Wednesday, September 9, 2009


Okay, Lovely Readers, I need help!
It has been mandated by the powers that be at our school that every grade has to write a term paper. In the junior high and high school, the English classes have first semester; the history classes have second semester. (I plan to begin sometime in October.)
Not only must they have a written paper, but it must be such that it can be developed into a power point or smart board presentation also...aarghhh! ....They will receive 2 for the paper; one for the presentation.

My problem: I need about 35 suggestions for possible topics.
(I have 32 eighth graders, and I would like for them each to have a different topic.)
These topics need to be able to sustain four or five sources. Oh, and did I mention that these term papers are to be written in MLA format?
Have a Lovely Day!


  1. comparing movies to their literary counterparts could be interesting and a pretty big list with the normals: Austen's books, the Bronte sisters, Shelley, Bram Stoker, Bridget Jones' Diary even. those sorts of topics will lead to the visual and written presentation, if you wanted to, you could even extend the whole assignment to allow each student a different representation/book.

    How long do these essays need to be?

  2. and, the boys might want to get into graphic novels... while the girls might want to go with more, The Notebook/Time Traveler's Wife, Gone With The Wind route

  3. -Contemporary Writers vs Classic Author's works in the same genre

    -Art and Imagery Comparison (such as Eudora Welty, who was both a renowned photographer AND writer)

    -You can get a lot of topics just by assigning one literary device to each student (metaphor, imagery, simile, personification, etc etc)

    -LOCAL authors, such as Carson McCullers

    -Pick a time in history that's most intriguing to you and research ONE author from that time period who wrote fiction or poetry (I think this is my favorite topic!)

    -Hmmm... I'll keep thinking

  4. Hmmm Last yr my daughter (9th gr) had to do a paper (a term paper of sorts I suppose) where she had to identify a timeless theme in Romeo & Juliet & relate it to past/present & future.

  5. Some of your suggestions are way over my head (This is the first time either my students or I have done this, so I need to K.I.S.S. this year's paper time)....Hmmmm You all have given me much food for thought, though.

    Comparing movie to book is a thought, but can they get the sources? Might be too complicated...but i DO like it...Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Treasure Island, .....There are many classics of which they've probably only watched the movie.

    The literary devices sounds good...they could maybe research different ways various genre?
    I also like the picking a period of history and then an author from that period....could resesarch author and era? i don't want to lap over into their history research paper too much, though.

    The choosing of a theme from a classic novel to relate to past present & future is a thought...

    Keep thinking....these are good ideas that help to get my thoughts going...I couldn't get past authors and poets, and knew those in and of themselves wouldn't be a strong enough topic.....All of your suggestions have really kick-started my brain now!:)

    Thank you!!!!

  6. thinking, thinking ...Who am I kidding? It's three in the morning. I'll try again tomorrow.

  7. Keep thinking, Yiota! i need all the help i can get....

  8. By the way....3:00 AM....I guess you WERE having trouble thinking!