CLIT 2095 final research paper topics

1.
Final Research/Response Paper – 35% 1500-2000 words
must treat at least two works from the course. The works you
choose for your research paper ideally should not be the same
as the work (s) you chose for your practical criticism (or there
should not be significant overlap). If you wrote on a graphic
novel for your practical criticism, you might choose from
different kinds of text for your research paper (ie.
autobiographies, novels, film, poetry etc.). Do not reproduce
your tutorial presentation. Any overlaps must be a leaping off
point to further explorations. This paper may incorporate
secondary criticism in the form of a traditional research paper
with a bibliography but it doesn’t have to. It may also take the
form of a personal response to the texts which expands upon
the practical criticism skills honed in the previous paper. This
is a course about paying close attention to how imaginative
works craft themselves as works of fiction and you are
encouraged to stay close to the texts in your analysis and to
include lots of direct citation. These will be assessed alongside
your practical criticisms so please do not be tempted to
duplicate material. Again, a reminder that if I suspect the
paper is the product of AI/ChatGPT, this will seriously affect
your grade. Your own voice and your own critical originality is
being assessed.
The paper is due by Midnight on Sunday 15th December to

the Turnitin tab on moodle.
You should come up with your own title on a topic of your

choice, or choose one from below. Possible essay titles may
include:
1. In two or more texts, discuss the portrayal of the family

including family relationships, family dynamics, questions
of empowerment and oppression, inter-and intra-
generational struggle. How do the authors portray
intimacy and/or hostility? what techniques do they use to
create their effects?
2. In many of the works from this course, there has been a

focus on “the small things”. Discuss the significance of
the small things in two or more texts. How might this
preoccupation with the small relate to the form, genre or
medium of your chosen works.
3. Autobiography is the genre of writing the self. Discuss the

portrayal of the self in two or more works. You might
comment on its construction or reconstruction through
memory, on the passage of time, on whether it is a
playful, authentic, audacious, serious, atoning self and
how it may or may not reflect the “true” identity of the
author.
4. The narrator is the key to any narrative, and particularly

to detective fiction and crime thrillers. Discuss the role of
the narrator and its relationship to truth and
representation in at least two works. You might comment
on reliable versus unreliable narrators, intradiegetic
narrators versus extradiegetic narrators and how this
impacts on the reader’s trust in what they are being told /
shown.
5. Cultural sensitivity is a key to empathic understanding.

Discuss the role of empathy and the way it is portrayed
textually and/or graphically in two or more works.
6. Discuss the way sex and gender impacts our reading of a

narrative. Is there such a thing as a feminine or
masculine way of writing? What are some of the
techniques or gestures in a narrative that are culturally
encoded masculine or feminine? Discuss with reference to
at least two works.
7. Discuss the relationship between text and image in two or

more works. What do we gain from a visual
representation as opposed to a textual one? How are
photographs different from sketches? What about
staging, lighting, and other forms of arranging? Is an
image more “the truth” than text? How do we understand
the subjectivity / objectivity divide in these kinds of
narratives?
8. Some writers / film makers / graphic artists are

consciously upending the genre in which they choose to
work. Discuss the way two authors innovate within their
chosen genres. What are some of the strategies and
techniques they use to create something different and
how effective are they?
9. Discuss the portrayal of childhood or a childlike

perspective in two or more works. What do we gain from
this artistic choice and what does it teach us about how
children see the world?
10. Psychologically, we tend to read for the plot, for the

ending, to figure out what happened and why. Compare
and contrast two works where reading for the ending is
satisfied and/or frustrated. What is the effect of being told
what happens right at the beginning of a narrative? Why
do we read on? What is gained by being thwarted or
frustrated in our ability to know “what really happened”?
11. Discuss the representation of the natural world in

two texts. How do images of nature interact with the
human story also present in the work?

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1.

Final Research/Response Paper – 35% 1500-2000 words

The paper is due by Midnight on Sunday 15th December to

You should come up with your own title on a topic of your

1. In two or more texts, discuss the portrayal of the family

2. In many of the works from this course, there has been a

3. Autobiography is the genre of writing the self. Discuss the

4. The narrator is the key to any narrative, and particularly

5. Cultural sensitivity is a key to empathic understanding.

6. Discuss the way sex and gender impacts our reading of a

7. Discuss the relationship between text and image in two or

8. Some writers / film makers / graphic artists are

9. Discuss the portrayal of childhood or a childlike

10. Psychologically, we tend to read for the plot, for the

11. Discuss the representation of the natural world in

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