History Projects

stringer316

I was thinking of doing my special topic on anarchism, any ideas?

stringer316

Hi just wondering could I do my History special topic on the Assasination of Jesse James or on Henry Hill or something like that, thanks!

TommyMaher

stringer316 wrote: »

I was thinking of doing my special topic on anarchism, any ideas?

The general principal of anarchism or a certain time?

TommyMaher

Would anyone know of a certain book I can use relating to John lennons political activism and his deportation attempts etc?

Gothams Bruce Wayne

I really want to do Charles Manson and the Manson Murders for my Leaving Cert history project but the guidelines for it are very specific and you don't have much wriggle room with your chosen topic. I just wanted to get some opinions on what aspect of the Murders I could focus on for the project? My teacher is not much help in this field -_-

Annmarie10987

I was thinking about doing something around film and radio in the U.S with Bing Crosby and Charlie Chaplin does this sound like a good idea ?

spurious

Annmarie10987 wrote: »

I was thinking about doing something around film and radio in the U.S with Bing Crosby and Charlie Chaplin does this sound like a good idea ?

If you're set on that, do one or the other.

Why not do something based on Irish radio?

TheFlayedMan

I did mine on Lucius Sulla, the Roman Dictator. I'm not finished, but I put in most of the work in three hours or so, based purely on my own knowledge and using the internet to back up some dates and facts, and I've mostly completed the bulk of it. Just need to fit certain sources around my information, rewrite the title and do my review.

Really not as daunting as I thought it would be. I did it to take a break from homework :P

Annmarie10987

spurious wrote: »

If you're set on that, do one or the other.

Why not do something based on Irish radio?

I might do Charlie Chaplin
What ideas do you have for Irish radio ?

llamalauren

Hi. I just wanted to know how the history special topic works, I know you don't just write an essay, that there's a specific type of way and paragraphs you're meant to use. My teacher has not shown me this, can someone please tell me?


Also, is something to do with Andy Warhol and the 60s okay to do it on?

willowtrees105

llamalauren wrote: »

Hi. I just wanted to know how the history special topic works, I know you don't just write an essay, that there's a specific type of way and paragraphs you're meant to use. My teacher has not shown me this, can someone please tell me?


Also, is something to do with Andy Warhol and the 60s okay to do it on?

Hi. It might be a good idea to download a copy of the booklet (or else ask your teacher for a copy). You can look at it using this link: http://www.examinations.ie/exam/HistoryCourseworkJournal.pdf The first thing you have to do is write down the title of your research topic. The next section is your outline plan. You should ask your teacher what you need to write for this but it includes things like why you chose the topic, why it's historically relevant, how you plan to research the topic and then you have to cite your sources. The next section is Evaluation of Sources. This is where you need to assess the strengths and weakness of your three main sources. (They should mainly be books written by an historian). The next section is the Extended Essay. This should be no more than 1,500 words (not that big a deal if you go over that but try not to). The essay is formatted in the same way that you write your normal history essays but just keep referring to the sources that you used. eg. Historian JJ Lee wrote that "quote"....

Andy Warhol would be fine I would think but you will need to argue why he has historical relevance...if this is difficult to do, choose someone/something else.

willowtrees105

Gothams Bruce Wayne wrote: »

I really want to do Charles Manson and the Manson Murders for my Leaving Cert history project but the guidelines for it are very specific and you don't have much wriggle room with your chosen topic. I just wanted to get some opinions on what aspect of the Murders I could focus on for the project? My teacher is not much help in this field -_-

Don't do it. My history teacher told us that she was at a talk a few weeks ago given by the chief examiner for history and she said that we should avoid doing topics on mass murderers/serial killers. They don't get high marks as they are very difficult to prove why they are historically relevant.

Run a mile from it.

QueenOfLeon

Some recent threads on the History Project merged, have a look back through previous posts to see if any advice has already been given about your topic

JCHelp

I was thinking of doing the assassination of JFK ???

Annmarie10987

JCHelp wrote: »

I was thinking of doing the assassination of JFK ???

I think this would be a good topic but make sure that you have specific things you want to do on him because you can't cover everything I don't think

SeanyboyQPR

My title is "The impact of Nazi propaganda in the inspiration of Anti-Semitism, Racial Hatred and Discrimination throughout Germany, 1932-1945."

Annmarie10987

SeanyboyQPR wrote: »

My title is "The impact of Nazi propaganda in the inspiration of Anti-Semitism, Racial Hatred and Discrimination throughout Germany, 1932-1945."

That sounds really good good luck

SeanyboyQPR

Thanks! I've done my outline plan and evaluation of sources, just have to pen my extended essay now for the first draft which my teacher wants handed up by Friday! Still bricking it for the actual exam though, need to get this perfect!

MightyMandarin

Hi I was thinking of doing Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide or would I need to do something very few people would think of maybe Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre any thoughts?

spurious

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Hi I was thinking of doing Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide or would I need to do something very few people would think of maybe Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre any thoughts?

Both of those have been done in the past few years by students in our school.
Pick something local and Irish (as the Chief Examiner's Reports recommend) and be almost guaranteed no-one else will have done it.

Nazis, Bloody Sunday, JFK, Civil Rights in the USA - all done to death.

duffyheap

If you choose and exact person to do your project on its so much easier to write about. I did mine on Rosa Parks and it seemed to be a lot more manageable than what other people were doing in my class. There's a pretty good story behind Rosa Parks also ..very interesting.

duffyheap

Hey, I'm a repeat in my Leaving Cert year and I can decide on what subject to do in my case study. I was hoping to do it on one person, I did Rosa Parks last year which I loved doing. Has anybody got any ideas on who i could base it on this year?

spurious

duffyheap wrote: »

Hey, I'm a repeat in my Leaving Cert year and I can decide on what subject to do in my case study. I was hoping to do it on one person, I did Rosa Parks last year which I loved doing. Has anybody got any ideas on who i could base it on this year?

Since you already did Rosa Parks, how about Claudette Colvin who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat nine months earlier?

She's still alive, so you might even be able to get in touch with her.

Legion.

I'm doing mine on Bernard Montgomery, specifically on when he was Commander of the Eighth Army in North Africa during WW2.

JCHelp

My brother is doing the Assassination of Michael Collins i think

duffyheap

I've decided to do my research topic on Gavrilo Princip, One of the main people who (Started Off) world war I

maedhbh_mac

It's ok to do something outside of Ireland and even alright to be inspired by the old faithfuls- Nazis, JFK etc.- so long as you approach it from a non-typical angle, imo.

For example, a guy in my class wanted to do something about JFK so he wrote about the Illinois voter fraud controversy and got an A1.

If you're really struggling to think of something good, cast your net a little further and look at an earlier period- some of the medieval sources make for very interesting essay topics; a friend of mine did an analysis of the failure of Kerbogha's siege of Antioch during the first crusade, using primary sources from both sides- was really interesting.

MightyMandarin

I'm thinking of doing Simo Hayha this finnish sniper who killed about 700 soviets in the winter war the guy was a total hero and the russians spent ages trying to kill him and eventually he got shot in the jaw but survived and lived till he was 96. Really inspirational story but i might struggle to find some sources any thoughts?

spurious

MightyMandarin wrote: »

I'm thinking of doing Simo Hayha this finnish sniper who killed about 700 soviets in the winter war the guy was a total hero and the russians spent ages trying to kill him and eventually he got shot in the jaw but survived and lived till he was 96. Really inspirational story but i might struggle to find some sources any thoughts?

Good choice, but you might struggle to find sources in English. You could try emailing one of the Finnish university History departments for help.

In the same vein, it might be 'slightly' easier find sources on Ludmila Pavlichenko, if snipers are your thing.

SeanyboyQPR

Have had to change my title from the Propaganda one because my teacher said Goebbels is a key personality in the Democracy and Dictatorship course (which we don't study) and I might lose marks for lack of originality. My project is now on a local uprising at Bawnard House just down the road from me by the Kent family of Castlelyons on May 2nd 1916 , spent the day in the Library photocopying primary and secondary sources and actually like it a lot more than my original topic!