Project Themes

Your theme is the starting point for your research project.

1. Undergarments/Body Image to 1945 
2. Undergarments/Body Image 1945-Present
3. Early American Costume, 1600-1850 (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
4. Victorian American, 1860-1900 (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
5. Roaring Twenties (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
6. Hollywood Glamour - the New Look, 30’s-50's (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
7. 1960's Counter-culture (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
8. 1970’s Rock, Disco Fever, Ethnic 1970s (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
9. 1980’s New Romantics/Power Dressing (Men’s, women’s formal and informal wear)
10. 1990’s Hip Hop, Grunge

This is cultural history, so you may use artifacts of popular culture to draw out/illustrate your analytical ideas; think of constructions of femininity in beauty standards, body shaping, hair, as well as clothing; think of how masculinity is projected in athletic or military bodies, or dress codes in musical genres.

*This project is intersectional at the foundational level, so please think about race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and social class as they relate to your topic.

What Are Keywords & Why Do They Matter? 

Keywords are search terms that capture specific concepts, eras, names, issues, etc. of your theme / research topic. 

You use keywords as search terms to find relevant sources of information in library databases and the web.

Example: If I am just starting out my research on how women dressed in post-WWII America, I might identify the keywords: 

And I might do the following search in the library One Search: 

Here are a few tips about using keywords:

• Put phrases in quotes.
  • Example: "great depression"
• Keywords have synonyms and related terms. Try different keywords to find info on your topic and be sure to look for additional keywords as you research. That is an excellent way to find relevant terminology.
  • Example: undergarments = underwear, corsetry, bustles, crinolines, bras, brassieres, petticoats, stockings, nylons, etc. 
• Use a range of keywords to explore different aspects of your topic. 
  • Example: women AND clothing OR dress AND 1950s.
  • Example: women AND 1950s AND race.
  • Example: Black women AND 1950s AND dress OR fashion OR clothing
• Combine keywords with Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" to get more relevant results.
  • Example: Use "AND" to combine terms to narrow down your search: women AND dress
  • Example: Use "OR" to combine terms and broaden your search: clothing OR fashion
• In most databases, use an asterisk * to search for forms of a word with a shared root.
  • Example: cultur* searches for culture and cultural
  • Example: cloth* searches for clothes and clothing.
• Keep an eye out for Subject headings. When you find a highly relevant book or article, see if the Subject term leads you to other highly relevant titles. 

Use the worksheet below for more tips on keywords and search strategies.

How do you get from a general theme to a paper topic?

With RESEARCH....

The theme your teacher provides is a historical or thematic starting point.

Your task is to read and learn as much as you can about your theme, and out of that knowledge, develop a claim about the relationship between your fashion and the historical context of gender.

Remember: Your focus is on the history told through fashion and clothing, not on fashion as an end in itself.

Strategies:

1) Read broadly about the historical and cultural background to your subject.

• Read articles on the history of the United States, women, African Americans, class, artistic traditions, or whatever else is relevant.
• You are trying to understand the roots and significance of your fashion trend or item.
• Create a list of names, events, terms, ideas as you go along. These are your starting keywords.

2) Create a concept map of what you know and what you want to know.

• To do that start with your theme at the center in a circle.
• Brainstorm on paper what you know and what you want to know. Don't worry about organization.
• Connect ideas and terms with arrows.
• You can create "sub-circles" of sub-topics and related terms.
• Underline or asterisk additional keywords and add them to your list.

3) Use keywords to find more focused information on your topic in books, articles, web sites, and other resources.

• Take notes! (and keep track of your sources!)
• Write down what you know and what you still need to understand better.
• Add to your keyword list.

4) Do you see a claim emerging from your research? In other words, are you beginning to understand the role or significance of that garment or trend during that era?

Tip: Research is a process of figuring out what you know and what more you need to know; finding it; reading and analyzing; synthesizing information with other things you have learned; and putting it all together in your own original analysis.

Every step of the way, you ask: What do I know? What more do I need to learn?