History Paper Ideas

GBP04 · #1 01-27-2006, 01:27 AM

I wasn't sure where to post this. Mods, if this is an inappropriate place to put this topic, feel free to move it.

My assignment is to write a 10-13 page thesis paper on any aspect of American history. My initial assignment is to come up with two to four potential topics. They should be specific, but I do not want to limit my thesis possibilities (as we are not developing a thesis quite yet).

Here are some ideas I am considering:

Military technology in WW1 (or WW2)
(perhaps narrowed down to "aviation technology in WW2)

The invasion of Mexico in the 1840s

Do any of you guys have some ideas that may work well as a topic? How do you think my ideas will fare?

thanks in advanced.

tolbiny · #2 01-27-2006, 01:39 AM

The germans Pwned a lot of the aviation tech in WW2 so you may miss out n a lot of the really cool cutting edge stuff that was done wrting about american aviation.
As for other suggestions- there is a thread in the politics forum discussing lincoln being a bastard of a president, and the fact that hardly anyone knows about it. That is the kind of direction i usually go in, try to find a subject you know little about, or one that has massive misconceptions.

The Don · #3 01-27-2006, 02:30 AM

Agreed. Go with Lincoln as the biggest civil rights violator in US history. I did this exact paper when I was a Junior in HS and I got a C so that is a warning to you. I listed less than half of the violations which are named in the following topic though.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=0#Post4540683 here it is...

GBP04 · #4 01-27-2006, 02:35 AM

those look like some good ideas...

do you think there are good books on these issues? (I need 8-10 credible sources... I don't think I can use 2+2 politics[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img])

edit: now that I think about it, this paper would probably be very easy to get sources for. It seems like an intriguing topic, though I am not sure how my professor would respond to his beloved Lincoln getting bashed...

The Don · #5 01-27-2006, 02:45 AM

[ QUOTE ]
those look like some good ideas...

do you think there are good books on these issues? (I need 8-10 credible sources... I don't think I can use 2+2 politics[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img])

edit: now that I think about it, this paper would probably be very easy to get sources for. It seems like an intriguing topic, though I am not sure how my professor would respond to his beloved Lincoln getting bashed...

[/ QUOTE ]

All of the stuff listed is pretty much common knowledge; there are tons of credible sources that can lead you to these facts. It's just whether people view it as 'good' or 'evil'. My teacher in HS gave me a C because she thought that it was ridiculous that I chose to portray Lincoln as a villian. Hopefully yours is more open minded [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Prodigy54321 · #6 01-27-2006, 04:52 AM

My sophomore year thesis was,

"American culture evolved directly from a combination of old-English ideals and newfangled American notions"

It was more about the colonial period though...

my senior year one was on the scopes monkey trial, but I guess that doesn't help you either.

But I'm going to let you in on a little secret that I learned freshman year...If you teacher is a woman, especially a open or closet feminist, doing a paper on women in the civil war will virtually guarantee an A.

I did it in 2 hours and got an A sohnnnnn

although it was probably the least interesting 2 hours of my life...

kurto · #7 01-27-2006, 12:15 PM

There's a fantastic book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me." all about how History is mistaught in gradeschool/high school. Its the one subject where, the more you learned prior to coming to college, the worse off you are.

It has a lot of interesting stories on history and I suspect could lead you to find a few paper ideas.

Borodog · #8 01-27-2006, 02:02 PM

[ QUOTE ]
those look like some good ideas...

do you think there are good books on these issues? (I need 8-10 credible sources... I don't think I can use 2+2 politics[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img])

edit: now that I think about it, this paper would probably be very easy to get sources for. It seems like an intriguing topic, though I am not sure how my professor would respond to his beloved Lincoln getting bashed...

[/ QUOTE ]

The Real Lincoln, Thomas J. DiLorenzo. I would say it is impeccably sourced, but DiLorenzo was unfortunately sloppy in his bibliography; he has many of the sources swapped, the wrong pages noted, etc. It really tainted what is otherwise a fantastic piece of historical work. So make sure to double check all the sources you use.