Example English dissertation topic 1:

Characterisations of womanhood: Divergence within literature between northern and southern women. A critical analysis of the characters of ‘the old lady’ in Chaplin’s Day of the Sardine,  Mrs Casper in Hines’ A Kestrel for a Knave, Julia in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and Primrose Violet Anemone Iris Magnolia Narcissa Larkin (Ma Larkin) in Bates’ The Darling Buds of May.

Using two northern characters and authors and two southern characters and books, this dissertation compares and contrasts the role of women within the books and the way in which they are described. In so doing it touches upon aspects of poverty and social exclusion and the role of single mothers and accordingly tests the hypothesis that northern women are traditionally portrayed in a grittier manner whereas those in the south are painted in more traditionally feminine tones within more stable relationships and surroundings.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Bates, H.E. (1958 [2000]) The Darling Buds of May (New Ed edn). London: Penguin.
• Chaplin, S. (2004) The Day of the Sardine. Hexham: Flambard Press.
• Hines, B. (1968 [2000]) A Kestrel for a Knave (New Ed edn). London: Penguin.
• Waugh, E. (1945 [2000]) Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder (New Ed edn). London: Penguin.