How to Choose an English Literature Essay Topic

When faced with the challenge of choosing an essay topic for your literature class, it’s easy to grow overwhelmed and fall back on the most obvious and overdone ideas: “The American Dream in The Great Gatsby.” Beware: you are in serious danger of boring your professor (and yourself) to death--not an ideal situation for writing that incisive masterpiece that was going to make up for all those skipped classes. Remedy? Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Book or story
• Time
• Note-taking materials

1. Take one tiny moment and remember that education is not just about pleasing professors and getting good grades--it’s about challenging yourself and pursuing the questions that interest and excite you. Make sure that whatever you write about challenges you.
2. Do not start by checking out books of literary criticism that have already interpreted the book for you. Save these books for the point when you’ve already formed your own ideas and theses and are looking to interact with the ideas of others (if this is even necessary).
3. The process needs to start as you start reading the book or story you’re writing on, not once you’ve finished. Read to enjoy, of course, but also keep an eye out for recurring images and themes or surprising language or shifts in point of view. Those very things that make you pause and go “wow!” or “what?!” can often be the beginnings of a great essay topic.
4. Taking extensive notes while reading can be annoying and interruptive. Instead, make notes and underline noteworthy moments in pencil in the book itself and use a ripped piece of paper as a marker. If you're struck by a big idea, go ahead and write it in a notebook so you don't have to try to remember it later, which can be equally interruptive.
5. Once you’ve finished the book, think about what you’ve noticed and what you think is most interesting about what you’ve just read. Consider using what you didn't understand as a starting point for choosing your topic. A question is an excellent way to choose a topic. Even if you never answer it, your ideas and musings will likely be much more instructive to you and much more interesting to your professor.
6. Take sheets of paper and write one topic idea on each sheet. Then go through your notes in the book and simply mark down the page numbers that contain portions relevant to this topic. Ask yourself whether any of these topic contenders might be related to or part of any of the others.
7. Choose the topic for which you have the most raw material to work with (unless you feel really excited about a particular topic, in which case, go with that one). And look at you! You’ve already got lots to work with. Now that you’ve chosen your topic, if you have time, consider going through the book again with a more focused eye.

Tips & Warnings

• If you’re marking up a library book, be sure to erase. Allow the next reader to have the same fresh experience you had.