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Ideas for Writing Papers

Research topics on English Literature initially start off broad and then narrow down and
you come up with your thesis. Using any of the research topics listed to the left (gender,
comparisons, historical background, politics, and religion) can take you almost anywhere.
Choose your general topic based on your literature class you're writing for. If it's a class
focused on gender, start there and then branch out to something like my example of how
the roles of men and women are portrayed.
Knowing first your general topic and then what kind of essay or paper you're researching
for (argumentative, persuasive, etc.) can help you decide what to do with it next when it
comes to narrowing it down. Remember this isn't concrete. Your topic can grow and
completely change as you research. Choosing the literature topic is just the key to getting
started.

Finding and researching a good topic on English Literature takes time and patience.
Source: LisaKoski via Instagram

Advice for Writing Papers or Essays

They Say, I Say: Advice to Help Improve Your Writing

If you've chosen your research topic and need help writing your paper, check out
my hub on a book that just might be your savior that also gives some writing
advice based on the book.

Topics For English Literature Research Essays

When it comes to English Literature, there's no end to the topics that you can research
on that novel or other piece that you've been reading. The easiest way to get an idea for
that next research topic on English literature for your essay is to start broad and then
work toward making it more specific and interesting for your readers. Here are a few
examples of research topics in literature to get you started (for a more extensive list of

research topics in literature, please check out the link that can be found at the bottom of
this article):
1. Gender roles
How are the roles of men and women portrayed in the novel? Are they distinctly
different? Do they have equal rights? What gender expectations do they follow or fight
against?
2. Comparisons between genres
How does each genre tell its story? What are the differences and similarities between the
two? Is one more effective than the other?
3. Historical background
Who is the author and what is their story? Were there controversies associated with
him/her or their work? What is the significance of this novel in the time it was written?
How does it reflect the society and beliefs of its time?
4. Politics
What issues in politics does this novel address? Discrimination? Rights? Equality?
5. Religion
How is this novel religious? What beliefs is it promoting or questioning?
6. Comparisons between two characters
This can be between characters in the same novel or two different ones. How are their
differences and similarities important to the novel?
7. Comparisons between two novels
If the novels seem completely different but represent the same genre or come from the
same time period, this may be something you want to explore.
8. Allusions within the novel
What are some significant allusions within the novel? These could be religious, refer to
other novels or authors, etc. How is this important to understanding the novel and its
place in English Literature?
9. Criticism
What are some of the most notable criticisms out there? What is your response and how
does it compare to other critics out there?
10. Symbolism
What are important symbols in the novel? How are they significant?

English Literature Research Projects

The following can also be used for any other type of research projects for English
Literature where you need to find your own topic.

Researching for an English Literature essay can be tough but finding a topic you are really interested in
helps make it easier.
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How to Find an English Topic to Research For Any Project

So, youve finally made it to your last year at your university and youve got one last thing
to do before you leave: the dreaded Capstone Project. Have no fear; although it is time
consuming and stressful work, it is possible to turn all that work into something fun, as
long as you choose the right topic in English literature to write about. The key to going
out with a bang with a fantastic Capstone is to choose something you actually care
about.
Of all the aspects of this project, choosing the right research topic is absolutely key.
Choose the wrong one, and you may not meet the requirements or, worse, you may
dislike it enough to have to change it halfway through the class. For the first time in four
years, teachers are giving you the reigns and having you decide what you want to write
about. No more prompts telling you what to do, except for the guidelines for your project,
and no more focusing on one aspect of a novel that the prof tells you to.
So dont freak out, think of it as the best part of your university experience yet. Nows the
time to show your stuff and let everyone see how much of a successful English literature
nerd youve turned out to be. If you can do it yourself, youve proved yourself worthy of
that snazzy degree theyre about to hand you in a couple months. Of course if youve
made it to this point, theres no way youre not worthy.

Example of a Researched Essay in English Literature

My Capstone class was titled The Age of Novels and focused on the rise of the novel
during the eighteenth century. Basically, we looked at how the novel developed into what

we see as a novel today, considering how writers presented and executed their works of
fiction, who influenced them, and how they influenced others. We also looked at literary
techniques such as psychological realism and the differing roles of men and women in
the formation of this most popular form of writing.
My class was focused on topics such as psychological realism and gender roles so this is
something that I kept in the back of my mind as I read through the novel I chose to
research.

How to Get Started on an English Literature Paper

Im going to use my own experience in the Capstone Project as an example for how to
choose a research topic in English literature.
I know your Capstone wont be on the same topic, but its still important to know the basic
focus of the class in order to get to your literature research topic. Look at the prompt for
your English class and see what sticks out to you.
After reading through the required reading in my class, I decided to veer away from
novels of formal realism and go into the Gothic realm with M.G. Lewiss The Monk, which
was completely unexplored in the class. Not only do I love Gothic literature, but this was
a great way for me to draw comparisons with the books of the same period without doing
the same old thing we were doing in the classroom. I was killing two birds with one stone,
as they say; getting to read a novel in the genre Im most interested in while still exploring
the same prompts the class was focused on.
Sometimes, if you're stuck on an English literature research topic, starting at a
completely new angle can help you find something really interesting to work on. After you
get to know the ins and outs of what your class is about, it's easy to go off in another
direction and work your way back into what you've been learning about. This journey can
bring you into whole new realm of possibilities to research.

Brainstorming ideas while researching topics in English Literature

Source: LisaKoski via Instagram

How to Brainstorm Writing Ideas for Essays

Now, as you read the book of your choice (or your professor's), focus on one or more
aspects from your English literature class prompt so that your research topic relates to
the actual class youre taking. I decided to focus on chastity within the novel and how the
gothic novel portrays male and female chastity versus the novels of formal realism. This
English literature research topic took a lot of work to get to. Don't be afraid of setbacks or
having to start over.
The best way initially is to write down a broad topic to research and then list any
information relevant to that topic. It doesnt matter how insignificant the piece of
information may seem, list it. Then go through and see what interesting conclusions you
can make from the information. Looking at gender, how are males portrayed versus
females? Looking at genre, how is the gothic novel different from a formal realism novel?
Putting things out on paper is the best way to get it all out in the open and free your mind
thats jumbled with information. Once it's on paper, you can actually look at it all and
piece it all into one neat picture (through words of course) that anyone can understand.
Without doing this, its like trying to put together a puzzle with all of the pieces turned
down, so you arent sure which ones actually go together.

Ideas on Getting a Research Topic

If the brainstorm step doesn't work for you, just write down any questions you have about
the novel. If you noticed that there was a lot of religious references and ideas in the
novel, maybe you'd be curious to know the author's biography and see how that plays a
significant role in the piece. For my own example, I could have asked myself "what is
gothic" or "how did eighteenth century England define chastity?" After this brief research,
go back through your notes and see if you can come up with an interesting topic you can
do further research on for that English literature essay.

Writing Research Essays in Literature

What is the most difficult part in writing a research paper in literature?

Finding a topic

The research

The writing

All of the above

See results without voting

Tips for Researching Topics on English Literature

Looking at what youve put together in your brainstorm, its easy to see where you need
to do research on the novel. No one wants a paper full of generalizations so take each
topic you can't automatically define and start researching it. Do you know how to define
gothic or formal realism? Research it. What were the gender expectations for this time?
Research it. You want to go as in depth into your topic as possible, which involves even
more research than reading two or three novels.
It also doesnt help to learn some background on the author. Were they a rebel or a strict
conservative? Was this novel popular? How did it affect the readers of its time? For
example, Lewis was actually brought to court for The Monk because it was seen as a bad
influence for his female readers. This is something not only interesting but relevant to the
topic of female chastity in my chosen English literature research topic for my essay.
Doing some background research on the novel like this can bring ideas together into a
thesis for your paper and lead you in a solid direction for your actual research for your
paper. If you havent finally figured something out by this point, you may have to consult
your professor.

Outline of an Example for an English Research Essay

Thesis: Lewiss novel completely undoes the plots, tropes, and principles of Richardson
and Fieldings formal realism, not only through its use of superstition and other Gothic
elements, but also in the development and resolution of each of these characters stories.
Instead of providing a positive example, The Monk gives a horrifying one to instill fear in
its readership to preserve the same virtue.
1. What is a gothic novel?
2. Pamela Andrews
3. Joseph Andrews
4. What is formal realism?
5. What is a gothic novel?
6. Gothic novel versus formal realism
7. Ambrosio
8. Joseph Andrews
9. Antonia
10. Pamela Andrews

Essay Example for Research on English Literature

The Chaste, the Gothic, and Formal Realism in Eighteenth Century Literature
This is the first of five articles that present a good example of a research essay in
English literature.

How do you know it's a good research topic on English literature?

Test it with an outline.
If you arent sure youve got the right topic to come up with a twenty-some-odd page
essay, outline what youve got so far. I like to do a very basic outline, starting with my
thesis (in its rough draft form of course) at the very top. Next I write what each paragraph
will be about. If its a twenty page paper, you may write about two to three paragraphs a
page so you will need to have at least 10 paragraphs.
Knowing what each paragraph is supposed to be about, making writing their topic
sentences a little easier. Sometimes you may find that a research topic is broad enough
to be able to split into two paragraphs, this is handy if you couldnt initially list at least ten
topics. For example, just saying Pamela Andrews for one of my paragraph topics doesn't
cover what I want to say. I may just give a brief overview of her character or provide why
her character is significant to formal realism.
Example of a research topic turning into a topic sentence:
1. What is a gothic novel?
It is important, when studying this novel, to examine what defines a Gothic novel in
relation to eighteenth-century definitions of novel-writing.
This leads to questions of why is this important? and, of course, what is Gothic? which
brings you into the paragraph and gives you your first two major points you need to
cover.
Just remember that the key to choosing a research topic for English Literature is to start
broad. Read the novel and remember to focus on your own class's focus or on whatever
interests you most. From there, you can branch out to almost any research topic, it just
takes some work to get there.

List of Research Paper Topics in Literature

Research Paper Topics in Literature

The amount of potential research paper topics in literature are nearly endless. Here
is a good start at coming up with topics of your own with a few examples for
inspiration.

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M.A. exam: sample topics

Courtly love, mad love, friendly love, passionate love, homosexual love,

.1

.illicit passions in English literature

The pursuit of happiness in the Renaissance and 18th century literature .2
Violence in drama (Medieval, Renaissance, contemporary) .3
Murder One, manslaughter and crimes of passion in Medieval and

.4

.Renaissance literature
The history of theater: how does a place influence dramatic conventions,

.5

.how does dramatic conventions influence the place

Duality in literature: high/low, secular/religious, official/forbidden,
first rate/second rate.

Define the categories and discuss on given

.examples
Angry Young Men of all periods (the Puritans, the Romantics, the

.7

Victorians): the eternal conflict between younger and older generations.

?When does the avant-garde become classical

.6

The birth and development of English literary criticism:

Critical

.8

.preoccupations of English authors (The Middle Ages to the present)

Antecedents of the novel: modes of hi/story telling (The Middle Ages to

.9

.the present)
Imperialism and the novel, colonial and post-colonial mentalities as

.10

.reflected in the works of British writers

Pastoral elements in English literature, the poetic and novelistic love

.11

.of the pastoral

.Monsters in English literature .12
Describing reality in English novel (18th century, Romantic, Victorian,

.13

.Modernist, Contemporary)
Telling stories: narrative mode in English poetry (Medieval, Augustan,

.14

.Romantic, Contemporary)
Eroticism and censorship.

How much sex is/should be permitted in a

.15

?literary work
The question of literary genres: orthodoxy and transgression

.16

.(Renaissance, Augustan, Romantic, Victorian)

Moral and social concerns in the English novel of the second half of the .17
.twentieth century
. Augustan and post-modern treatment of history .18
.The tradition of utopian and dystopian writing in English literature .19
.The journey within oneself.

British literature of self-discovery .20

The tragic and the comic in Irish fiction of the 20th and 21st

.21

.centuries
.Social/political aspects of literary creation across ages .22
Continuity of tradition: contemporary English realist writers and their
.19th century antecedents
.Where does the theater go? New developments in British drama .24
Experimental womens writing in contemporary England and Ireland and
.their literary mothers

.25

.23

Nature of adaptation: from page/stage to screen, categories and degree

.26

.of adaptation
Nature of performance: the concept of mise-en-scene, dual nature of the
.dramatic text, performance text, semiotics of performance
?Performance studies: is performance criticism possible .28
Unique nature of Elizabethan theatre: cultural, social and political

.29

.implications
History of Shakespeare on screen: choose a director/film and discuss
.his/her/its place in the development of Shakespearean movies

.30

.27