doing the history research project on a person?

a0ifee

would be a bad idea to do the project on a person rather than an event? I'm kind of looking into doing it on maybe a writer such as Virginia Woolf or F Scott Fitzgerald, as they're both my favourite writers and I think they're v significant to history, or a figurehead like Harvey Milk, but I'm worried that it might be too broad? Would it have to be a very specific aspect of the person's life...?

sorry if there's threads on this question already, which there probably is, i couldn't find any really specific!

felixfelicis

A bad idea? Of course not! Tons of people do them on historical figures - in my small history class alone, there were people doing Marie Antoinette, Leonardo da Vinci, Kevin Barry - and then my own, Abraham Lincoln. My (brilliant) teacher did advise us to be specific, and not just give a vague overall cover of their life - but focus on a certain aspect of it. I focused on Lincoln's relationship to the issue of slavery, for example. But for someone like Kevin Barry, whose life is only historically relevant to one single event, it's much simpler.

As for finding someone who is actually significant to history... It can be hard to justify. That said, I know nothing about Fitzgerald or Woolf, so maybe they are historically relevant? Harvey Milk definitely is. As long as you can justify it, I say go for it. Plus, writing about something original is a huge plus. I can only imagine how tedious it must be for the examiners, having to read hundreds upon hundreds of Mengele and Goebbels essays... And, of course, since it interests you, you'll enjoy it more - which will show in your work etc.

So yeah, it's not a bad idea at all. You only need to be specific if there's multiple issues you could talk about with regards to that person. Like, your essay could be on "Harvey Milk and his involvement in the Gay Rights Movement" - which would be perfect. Same goes with Fitzgerald. You don't want to title your essay "F Scott Fitzgerald!" and just run through his life - you want to make the subject of your essay clear in the actual title itself. Nothing ridiculously specific, but enough so that you have a clear focus and aim throughout the essay.

eyesbeclosed

I'm doing my History project on 'The Hillsborough Disaster' nearly finished. I was just wondering if a Documentary can be used as a primary source? Because i'm finding it hard on which primary sources I should pick, thanks.

spurious

The contemporary footage in the documentary, yes, but not the documentary itself.
Lots of newspapers available as primary sources.

eyesbeclosed

Thanks, helped me out a lot, I couldn't find any books, so I just used newspapers for my sources, hopefully the sources are good enough.