The Pathology of Folklore Literature Theses in Iran

Folklore literature is a new field in Iran. Compared to other countries, not many studies have been conducted in this field. A number of studies that have been done both in terms of quantity and quality have a significant influence on introducing it. There are some theses written about this subject matter. If such theses are written in a correct and coherent way, they could be effective and efficient in solving many scientific problems of folklore literature field; consequently, providing scientific and useful results. The present article randomly picked and analyzed a total number of 100 theses registered in Irandoc system. The research goal is to highlight the situation of some university research in this field and criticize them in a constructive manner in order to support the research basis in this scientific field. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the data collection method is library-based with a pathological approach. The main findings of this study indicate that most of the studied theses are descriptive, thus they are not giving us new results. They are usually imitative in general section (introduction). Boring clichés can be seen in theses’ main structure. Literature review is not properly acknowledged. Authentic sources are not used, and generally, they lack a problem-based and academic approach. Of one hundred studied theses, only seventeen are problem-based and have a scientific approach. University theses being descriptive and compiled in this field indicate the primitiveness of folklore literature studies in Iran. One should realize that every research about any problem in any country begins with compilation, and then reaches to maturity and the level of analysis. It should be mentioned that although good steps are taken in recent years, this field is still in its early stages.