Pathology of the Theses Conducted by Iranian Students Majoring in Children’s Literature,A Critical Examination of the Flaws and Shortcomings

Much the same way as in western countries, the academization of Children's Literature in Iran has led to a greater attention being paid to method, resulting in outstanding methodological developments in Children's Literature Studies; however, repetitive shortcomings and drawbacks in student studies are alarming, necessitating a pathological study of theses in this field. We carried out this research to underscore such weak points and debate them. The samples include 25 MA theses in Children’s Literature submitted to the 4th biennial Festival of the Distinguished Theses held by Shiraz University Centre for Children's Literature Studies (SUCCLS), in 1396. We have studied all the samples and have offered an index of flaws and shortcomings and their percentages. Then we tried to highlight the flaws and argue about them further. We have used the availability sampling method and Mayring’s qualitative content analysis (2000) as our research technique. Twenty-seven shortcomings are listed in this article. According to the percentages, avoiding the use of first person pronoun when the researcher is referring to him/herself is the most frequently repeated problem. Second in frequency is that reference is not made to the literature review and no comparison is drawn between the findings of research and the body of available literature accumulated so far. The next problem very often traced is the fading away of creativity and literary taste in academic writing. According to the findings of this research, students need to have a broader study of research and should get familiar with the distinguished researches in the national and international domains. Furthermore, in order to promote the quality of academic children’s literature, it is inevitably necessary for the supervisors, advisors and referees to pay a greater and more exact attention to the flaws and drawbacks of such researches.