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French-Language Comics (La bande dessinée)

Research Process Plan

Research process: 1) develop your research question and topic; 2) Brainstorm keywords and related terms; 3) Find background information for your topic; 4) Use search tools to find articles, books, or what you need; 5) Review your literature and evaluate what you found; 6) Organize your references in a citation management tool; 7) Organize, outline and write; 8) Cite and credit the intellectual property of others. Remember: Research is non linear, it can shift, be flexible, go back on your steps, adapt your topic, talk to experts on similar topics and value feedback

Research Topic

Your topic should facilitate a critical approach that integrates some of the theories covered in your course.

Your research topic may be born through different channels:

  • Read your syllabus carefully and pay attention to a topic covered in class that interests you but that you know little about.
    • You may choose a topic related to the course's central theme that interests you.
  • Expand on a subject you found important, and that was highlighted in one of the texts you read.
  • Cover a topic (from your optic) suggested in one of the books or articles you read.
  • Browse online media to gather topic ideas.
  • Browse background sources to gather topic ideas.
Sometimes, topics change as you progress in your research process; this is normal.

Coming Up with a Topic

Arriving at a topic that is not too big or too small is one of the earliest challenges in the research process.

Example:

  1. French-language market ⇒ too big
  2. French-language book market ⇒ We added the type of market, but this topic is still too big
  3. The bande dessinée in the French-language book market ⇒ We have added a literary genre
  4. Representations of the bandes dessinées as a "ninth art ⇒ We have shifted into ninth art 

We have arrived at a topic:

The bande dessinée, as an expression of "ninth art" as a sociological phenomenon

 

 

Research Question

Your research question will be related to your topic. This question usually answers a matter not covered by previous scholarship.

Developing Research Questions: Your Purpose

Please take a look at where your questions will lead you. Will your question lead you to:

  • Compare and contrast
    • Example: How do quotes from Tintin, Astérix, and Lucky Luke represent idiomatic phrases in the French language?
      • How is a theme presented in an article or book you read differently from the optic considered in a text covered in class?
      • How is author X's contribution different from author Y's?
      • How do different authors cover the same topic?
  • Associate your topic with another
    • Example: How does la bande dessinée intersect with the culture of contemporary France? 
      • How did a topic happen about another topic?

 

  • Interpret the state of your topic
    • Explain the significance of X and how you can measure this significance
      • Example: What is the significance of the visual-textual nature of la bande dessinée as a language learning tool? 

 

  • Connect a text with a historical problem
    • Example: How does Tintin work against Imperial Japan and European dictatorships?
    • Tintin, as an iconic fighter against slavery 

 

  • Argue for a particular stance
    • Example: No, Tintin is not racist. A counterargument against Tintin's colonialist treatment of the local population
    • Present opposing views and argue in favor or against a view

 

See Strategy: Formulating Questions

 

Background Information

Background sources are beneficial at the beginning stages of your research process. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and even Wikipedia are traditional background sources that we usually do not cite in our final project. These sources will give us ideas for research topics, keywords and even provide further information that may be useful.

Keywords and Related Terms

Le Neuvième Art or 9ème (Art Ninth Art) ⇒ France and Belgium 

"la bande dessinée Franco-Belge"

Francophone Belgium ⇒ comics industry ⇒ since the 1940s

Tintin by Belgian George Remi (Hergé) ⇒ created in 1929 

Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs) by Pierre Culliford (Peyo) ⇒ created in 1958

Comic artists:

  •  Hergé
  •  Peyo
  • Morris (Maurice De Bevere)

Bilingual Search Samples

  • "Tintin in the Congo" AND racist stereotypes
  • Festival Internationale de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême Angoulême, France 
  • CNBDI in Angoulême AND Ninth art
  • National Museum bandes dessinées AND Ninth Art
  • Ninth Art AND system of communication and expression
  • Astérix AND pop culture
  • bandes dessinées AND economic phenomenon OR phénomène économique
  • bandes dessinées AND idiomatic phrases AND France
  •  Representation AND Iznogoud AND citation
  • Representation AND Tintin AND references
  • Representation AND Lucy Luke AND pastiche

 

Subject Heading Search

When you find a book or article of interest in the Library catalog, you may look at its bibliographic record and subject terms. The Library of Congress creates subject terms, usually linked to additional resources on the topic. When you use subject terms in your searches, you expand your search.

Example: Subject Headings Related to bande dessinée