Hello! I'm currently an undergrad that is writing a research paper on a Canadian "women's magazine" called Chatelaine. The magazine began producing since the early 1920 however for the purposes of my paper i'm sticking to a post-war time frame. The magazine itself has been hailed as one of the first feminist magazine publication in North America as its female editorial staff touched on issues of contraception, education, and careers in climate of conservative attitudes (1960s).
For my paper I wanted to talk about how the magazine seemed to only cater to white women comfortably living in the suburbs. When Canada, at the time was growing increasingly diverse in terms of race ethnicity, and class.
What I don't want to do is state the obvious...That Chatelaine only catered to white women "rouging it" in the suburbs and therefore wasn't truly "feminist".
If you know about this time period in North America, or even better Canada specifically, could you help me complicate my thesis or bring about a new angle to my topic.
Thanks guys. Hope this doesn't come off as getting someone to do my work. I just don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of. Thanks.
Honestly, it seems a little early to be trying to tack down a thesis. What you should be doing at this point is coming up with research questions that will allow you to think much deeper about this subject. Otherwise, you are just cherry-picking evidence to support your thesis.
Questions I would be asking, for instance, include: who are the contributing authors? What is the frequency with which they focus on particular topics? Where else might someone have read about these topics at this point in time? What is the scope of the magazine's readership? Did the magazine publish letters to the editor? Where are these individuals writing from? And so on and so forth.
Once you get a better handle on the content and historical context of your research object, you will then be able to provide a stronger thesis. I would also add that reading the secondary literature on this subject will also give you a sense of what your thesis will be. What do others say about this magazine or topic? Does your findings challenge, confirm, or expand them? A good thesis will dialogue with other research.
This process is the very heart of academic scholarship.