Research Topics

Deciding on a good research topic or question is equally or more important than doing the actual research. It requires time and effort to find something that is interesting, doable, and will actually give you something to say.

What Makes a Good Topic or Question?

• A research project is an opportunity to shape your own learning. It’s a chance to study what you want to study and connect the course to your own life and interests.
• However, not all topics or questions will lead to a successful research experience. It can be difficult to find a topic that can be mastered quickly, has enough relevant sources, and will allow you to say something new or interesting, all in a relatively short time period.
• This is why it is important to put in some effort early on to explore potential topics or questions, so you can then pursue the one that is most likely to be interesting AND successful.
• In sum, a good research topic or question has the following characteristics:
  • It is compelling enough to you to work on for an entire semester.
  • It has a sufficient base of sources that are accessible to you.
  • You have not already decided what your thesis is. (The research is intended to discover your thesis!)
  • It is narrow enough for you to master the topic and say something that is not exactly the same as what you find in your secondary sources.

How Does One Find a Good Topic or Question?

• Start with the things that are interesting to you. There are several “entry points” to historical study:
  • Events. Is there something that happened in history that interests you, or that you want to learn more about?
    • This is probably how most people think about approaching a research project, but it is not the only way.
    • The risk of this method is that it can be difficult to find something new to say about a famous event, or you may only know about events that are too big for you to research in one semester (“the civil rights movement”).
  • Themes. Maybe you don’t know much about any specific events, but there are some themes that interest you. This list could be endless, but here are a few examples. Any one of them could be a starting point.
    • Race
    • Class
    • Gender
    • Sexuality
    • Economics
    • Politics or law
    • Ideas
    • Immigration and migration
    • Popular culture
    • Everyday experiences
    • Military
    • Foreign affairs
    • Sports
    • The environment
  • Segments. You can narrow things down by focusing on one particular slice of history, such as:
    • Time (Progressive Era, 1960s)
    • Place (Philippines, Maine, small towns)
    • Categories of people (women, Puerto Rican immigrants, factory workers)
  • Types of History. For each of the themes and segments mentioned above, there is a particular method of doing history. For instance, historians who want to study civil liberties during the 1910s often use court cases; therefore, they use legal history as their method. Here are some common approaches to historical study:
    • Political history (politics, laws, elections, speeches, famous leaders)
    • Social history (race, class, gender, common people, different categories of people)
    • Economic history (industries, how people made their living, how and why people were wealthy or poor)
    • Cultural history (books, film, music, art, expressions of ideas)
    • Legal history (laws, court cases, how the law affected people)
    • Military history (battles, wars, military institutions)
    • Intellectual history (famous thinkers, ideas like “nationalism”)
    • Religious history (religious beliefs, religious organizations)
  • Types of Sources. No matter which path you choose, you will eventually need to find primary sources (unless your project only involves secondary sources). You can also start with the sources first, and then see where they lead you. The benefit of this method is that you are guaranteed to have a good source base. The key is to find collections of sources that are substantial and accessible (for examples, digitized collections in a language you understand).
    • Government records, official reports, speeches
    • Organization records (NAACP, Carlisle Indian School)
    • Court cases
    • Newspapers, newsletters, magazines
    • Published books, films, television, sound recordings, photographs
    • Diaries, memoirs
    • Collections of letters
    • Speeches, sermons
    • Interviews (your own or prerecorded)
    • Databases (census records, other data collected by government agencies)
• It’s good to start with what you already know interests you. But you don’t know what you don’t know. Search broadly and follow leads to new places. You may discover something that no one has ever researched before.