# Give my honours thesis a witty (yet meaningful) title - win $5! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036 "2004-09-25T13:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/1 "2004-09-25T13:52:37Z")
My honours thesis is due in a little over a month and I still haven’t thought of a title. I want something that’s clever (perhaps using a pun or two), but also gives insight into what I’m arguing. Preferably in the form of _Thesis: A Brilliant Thesis_. Everyone loves colons. **So what is my thesis about?** My thesis is on romance novels. I’m doing a discourse analysis of five of the most popular romance novels, and I’m looking at how they treat the archetypes set up by older romances (for instance, the sardonic hero, the feisty-yet-innocent heroine, the conniving Other Woman) Basically, I’m arguing that these texts grab the old archetypes and reinvent them, so that their old (patriarchal) meanings have been subverted. **In non-jargon?** My thesis is about how romance novels are more feminist than they used to be. **What’s in it for you?** As the title says, you get $5. If I use your title (or a variant thereof), I’ll transfer $5 USD to your PayPal account. If you want, I’ll also credit you in my thesis. 😃 So please help if you can! My thesis has practically written itself (except for the horrible methodology chapter) but I’m stuck thinking of a title - and with the subject matter I _know_ there’s a killer title out there somewhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/2 "2004-09-25T14:51:56Z")
“The Post-feminist romance, or how women learned to stop sniveling and love the man.” Erh, I’ll try again after caffiene. Whistlepig ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/3 "2004-09-25T15:11:31Z")
Bodice Burners: Romancing the Feminist ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/4 "2004-09-25T15:29:38Z")
I would be really interested in reading your thesis. And I have never said that to anyone in their lives. What authors did you focus on? Howzabout: \*\*The Evolution Of A Much Maligned Genre: From Bodice Rippers and Co-Dependency to Talk To The Hand Feminism. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/5 "2004-09-25T15:57:30Z")
I never really cared for the “Witty Quote”: Subject Matter style of thesis naming, and I deliberately avoided it when I titled my D.Phil dissertation. Having said that, though, I am considering a “Sports Jargon”: Subject Matter title for my still-in-the-research-phase book. I would eschew a long title, too: you want whoever is looking at the title to understand immediately what it is they’ll be getting from your work. The longer a title, the less clear your objectives in writing your essay are. Also, in the future, if you want to cite your work on your CV, you’ll be taking up less space. So, my suggestion would be something on the order of: **From Puppets of the Patriarchy to Forthright Feminists: Changing Archetypes in the Modern Romance Novel** ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/6 "2004-09-25T17:24:20Z")
**Bimbette to Ballbuster: Changing Roles of Women in Romance Literature** ---
**Author:** ![NoPretentiousCodename](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@NoPretentiousCodename](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoPretentiousCodename)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/7 "2004-09-25T19:25:58Z")
**Chivalry vs. Feminism: The New State Of Affairs.** **Her Bosom Still Heaves: Why Girl Power Didn’t Kill Romance After All.** Feel free to hack it up or add parts. Are you adverse to corny, or are you trying for subtly clever? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/8 "2004-09-25T19:55:45Z")
From Flowers to Power: The Evolution of Romance ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/9 "2004-09-25T20:11:16Z")
\*\*He’s Come Undone: The Surge of Feminisim for female characters in Romance Novels . \*\* ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/10 "2004-09-25T21:12:09Z")
Girls Gone Wild: Why His Manhood always Throbbed. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/11 "2004-09-25T21:40:01Z")
**Head Over Heels: How Romance Novels Have Turned Feminism Upside Down** ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/12 "2004-09-25T21:57:46Z")
**Easy Come, Easy Go: The changing images of women in romance novels** ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/13 "2004-09-25T23:59:40Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions so far - a lot of them I would never have come up with! I’ve emailed them to my thesis supervisor to get her take on them. 🙂 > [@](#): > > I would be really interested in reading your thesis. And I have never said that to anyone in their lives. What authors did you focus on? _blush_ If the thesis turns out okay, I’d be happy to email it to you. I’ve “outed” a number of romance fans among other uni students and I’ve converted my thesis supervisor. I chose five books from the top ten lists from All About Romance and The Romance Reader. I wanted the books I chose to be representative of what audiences liked (without having to get the ethics clearance to do audience research!) So the books I’m looking at are: A Knight in Shining Armor - Jude Deveraux Dream Man - Linda Howard It Had to be You - Susan Elizabeth Phillips Whitney, My Love - Judith McNaught Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase I wanted to analyse Jennifer Crusie, but none of hers were in the top 10. > [@](#): > > I never really cared for the “Witty Quote”: Subject Matter style of thesis naming, and I deliberately avoided it when I titled my D.Phil dissertation. Having said that, though, I am considering a “Sports Jargon”: Subject Matter title for my still-in-the-research-phase book. I’m hoping to straddle the border of “witty” and “meaningful”. I’m also trying to eliminate as much jargon in my thesis as possible because I want it to be readable, so a witty title plays into that. Plus, I want it to stand out from the other (boring) thesis titles - maybe it’ll help bump my mark up! 😉 > [@](#): > > Are you adverse to corny, or are you trying for subtly clever? Both will do! Please keep the suggestions coming - I knew I could trust Dopers to come up with some great titles! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/14 "2004-09-26T00:00:20Z")
Forgive me, but your question reminded me of old patter from a long ago Irish folk concert by Liam Clancy & Tommy Makem: “I don’t know what to call my new book.” "You don’t? Well, let me ask you. Does it have any bugles in it? “‘Bugles’? No, it doesn’t have any bugles.” “Well, how about drums? Are there any drums in the book?” “No, there aren’t any drums either.” “Ah, well, there’s your answer then. Call it ‘No Bugles, No Drums.’” \ ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/15 "2004-09-26T00:34:19Z")
**Guilty Pleasure** : How Feminism Changed Romance Novels. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/16 "2004-09-26T00:39:52Z")
> [@](#): > > A Knight in Shining Armor - Jude Deveraux > > Whitney, My Love - Judith McNaught OOOOOh, two of my first reads when I entered the steamy forbidden world of Romance Novels. Most excellent choices. Can I ask a most retarded question? What…uh…is your major? Lit? English? Underwater Basket Weaving? I took a bottle of stupid pills today. Don’t mind me. [A list of Top 100 Books For Those Who Like This Kind Thing.](http://www.likesbooks.com/top100y2k.html) ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/17 "2004-09-26T01:56:31Z")
I would love to read your thesis! Btw, I have a good friend getting her Ph.d in English Lit (doing something sort of related to you) and I know she would love to read it too! (Not in a she-would-steal-it-type-way but b/c she’s also a secret romance nut) My email should be in my profile if you’re not too shy about your baby. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/18 "2004-09-26T02:25:17Z")
I’d love to read it as well! No interesting suggestions for a title, though. BTW, I didn’t really enjoy any of the books listed in the top 10 - actually, I didn’t care for any of them until you get to #14 (Mary Jo Putney’s One Perfect Rose), and none of them would make my favorites list until you get to #33 (Amanda Quick’s Ravished). For the statistics minded amoung us, I’ve read five out of the top ten, seven out the the top 14, 16 out of the top 33, and a whopping 38 out of the entire list of 100. I don’t know what this says about me (or my taste in books). Probably nothing very interesting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/19 "2004-09-26T02:30:03Z")
Post-Modern Literary Feminism: The rise and fall of the bodice. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036/20 "2004-09-26T03:17:39Z")
**Throbbing Patriarchy: A Cutting Analysis** Or the less Freudian: **Bodices Unripped: The Reinvention of Romance Novel Archetypes** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-my-honours-thesis-a-witty-yet-meaningful-title-win-5/266036.md?page=2)