How do I ask for examples without my question being deleted for "recommendations" violations?

Question

How do I ask for examples of discussion and debate within literacy circles as part of a larger, more in depth, answer, so that a moderator won't misunderstand the question and delete it as a "recommendation" violation?

I ask this based on the premise that the desired answer is in no way a "recommendation" violation, and that any deletions on these grounds would be due to a misunderstanding, with the intention of avoiding that misunderstanding.

Answer 1

Ask a specific question and good answers will include examples, references, scholarly debates, and so on, if appropriate. So don't ask "Give me some references/examples/discussions pertaining to Question", just ask "Question"!

Some examples:

• Don't ask: "List some discussions of Odysseus' infidelity in the Odyssey"
  Do ask: "Was Odysseus considered unfaithful to his wife in the Odyssey?"
• Don't ask: "Give me references to textual criticism of the 'solid flesh' line in Hamlet"
  Do ask: "Why are there three different versions of the 'solid flesh' line in Hamlet?"
• Don't ask: "List some citations related to the location of Homer's Ithaca"
  Do ask: "Where was Homer's Ithaca?"

A direct question is more engaging: it's about literature, not about the academic study of literature, and it gives people writing answers more freedom to deploy their own arguments and style, rather than simply carrying out a literature survey.

So in the particular case that prompted this question on Meta,

• Don't ask: "List discussions of Lovecraft's use (or lack of use) of unreliable narrators"
  Do ask: "How reliable are Lovecraft's narrators?"
  Or better still, something like: "How reliable is the narrator in The Shadow over Innsmouth?" (the more specific, the better: you can always generalize later)

Answer 2

Asking for examples is rather difficult on Stack Exchange, but sometimes there is a way around the "give-me-some-examples-of-X taboo":

• The question "Most important papers on Beowulf or a lit review on Beowulf scholarship" was closed as inappropriate, but rewording it as Approaching Beowulf scholarship - how to begin? made it acceptable.
• The question "List some academic critics who took authorial intent seriously" would not have worked, but Was authorial intent ever taken seriously in academic literary theory? was perfectly OK.
• "Give some examples of second-person novels" would not have worked, but Earliest second-person novel. Questions of the type "Earliest example of x" has been used on several occasions to get around the recommendation issue. It often generates different answers, which thereby actually leads to a list of (early) examples.