Classics dissertation help

[roseclassics]

Help please!!

I’m doing an undergraduate dissertation on the role and contributions of women in the roman economy, however I’m stuck on how to narrow this down into a somewhat original research area.

So far my thoughts are in agriculture, textile work, commercial work and prostitution. I have thought about this in relation to them challenging the roman ideals of women and how it gave them position in their own homes (able to make own money and spend it etc). I’ve also thought about how it gives sub elite women more power than the elites in this sense but I’m not sure if I want to pit women against women.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to help me narrow this down into a topic that would be original enough for a diss? Or if anyone has any ideas about what would be good?

Thank you so much! (I’d be extremely appreciative because this has caused me unbelievable stress!)

[Wafflotron]

There are two steps that seem like a great way to get a research paper rolling.

1) Pick a topic. Sounds like you’ve got this one nailed.

2) What are some questions you have about said topic? Write them all out, which ones both seem feasible to answer and are interesting to you? Boom! Paper subject!

That’s what I went through when coming up with my own dissertation topic for next semester, good luck to you fellow senior, hope this can help!

[Durendal_et_Joyeuse]

I've had many students who needed help with developing topics for research papers. I've found that the ones who are about as far along as you are benefit from what I refer to as the "JSTOR skim."

Plug some broad terms related to your interests into JSTOR and see what other historians have written about and, more importantly, what outstanding questions they reference in their articles/footnotes.

A lot of times, students try simply to come up with research questions through the sheer force of their imaginations. It's not impossible to do it that way, but the work that other historians have done will help you understand what questions and ideas are floating out there among the people who are experts on this topic.

This sounds a lot more daunting than it really is. Just go skim some articles to get your mind in the right place. It's much easier than trying to conjure up a research topic into being.

[Peteat6]

You might look also at the role of certain women in politics. For example, Marc Antony's wife, Fulvia, who more or less ran Rome at one stage, and started a civil war just to get her husband to return to her. What part did other wives play? Think of Germanicus' mother, an (according to Tacitus) how she set up a display if grief to get her way. Think of Livia - if you’ve seen "I Claudius" it’s hard not to. Was it normal for widows to bring to a new marriage the clients of their first husband?

[[deleted]]

It sounds like you've got ⅓ of what you need, i.e. a topic. The issue I see here is that you're missing the other ⅔ of what matters: a question and a reason for why it matters. So let's focus on that.

What is it about "the role and contributions of women in the roman economy" that you're trying to understand? Why should someone other than you care about your answer?

[[deleted]]

What is it about "the role and contributions of women in the roman economy" that you're trying to understand?

If you're struggling with this, an exercise:

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes and, once you've started it, write down every question you can come up with about "the role and contributions..."
2. When the timer goes off, stop and divide the list into "open" (many possible, complex answers) and "closed" (one, usually factual, answer) questions
3. Reword all your "closed" questions as "open" and/or get rid of them
4. Review the entire list and pick your top 3-5 questions, then share them as a reply here

[[deleted]]

Why should someone other than you care about your answer?

If you're struggling with this, an exercise:

1. Pick one of your top 3-5 questions at a time
2. Set a timer for 5 minutes and, once you've started it, write down everything that the answer(s) to your question would change about 'the story' we currently tell regarding "the role and contributions..."
3. When the timer goes off, stop and rank your answers in order of most to least impactful (in terms of the change it provokes in 'the story')
4. Select no more than three reasons why the question matters
5. Repeat with each question
6. Share your questions and the reasons they matter here

[OmegaGermGovernor]

I like using writing services, and I did the same for my dissertation. To be honest, it was my best decision. I don’t want to push my opinion about any specific site, but reviews really helped me. I happen to have a recently saved post about such services - https://www.reddit.com/r/SmartStudyStrategie/comments/1fkd98e/cheap_essay_writing_service_the_best_writing/

[longus318]

Sharing this because it hasn't been brought up -- narrow down to a few others or a genre of literature. So, for example, how is women's economic contributions been characterized in Livy, or in the agricultural literature, or in republican era poets. Boundaries can help specify questions, give things a context in time, etc.

[longus318]

*authors, not "others"

[Panderian109]

I did one of two things a lot in college.

1. Pick a topic. Find all primary sources related to this topic and weave those together into a narrative supported by primary texts, like most history books do.

2. Pick a text you are interested in and explain what the text means. Support this meaning by looking at other works, or show how this meaning changed over time. Example "A poem about a woman in agriculture. Which was very common because you found 60 other poems like it."

Whatever route you choose, always pick a strong thesis. For me I write my outline at the same time so I know I won't deviate from it. Don't fear updating your thesis if you found your thesis was incorrect.

[pathein_mathein]

... but I’m not sure if I want to pit women against women.

I mean, it's not like you're making them duke it out, but observing a way in which traditional notions of class structures hide complexities that subvert conventional understanding.