Paper Topic?

[Kent2010]

It depends upon what interests you, but here are some more ideas to add on to Rumil's list...

In one semester I start my student teaching for social studies and I always love how you can look at literature and see what it tells you about history (social, military, intellectual...etc). Many times Tolkien says he's not writing an allegory, which I will take his word for it, but you can learn a lot about history, by looking at the literature of the day. I think the same can be done with Lord of the Rings. For example, what technology is used in Lord of the Rings, what is it's purpose, and what does that tell you how technology was used during the time LOTR was being written? You can look at family structure, government...etc

Or certain intellectual topics like what is justice, in LOTR? What is wisdom?

Or maybe an analysis of a character. One time I wrote a paper on Grima and argued whether he was brainwashed by Saruman and was not in control of his actions or if he acted out of his own self-interests and should be held accountable.

The possibilities are endless and I would suggest to find whatever interests you, form an essential question from the topic, and make your argument.

[Mnemosyne]

I don't want to give any sort of advice until I know a bit more about what the paper's for. If this is a "I have to get a paper done" paper, then I'd say write about whatever you feel like that you can drag out to the page limit.

But if this is for some sort of upper level course you're usually expected to contribute something that, if it's not original, at least makes the prof think. It's a lot harder to find paper topics that sizzle.

And finally (especially if this is one of the latter papers), do you know how accepting/hostile the person who's grading it is to the inclusion of LotR as a work of great literature? That ought to affect your topic as well.



ETA: Crud, never mind. I just reread that it's a fantasy course. So Question 3 is out. But that means Question 2 is probably paramount. I'll try to think up a couple of interesting things...

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

I don't want to give any sort of advice until I know a bit more about what the paper's for. If this is a "I have to get a paper done" paper, then I'd say write about whatever you feel like that you can drag out to the page limit.

But if this is for some sort of upper level course you're usually expected to contribute something that, if it's not original, at least makes the prof think. It's a lot harder to find paper topics that sizzle.

And finally (especially if this is one of the latter papers), do you know how accepting/hostile the person who's grading it is to the inclusion of LotR as a work of great literature? That ought to affect your topic as well.

We read LotR for the class, and it's one of the professor's favorite books, sooo I think it will be ok. I do need to come up with a good, original topic that really matters, not only because it's a 400-level class, but also in order to keep me interested while I'm working on it.

[Mnemosyne]

Hmm. What about doing something that looks at LotR and the Silm? I know that some of this was mentioned in the original CbC threads, but I've always thought something dealing with parallel imagery in LotR and the Silm (and how that ties into the Great Stories Never Ending, etc.) would be really cool. Most obvious one I can think of off the top of my head is Sam singing to find Frodo vs. Fingon singing to find Maedhros.

Another good one I can think of off the top of my head from Downs topics was the notion of "other" and how characters who seem to work in pairs end up getting different, more fulfilling pairings by the end of the book--and how marriage seems to be more fulfilling than friendship, but the divine is even more fulfilling than that. I can scrounge around to try to find that old thread if you'd like.

I'd say in order for it to interest you, though, it has to deal with themes and characters that you find really interesting.

Though I have to admit, if you turn the C-thread into a paper... O_____O

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

Though I have to admit, if you turn the C-thread into a paper... O_____O

You'd better be careful you aren't handing it in to Professor Fordim Hedgethistle himself.

[Lush]

Mmmmmm.

I don't remember ever having written a paper on Tolkien (and if I had, it was probably so horrific that I most likely broke out the bleach and wiped it from my memory at a later date, to spare myself the recurring nightmares), but I keep going back to Tolkien even in my nonfiction writing - and I think it's always interesting to trace his influence upon the writers working today, and by that I don't just mean the straight-up rip-offs that line the Fantasy aisle like so much fluff from the dryer.

Of course, that involves a whole lot of outside reading that you probably don't want to do if you're writing a short paper!

I once had a professor who was passionate about Tolkien and actually had a manuscript which he would pass reverently around the group. One of us was doing her Honours thesis on LOTR and he was her supervisor. I hope she did well, but I bet he put her through a lot!

ZOMG. This is precisely the reason why I did my thesis on a writer that no one in my department had even heard of (with the exception of a visiting British professor who had no idea who I was, was very nice, and very puzzled as to why I insisted on recruiting him as my adviser).

It can be pretty terrifying, when the people on the committee are very passionate about the work, and could possibly smite you.

[Gwathagor]

Well, it looks like I'll be writing on the importance of the 3 Elven Rings to the story of LotR. This topic might be a little tricky because there isn't much explicit information given regarding the Three, but I think there are enough clues and hints for me to work up a doable outline.

There is a line in The Council of Elrond: "Those who made them did not desire strength or domination, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained." I think this is the key to understanding the Elven Rings - both how they work and their role in the story. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.

[Kent2010]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

I do need to come up with a good, original topic that really matters, not only because it's a 400-level class, but also in order to keep me interested while I'm working on it.

In that case (and this will depend upon how much time you have), think of several ideas you're interested in, then go out and research, see what you come up with. Then from what you've gathered see what questions are there.

It took me a while to break the habit of coming up with the topic first, and then doing the research/writing the paper. You can get stuck on trying to figure out a topic, and then once you find that 'perfect' topic, you head out to find the info, but realize there's nothing there, or what you have is all over the place.

I wrote a paper on the notion of privacy and what's ok to publicize, my prof said it was a great idea, bu there is so much on that topic, when I turned in my paper it was a mess. I had John Dewey, court cases, newspapers, everything, and I bombed it. I let my broad topic about "privacy" dictate my paper and it turned out to be a jumbled bunch of random stuff about privacy. And I never answered my question "what is acceptable to publicize?"

Think what interests you about LOTR, read parts you really like, look through threads, write down anything that sticks out, and let the questions come from that. Let the "evidence" form the questions and dictate the topic, instead of being stuck on a topic and finding there's nothing you can write about it or your paper has no focus because the topic has led you all over the place.

[Lobelia]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

We read LotR for the class, and it's one of the professor's favorite books, sooo I think it will be ok. I do need to come up with a good, original topic that really matters, not only because it's a 400-level class, but also in order to keep me interested while I'm working on it.

if you're writing something about a prof's favourite book, just be careful! He/she will have very definite ideas about it and if yours are different, they'd better be convincing.

I once had a professor who was passionate about Tolkien and actually had a manuscript which he would pass reverently around the group. One of us was doing her Honours thesis on LOTR and he was her supervisor. I hope she did well, but I bet he put her through a lot!

[Gwathagor]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. You've given me some good ideas - but by all means keep the suggestions coming.