thebest Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I've read that you shouldn't choose popular books (e.g., harry potter, lord of the rings) or classic texts used in school curriculum and such because they'll likely be heavily critiqued and analyzed already... So how exactly do you go on about choosing a topic for the english e.e? :/ I really need help, I'm not sure how to begin to choose a topic... Do I narrow down my choices by the books I like? Please help! P.s i didnt know if i shoulda put this in this forum or the e.e forum Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masoomali fatehkia Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I think you should have put this in the EE forum but anyways....Do you have any books in mind? Is there any particular book which you like? If so then you can start from there, since if you are interested in the book you are more likely to succeed in your ee. So what you do is, list down the books which you like. Take a book's name and write whatever comes to your mind about it. What is there that is worthy of investigation. Is there something about the characters, how they relate to each other, is there something about the theme which you can investigate (for example how a particular theme is portrayed, eg. the theme regret, you can talk about how the events and the characters are all somehow related to the theme, something like that, I hope you get the idea).You can also use two books and do a comparative analysis. Think of any two books and see if they have any thing in common. Perhaps they have a common theme and then you can investigate how each book portrays the theme differently.It's good to start with the books you like since you already have an idea about them but make sure if you are choosing a book it should have something which you can really talk about. Hope this helped and best of luck. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GirlwiththeBlueBox Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I wouldn't go with a choice like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings simply because, as you already pointed out, it's been done half to death. I'm the biggest Harry Potter fan out there, so I hate to say this, but if you choose something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, the examiners simply won't take you seriously. However, I disagree with the classic literature you read in school idea. People have done Anna Karenina, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Love in the Time of Cholera, Flannery O'Connor, etc. on the EE before and have done fine. As long as you put your own original spin on it instead of merely copying down whatever everyone else has to say about the book then you'll do fine!On the other hand, if you're not interested in the books you read in the school curriculum, don't hesitate to go for books you actually like. (Let's be honest-- does anyone actually LOVE the books we read in school?) You could do something creative with Fifty Shades of Grey's impact on modern society or its parallel of moral decline or something like that (I haven't read the book, I'm just pulling stuff out of nowhere).Good luck! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babydolleyes Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) Have fun with this! Picking out an interesting book and a creative research question is a really fun part of the EE process. Make sure you choose a novel that was written in English (not translated, however if you choose to compare two novels, one of the novels can be translated). Try and choose a novel that really interests you, it doesn't have to be very well known, and I would definitely read it before you come up with a research question. Consider all of the elements of the novel that interest you as you are reading, and you are bound to come up with a million creative ideas! Good luck! Edited August 9, 2012 by Babydolleyes Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebest Posted August 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Okay thanks so much for the feedback everyone Is it true that a comparative essay usually scores better than just using a single novel? And how sophisticated should the language be in the novels that you use for an extended essay?.. if that matters at all, because other than books I've read for school, I haven't read much these past few years to be honest... Should I actually do a full read through of books that sound interesting or just read a summary of it on sparknotes or something to get an idea whether or not I can actually develop anything from it instead of wasting time Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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