History Projects

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?

DonallFitz

TeaAficionado wrote: »

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?

The angle could be; how the famine was introduced or the consequences of it on Ukraine. On the plus side there wouldn't be a shortage of sources!

TeaAficionado

DonallFitz wrote: »

The angle could be; how the famine was introduced or the consequences of it on Ukraine. On the plus side there wouldn't be a shortage of sources!

Thanks, was considering something on those lines or taking a more USSR focused angle - looking at how they achieved in effectively starving a nation and how the western world overlooked it.

clairec463

Mine was on the Lebensborn Project. It was interesting but sad. Loads of information for it online but its hard enough to find a book!

Ambient Occlusion

The Republic of Connaught would be an interesting topic to take-on. I don't know how easy it would be to find sources, but I would definitely have done it had I not already finished my project on Exercise Armageddon.

a0ifee

Opinions on the last days & execution of Anne Boleyn as a topic? I've started reading a book on her, but I honestly don't really know where to begin..I was meant to do this research all summer edit: I'd like to add that I really want high marks in history so I want make sure I'm going about this in a strong way!

Jolly Red Giant

a0ifee wrote: »

Opinions on the last days & execution of Anne Boleyn as a topic? I've started reading a book on her, but I honestly don't really know where to begin..I was meant to do this research all summer edit: I'd like to add that I really want high marks in history so I want make sure I'm going about this in a strong way!

I would look at the reasons why she was executed - I think it would be better than just recounting the events leading up to her execution.

a0ifee

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

I would look at the reasons why she was executed - I think it would be better than just recounting the events leading up to her execution.

yeah I was thinking of kinda discussing if she was or wasn't innocent? there's a lot of speculation about that so

SChique00

Doing my project on the evacuation of Pripyat and the other villages within the exclusion zone after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl - have all my sources and 2/3 I've made detailed notes on, I just haven't a clue how to go about starting the extended essay, and we've been given a six-week deadline to have it completed within class time (obviously if it's not finished by this time you still have the rest of the year, but we won't be spending any more class time on it and it's obviously much better to have it done and dusted well before the mocks).
I'm thinking of starting with a general intro to the accident itself, but there's so much to write about on that score that I don't want it to dominate the essay - I'm more concerned with the human implications of the accident than the science behind it. Is this a good place to start, given the angle that I'm taking? All advice much appreciated

Gareth Bale

Would any previous students think the Howth Gun Running would be a good topic ?

Jolly Red Giant

SChique00 wrote: »

I'm thinking of starting with a general intro to the accident itself, but there's so much to write about on that score that I don't want it to dominate the essay - I'm more concerned with the human implications of the accident than the science behind it. Is this a good place to start, given the angle that I'm taking? All advice much appreciated

If you are going to talk about the evacuation then you have to give the reason why it happened - so a couple of paragraphs on the accident are appropriate.

Be careful not to go beyond the allowed timeframe - i.e. 1989.

Gareth Bale wrote: »

Would any previous students think the Howth Gun Running would be a good topic ?

That would work - try and figure out an angle to approach it (i.e. was it successful) rather than just recounting what happened. Remember you have to have three or four aims in your outline plan that you need to address in the extended essay.