not immediately strike
one as a childrens story. Nevertheless,
Perrault, a single father of four, may well have
told the tale to allay the fears of his own
children in the wake of a terrible series of
murders which took place in the late seventeenth
century. Indeed, an examination of newspapers of
the era reveals that several serial murders
occurred not long before Perraults tales were
published. Although the story of Blue-Beard
does not mirror any of them in its exact details,
it seems likely that Perrault drew upon a story
well-known in the oral tradition, stemming back
to the Maréchal de Retz (also known as Gilles de
Rais). Perrault appears to have deliberately
modified the folktale in an effort to calm his
own childrens minds about a serial killing spree
well-known in Paris, and to illustrate the
ultimate triumph of good over evilwhich, as
father, Jansenist, and honnête homme, would have
been an important moral point for him to make.
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The End
PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA,
MEd, MA, 2008.