ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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The Wave isn't just something annoying that people do at sports stadiums. [People performing a mexican wave in a stadium]

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It’s also a pretty interesting novel.

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This book touches on all sorts of topics… everything from education, to competition, [Coop discussing The Wave novel]

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to violence, to identity. It basically runs the gamut.

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And, sure, you might not want to write a paper that covers all of these topics at once…

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…but by picking one of ‘em, and starting with an engaging, relevant question, you’re [Hand picks a topic]

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going to wind up with a good research paper.

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Nay – an excellent research paper. How do you like them apples?

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When trying to nail down the subject you want to focus on, think about what the characters

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are doing in the novel… …what they're thinking… [Dino discussing how to pick a topic]

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…or even the stuff they make you think about.

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All fair game as topics for your paper.

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But just deciding on a topic isn't enough to get you a suitable research question.

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You also have to see if you can come up with a particular question about how the topic

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relates to the text.

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Example time! Let’s think about education in The Wave. This story is not only about [Man holding The Wave novel]

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how students and teachers learn about academic subjects in school…

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…but also about how they learn to be individuals and make their own choices.

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Even, um…bad choices. [Man on top of a car and car crashes]

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With that general topic in mind, there are a ton of research questions you could ask.

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You could make it personal and ask: Would you like to have Ben Ross for a teacher?

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Why or why not?

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Or, you could think about what the characters learned and ask: Do you think Ben's experiment

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was good for his students? What, if anything, do you think they learned?

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And what did Ben learn?

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You could even open up the question to consider what the book taught you about the world. [Girl reading The Wave]

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Maybe: Has this novel helped you better understand the Holocaust? Why?

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Or even: Given that Ben went so far in his attempts to help his students understand,

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is The Wave commenting on a flaw in the education system?

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See? One topic, a million questions.

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And really, you can do the exact same thing with any other topic. [Man looking at himself in a mirror]

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What if we were to focus on identity instead of education?

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Seeing how all the students – and even the teacher – undergo drastic changes in their [Peoples clothing changing]

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identities over just a few days, we might ask:

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Which characters in The Wave undergo the most drastic identity changes?

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Are these permanent changes or just temporary bouts of confusion?

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Or, we could get a bit more specific and see how particular character’s identities changed.

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Take Robert, for example.

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We might ask: Why do you think Robert creates the position of bodyguard for himself?

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How does that affect his identity?

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We could also focus on Ben, asking: What happens to Ben when he becomes Wave leader?

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Does he truly change as a person?

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Or we could look at Laurie and ask: Why is Laurie able to stay true to herself in the [Laurie stood in a corridor]

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face of The Wave? What about the other characters who manage to do the same thing?

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With countless topics to choose from, and even more research questions to ask about

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each one, you could write about The Wave for days on end. [Man at a table with scrumpled sheets of paper]

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Just remember to take breaks for eating and sleeping and stuff.

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