Copied below under each student's name is that student's original proposed topic for the final exam's Research Report. Professor's replies are not included, and students may have changed topics before final exam.

Tish Adams

I was very interested in the genre presentation on Historical Fiction.  I thought it might be fasinating to look at some literature or films based on historical facts that are contained a fictional story.  Historical Fiction contains just enough reality to make one realize it is important but then the author adds their own views to the event.  I might want to discuss Twain's, Huckleberry Finn, the Titanic, or The Color Purple.   I could even discuss something from all sources. 
     I hope to find out how History influences literature.  In what ways do authors or filmmakers bring in Historical facts and then tell the story in their own point-of-view? Why does the reader want to see something that they can relate to and that is familiar to them?  Let me know if this is O.K. or if I should focus on something else.

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Courtney Alexander-Bankston

!  I am interested in research women's roles in Shakespearean times.  Is that appropriate?  I could look at women's roles in the tragic plays as well. 

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Dianna Lynn Bassett

My presentation will be on the short story as a genre and I would like to continue my research on this topic. I would like to go further and research the woman's "voice" in her short stories.  I believe that all writers' lives contribute to the content and style of their writing and that is why woman's stories are different.  I will be concentrating on the dramatic or tragic stories.  

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Candy Berry

I would like to do my research project on Negro Spirituals.  Keisha's presentation was inspiring to me. The stories behind these songs that we all know just amaze me and touch me in so many ways.  I feel that the voices of these individuals are an important part of our history and that these voices should be heard.  If it is okay, I would like to go back and pull some research from my final project on slave narratives last semester.  

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Elaine Cates

I wish to present my research proposal as a comparison of Antigone and Medea. Emphasis is to be on the difference of their characters which ultimately results in both losing their love. Antigone also loses her life and Medea loses her status and sons.

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Kristy Cox

Research Proposal: The Historical Exploration of Musicals

            My Presentation was on Musicals as a genre.  While researching my topic, I became increasingly interested in the history of musicals.   I confided in my mother-in-law, who is a music teacher about the subject, and found that she has a vast knowledge on musicals.   For my research, I would like to expand on the material I presented in my presentation on musicals.  I would like to explore the historical aspects of musical while including an interview of my mother-in-law.  Please let me know if this is too narrow. I can also explore a specific movie, such as Show Boat (the example in my presentation).

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Keisha Gibson

I would like to continue with my presentation topic on Negro Spirituals. Through research and examples I will further develop Negro Spirituals as a Romantic Genre. I will journey through three eras of history and explore the music for that era.  The prospective eras will be slavery, reconstruction/post-reconstruction, and the Harlem renaissance.

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Susie Gibson

Since our discussion today about my upcoming presentation on dramatic musicals, specifically "Rent" I have been doing some investigating.  I have found out that including "Rent" there have been 7 musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama since 1931. This has really interested me, but I am not quite sure where to go with this for a paper. Perhaps some background on what each musical is about, which would explain why they are considered drama.  There are a few of these that most people would not have put in the dramatical aspect, "A Chorus Line" "South Pacific" to name a few, but now that I have thought about these I can understand why they would be considered dramas.  If you have any thoughts in a possible different direction for me to go please let me know.

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Laura Haynes

Historical Fiction

The use of Historical fiction in the classroom--its pros and cons. Compare and contrast also more accurate historical movies that may be unappealing to their audiences versus the added fiction of action-packed historical pieces. I will mainly be using educational sources on the web. I will one day teach in public school, and I want to be able to give accurate, appealing historical information that aids in the learning process. You say "movie" in school and kids get excited. After the presentation examples like Glory and Beloved I wanted to find more examples.

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Kirby Johnson

I'm thinking of doing my research on either Oscar Wilde or Henrik Ibsen.  I plan to find out background information and how he became successful and what play was the biggest hit, etc.  If you have a preference as to who I research, please let me know.  If not, I'm just going to read their plays in the book and figure out which one I like best. 

p. s. I hope this isn't too late; I got caught up reading the plays!  I liked them both, but I've decided to do Oscar Wilde.  I liked the play (a lot!) and his bio was more interesting

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Reani King

Nursery rhymes have always been important to children as a learning tool. I was never aware of them as a genre until this Tragedy class. I found the student presentations on Nursery rhymes to be informative. I would like to further the research done on Nursery rhymes by other students. I find the idea of deeper meaning to them very fascinating. I believe that it is important that parents should be aware of the abstraction of meanings found within them, especially since they are taught to our children.

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Jennifer Laubach

For my research, I intend to continue with Nursery Rhymes.  Rather than focusing on one rhyme in particular and its meanings, I am interested in finding out what the first nursery rhyme is.  I have read that they have actually been around since the 7^th century and the first recorded ones have been around since the 17^th century.  Hopefully, I will find in my research where the first nursery rhyme originated, what the meaning was (if there was any), and if it is still present in our culture today.

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Eric Nichols

Musicals and Films--A Lasting Relationship?

I wanted to research the idea of whether or not, looking at all genres: tragedy, romance, comedy, and satire, musicals can make it in the film industry.  I will look at box office revenues, overall appeal to the audience, and whether or not people want to watch a film with singing in it and not action.  I find it interesting to see what different generations thought were good movies; for example, in the 1940a we say the great Bob Hope and Bing Crosby while future generations grew up with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.  I also wanted to see what the different generational musicals/films dealt with when it came to issues and ideas. 

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Andrea Perkins

Historical Novel and Slave Narrative

            The topic for my research report will be to explore the novel "Beloved" as having two types of narrative genres. I will compare and contrast each genre type and tell how both are present in the novel. This idea follows my presentation on historical fiction in which I used the film production of the novel as my example. This topic interests me because of the deep rooted issues in the novel that are displayed through its narrative. 

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Regina Richardson

Dramatic Comedy

I would describe dramatic comedy as a combination of drama and comedy.  Dramatic comedy can be defined as a story that begins with a problem involving human conflict.  The problem will be resolved through a process where the characters incorporate humor (satirical, slapstick, farce, etc.) to reach a resolution (not necessarily happy but agreeable).

My interest stems from Curtisha Wallace's presentation on comedy.  The clip from Big Momma's House depicted the seriousness of delivering a baby using situational humor to deal with the problem.  I am aware that comedy encompasses different elements, but I want to find out about dramatic comedy.  The topic is significant because the genre is popular.  Television shows like Moonlighting, MASH, Northern Exposure, etc. have been formatted after this genre.  I want to find out what makes dramedy popular: origination and audience appeal.

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Lisa Runnels

Gothic elements and why they are used:

I want to explore the use of gothic elements in tragedy and perhaps touch on its use in comedy.  The research would supply definitions and broad explanations, but I would confine my examples to the plays we have read and will be reading.  Gothic elements add a texture to a play, novel, movie, etc. that the watcher/reader can almost feel.  Using gothic means the author was trying to accomplish a certain feel for the reader/watcher.  Gothic is a popular genre and I hope to find some evidence as to why it remains popular.

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Aimee Anne Sexton

The Birth of a New Subgenre-Musical Tragedy?

I would like to expand upon my presentation on the elements of tragedy in musicals by exploring the elements of tragedy as they occur in West Side Story, Miss Saigon, and Les Miserables. I will also comment briefly on the effects of these tragic elements on these musicals and ultimately on the audience viewing the musicals. I have an extensive background in music and am keenly aware of music's effect on people. Through this course I have become more aware of the effects of tragedy on people as well and have become interested in the meeting of these two worlds of music and tragedy. It is possible, as seen in Opera, for these two worlds to exist together, and I would like the chance to prove and support this belief.

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Janet Taylor

Mark Twain, tall tales, and related subjects.

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Curtisha Wallace

I will research Medea.  I will compare how Euripedes uses modern conventions to portray real life situations in Athenian culture to how Toni Morrison uses fiction to highlight historical events (real life) during slavery.  I will see which approach was more effective and how this signifies how social conventions has changed over time.  I hope to find out more about how the roles of women affected these works of literature through critiques and why these roles or actions exemplified by women were important to the growth of literature.

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Burney Young

Research proposal title:  Tragedy at its core.

Topic:  Tragedy in the news.

Tragedy in the news media reveals our most hidden fears.  Literary tragedy, fictional or nonfictional, is hypothetical and unrelatable.  Tragedy in the news, however, strikes at our very core of life. Here, tragedy is not discussed in genre or characterizations but in fear and terror.  It's tragedy at its core.

I chose this area for personal reasons.

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