History Projects

spurious

Elceeney wrote: »

My history teacher says that examiners despise essays that are extremely long and they penalize heavily.

'Select and reject' is a major skill for History. If there's too much in the essay, the person is showing very poor grasp of this skill. That's why very long essays lose marks.

Elceeney

user.name wrote: »

On our rsr booklet at the front it has the amount of words in your extended essay only to put in. It doesn't include the word count of the entire booklet just the essay itself

Well, all I know is they give you one page for evaluation of source. I don't know about you but I don't fit 600 words into one page.

Free2be

does anyone know if you can do two books as sources in your rsr???? like if one is an auto biohgraphy and the other is just a book about the person by someone years later?? is that ok?? if not i have to resort to the internet as a source so i dont know what to do!!!

Parawhore.xD

Free2be wrote: »

does anyone know if you can do two books as sources in your rsr???? like if one is an auto biohgraphy and the other is just a book about the person by someone years later?? is that ok?? if not i have to resort to the internet as a source so i dont know what to do!!!

Yeah that's perfect! The only requirement is that at least one of your sources is a book, so two is optimal.

DonallFitz

With the evaluation of the sources...what did people say? Did you give two strengths and weaknesses for each source?

MightyMandarin

Hi guys I'm currently in 5th year and thinking of doing the seeking of ARA Belgrano during the Falklands War. Possibly taking an angle like asking if Margaret Thatcher is a war criminal? or The Argentine or Brittish reaction to the sinking? Any thoughts? Thanks

matTNT

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Hi guys I'm currently in 5th year and thinking of doing the seeking of ARA Belgrano during the Falklands War. Possibly taking an angle like asking if Margaret Thatcher is a war criminal? or The Argentine or Brittish reaction to the sinking? Any thoughts? Thanks

Sounds interesting, if you're going down that route be VERY fair in your argument, if you are going down one angle then it really will make you look biased. It's also a very narrow topic, how much can you write on it?

MightyMandarin

matTNT wrote: »

Sounds interesting, if you're going down that route be VERY fair in your argument, if you are going down one angle then it really will make you look biased. It's also a very narrow topic, how much can you write on it?

I think doing the Argentine Response would be a safer angle on it whilst still not leaving myself open to similar projects as I say most who'd do the Belgrano would take the British side of the story. Anyways my History teacher thinks it's a great idea so I'll roll with that. Now to find some sources

Jolly Red Giant

DonallFitz wrote: »

With the evaluation of the sources...what did people say? Did you give two strengths and weaknesses for each source?

Sorry - only spotted this now

the evaluation of sources should be along the lines of

- is it a primary or secondary source
- was it written by a recognised historian
- is it biased
- how useful was it to you
- was it easy to understand etc.

its getting a bit late now but you can find some help here -
http://leavingcerthistory.net/research-projects/

Appleblossom42

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

Also re:Word count, 2000+ is way too much and it will be obvious when you write it out that it's too long, our teacher says you don't get penalised unless you go over 1,600 but that they're pretty savage after that, 10 marks for every 100/200 you're over? Like 1599 words is 'okay' but a touch dodgy.

I find this extremely hard to believe. I know the person who was awarded the highest score in history in the leaving cert in 2011. Had over 2100 words. I think it depends on what or who you write about, in some cases it'd be absolutely impossible in 1500 words.

Parawhore.xD

Appleblossom42 wrote: »

I find this extremely hard to believe. I know the person who was awarded the highest score in history in the leaving cert in 2011. Had over 2100 words. I think it depends on what or who you write about, in some cases it'd be absolutely impossible in 1500 words.

That's what my class was told and to be honest if you can get the highest mark in the country and totally ignore the word count then I don't see why they bother having it. Either way if you're given a word count I reckon you should stick to it. You shouldn't pick a subject matter that you can't adequately deal with within the word count. Maybe it doesn't matter at all but maybe it does. And going too far over the word count wasn't something I personally was willing to risk. If you do and it pays off then fair play.

matTNT

Gonna call you on that. Everyone in our class had over 2000 words. Last year our teacher said it was the same and there was 3 A1s in that class of 8.

It's not a rule it's a recommendation. Read the rules. They don't award marks for it.

Parawhore.xD

matTNT wrote: »

Gonna call you on that. Everyone in our class had over 2000 words. Last year our teacher said it was the same and there was 3 A1s in that class of 8.

It's not a rule it's a recommendation. Read the rules. They don't award marks for it.

Okay fair enough then I'll freely admit I haven't read the rules for the project I was just going by what my class teacher told me, her words were 'you're fine until you reach 1600 then you start being penalized 10 marks for 100 words you go over the word count' clearly it was just a scare tactic then if that's the case.

matTNT

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

'you're fine until you reach 1600 then you start being penalized 10 marks for 100 words you go over the word count' clearly it was just a scare tactic then if that's the case.

Bull Sh*t

Parawhore.xD

matTNT wrote: »

Bull Sh*t

Are you saying what my teacher said is BS or the fact that I've just said it probably was just a scare tactic is BS?
I've just freely admitted that I could be wrong, but I have no reason to give information I thought was incorrect. How do you know you teacher wasn't just saying your word count was fine to calm your fears or whatever?
You don't but at the same time of course you're going to put more faith into what your teacher said than some random individual on the Internet, as am I.
So I'll quite happily agree to disagree as my project is signed and sealed and there's nothing more I can do about it now. I guess we'll see in August, good luck to you in your exams bud

Appleblossom42

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

Are you saying what my teacher said is BS or the fact that I've just said it probably was just a scare tactic is BS?
I've just freely admitted that I could be wrong, but I have no reason to give information I thought was incorrect. How do you know you teacher wasn't just saying your word count was fine to calm your fears or whatever?
You don't but at the same time of course you're going to put more faith into what your teacher said than some random individual on the Internet, as am I.
So I'll quite happily agree to disagree as my project is signed and sealed and there's nothing more I can do about it now. I guess we'll see in August, good luck to you in your exams bud

I took it that the BS was for your teacher saying the penalty would be 10 marks for every 100 you go over. That'd be some insane penalty:eek:
Well good luck to everybody, hope you all get what you deserve whether over or not.:)

matTNT

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

Are you saying what my teacher said is BS

Sorry, should clarify. I was just confirming what you were saying that your teacher might just be using this as a scare tactic. There is no relation between mark and word counts. It would be impossible for 3 people to have got A1s and written 2200+ words.


I also know a history teacher and he marked the exam in 2010/11, he said that they are told to ignore word counts.

Parawhore.xD

matTNT wrote: »

Sorry, should clarify. I was just confirming what you were saying that your teacher might just be using this as a scare tactic. There is no relation between mark and word counts. It would be impossible for 3 people to have got A1s and written 2200+ words.


I also know a history teacher and he marked the exam in 2010/11, he said that they are told to ignore word counts.

Well then fair enough!
My teacher has a tendency to exaggerate anyway, I know it seems like an an unreal penalty alright.

An Ard Ri

I did my history project on the Limerick Soviet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_Soviet) as it was obsceure and not in any of the proscribed histrory texts.

I did my Leaving Cert a good few years ago so not sure what the syllabus is like now.

Hope this helps a bit.

spurious

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

Well then fair enough!
My teacher has a tendency to exaggerate anyway, I know it seems like an an unreal penalty alright.

Why do you think they mention a word count if it doesn't matter at all?

matTNT

spurious wrote: »

Why do you think they mention a word count if it doesn't matter at all?

So they don't get people handing in a 10,000 word thesis, putting in extra lines by splitting them in half.

My last post is actually incorrect I said that the markers were told to ignore them, this is true, unless the candidate splits the lines etc.

Parawhore.xD

spurious wrote: »

Why do you think they mention a word count if it doesn't matter at all?

Oh no I do think it matters, if nothing else it shows a student's editorial ability- you know, recognizing what is and isn't relevant and find the most concise and effect manner of delivering their message while still being coherent.

I do however, after reading some opinions on this, think perhaps that the penalty for going too far over the word count has been exaggerated by my teacher.

If the SEC are outlining a word count, that should be your target and if they're serious about it there should be penalties for going too far over, 500+ words for example like has been mentioned here. However if students aren't getting penalized for it, and if they can write a better essay if they ignore the word count, then of course they should write the best possible essay they can.

dylannolan

Hey i'm in 5th year and trying to come up with a project idea for history because we've been asked to have done something for the summer exams and i've been thinking about maybe doing something about a musician or band and their impact, or my friend gave me an idea to do something about Andy Warhol and his impact but I don't really know if this is good enough for a project?

Jolly Red Giant

dylannolan wrote: »

Hey i'm in 5th year and trying to come up with a project idea for history because we've been asked to have done something for the summer exams and i've been thinking about maybe doing something about a musician or band and their impact, or my friend gave me an idea to do something about Andy Warhol and his impact but I don't really know if this is good enough for a project?

If you want to do something music related then I would suggest something specific -

The Live Aid concert
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
Buddy Holly's death
The shooting of John Lennon
The Beatles in Ireland
etc

Or if you want to try classical music -
Mozart's Requiem
etc

Be a little careful about Andy Warhol and his impact - it is quite a braod topic and may not be easy to write.

You might find some ideas here -
http://leavingcerthistory.net/research-projects/

dylannolan

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

If you want to do something music related then I would suggest something specific -

The Live Aid concert
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
Buddy Holly's death
The shooting of John Lennon
The Beatles in Ireland
etc

Or if you want to try classical music -
Mozart's Requiem
etc

Be a little careful about Andy Warhol and his impact - it is quite a braod topic and may not be easy to write.

You might find some ideas here -
http://leavingcerthistory.net/research-projects/

.

Buddy Holly or John Lennon would be pretty interesting I was also thinking about Nirvanas impact on 90s society. Since they were so different and influenced so many.

Jijsaw

Hello
My brother is in TY at the moment and is adamant that he will write something related to wrestling. The only problem is I don't know if there is any historically significant event in wrestling that could be used as your history project. Does anybody know of any events that happened in history that could be used for the history project?
Thanks in advance!

Susie120704

If it was within the date parameters he could do the evolution of the WWE as a cultural phenomenon. For global history it need to be before 1993. A difficulty he will encounter is finding a book written on it by a historian

Gweedling

The point in history where it turned from a legit combat sport to the "sports entertainment" theatre it has become today would be a good subject. Happened sometime in the 50s IIRC, I can't remember names at all, but apparently the reason it started was because there was one guy, champion for 8-10 years or so, as nobody could beat him. Eventually it was decided that a match would be fixed, so he could give up the title and retire.

As far as the evolution of the industry itself, the "Montreal screw job" is pivotal in the creation of what the sport became. It widened the audience's eyes to more "behind the scenes" stuff, and understanding more of the theatre behind the whole thing, instead of just a fighting competition. It also was a catalyst in what became the "attitude" era, making professional wrestling more mainstream and famous, instead of the cult following it had beforehand.


I just had a read of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_professional_wrestling - good read, and contradicts what I thought about the origin of "staged" wrestling. Either way, still a good topic to write a history lesson on!

spurious

Does he mean 'real' wrestling, as in the ancient sport, or the dancing men in tights abomination from today?

icanplaydrums

I would imagine most of the big developments would have happened in the late 90s and like someone said already, finding a source by a historian would be difficult.

Jolly Red Giant

icanplaydrums wrote: »

I would imagine most of the big developments would have happened in the late 90s and like someone said already, finding a source by a historian would be difficult.

The late 90s would be outside the timeframe for a History Project - the project must deal with a topic/event that occurred prior to 1993.

Susie120704

To reiterate again a valid histoiran has to be one of the sources and the date parameters must not be fudged with.

Malv

I was thinking of doing The Katyn Forest Massacre or Rudolf Hess' flight to Scotland for next year...
Yes, no, maybe?

spurious

Malv wrote: »

I was thinking of doing The Katyn Forest Massacre or Rudolf Hess' flight to Scotland for next year...
Yes, no, maybe?

Either of them would be good. Watch out for bias and misinformation on both sides of Katyn.

Malv

spurious wrote: »

Either of them would be good. Watch out for bias and misinformation on both sides of Katyn.

Cool!! Thanks, I shall definitely watch out for that

GreatAnswers

hey!

i did the KKK for mine and got an a1! Very interesting topic if u need any info on it id be happy to help :P

Jolly Red Giant

spurious wrote: »

Either of them would be good. Watch out for bias and misinformation on both sides of Katyn.

I know a Polish student who did a project on the Katyn massacre - very difficult to find usable sources - most of the stuff is either pro- or anti- Stalin.

You'll find a couple of sources that you can use here -
http://leavingcerthistory.net/research-projects/sources/4th-year-projects/#Katyn%20Massacre

But even these have bias in them.

MightyMandarin

How do you set about starting a 1st draft. Convinced myself I'd do it over the summer but procrastination got the better of me, haven't a clue where to start. I'm doing something around the sinking of the belgrano in the falklands war but unsure as to what angle to take on it...

stephenjmcd

I did the Lockerbie bombing , got a B1 overall

Troxck

I'm just going into 5th year and thinking of doing Tom Barry and The Kilmichael Ambush and just wondering whether or not if this would be a suitable topic to do it on? Thanks!

LFC Paddy

A good essay I was thinking of doing is Operation Mincemeat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat

another good one is the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich -The drama is immense what with the sten stalling :P

LuisSuarezLFC

GreatAnswers wrote: »

hey!

i did the KKK for mine and got an a1! Very interesting topic if u need any info on it id be happy to help :P

I'm doing that and I would like to know how you found your sources ?
Thank you

LFC Paddy

LuisSuarezLFC wrote: »

I'm doing that and I would like to know how you found your sources ?
Thank you

I see you like Luis Suarez and your project is on the KKK, I see a link

spurious

Troxck wrote: »

I'm just going into 5th year and thinking of doing Tom Barry and The Kilmichael Ambush and just wondering whether or not if this would be a suitable topic to do it on? Thanks!

Absolutely. Year after year the Chief Examiner's Report says they want locally based studies.

Troxck

spurious wrote: »

Absolutely. Year after year the Chief Examiner's Report says they want locally based studies.

Unfortunately I'm not from Cork County but after studying it a little bit in TY I found it very interesting. Would I be able to contact libraries on Co. Cork to see if they have newspaper clippings or other possible sources? I know that he has a book out but that's very bias

spurious

Troxck wrote: »

Unfortunately I'm not from Cork County but after studying it a little bit in TY I found it very interesting. Would I be able to contact libraries on Co. Cork to see if they have newspaper clippings or other possible sources? I know that he has a book out but that's very bias

That's not a problem, 'local' in SEC terms is Ireland.
You should be able to access national newspapers in your own library, but certainly it would be worth building a relationship, even by email, with a Cork librarian to access less well-known material.
Be specific in any questions you send a librarian - nothing drives them mad more than vague queries.

Troxck

spurious wrote: »

That's not a problem, 'local' in SEC terms is Ireland.
You should be able to access national newspapers in your own library, but certainly it would be worth building a relationship, even by email, with a Cork librarian to access less well-known material.
Be specific in any questions you send a librarian - nothing drives them mad more than vague queries.

Thank you very much! My local library recently updated their archive storage and facilities so it would be easier to get information! I'll try and build links to them during fifth year.

Thanks a million spurious!

Elceeney

For anyone looking for ideas, I did "The Nazi's use of Methamphetamine in WW2" and it was super interesting and my teach said I'd surely get full marks on it. It also has so many other subjects you could focus on! Just a tip

MightyMandarin

Hi I'm doing my project on the sinking of the Belgrano in the Falklands war. I was thinking of concluding whether a war crime was committed or not. But that is really controversial and there is countless evidence supporting both and no way of verifying it. Should I take a different angle? Or is it good to try and give your opinion on the event based on the evidence you look at? I could be totally wrong about this.

TeaAficionado

Hi,
Currently heading into sixth year and have decided upon the Holodomer, the man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR as my research project. Although I'm not so sure on what angle to take on it, any suggestions? Looking for high marks on it, so just concerned that the way the SEC have been encouraging 'local' based projects, is it to obscure?