history thesis projects

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Megamenu featured, megamenu social, sample thesis proposals.

Lanfranc of Bec: Confrontation and Compromise Imperial Expansion and the Evolution of the South and Southeast Asian economies Nantucket’s Role in the War of 1812 Letters Home: Records of the Experiences of Common Soldiers in the American Civil War Writing for Stalin: American Journalists in the USSR, 1928-1941 Dismal Scientists, Diplomats, and Spooks: Bissell, Milliken, and Rostow and Their Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy Media Reflections of Western Public Opinion in the Suez Crisis The Implications, Effects, and Uses of Media in the Emmett Till Lynching Cromwell Lives while Mason Stalks: Irish Nationalism and Historical Memory during the Troubles ‘My broken dreams of peace and socialism’: Youth propaganda, personality, and selfhood in the GDR, 1979-1989.

Lanfranc of Bec: Confrontation and Compromise

The ecclesiastical history of Europe in the 11th century revolves around the investiture conflict and the Gregorian reform effort. These two issues forced their way into religious lives around the continent. Even in England, on the edge of the world, Anglo-Saxon and Norman reformers grappled with these challenges to the construction of a “universal church.” I would like to enter into this world through the case study of Lanfranc of Bec. Lanfranc is an apt choice for this intensive focus because of the apparent philosophical paradoxes that dominated his life.

Early in his career, Lanfranc was a staunch supporter of Pope Leo IX in the Eucharistic controversy with Berengar of Tours. The doctrine of transubstantiation was, however, less important to Lanfranc than the idea of “the universal church.” Significantly, this new church was to be united under the stronger and more demanding popes in Rome who were early supporters of the young Italian monk. Lanfranc’s transformation began when was appointed abbot of St. Etienne, Caen in 1063 under the direct patronage of William the Conqueror. This relationship continued with Lanfranc’s promotion to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070. In this role, Lanfranc severed all most traditional ties with Rome. He did command the right to supervise and veto any papal synods planned for England. In addition, Lanfranc even skipped the mandatory pilgrimage to Rome to receive the pallium, a tradition for English bishops that dated back to Gregory the Great and the 6th century.

Traditional scholarship has tended to portray this break as pragmatic. Lanfranc’s new master, William, demanded a more present loyalty than the faraway Church of St. Peter’s. Loyalty in turn led to advancement and a place in religious governance of countless souls in England. To justify these mercenary considerations scholars described the admittedly conservative Lanfranc as a Carolingian bishop, a relic of an empire then dead for two centuries. The Carolingian era was a time of dramatic expansion for the church, largely under the protections of its secular Christian protector, Charlemagne. It is easy to see parallels, at least from the Norman point of view, between the conquest of England in 1066 and the forceful conversion of the Saxons in 8th century. Both these invasions brought subject peoples in line with a new, larger Christendom. Historians have written about Lanfranc as a player within this system of sacred reform spearheaded by the secular.

In my study I plan to reexamine this view. Although the Archbishop did abandon Gregory VII at the time of his greatest need, the investiture conflict, Lanfranc’s role in the English reform need not be seen as driven by Normandy rather than Rome. For example, William’s concern for the piety of his new subjects was at best secondary to an interest in appointing bishops who would maintain order on the tumultuous island in place of the absentee king. Thus it was with a relatively free hand that Lanfranc directly reformed both Canterbury and England as a whole. Some of these changes, like his emphasis on clerical celibacy, were directly in line with the Gregorian reforms that he had supposedly renounced upon his arrival. In other instances, Lanfranc was more open minded to the religious practices that preceded him. Unlike other Norman bishops that arrived after the conquest, the Archbishop was far more accommodating to both local English saints and the institution of monastic cathedrals. These examples create a far more complex picture of Lanfranc. It is clear that he was more loyal to the Gregorian reform movement than to any particular pontiff occupying the See of St. Peter. At the same time, his syncretistic approach would have been at odds with any of the uncompromising popes that he had dealings with. These incongruous details suggest the need to revise traditional interpretations of Lanfranc’s life. Within a wider scope, I hope to demonstrate how the clergy positioned themselves in the larger conflict between the church and state at this time.

In pursuing this topic I want to integrate traditional and less traditional sources in an attempt to create a fresh portrayal. Any study of medieval political and ecclesiastical history will rely heavily on the chroniclers. Specifically I will use the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Eadmer’s Vita Anselmi for the Anglo-Saxon perspective. For the Norman point of view I will use chronicles by William of Jumièges and Gilbert Crispin. To supplement these more formally produced histories, I will read Lanfranc’s own works including his major treatise on the Eucharist, the Liber Corpore et Sanguine Domini, which I fail to believe he so easily abandoned on his arrival to England. In addition, his personal correspondence and monastic constitutions, both of which have been recently republished, will be usefully in understanding his own views, whether they be practical or theological. Lastly, I want to use architectural analyses of the church that Lanfranc built at Canterbury and studies of relic worship surrounding the remains of local saints like Dunstan and Theodore. These less traditional sources, while harder to obtain, will, I hope, provide new insight into Lanfranc’s life and, at the very least, provide social and cultural context for this specific period. The result will be a study that uses the analysis of Lanfranc to address larger question concerning the orientation of individuals within 11th century conflicts.

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Imperial Expansion and the Evolution of the South and Southeast Asian economies

The arrival of Vasco De Gama in 1498 on the beaches of modern-day Calicut marked the beginning of the intensification of economic relations between East and West, and the first encounter of Europeans with an ancient and complex commercial network reaching by land and sea from Europe to China, handling trade and traffic of far greater value than anything known in the West. Luxury products from China, silk and precious metals from Iran, the cotton textiles of India, the gold and ivory of East Africa, and the spices of Indonesia were all connected through highly advanced and dense trading networks. While the Indian economy is often represented as having stagnated under the weight of European intrusions, it is clear that particularly in coastal areas, a brisk and dynamic coastal trade flourished under the aegis of European rule. The creation of a world market in commodities such as rice gold, silver, spices, textiles and other raw materials occurred simultaneous with displacement of local markets as European imperial reach was extended over an increasingly wide part of the globe.

By the mid 18th century, the two great chartered companies, the British East India Company and the VOC (Dutch East India Company) had transformed from mere commercial trading ventures to entities that dominated economic relationships with Asian economies and began to acquire auxiliary governmental and military functions. By 1765 the British East India Company was effectively the de facto sovereign in Bengal by virtue of its overwhelming military power in the region, and its acquisition of the diwani, or the right to collect territorial revenues. For both the Dutch and British East India Companies, it is clear that the acquisition of territorial empires and quasi-governmental functions had profound effects upon the nature, scope, and distribution of investment within the Companies from Europe, but also upon the character of the relationship between indigenous traders, merchants, and financiers, and Europeans. Lakshmi Subramanian, a historian who has published some of the most important works dealing with the relationship of the Marathas and the British in Bombay, mentions how Law de Lauriston, the ex-Governor General of French India, “recognized the local banking community in 1777 as the decisive factor in any future alliance of the French and Indian States against their inveterate antagonist the English East India Company.” In a recent paper Chaudhury asserts how the local credit markets of eastern India, particularly Bengal, were seminal in rescuing financially several of the European Companies in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries from chronic shortages of working capital, yet with victory at Plessy and the transformation of the British role in Bengal, the nature of the relationship between local creditors and European merchants changed dramatically.

This project will comparatively look at the Dutch and British East India Companies and their relationships with groups such as the Marathas, the Chettiars, and the Chinese banking and mercantile families, and will draw upon resources that deal with the relationships of other European powers with indigenous merchants and financiers. By examining the interaction of indigenous financial institutions and capital with Europeans in Asia, particularly South and Southeast Asia, I am hoping to explore many aspects of the Asian economies of the 17th-19th century under the aegis of this broader topic, such as the different development paths between European and Asian societies, the dynamics of the extension of European power in south and southeast Asia, and the radically different financial and economic structures that characterized Asian societies prior to the expansion of Europe, and how the imposition of colonial rule altered (or didn’t) the dynamics of indigenous capital. This project will look at the relationship from the European perspective by utilizing Dutch and British East India Company records. Particularly in recent years, several historians have sought to expand our understanding of the relationship between European traders and Indian merchants and financiers, and this project will attempt to both build upon their work and form a more global and far-reaching conclusion about the role of indigenous capital in imperial expansion by looking at the phenomenon from a comparative perspective.

The chief question I am seeking out to answer is to define and delineate the nature of the relationship between indigenous credit institutions and imperial expansion; effectively, examine the relationship between native bankers, financiers, and traders, and the Europeans who came to trade and later colonize. Above all, I hope to posit a link between these economic relationships, and changes to the political and economic map of Asia.

Nantucket’s Role in the War of 1812

I am a junior history major currently studying abroad at the Williams-Exeter in Oxford Programme. Since August, I have been casually researching the whaling industry on Nantucket during the late 18th to mid-19th century. I am committed to Nantucket as a general topic not only because its history is exceedingly interesting to me but also because there is a wealth of primary data. For example, the Nantucket Historical Association boasts 5000 volumes (ship logs, diaries, legal documents, etc.) that are accessible to scholars.

Although I have explored a number of topics within Nantucket history, I find myself returning again and again to the whaling industry. In particular, I am intrigued by Nantucket’s role in the 1812 war. Nantucket was the only US territory to seek and receive a truce with Great Britain, formally withdrawing from the war in 1814. The islanders were motivated to pursue neutrality because of the importance of the whaling industry as the island’s livelihood and the British fleet’s threat to Nantucket ships. Furthermore, the US government not only offered little to no protection for the islanders but also alienated them by taxing them heavily. In order to understand the1814 treaty, I anticipate needing to research two other areas that I believe are connected: first, how did Nantucket’s experiences in the American Revolution inform and shape its course of action in 1812? During the Revolution, the island declared neutrality, probably because Nantucket whalers did not care which side was victorious, so long as the whaling industry survived the war. The whalers had appealed to other Quakers in England and won an amendment to the parliamentary motion to restrict whaling in New England. However, because the law was not enforced properly, the island fell into economic depression. British naval ships not only prevented Nantucket whalers from selling spermaceti oil to London, its biggest market, but also captured many of their ships. Any threat to the whaling industry would be a true moment of crisis because most of the island was directly or indirectly involved in whaling, and many of the islanders were not rich enough to relocate their families to the mainland. Certainly, there were members of the community in 1812 who would have remembered this treatment by the British and the economic depression.

The second issue that I anticipate addressing pertains to Nantucket’s sense of identity: how “American” did they feel? The circumstances under which the island declared neutrality makes the issue of patriotism more oblique because the “betrayal” of the US can be explained by the need for economic stability without addressing the issue of identity. In these early stages of nationhood, the island seems to have acted very differently from other whaling communities in the US. Socially and politically, Nantucket seemed to be more liberal than the mainland, especially in terms of the role of women and the political (but not always social) equality of African Americans. For example, racial segregation in schools was banned in the 1850s in a legal case that resembles Brown vs. Board of Education. As I have mentioned above, American policies also sometimes alienated the islanders. In the first two years of the 1812 war, Nantucket whaling was almost exclusively threatened not by the British fleet but by American policy, as Congress placed an embargo on trade with Britain; unfortunately, only days after Congress lifted the embargo, Britain enforced is own against New England. During the American Revolution, Nantucket toyed with the idea of becoming either an independent or a British territory. Did it face the same choices in 1812?

Primary Sources :

A Selection from the Nantucket Historical Society Manuscripts Collection:

Allen Family Papers, 1790-1930. Banks on Nantucket, 1804-1985. Barker Family Papers, 1720-1853. Benevolent Society’s Papers, 1814-1976. Carey Family Papers, 1809-1894. Citizens News Room Record. Charles Congdon Collection, 1671-1844. Clapp Family Papers, 1804-1896. Margaret Coffin Papers/Small Collection, 1761-1913. Mary M Coffin Collection, 1806-1865. William Coffin Letter Book, 1811-1833. Coleman Family Papers, 1729-1873. Crosby Family Papers. 1812-1893. Ewer Family Papers, 1813-1875. Fish Family Papers, 1708-1916. Paddock Family Papers, 1755-1853, Phebe Coffin Hanaford Papers, 1848-1929. Jones Family Papers, 1817-1868. Joy Family Papers, 1806-1880. Keziah Coffin Fanning Papers, 1775-1812. Macy Family Papers/ Cloyes Collection, 1812-1869. Myrick Family Papers, 1796-1863. Nantucket Censuses Collection, 1796-1900. Nantucket Monthly Meeting of Friends’ Papers, 1664-1889. Nantucket Monthly Meeting of Friends’ Records, 1672-1944. Ray Family Papers, 1776-1844. Starbuck Family Papers, 1662-1973. Worth Family Papers, 1743-1912. Henry Barnard Worth Collection, 1641-1905.

(I’ve only gone through half of the list of available manuscripts, so I expect that there should be a lot more sources of interest from the Nantucket Historical Society collection. Information about Nantucket Historical Society archives found on www.nha.org)

Annals of Congress, 13th Congress, 2d session. Hutchinson, Thomas. History of Massachusetts, Vol. II, Boston: Thomas & Andrews, 1767. Journal of Samuel Swain, 1813-1837. “Keziah Coffin Fanning’s Diary,” Historical Nantucket 6 (July 1958). Macy, Obed. The History of Nantucket (New York: Research Reprints, 1970 [1835]). Napier, Henry Edward. New England Blockaded in 1814: The Journal of Henry Edward Napier, Lieutenant in H.M.S ‘Nymphe,’ ed. Walter Muir Whitehill. Salem, MA: Peabody Museum, 1939. “Notes on Nantucket. August 1st 1807,” Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society 3 (1815). Scoresby, William. History and Description of the Northern Whale Fisheries, Vol. II. Edinburgh, 1820.

Secondary :

Anderson, Florence Bennet. Through the Hawse-Hole: The True Story of a Nantucket Whaling Captain. New York: Macmillan Co., 1932. Byers, Edward. The Nation of Nantucket: Society and Politics in an Early American Commercial Center, 1660-1820. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987. Graham, Gerald S. “The Migrations of the Nantucket Whale Fishery: An Episode in British Colonial Policy.” The New England Quarterly 8, no. 2 (Jun. 1935):179-202. Davis, Ralph. The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London: David & Charles, 1972. Hegarty, Reginald B. Returns of Whaling Vessels Sailing from American Ports: A Continuation of Alexander Starbuck’s “History of the American Whale Fishery” 1876-1928. New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum, 1959. Hickey, Donald R. “American Trade Restrictions during the War of 1812.” Journal of American History 68, no. 3 (Dec. 1981): 517-538. Hohman, Elmo Paul. The American Whaleman: A Study of the Life and Labor in the American Whaling Industry. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1928. Horsman, Reginald. “Nantucket’s Peace Treaty with England in 1814.” New England Quarterly 54, no. 2 (Jun. 1981): 180-198. Horsman, Reginald. The War of 1812. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969. Johnson, Robert. “Black-White Relations on Nantucket.” Historical Nantucket (Spring 2002). Taken from www.nha.org. Kugler, Richard C. “The Whale Oil Trade, 1750-1775,” Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1980. Main, Jackson Turner. The Social Structure of Revolutionary America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965. McDevitt, Joseph L. The House of Rotch: Whaling Merchants of Massachusetts, 1734-1828. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1986. Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1979. Tower, Walter. A History of an American Whalefishery, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1907. Starbuck, Alexander. History of Nantucket, Boston: C. E. Goodspeed Co.,1924. ______. History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876. Repr., 2 vols., with preface by Stuart C. Sherman. New York: Argosy Antiquarian, 1964. Vickers, Daniel Frederick. “Maritime Labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket, 1630-1775.” Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University, 1981.

Letters Home: Records of the Experiences of Common Soldiers in the American Civil War

The idea for my honors thesis project is inspired by my work last summer in the Chapin Library of Rare Books at Williams. I spent the summer reading and organizing the library’s collection of Civil War soldiers’ letters—a group of about one thousand letters written by men in army camps to the loved ones they left behind at home. Besides a cursory chronological arrangement, no one before me had touched these letters since the library acquired them. For me they represented a vast untapped historical resource—they were sitting in a closet waiting to be discovered, and I was the first to explore their possibilities. I found myself completely absorbed, squinting at line after line of cramped, faded script and imagining the words flowing haltingly from the authors’ pens as they crouched by the light of a sputtering campfire, the booming of cannon fire echoing in the distance. It fascinated me how these young men portrayed their experiences to family members back home—reassuring them of their safety and expressing enthusiasm for their causes while also betraying paralyzing fear and devastating homesickness. In one particularly memorable series of letters a Union soldier continued to write home to his wife from the battlefield during a siege of a Confederate fort, knowing that no mail was running and suspecting that the days he spent crouching under fire in the brush of a Louisiana forest would be his last. But somehow his letters did get through, and the final letter in the sequence told of his harrowing escape to a field hospital, giving me the hope that he and his wife were reunited soon afterwards.

The words of letters like these haunted me after I left work everyday, and stayed with me even after I left Williams for the year. As I started thinking about my plans for my honors thesis, I knew that I wanted to work closely with the letters in the Chapin collection. In my thesis, I plan to explore the average soldier’s experience of the war, using Union and Confederate sources in the form of the letters soldiers sent home to their families and friends. The Chapin Library’s collection is mainly made up of Union letters, so the Union side will be heavily based upon that resource. For the upcoming summer, I have been granted a summer research fellowship from Williams. My plan for this project is to gather resources from the Confederate side, visiting facilities in Virginia that hold extensive collections of Confederate letters. I am deeply interested in letting the authors of the letters speak for themselves so I will be comparing and contrasting specific experiences related by specific soldiers in relation to broader questions such as what reasons Union and Confederate soldiers gave for fighting, whether the views they express in their letters aligned with the professed views of their respective causes, what they knew—if anything—about these causes, and what they thought of one another. Perhaps most of all I would like to use these primary documents to emphasize how the soldiers on opposing sides were alike—how they commonly identified with certain ‘American’ values and ambitions, and how their views on the War were shaped significantly by the coincidence of which side of the divided country they happened to be born on.

I believe letters like these offer historians an invaluable means for stepping inside the minds of the actors who participated in historical events. And the particular set of letters I will examine in my project is important because it does not tell the ‘great man’ version of the Civil War, governed by figures like Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. Instead, it gives us a broader sense of the common man’s—in this case the common soldier’s—experiences of events that fundamentally shaped the American past. This is a version of the past that is often inaccessible to us, so it is important for historians to take advantage of resources like those housed in the Chapin Library. It is impossible for me to encompass all the perspectives and experiences offered by surviving Civil War letters, which is why I have chosen to focus my research closely on the Chapin collection, which is manageably sized and within convenient proximity to me for research during the academic year. After working with those letters for several months, I feel that I have a general sense of what they have to offer—a representative sample of the experiences of the common soldier in the war. In my research in the South this summer, I plan to supplement the Chapin collection with more Confederate examples. I also plan to draw inspiration from secondary sources, a small collection of which I have listed below. Many scholars have worked from Civil War soldier’s letters in the past, and they have even infiltrated popular culture to a considerable extent—most famously through Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. These authors will help me to get a sense of wider patterns in the experiences of soldiers, but I will rely upon my reading of primary sources to draw out specific examples.

The most exciting thing about my proposed thesis for me is that I really do not know what I will find or where my research will take me. I suspect that there are an inexhaustible number of topics that may be drawn out from Civil War soldiers’ letters, and I am confident I will find many things in my research that will inspire me. I am deeply committed to approaching history through contact with authentic documents and artifacts, and I look forward to the opportunity to do this over the course my project next year.

Preliminary Bibliography :

Primary sources: I will rely heavily upon the collection of approximately one thousand Civil War letters in the collection of the Chapin Library of Rare Books at Williams for the Union perspective. For the Confederate point of view, I will use collections of letters held by the Virginia Historical Society, the Museum of the Confederacy, and the Library of Virginia, all in Richmond, as well as the library of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. There are also collections of letters accessible online, in particular The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries at http://solomon.cwld.alexanderstreet.com/.

Secondary sources :

Barton, Michael, and Larry M. Logue, eds. The Civil War Soldier: A Historical Reader. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Manning, Chandra. What This Cruel War Was Over. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ______. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. ______. What they Fought For, 1861-1865, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. ______, ed. The Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. ______ and William J. Cooper, Jr., eds. Writing the Civil War: The Quest to Understand. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. Mitchell, Reid. Civil War Soldiers, New York: Viking, 1988. ______. The Vacant Chair: The Northern Soldier Leaves Home. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Rosenblatt, Emil & Ruth, eds. Hard Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk, 1861-1865, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. The View From the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers, Wiley, Bell I. The Life of Billy Yank. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008. ______. The Life of Johnny Reb, the Common Soldier of the Confederacy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1943. ______. The Plain People of the Confederacy. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2000.

Writing for Stalin: American Journalists in the USSR, 1928-1941

“There is no famine or actual starvation nor is there likely to be.” So wrote the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, Walter Duranty, on November 15, 1931. By the end of 1933, between six and eight million Soviet citizens, at least half of them Ukrainians, had perished in the wake of consecutive failed harvests and official repression, in one of the worst man-made famines in history. Duranty won his Pulitzer Prize a year before the end of the famine. Duranty was not alone in his whitewashing of the Soviet Union in general and Stalinist policy in particular. Journalists from all over the world writing from the USSR depicted a land of noble struggle, where the working class, guided by leader and Party, were forging a utopia free from the injustice and squalor of capitalism. Why did so many Western visitors to the USSR allow themselves to become mouthpieces for the Soviet regime, with evidence of political repression and hideous suffering all around them, while only a few observers spoke out against the communist regime? What was the appeal of Stalinism in this age of the great crisis of capitalism? The 1930s were a time of uncertainty for liberal democracy, with the Great Depression causing misery across the world and calling into question the old liberal creeds of free market capitalism, while democracy itself was under siege from totalitarianisms of the left and right. To attempt to encompass this immense crisis in an entire book, let alone a thesis, would be a daunting task. Instead, I propose to probe this crisis through the microcosm of the men and women who visited the Soviet Union hoping to find a workers’ utopia. Many Westerners came to the USSR at the invitation of the regime, as journalists, technical experts, and travel writers who left behind an impressive body of news reports, diaries, letters, and memoirs. My thesis project will examine a particular subset of these visitors—the American journalists writing for US papers like The Nation, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Times, or English-language publications in the USSR like The Moscow News. The time frame discussed will open with the launch of the first Five Year Plan in 1928, and conclude with the entry of both the Soviet Union and the United States into the Second World War in 1941. I will further focus my project on the coverage of two particular events: the much-denied famine taking place in the Ukraine, and Stalin’s Purge-era show trials, where many observers wrote either that those on trial really were saboteurs and agents of foreign powers, or that their guilt or innocence was of little consequence in the grand historical drama that was unfolding. I choose these two events because they represent indictments of the Soviet system’s claim to legitimacy—its ability to feed all its people, and its claim to be a truly fair society. The gymnastics of fact and logic undertaken by the regime’s apologists on these points are thus of particular significance.

So far, the question of what it was about most journalists visiting the USSR in this period, and what it was about Soviet communism, that made most reporters toe the Party line has not been addressed in particularly great depth. Today, those who favored the regime, like Walter Duranty, Maurice Hindus, and Anna Louise Strong, tend to be dismissed as ideological hacks, either willfully ignorant or purposely lying in the service of socialism. Those who see through the regime’s cloud of deception are by contrast heroic truth-tellers. A certain amount of work has been done on official Soviet efforts to win over liberal-minded Westerners in this period, and the Duranty Pulitzer Prize controversy has generated a number of articles and books in recent years, most notably S.J. Taylor’s Stalin’s Apologist. However, the historiography leaves open a number of questions. Were the journalists reluctant to speak against the regime because they could lose their access to the leadership, because their families might be targeted (many married in Russia), or similar, practical causes? To what extent did the practical intersect with the ideological as reporters sympathized with the official ideology and goals of the regime, and were prepared to forgive a little gangsterism on the part of the leadership if it would bring about a genuinely fair and equal society? As Duranty put it in his article of May 14th, 1933, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.” Was there something about the generally well-meaning liberalism of the American journalists that led them in droves to whitewash the crimes of Stalinism in service of some genuinely laudable social projects like universal literacy and the welfare state, as well as a powerful vision of a society that could come to be? Moreover, how were these journalists’ points of view informed by the society that produced them? What, if any, were the differences in the attitudes of those who were foreign-born, like Duranty and Hindus, and those like Strong who were natural-born citizens? To what extent did the reporters’ experience of Depression-era America, with all its hunger and inequality, influence their perception of the Soviet Union, which claimed to eliminate all such evils of capitalism?

In seeking an explanation of why so many American reporters upheld the Stalinist line in this period, I plan to explore three distinct sets of sources. First, I will examine the actual newspaper reports produced by these journalists. Americans reporting from Moscow were well aware that they were virtually the only source of information about events inside the USSR available to Americans, and their articles naturally give a great deal of insight into how they hoped to explain the Soviet system to the American public. Next I will consider more private sources like the reporters’ diaries and letters, which may shed light on the internal thoughts, goals, motivations, and reservations of the journalists, and include thoughts that were left out of their news articles or later memoirs. Finally, I will consider the memoirs that many journalists wrote during or directly after this period about their experiences in the USSR. The memoirs that I have read so far are extremely rich sources, raising a number of important questions of methodology. How far can we trust these reporters, who often wrote several years after the events they witnessed? Were the memoirs published before or after the Soviet Union had become engaged in the battle against fascism, either indirectly in Spain, or directly after 1941? Are these memoirs little more than cases of special pleading by journalists hoping to prop up both the great idea of communism and their own reputations? The memoirs by those reporters like Eugene Lyons who defied the safe consensus of their colleagues and wrote against Stalinism (often at the price of their careers) present a fascinating set of outliers. Can we trust such former sympathizers to report the truth as they saw it, or do conversions from fellow traveler to anticommunist attack dog represent swings between extremes of endorsement and repulsion, implying unreliability? These sources, both the ones I encountered and wrote about in my tutorial last term with Robert Service, as well as those I have come across since, will constitute a very rich base for my research.

Using this source material, I am seeking to tie together the grand political and ideological debates of the 1930s and the personal lives of the journalists in question to explain why so many of these men and women embraced Stalinism, while a few wrote furious condemnations of the Soviet system. This project will in many ways be an exploration of the crisis of capitalism and seeming rise of socialism in microcosm, driven by the particular nuances and intricacies of my particular material. In 2010, it seems all too obvious to us that Stalinism was a nightmare for millions of Soviet citizens, but eighty years ago, it was still very much an open question whether the future belonged to capitalism or communism. Those who made excuses for Stalinism sometimes did so for the best of reasons. However, that so many people could be so wrong about Stalinism demands an explanation.

Dismal Scientists, Diplomats, and Spooks: Bissell, Milliken, and Rostow and Their Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy

As the current global economic crisis shakes countries around the world, its effects resonate beyond the realms of financial regulators, central banks, and finance ministries. This crisis has created a number of foreign policy challenges for the United States government, and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair recently declared to the Senate intelligence committee, “The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications.” Blair, however, is not the first representative of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, or even the foreign policy-making establishment of the country as a whole, to advocate for incorporating economics into the conduct of U.S. foreign relations.

Richard Bissell, Max Milliken, and Walt Rostow share a number of similarities; all three, born in the beginning of the twentieth century, graduated from Yale University, became economics professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later worked as researchers at a number of the same think tanks. More remarkably, all three of these men wandered from academia and into influential roles in the foreign policy-making establishment of the U.S. government during the early Cold War. Between them, these former economists developed strong ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the White House during the formative years of the United States’ as a global hegemon.

This commonality opens a number of interesting questions. What motivated their decisions to become economists and then to transition from academics to Cold Warriors? Was their overlap coincidental or does some common thread or societal trend connect their journeys? And, most important and relevant to questions at hand today, what role did these social scientists see for economic theory and analysis in the planning and practice of foreign policy? I plan to explore how world events shaped the career decisions and ideologies of these men, and, in turn, what effect their ideas and contributions had on the development of U.S. foreign policy.

I expect to mainly explore their ideas on economic intelligence, especially with regard to Milliken and Bissell, who both spent significant periods in the CIA, and modernization theory, for which both Rostow and Milliken served as strong advocates to the White House and State Department. With current debates in the U.S. on rebuilding our economic intelligence capacities, correctly using foreign aid, and coping with the current financial crises, the insights gleaned from these former scholars and Cold Warriors could shed light on contemporary issues.

As sources for my investigation, I plan on utilizing the papers of Max Milliken and Walt Rostow, which are both available at the John F. Kennedy Library. Bissell’s memoir and several oral interviews in which he participated are also publicly available. Furthermore, several working papers, which these men produced as officials of the U.S. government and as researchers at numerous think tanks, are known to exist. And, finally, I plan to utilize the rich existing scholarship on modernization theory and its role in U.S. foreign policy.

Bibliography

Central Intelligence Agency On-line Library. Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room. Personal Papers of Max Millikan (1913-1969), John F. Kennedy Library. Walt W. Rostow (#8.24), John F. Kennedy Library. Wilson, Theodore A. and Richard D. McKinzie. “Oral History Interview with Richard M. Bissell, Jr.” Harry S. Truman Library. Works by all three at various think tanks, including one collaboration between Bissell and Milliken at the Center for International Studies (CENIS). Bissell, Jr., Richard M. Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Fialka, John J. War by Other Means: Economic Espionage in America. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999. Latham, Michael. Modernization as Ideology. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. Light, Jennifer S. From Warfare to Welfare. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Pearce, Kimber Charles. Rostow, Kennedy, and the Rhetoric of Foreign Aid. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2001.

Media Reflections of Western Public Opinion in the Suez Crisis

In the years following the Second World War, the global balance of power shifted significantly; following conflict amongst the traditional Great Powers, a bipolar power struggle emerged between the United States and the Soviet Union. The military and financial costs of the Second World War made it extremely difficult for European powers to hold their colonial empires, the loss of which compounded their economic downfall and ensured their decline as world powers. These material conditions were certainly a major factor in determining the new balance of power, as was the relative strength of the U.S.’s economic position, but less quantifiable factors were also importantly at play, namely the ability of each of the new and old powers to reconceptualize its role in the world and adapt its attitudes toward other nations accordingly. As decolonization occurred and Cold War conflicts began to arise across the globe, the Cold War powers and the traditional Great Powers were facing novel foreign policy challenges, mostly in the vein of trying to establish influence overseas when using force to do so was no longer feasible or morally acceptable. Thus each nation contending for global influence was forced to reassess its identity as a player on the world stage. Government officials developing policy carried out this reassessment as a conscious process, but it also occurred spontaneously within national populations responding to the obvious shifts in global power dynamics, begging the question: how well did government reconceptions of identity reflect public attitudes in the early Cold War era? The emergence of many new nations and nationalisms in the postwar world created ample cases which exemplify how modern national self-perceptions developed on different levels and how that led to the consolidation of a new world order. My thesis will focus on the 1956 Suez Crisis, due to its location in the strategically important and materially rich Middle East, which resulted in the involvement of many countries, and within that conflict, on the Western powers involved, for whom government was supposedly representative- England, France, and the United States.

Despite historiographical debates about precipitating and intermediate causes, the Suez Crisis of 1956 can be traced at least in part to the joint U.S.-British decision to discontinue their planned funding for the Egyptian government’s Aswan High Dam project, leaving the Egyptians in need of ready money, which served to justify Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal. The proposed Aswan High Dam project was exemplary of the new state of relations between Egypt and the western powers following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. The new Egyptian leadership was anti-colonial, but not opposed to productive relations with the Western world. Thus, it hoped cooperative projects like the construction of the Aswan High Dam could usher in a new type of relationship between Egypt and the West. For Britain, this would mean relations based on voluntary economic cooperation rather than exploitation by force, while for the U.S. the change of policy consisted not in promoting an anti-colonial position but in doing so quite actively, as opposed to its former stance of relative isolationism. Britain and the U.S. tried to advance anti-colonial economic relations as per Egyptian requirements in order to maintain and create, respectively, a presence in the region, which was important in order to protect financial interests in the Middle East that were highly dependent on access to the Suez Canal, and to keep the Soviets from establishing rival influence there.

However, when the U.S. and Britain ultimately deemed the Aswan High Dam project inopportune and Nasser nationalized the canal in the summer of 1956, the ensuing Suez Crisis featured the British, influenced by the French, playing a traditional colonial imperialist role, while the U.S. took on a novel modern role, acting as an international arbitrator in pursuit of its own Cold War related interests. That Britain aligned with France rather than U.S. during the Suez Crisis is not entirely surprising given each nation’s recent history in international relations; careful study has reflected the extent to which French and British politicians were misguided in their political calculations by thought processes that were still largely driven by outmoded colonial considerations. There is also debate about the extent to which they based their policies on false assumptions about the U.S. position. The leaders involved in the Suez Crisis based their decisions about how best to serve their material interests without losing political capital not only on analysis of other nations’ official positions but also on their reading of public opinion at the time. No Western government wanted to act against national will and lose popularity with its constituents over Suez. It is therefore natural to wonder to what degree the western leadership’s gauge of popular thought was skewed by historicism, or conversely, how closely public attitudes in Britain, France, and the U.S. towards the developing crisis in the Middle East actually tended to match official ones in judging what action each nation should take.

For my thesis, I would like to examine this question: to what extent were policy-influencing perceptions of public opinion about the Suez Crisis in Britain, France, and the U.S. accurate? To fill out the high command side of the picture I would use mostly secondary sources, and when necessary the primary documents they are based upon (such as sources available in the U.S. National Archives, British Public Records Office, and French Foreign Ministry Archives), focusing my original research on French, British, and U.S. newspaper and perhaps radio coverage as indicative of trends within the field of public opinion in each country. To manage the scope of this study, I intend to concentrate on the two most publicly controversial time periods within the months of the Suez Crisis, the week after the canal was nationalized on July 26, 1956 (up to and including August 2) and the week after Israel invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956 (up to and including November 6). By analyzing the straight news coverage of, and the range of editorial responses to, the decision taken by Nasser to nationalize the canal, the decision of Israel to invade Sinai, and the subsequent statements and actions taken by France, Britain, and the U.S., I hope to determine the tenor of each national discourse about the crisis, and to place all three within a comparative framework in order to determine the relative degree to which elite and mass perceptions corresponded over the appropriate role for each Western power to play in Suez. The degree to which the press (on a national and local level, across the full spectrum of political stances), condoned and encouraged official decisions taken during the Suez Crisis will hopefully illuminate how well the political development of the crisis matched mainstream contemporary attitudes not merely about the situation, but about where the world powers now stood as arbiters of international relations and, thereby, how far long-serving leaders with deeply rooted beliefs about the role of their nations in the world were able to conform to the demands of a world in which the ideological as well as material environment had recently undergone major changes.

Preliminary Reading List :

Relevant Primary Sources to be located through:

The Times online archives, at http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/ British Library Integrated Catalogue: Newspapers, at http://catalogue.bl.uk ProQuest Historical Newspapers (US) including The New York Times, at http://proquest.umi.com French sources through Gallica, the French National Library’s Digital Browser, at http://gallica.bnf.fr/?&lang=FR

Azar, Edward E. “Conflict Escalation and Conflict Reduction in an International Crisis: Suez, 1956.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 16 (1972): 183-201. Cockett, R. “The Observer and the Suez Crisis.” Contemporary British History 5, no.1 (Summer 1991): 9-31. Gorst, Anthony, and Lewis Johnman. The Suez Crisis. London: Routledge, 1997. Louis, Wm. Roger, and Roger Owen. Suez 1956: The Crisis and its Consequences. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Lucas, W. Scott. Divided We Stand: Britain, the United States and the Suez Crisis. Sevenoaks: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991. Negrine, Ralph. “The Press and the Suez Crisis: A Myth Re-Examined.” Historical Journal 25, no. 4 (1982): 975-983. Oneal, John R., Brad Lian, and James H. Joyner, Jr. “Are the American People ‘Pretty Prudent’? Public Responses to U.S. Uses of Force, 1950-1988.” International Studies Quarterly 40, no. 2 (Jun., 1996): 261-279. Owen, Jean. “The Polls and Newspaper Appraisal of the Suez Crisis.” Public Opinion Quarterly 21 (1957): 350-354. Parmentier, Guillaume. “The British Press in the Suez Crisis.” Historical Journal 23, no. 2 (1980): 435-448. Rawnsley, G. D. “Cold War Radio in Crisis: the BBC Overseas Services, the Suez Crisis and the 1956 Hungarian Uprising.” Historical Journal of Radio and Television 16, no.2 (Jun., 1996): 197-219. ______. “Overt and Covert: The Voice of Britain and Black Radio Broadcasting in the Suez crisis, 1956.” Intelligence and National Security 11, no. 3 (July, 1996): 497-522. Shaw, Tony. Eden, Suez and the Mass Media: Propaganda and Persuasion During the Suez Crisis. London: Tauris, 1996.

The Implications, Effects, and Uses of Media in the Emmett Till Lynching

I propose to write an Honors Thesis in History during the xxxx academic year. After researching topics that interest me and consulting with Professor xxxx, I have developed a project that analyzes the uses and effects of media during the Civil Rights Movement. More specifically, my project will investigate how children, and the American media’s depiction of them, greatly impacted the American consciousness of the Civil Rights Movement. Children were a part of some of the most widely televised and reported Civil Rights events such as the lynching of Emmett Till, the use of water cannons and police dogs on children, the deaths of four black girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, the desegregation of Central High School, and the Selma marches where children were trampled by police horses.

Taking on a project with all these events would be beyond the scope of a senior thesis, so Professor Long and I have narrowed our focus to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955. To briefly summarize this event, after allegedly whistling at a white woman, fourteen year old Emmett Till was shot and his body thrown in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi by a group of white men. Emmett’s great-uncle identified two of these men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, as those who had forced Emmett into their car the night he was killed. The trial lasted a mere five days, and the all-white jury acquitted both men of Emmett’s death in about an hour.

Media coverage served very important roles in Emmett Till’s death. In The Chicago Defender, Emmett’s hometown newspaper, the first articles on Emmett Till include pictures of his inconsolable mother being held upright by family members in front of Emmett’s casket. The newspaper articles focusing on Emmett also refer to the recent lynchings of black voting rights activists and the recent Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. In effect, these articles attached a name, face, and picture to individuals affected by racist violence in the South while incorporating and increasing the visibility of large-scale race issues. Television crews broadcast Emmett’s mutilated face at his open-casket funeral, sparking outrage and horror throughout the country. Viewing these images in white America’s living room made the Jim Crow South more visible across white America. Media coverage of Emmett’s death further motivated black America to take a stand against white supremacy, all the more so after both white men confessed to Emmett’s murder in Look Magazine. This event raises myriad questions regarding race relations in the South, but I want to focus my efforts on a few that interest me most. I want to explore the reasons, implications, and effects of Emmett’s mother’s decision to display Emmett’s mutilated and decomposed face at his open-casket funeral. This investigation leads to the history, reasons, and importance of open-casket funerals in the African-American community. My project will also analyze the response of the white community in the immediate area where Emmett was murdered. His murder has been well documented in television coverage, newspaper articles, and magazine interviews; however, very little research has examined the media’s impact on the regional, national, and international levels. I want to examine how these communities responded to Emmett’s death and how the white South was viewed as a result of different reactions according to race and location.

Furthermore, Emmett Till’s murder raises questions regarding white masculinity and femininity and their relationship to black masculinity. Another aspect to this project may include how the image of Emmett Till has been remembered and reconstructed by the media more recently in the form of television series and movies. I seek to investigate these issues primarily through primary sources such as photographs, television coverage, newspaper articles, and interviews of individuals. Secondary resources, particularly in the field of media studies will be helpful to my project. Overall, my project will become part of a greater dialogue that explores the media’s perception of the white response to black life and culture in the Jim Crow South.

Since the summer after my sophomore year at Williams, I have laid the foundation for this project. My independent research through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship has allowed me to develop my research skills, work closely with a professor, and read over a dozen seminal primary and secondary sources in the field of race relations in the United States. I have already written two research papers, (with a third on the way) about these books.

I am interested in writing an Honors Thesis in History for many reasons. Most importantly, I want the opportunity to immerse myself in a subject that greatly interests me while contributing to a larger body of academic work in the field. Writing a thesis is also important because it will allow me to dedicate an extended period of time to a very specific subject. I enjoy historical research and want the satisfaction of knowing that I thoroughly understand the intricacies and nuances of a particular topic, even though it may be a small fraction of a larger whole. Additionally, I want to complete a large historical project to show history graduate schools of my seriousness in pursuing a Ph.D. in American History.

Cromwell Lives while Mason Stalks: Irish Nationalism and Historical Memory during the Troubles

In my proposed thesis I want to ask how significant perceptions of Irish history were in perpetuating the Troubles. Often, the pieces of history that get retold vindicate the present. I believe that perceptions of Irish history are significant in perpetuating the conflict in Northern Ireland because both Unionists and Nationalists created their own versions of history which they use to give legitimacy to their political visions for the future. Within the communities, different interest groups manipulate and re-manipulate history and each separate reading of the past justifies the present actions of its perpetuators. In this sense, the issue of history is an issue of legitimacy, and legitimacy is directly linked to political power. In their book The Northern Ireland Conflict: Consociational Engagements, John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary write that Northern Ireland is “a site of competing analogies and norms. Neither of its communities… have been able to achieve hegemonic legitimacy. This is one reason why the conflict continues.” It’s a trope that history is written by the winners, and in Northern Ireland, both sides are trying to write themselves as winners. Far from just an intellectual debate, the separate readings of history are crafted to justify political action, perpetuating the conflict.

Partition is a classic example of how Unionists and Nationalists use history to justify their current political positions. The Unionists perception of history accentuates the continuity of partition as a social force. Historian A.T.Q. Stewart uses the election of 1886 to emphasize the innate nature of partition. In it, seventeen out of thirty-three Ulster members of parliament elected were for Home Rule. That emphasized to Protestants that they were characteristically different from the rest of the inhabitants of Ireland. Stewart writes, “from 1886 to 1920, Ulster Protestants were a minority under threat.” By stressing the deep, cultural roots of partition, Stewart justifies it as a logical action and just solution that was a long time coming.

In contrast, the general Nationalist reading of the same period of history frames partition as “the arbitrary division of the country”, to quote the New Ireland Forum Report. “In the period immediately after 1920,” the Report continues, “many saw partition as transitory.” Nationalists tend to blame British imperialism or other exogenous factors as the cause of the conflict. In this way, they are able to represent partition an illegitimate action imposed on Ireland. The emphasis on exogenous factors allows Nationalists to imply that partition is the problem. Generally, they argue that by removing it and restoring the territorial integrity of Ireland, the conflict would be solved.

Both Unionists and Nationalists construct elaborate historical myths that legitimate their claim to the territory of Northern Ireland. Andy Tyrie, the supreme commander of the Ulster Defense Association in the early 1980s, broke from the traditional Unionist position of supporting union with Great Britain and advocated for an independent Ulster in the early 1980s. He created historical justification for his position by arguing that the areas of Scotland where Ulster Protestants came from were originally colonized by tribesmen from Ulster in the early middle ages—so in a sense Ulster Protestants were just returning to their ancestral homeland when they re-colonized in the seventeenth century. “Many people are convinced that the Protestants arrived here in 1607,” he said. “But their ancestors arrived here long before that. The Ulster people have always been here.”

Tyrie’s myth about Ulster was designed to compete with the traditionally Republican version of history of centuries of Irish resistance to British imperial rule. The Nationalist myth, as summarized by Padraig O’Malley, begins with the invasion of Ireland by England 800 years ago. In it, O’Malley writes, “history is linear. Thus, Ireland was subdued by superior arms and resources, but not beaten; the struggle to re-establish a free and united Ireland was carried forward from generation to generation.” The H-Block Song, written for the Republican prisoners in the maze perpetuates this view of events. The song ends with the question, “Does Britain need a thousand years of protest, riot, death, and tears?” emphasizing the long history of Irish oppression at the hands of British invaders. Lines like “Black Cromwell lives while Mason stalks” create a sense of the historical continuity of the fight against British imperialism, linking Oliver Cromwell with Roy Mason, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the H-Block song was written in 1976.

Both of these “ancestral tribe” myths are designed to support current claims to the island. Neither one is particularly valid historically, but the point is not historical accuracy. These myths are designed to create legitimacy for current political claims. Thus, history has become a tool allowing each side to perpetuate and justify their view of the conflict.

In my proposed thesis I’d ask the significance of perceptions of Irish history in perpetuating the Troubles. Much of the scholarship that I’ve read concentrates on specific historical occurrences and doesn’t directly investigate Irish historiography, or the link between historical memory and political action. I’d begin with a definition and explanation of the Nationalist myth of unbroken struggle. I’d draw on the writings of Irish Nationalists such as Padraig Pearse, as well as later scholarship by historians such as Padraig O’Malley. I’d also study how this historical myth has been created and perpetuated both inside Ireland and also abroad. On the international front, I’d specifically focus on how Irish Nationalists draw historical analogies to oppressed-native minority/settler-oppressor conflicts such as comparing their situation to the struggle over apartheid in South Africa. I’d study memoirs and interviews, like Adrian Kerr’s book Perceptions: Cultures in Conflict, and scholarship, such as Adrian Guelke’s book on comparative politics, Northern Ireland: An International Perspective. I’d also draw on art and propaganda: music, street murals, accounts of parades, 1916 commemoration posters issued by Sinn Fein and other Republican groups, and films, such as the 1980 documentary The Patriot Game, which gives a Nationalist account of the Troubles.

The well-established historical myth of Nationalist struggle presupposes an almost inevitable pattern to history: “Ireland unfree will never be at peace.” Therefore, I’d next investigate how the Nationalist reading of Irish history has affected political events during the Troubles. I’d focus on two important historical occurrences, the 1974 Ulster Worker’s Council strike that brought down the Sunningdale power-sharing agreement and the 1981 Republican hunger strikes. According to the strike bulletins, the main reason the UWC wanted to stop Sunningdale was because of the provisions it made to involve the Irish Free State in Northern Ireland’s affairs, which it characterizes as “the main danger.” I’d investigate if this anti-Irish attitude was affected by the striker’s perceptions of Ulster history and the North’s relationship to the South.

With the hunger strikes, I’d research the connection between the strikers’ experiences and Irish history. I’d specifically ask if the hunger strikers appealed to historically Irish motifs of martyrdom in an attempt to gain political legitimacy for the Provisional IRA. My hunch is that the Nationalist movement consciously used history as a practical tool in order to get political status for their prisoners, but it would take further research to figure this out. Not Meekly Serve My Time, the remembrances of Republican H-Block prisoners and hunger strikers would be invaluable, as would the diaries of Bobby Sands and the writings of Gerry Adams, as well as the memoirs of SDLP party leader John Hume.

Through these two specific incidents, I’d study how perceptions of Irish history affected the politics of Northern Ireland during the 1970s and early 1980s and also investigate how Nationalists and Unionists used interpretations of history to generate political legitimacy.

Adams, Gerry. Selected Writings. Kerry: Brandon, 1994. Bew, Paul and Patterson, Henry. The British State and the Ulster Crisis. New York: Verso, 185. Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie. The Provisional IRA. Aylesbury: Corgi Books, 1989. Campbell, Brian, Laurence McKeown, and Felim O’Hagan, ed. Not Meekly Serve My Time: The H Block Struggle 1976-1981. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications, 1998. Farrell, Michael. Northern Ireland: The Orange State. London: Pluto Press Limited, 1976. Gallagher, AM. “Majority Minority Review 2: Employment, Unemployment and Religion in Northern Ireland.” CAIN Web Service, http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/csc/reports/mm210.htm. Guelke, Adrian. Northern Ireland: An International Perspective. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 1988. Hepburn, A.C., ed. The Conflict of Nationality in Modern Ireland. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1980. Hume, John. Personal views, Politics, Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland. Dublin: Town House, 1996 Kerr, Adrian, ed. Perceptions: Cultures in Conflict. Derry: Guildhall Press, 1996. McAllister, Ian. The Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labor Party. London: Unwin Brothers Ltd., 1977. MacDonagh, Oliver. States of Mind. London: Pimlico, 1992. McGarry, John and Brendan O’Leary. Explaining Northern Ireland. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995. ______. The Northern Ireland Conflict: Consociational Engagements. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Mulchaly, Aogan. “Claims-Making and the Construction of Legitimacy: Press Coverage of the 1981 Hunger Strikes.” Social Problems 42, No. 4 (Nov. 1995): 467-499. “The New Ireland Forum Report,” CAIN Web Service, http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ issues/politics/nifr.htm. O’Malley, Padriag. Biting at the Grave. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1990. ______. The Uncivil Wars. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1983. O’Neill, Terence. Ulster at the Crossroads. Faber and Faber: London, 1969. Rose, Richard. Governing without Consensus. London: Faber and Faber, 1971. Sands, Bobby. Writings from Prison. Cork: Mercier Press, 1998. Stewart, A.T.Q. The Narrow Ground: The Roots of the Conflict in Ulster. London: Faber and Faber, 1997. “Strike Bulletins of the Ulster Worker’s Council Strike, No 1.” CAIN Web Service. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/uwc/uwc-pdfs/one.pdf. Sweeney, George. “Irish Hunger Strikes and the Cult of Self-Sacrifice.” Journal of Contemporary History 28, No. 3 (Jul. 1993): 421-437. Wichert, Sabine. Northern Ireland Since 1945. London: Longman, 1999.

‘My broken dreams of peace and socialism’: Youth propaganda, personality, and selfhood in the GDR, 1979-1989.

“I was a young citizen in a young nation, and it was my duty to advance the cause of socialism,” writes Jana Hensel in her memoir of childhood during East Germany’s final decade of socialism. The molding of youth and children like Hensel into healthy “socialist personalities” desirous of political stability and unity had been the object of the Socialist Unity Party’s (SED) most ardent ideological efforts ever since the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949. By the 1980’s, however, when the GDR could no longer rely on brute force to secure the loyalty of its subjects, the very survival of the Communist East German regime had come to depend on the success of the socialist mentality building project. To urge the new generations of East Germans to develop personal qualities essential for the advancement of socialism, the SED mobilized all of its resources: the school system, youth organizations, mass events, and leisure time activities. Unlike the youth of the 1960’s, however, “Honecker’s children” turned out to be much more concerned with personal matters than with the fulfillment of their social and political obligations. Moreover, with the assimilation of new psychological models and concepts of individuality throughout the 1980’s, the anachronism and absurdity of SED’s personality building project became increasingly apparent.

In my Honors thesis, I plan to examine the manifold ways in which the ideological prescriptions disseminated by the SED during the 1980’s actually shaped the lived experience and affected the sense of selfhood of young members of East German society. I also wish to reflect on the lasting effects of GDR’s preoccupation with character building on the sense of identity of “Honecker’s children” twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. My work thus aims to complement current historical literature on the politics of the GDR’s youth project with a thorough investigation of the cultural, psychological, and sociological aspects of socialist character building in the GDR. To this end, I plan to relate my investigation of the ways in which the youth responded to new ideas about the socialist East German self to sociological and anthropological works on identity and selfhood, as well as to psychological theory on childhood and memory. By examining the ideas about selfhood lying at the very heart of East German youth policies and focusing on the ways in which the youth understood them and responded to them, I hope to challenge current understandings of the overarching roles of culture and ideology in postwar German history.

I will begin my research by examining official documents printed by the GDR Ministry of Education, to reveal how state-sanctioned ideas about selfhood were engendered and promoted by the East German school system throughout the 1980’s. I will then explore the inner workings of mass youth organizations such as the Free German Youth (FDJ) to trace the manifestation of these ideas in party-monitored extracurricular and leisure time activities. By investigating children’s letters to relatives, diaries, and anthologies of poems, I plan to shed light on the kinds of interpretive categories that children and youth were using in turn to make sense of their own experiences and evolving personalities. I will then examine memories of GDR’s personality building project in their natural context by conducting interviews with the protagonists of my research during my stay in Berlin and Jena this summer.

Among the secondary sources central to my research are the works of social historians such as Anna Saunders, Alan McDougall, John Rodden, and Alan Nothnagle, who have previously explored the dynamics of youth policy in the GDR and delineated the evolution of propaganda techniques employed by communist youth organizations and schools to communicate Marxist-Leninist values and ideology. Equally significant are the works of Alon Confino and Daphne Berdahl, which examine the consequences of the rigorous program of socialist patriotic education in the GDR on the sense of national and personal identity of the youth before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. My research aims to respond to debates that have concerned not only German historians, but also scholars of international youth politics. Some of the questions I will be asking are: how much autonomy did the East German youth of the 1980’s have in shaping their sense of self, in what ways were they influenced by the personality models put forward by the SED, how did they conceive of themselves as historical subjects before and after the collapse of the East German regime, and what may explain their reactions to the personality building project?

Agee, Joel. 1981. Twelve years: an American boyhood in East Germany. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. Andresen, Sabine. 2006. Sozialistische Kindheitskonzepte: politische Einflüsse auf die Erziehung. München: Ernst Reinhardt. Annen, Niels, Björn Böhning, Kai Burmeister, and Sven Frye. 2007. 100 years of International Socialist Youth: struggle for peace and equality in the world. Internationale Politik (Vorwarts Buch (Berlin, Germany)). Berlin: Vorwärts Buch. Baehr, Vera-Maria. 1990. Wir denken erst seit Gorbatschow: Protokolle von Jugendlichen aus der DDR. Recklinghausen: G. Bitter. Berdahl, Daphne. 1999. Where the world ended: re-unification and identity in the German borderland. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press. Berdahl, Daphne. 2000. Altering states: ethnographies of transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. Confino, Alon, and Peter Fritzsche. 2002. The work of memory: new directions in the study of German society and culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Confino, Alon. 2006. Germany as a culture of remembrance: promises and limits of writing history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Franke, Klaus, and Gerhard Krause. 1976. Kommunisten und Jugend in der DDR. ABC des Marxismus-Leninismus. Berlin: Dietz Verlag. Freie Deutsche Jugend. 1987. Fragen und Antworten zum Programm der SED. Berlin: Dietz. Friedrich, Walter. 1975. Jugend, FDJ [i.e. Freie Deutsche Jugend], Gesellschaft: Beiträge zur sozialistischen Persönlichkeitsentwicklung junger Arbeiter und Studenten in der DDR. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben. Fulbrook, Mary. 2005. The people’s state: East German society from Hitler to Honecker. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hellbeck, Jochen. 2006. Revolution on my mind: writing a diary under Stalin. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Hensel, Jana. 2004. After the Wall: confessions from an East German childhood and the life that came next. New York: Public Affairs. Intertext, Fremdsprachendienst der DDR. 1985. Free German youth, the GDR’s all-embracing youth organization. Berlin: Panorama DDR. Jahnke, Karl Heinz. 1986. Partei und Jugend: Dokumente marxistisch-leninistischer Jugendpolitik. Berlin: Dietz. Jarausch, Konrad Hugo. 1994. The rush to German unity. New York: Oxford University Press. Jarausch, Konrad Hugo. 1999. Dictatorship as experience: towards a socio-cultural history of the GDR. New York: Berghahn Books. Leiby, Richard A. 1999. The unification of Germany, 1989-1990. Greenwood Press “Guides to historic events of the twentieth century”. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Leidecker, Gudrun, Dieter Kirchhöfer, and Peter Güttler. 1991. Ich weiss nicht, ob ich froh sein soll: Kinder erleben die Wende. Stuttgart: Metzler. Macleod, David I. 1983. Building character in the American boy: the Boy Scouts, YMCA, and their forerunners, 1870-1920. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Maier, Charles S. 1997. Dissolution: The crisis of Communism and the end of East Germany. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. McAdams, A. James. 1993. Germany divided: from the wall to reunification. Princeton studies in international history and politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. McDougall, Alan. 2004. Youth politics in East Germany: the Free German Youth Movement, 1946-1968. Oxford historical monographs. Oxford: Clarendon. Meier, Andreas. 1998. Jugendweihe–JugendFEIER: ein deutsches nostalgisches Fest vor und nach 1990. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. Michalzik, Martin. 1994. An der Seite der Genossen–: offizielles Jugendbild und politische Sozialisation im SED-Staat : zum Scheitern der sozialistischen Erziehung in der DDR. Melle: Knoth. Mothes, Jörn. 1996. Beschädigte Seelen: DDR-Jugend und Staatssicherheit : mit 136 Dokumenten und einer Audi-CD mit Original-Tonunterlagen. Bremen: Edition Temmen. Nothnagle, Alan L. 1999. Building the East German myth: historical mythology and youth propaganda in the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1989. Social history, popular culture, and politics in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pelka, Anna. 2008. Jugendmode und Politik in der DDR und in Polen: eine vergleichende Analyse 1968-1989. Osnabrück: Fibre. Pence, Katherine, and Paul Betts. 2008. Socialist modern: East German everyday culture and politics. Social history, popular culture, and politics in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Rodden, John. 2002. Repainting the little red schoolhouse: a history of Eastern German education, 1945-1995. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. Rodden, John. 2006. Textbook reds: schoolbooks, ideology, and Eastern German identity. University Park, Pa: The Pennsylvania State University Press. Rodden, John. 2008. The walls that remain: Eastern and Western Germans since reunification. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers. Saunders, Anna. 2007. Honecker’s children: youth and patriotism in East(ern) Germany, 1979-2002. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Schmemann, Serge. 2006. When the wall came down: the Berlin Wall and the fall of Soviet communism. Boston: Kingfisher. Schneider, Gisela. 1980. Jugendbrigaden, Bahnbrecher des Neuen. Berlin: Verlag Tribüne. Solms, Wilhelm. 1992. Begrenzt glücklich: Kindheit in der DDR. Marburg: Hitzeroth. Thomson-Wohlgemuth, Gaby. 2009. Translation under state control: books for young people in the German Democratic Republic. New York: Routledge. Turner, Henry Ashby. 1987. The two Germanies since 1945. New Haven: Yale University Press. Urban, Detlef, and Hans Willi Weinzen. 1984. Jugend ohne Bekenntnis?: 30 Jahre Konfirmation und Jugendweihe im anderen Deutschland 1954-1984. Berlin: Wichern-Verlag. Walter, Michael. 1997. Die Freie Deutsche Jugend: ihre Funktionen im politischen System der DDR. Freiburg im Breisgau: Arnold Bergstraesser Institut. Weyer, Jochen. 1974. Youth in the GDR: everyday life of young people under socialism. Berlin: Panorama DDR. Zahra, Tara. 2008. Kidnapped souls: national indifference and the battle for children in the Bohemian Lands, 1900-1948. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Zilch, Dorle. 1994. Millionen unter der blauen Fahne: die FDJ : Zahlen, Fakten, Tendenzen : Mitgliederbewegung und Strukturen in der FDJ-Mitgliedschaft von 1946 bis 1989 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Funktionäre. Rostock: Norddeutscher Hochschulschriften Verlag.

150 Strong History Dissertation Topics to Write about

Writing a dissertation is one of the most challenging and exciting moments of an academic career. Such work usually takes a great deal of time, courage, and intellectual effort to complete. That’s why every step in your work process is essential.

It all starts with finding a good topic, which can be a challenge of its own. It especially matters when it comes to liberal arts subjects. In social studies, literature, or world history options are practically endless.

Coming up with history dissertation ideas, you need to think of historical events that interest you. We get it, choosing one is tough. There can be too much to wrap your head around. That’s why IvyPanda experts prepare some dissertation topics in history ready for you.

• How to Choose a Topic?
• Ancient History
• Medieval History
• Modern History
• Cold War Topics
• American History
• European History
• Indian History
• African History
• Performing Arts
• Visual Arts
• How to Structure

🧐 How to Choose a History Dissertation Topic?

Before examining our ideas for dissertation topics in history, you should get ready for this. You have to understand how to pick a history dissertation topic, which will ensure your academic success. Keep in mind that this is a vital step in your career.

So, check some tips on picking what to write about:

• Make sure that the topic fits in your field of study. You have to understand what you’re writing about. Basing your paper on existing knowledge and experience is a part of any dissertation. Working on an overly complicated idea can sound impressive but lead to failure. It will become a nightmare already on the stage of writing a dissertation proposal. How can you write the entire thing without comprehending it?
• Estimate whether you’re interested in the topic you intend to write on. Although this might seem obvious, yes. However, being actually invested makes a massive difference for your further work. There are plenty of students who settle for “easy but boring” topics and end up struggling twice as much.
• Ensure that your topic is specific enough. Your idea should have the potential for fruitful research. Narrowing down your area of study is essential for writing a good dissertation. It helps you to find the direction of your examination and enough sources to work with. Moreover, this way, you’ll be able to explore your topic in its entirety.
• Do some prior research. It will give you an understanding of how much literature on your topic is out there. Take notes of the materials for the reference list and your analysis. Checking history essay samples is a good idea, too.
• Don’t be shy to ask your dissertation advisor for some assistance. After all, they are here to help and guide you through the process. Besides, you have to see what ideas they consider relevant and appropriate.

👍 Good Dissertation Topics in History: Time Period

History is a subject as ancient and vast as the humankind itself. It’s only rational to study it according to a particular timeline. Here are some good history dissertation topics for different periods.

🏺 Ancient History Dissertation Topics

• Ancient Civilizations: The Maya Empire . The Maya was an incredibly powerful Empire with its prime around six century A.D., excelling in mathematics, calendar-making, astrology, and writing. It faced the decline of its city-states in nine century A.D., leaving a rich cultural heritage to the studies of subsequent generations.
• Women’s Roles and Gender relations in the Ancient World
• Greek City-States . Ancient Greece is the place where the first city-states were formed. How did the first governments in the ancient history timeline develop? How did people’s attitudes towards leadership change in that context?

• Ancient Near-Eastern Thought and the Old Testament
• The Inca Empire as a Great Civilization of Pre-Columbian America
• The Impact of Mongol Invasion in Ancient Arab
• The personality of Julius Caesar and His Effect on Rome
• The Role of Poets and the place of Poetry in Ancient Greece
• Mesopotamian Civilization . This was a fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It has been home to some of the world’s wealthiest and most advanced ancient cities. It can also make an excellent archaeology dissertation topic. There are plenty of fascinating sites that could be studied.
• History: Ancient Greek Olympics . Started in 776 BC, the Olympic Games were the most important cultural event in Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus every four years. Besides, the Olympics were representative of the triumph of physical and spiritual power.
• Warfare and Violence in Ancient Times. Try to do a comparative analysis of warfare techniques used by different ancient civilizations. It could be a great dissertation topic.
• Burial Rituals in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece: a comparison
• Plutarch’s Vision on Alexander the Great
• Dissolution of the Roman Empire . The Empire sprawled from the coast of North Africa to the territories of the modern UK and Armenia. Once, it was the most powerful political entity in the entire Mediterranean. The empire, however, collapsed in 476 CE. What were the reasons for its eventual decline?

• How Geography Has Impacted the Development of Ancient Cultures
• Cause and Effect of Art on Classical Societies
• The Invention of Papyrus and its impact on the World
• Chichen Itza Archaeological Site . Chichen Itza is a great pre-Columbian archaeological site, home to the Maya civilization. It is a fascinating study case in many aspects. Consider the origins and Maya history. Analyze the cultural preservation issues that it faces nowadays.
• Egyptian Pyramid’s Importance in Egypt’s society
• The Stone Age Period and its Evolution

🛡 Medieval History Dissertation Ideas

• Cultural Exchanges in the Medieval Period . In the aftermath of the Roman Empire’s fall, new geopolitical conditions formed. The early Middle Ages period already marked the appearance of new trade routes. It fostered cultural exchange between nations.
• Rome in the Middle Ages and its cultural transformation
• The Development of Feudalism and Manorialism in the Middle Ages
• The Catholic Church and the Black Death in the 14th Century . During the high Middle Ages, the plague epidemic terrorized Europe. It was a dreadful challenge to medicine, religious institutions, and the social apparatus of the time. How did the Catholic Church deal with such a complex and disastrous medical phenomenon?
• Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain . Christian, Islamic, and Jewish communities shared the Iberian peninsula in the early Middle Ages. It formed a vibrant cultural environment.
• London during the Roman Age: A Critical Overview
• Causes of the First Crusade of 1095-1099
• Twelfth-Century Renaissance, how Franciscans reacted to it and benefited from its development
• Business and Empire, the British ideal of an Orderly World
• The Black Death, Late Medieval Demographic crisis, and the Standard of Living controversies
• The Role of the Church in the life of the Middle Ages

• Medieval Siege Warfare . Exploring methods of defense used during the Middle Ages might be an interesting research project.
• The Conditions of Hindu and Islamic women in Medieval India
• Why the Crusades Failed
• The Mechanical Water clock of Ibn Al-Haytham, his philosophy of the rise and fall of empires
• The Renaissance and its Cultural, Political and Economic Influence
• The Dark Ages as the Golden Ages of European History . Plenty of facts demonstrate civilization’s decline during the Middle Ages. It was, nevertheless, the time of significant scientific, literary, and technological progress. For some interested in writing a medieval literature dissertation: think of Dante’s Divine Comedy . Da Vinci made his groundbreaking study projects during the Middle Ages. It was the time when first universities, such as Cambridge and Oxford, were founded. Overall, this period has a lot to offer!
• Japan’s Development Under Edo/Tokugawa Shogunate
• Historical and Theological Context of Byzantine Iconoclasm
• Medieval Convivencia: Document Analysis

🕰 Modern History Dissertation Topics

• World History: Enlightenment in Society and its Impact on Global Culture
• Nationalism and its 19th Century History
• Why Mussolini and the Fascists Were Able to Seize Power in Italy
• Religious Symbolism in Renaissance paintings . Renaissance is well-known as a period when fine arts were thriving. It was an early modern birthplace of many technological and cultural advancements. Religion, however, was still a central topic in visual art.
• Industrial Revolution and its Impact on Western Civilizations
• Principles of Liberalism and Its Connection to Enlightenment and Conservatism
• “History and Topography of Ireland” by Gerald of Wales . Looking for an incredible Irish history dissertation topic? Then this document might be an interesting prompt. Its somewhat controversial tone of describing contemporary Irish culture, history, and traditions can be subject to a comprehensive analysis.
• Moral treatment of Mental Illness . Over the 19th and 20th centuries, psychology has changed. Moving from a scientific periphery, it became one of the central subjects of scholarly discussions. Mental illnesses were highly disregarded in earlier centuries. People even considered them to be manifestations of demonic possession. How did this attitude change? Why did people rethink psychology as a scholarly discipline?
• A History of the Cuban Revolution

• Abraham Lincoln’s Historical Influence
• Role of Women During the Spanish Civil War
• Conquest and Colonization of America by European Countries . Colonization of America is one of the grandest enterprises in the world’s political history. What were its driving forces?
• Origins and Trajectory of the French Revolution
• Major Impacts of Consumerism in contemporary world history
• Coco Chanel Fashion: History of Costume . Probably not the first topic for a history dissertation that comes to mind. Chanel is truly an iconic figure in modern history, though. She revolutionized the fashion industry concerning gender as well.
• Causes of the Breakup of the Former Yugoslavia
• The Russian Working Class Movement . Before 1861, the agriculture and peasant-owning system were the foundation of the Russian Empire’s economy. Serfs made up a significant part of the population, accounting for over 60% in some regions. Then the serfdom abolition happened. A lot has changed in the economic and social life of the country.
• Segregation During the 1960s
• Historical Development of Feminism and Patriarchy
• Monetary and Fiscal Policy during the Great Depression

🔔 History Dissertation Topics on Cold War

• The Role of Cold War in Shaping Transatlantic Relations in the Period from 1945 to 1970
• The showdown between the United States and the USSR . Cold Was was essentially the power struggle between the US and the Soviet Union. It unleashed in the aftermath of World War II. This political precedent came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, the answer to the “Who won the Cold War?” question may be unclear.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis , its causes, and effects
• US Foreign Policy during the Cold War. Cold War, as a phenomenon, has many layers to it. Yet the one crucial is the contest of two ideologies: democracy and communism. How did the US shape its foreign policy and pursue its interests abroad? And how did the cultural and political setup within the country adjust to it?
• To what extent did the Cold War shape the US relations with Latin America?
• What was the importance of Berlin in the Cold War?
• Japan’s role since the end of the Cold War
• Cold War Politics, Culture, and War . Exploring the Cold War causes and effects can be quite a challenge. It is such a multifaceted phenomenon. It was a war led on many fronts. Both USSR and the US pursued their interests using a variety of methods.

• How did Cold War propaganda influence the film industry?
• What were the challenges in the post-cold war world?

🗺 History Dissertation Topics: Geographical Regions

Every country has its historical course, and so does every continent. Geography has always been an important factor when talking about history. It shapes historical trajectory in varied, unique ways.

Look at a dissertation topics history list based on geographical regions:

🦅 American History Dissertation Topics

• History of Hollywood, California . Oh, Hollywood. A place where American movie history was born. What about Hollywood’s history? Although a less traditional American history dissertation topic, it is still a fascinating one. Explore the way technological advancements in filmmaking were introduced over the decades. How did they influence the film’s general style?
• History: Migration into the United States . How did migration influence the economy of the time?
• The Relationships between the Settlers and Native Americans
• Literary works’ Views on Slavery in the United States
• Causes of the Civil War in America
• What is the real meaning of a cowboy?
• The United States military experience through the eyes of films
• Attack on Pearl Harbor: Effects of Foreign policy
• Causes of Depression in the 1890s
• Has President Obama’s Presidency changed the US?
• The role of Founding Fathers in American Society and Religion
• Post-Civil War reconstruction . Consider the way America’s economy, trade, and finance transformed in the aftermath of the Civil War.
• Principal causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War
• Why was the Declaration of Independence written?
• The Significance of the Frontier in American History
• How is a “new racial narrative” in the U.S.A created?
• American Revolution and the Crisis of the Constitution of the U.S.A. Rethink the origins of the American constitution, as well as the following events. It could be an exciting thesis idea for an American history dissertation.

• Growth and Development of San Francisco and Los Angeles after the Gold Rush
• The Role of Racism in American Art
• Drug Use and Abuse in America: Historical Analysis

🏰 European History Dissertation Topics

• Age of Discovery in Europe. The Age of Exploration in Europe lasted from the 15th to the 17th century. Over this period, Europe actively engaged with other territories and continents. Discoverers formed new international relations and expanded geographical knowledge. This topic could also make an excellent cultural history dissertation.
• Analyzing the Impact of British Colonization
• Nationalism in World War II
• Effects of the Industrial Revolution concerning World War I
• The Rise and Fall of Napoleon and the Cause of Revolution . Napoleon is one of the most prominent figures in French history. What has shaped his career as a political leader?
• History of Hitler’s Nazi Propaganda . Consider a brief history of Germany. Undoubtedly, the rule of Hitler and the Third Reich was its most devastating chapter. The “art” of propaganda flourished during the nazi regime. It penetrated the cultural, political, and social life of the country.
• Evolution of the IRA
• Napoleon’s Strategy and Tactics in his Invasion of Russia . For someone interested in writing a military history dissertation.
• Industrial Revolution Impact on Gender Roles
• Witchcraft in Europe (1450-1750) . Witch hunts took place as early as the Middle Ages in Europe. Held by the Church in most cases, witch hunts targeted those who were suspected of practicing black magic. Examine this both astonishing and problematic phenomenon.

• French Revolution: Liberal and Radical Portions
• West European Studies: Columbus’s Journey
• History of Feudalism . Feudalism dominated the European way of life during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. What were its distinctive features as a system? Why did it eventually fade away?
• Europe’s perception of Islam in the Early and Middle centuries
• Cold War Consequences for European Countries
• Mutated Medical Professionals in the Third Reich: Third Reich Doctors
• Was the Holocaust the Failure or the Product of Modernity?
• How did the use of print change the lives of early modern Europeans ?
• Early Modern England: a Social History
• Jewish Insight of Holocaust

⛰ Indian History Dissertation Topics

• History of the Indian Castes. The Indian Caste system is a complex and unique example of social stratification.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s Leadership . Gandhi is, for sure, among the greatest human rights advocates in the world’s history. His one of a kind leadership style is subject to many studies. While practicing a peaceful form of civil protest, he fought for equality, independence, and compassion.
• Political conflicts in India in the XVII century
• Impacts of the First World War on British Policies in India
• Movement Against the British rule in India. Led by Mahatma Gandhi, with the support of the National Congress, the movement took place in 1920-22. It sought to fight for the freedom of Indians.
• The Origin and Course of the Indian revolt of 1857
• The Issues of the Partitioning of India in 1947
• India Since 1900 . India is a region rich with unique traditions. Its spiritual and cultural heritage goes back to antiquity. The country’s authentic art and architecture, music, and cuisine have served as an inspiration worldwide. A considerable part of its history is, however, affected by British rule.

• Women in Hinduism and Buddhism
• The British East India Company

🌍 African History Dissertation Topics

• Ancient Societies in Mesopotamia and Ancient Societies in Africa: a comparison . Egypt is one of the most ancient African civilizations. Its origins go back to the third millennium B.C. Back then, the cultural exchange between Egypt and Mesopotamia was flourishing. What were the significant differences between the two civilizations? What did they have to offer to one another?
• Political Violence in South Africa between 1985 and 1989
• Did History of Modern South Africa begin with the Discovery of Diamonds and Gold?
• Nelson Mandela: “Freedom in Africa.” Nelson Mandela is, without a doubt, one of the central figures in African history. His devotion and tireless effort in fighting against apartheid were remarkable. Thanks to him, many sub-Saharan countries enjoy the freedoms and advances of a democratic society.
• The Cult of the Dead in West Africa: The Kongo People . African tribal rituals and traditions are unique and specific to their region. Cult of the Dead is prevalent in Western African culture. It can be notoriously known as the origin place of voodoo and other black magic practices. There is yet much more to this culture. Dismantling some prejudices could make an excellent African history thesis.
• Christianity, Slavery, and Colonialism: the paradox
• The Colonial War in Southwest Africa
• African-Europe Relations between 1800 and 2000
• Impacts of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa
• African Communities in America

🎨 Art History Dissertation Topics

Art comes in all shapes and forms. To grasp it better, we can explore each kind separately. Here’s a list of art history dissertation ideas:

🎶 Topics on Performing Arts

• History and Development of Ballet . Ballet is an art form with a long history. Initially, a specific dance originated in Medieval Italy. It was later brought to France and Great Britain. Ballet thrived in the 20th century Russia, where Russian choreographers brought it to the highest level of mastery.
• The Life and Work of William Shakespeare: His Contribution to The Contemporary Theater
• Jazz Music in American Culture . Jazz is one of the most complex and exciting music genres of all time. It was born in the 20’s century black communities of New Orleans and quickly spread across America and then the world. The genre, however, will always be an integral part of African-American identity.
• The Instrumental Music of Baroque: Forms and Evolution
• Rock Music of the 1970s
• Michael Jackson’s Life as a Musician and Choreographer
• Development of the Symphony Orchestra in the 19th and 20th Century
• Woodstock Music Festival . This massive music festival that first took place in 1969 was the epitome of hippie culture. It has a rich history that once again underscores the importance of performing arts in Western culture.
• The History of Modern Chinese Music
• The Renaissance Theater Development. The era in which both visual and performing arts were thriving. It has a lot to offer for proper dissertation research.

🖼Topics on Visual Arts

• Art Period Comparison: Classicism and Middle Age
• Vincent Van Gogh: Changes in the Technique
• The Ambiguity of Mona Lisa Painting

• Orientalism in Western Art . It’s commonly associated with romanticism and some 20th-century artworks. Orientalism is a Western term that speculates the aesthetics of the Orient. Consider this concept as a prism through which Westerners viewed the Eastern world.
• Classical Art and Cubism: History and Comparison
• Postmodern and Modern Art . The 20th and 21st centuries have been a breeding ground for many forms of fine art to emerge and flourish. Some art movements presented their philosophy in the form of manifestos. These texts can be nothing but a pure treasure for someone writing an art history dissertation.
• Female Figures in Ancient Greek Sculpture
• Andy Warhol’s Career . Pioneer of pop-art, creator of Studio 54, and a style icon.
• Filippo Brunelleschi and Religious Architecture
• The Photographic Approaches Towards American Culture of Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand

📋 How to Structure Your Dissertation?

An adequately structured history dissertation can immensely help students. It ensures that they present their ideas and thoughts logically. Sticking to a particular dissertation structure is an essential element of such work.

The general plan of any dissertation type is the following:

• Title Page. A title page should only contain essential information about your work. It usually shows your name, type of the document (thesis, research paper, dissertation), and the title itself. A good history dissertation title is crucial! It’s the first thing a reader will see.
• Acknowledgments. Do you wish to give credit to someone for supporting you during the tiresome months of your work? This is the right part to do so, be it your family, friends, or professors. It is an excellent form to express gratitude to those who proofread your drafts. Or those who brought you another cup of coffee when you needed it.
• Declaration. This section is your written confirmation. You declare that all the research and writing is entirely original and was conducted by you. If someone intellectually contributed to your project, state it in the acknowledgments.
• Table of Contents. Essentially, it’s a brief structure of your dissertation. List every section that you’ve included in your academic paper here.
• Abstract. This is the section where you write a brief summary of your dissertation. It should describe the issue, summarize your core message and essential points. List your research methods and what you’ve done. Remember to make it short, as the abstract shouldn’t exceed 300 words or so. Finish the part with a few essential keywords so that others can find your work.
• Introduction. A dissertation introduction presents the subject to the reader. You can talk about the format of your work. Explain what you plan to contribute to the field with your research.
• Literature Review. The chapter reviews and analyzes pieces of scholarly work (literature) that have been made on the subject of your research. The sources should present relevant theories and support your thesis. Be sure to discuss the weaknesses and strengths of the selected area of study and highlight possible gaps in this research.
• a code of conduct;
• research limitations;
• research philosophy;
• research design;
• ethical consideration;
• data collection methods;
• data analysis strategy.
• Findings and Results. Restate everything you have found in your research. However, do not interpret the data or make any conclusions yet.
• Discussion and Conclusion. In this chapter, you should personally interpret all of the data and make conclusions based on your research. It is essential to establish a logical link between the results and evidence. Finally, conclude the overall study. You can add final judgments, opinions, and comments.
• References. This section contains a list of references to all the sources that you used. Write down every material, which you quoted, mentioned, or paraphrased in your work. Check your educational institution’s guidelines to see how to do so correctly.
• Bibliography. Similar to the reference section, a bibliography is a list of sources you used in your dissertation. The only difference is that it should contain even the sources you don’t directly mention in your writing. Whatever helped you with the research, you state here.
• Appendices. The section may include any supplementary information that explains and complement the arguments. Add pictures, diagrams, and graphs that serve as examples for your research subject.

Writing a dissertation is the right challenge for those with ambitions and lots of determination. It is a lot like a marathon, and it starts with choosing the right topic. We hope that you will find one for yourself on this list. Good luck! Share the article to help those who may need a piece of advice or some history dissertation topics.

🔗 References

• How To Write A Dissertation: Department of Computer Science, West Lafayette, Purdue University
• Ph.D. Thesis Research, Where Do I Start: Don Davis, Columbia University
• Writing with Power: Elbow P., Oxford University
• Writing a Thesis or Dissertation – A Guide to Resources: Gricel Dominguez
• The Elements of Style: Strunk, W. Jr., White, E.B., Angell, R.
• A Collection Of Dissertation Topics In American History: asqauditconference.org
• Yale History Dissertations: Department of History, Yale University
• Dissertation Outline: School of Education, Duquesne University
• Developing a Thesis Statement: The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Writing an Abstract: The Writing Center, George Mason University
• Formatting Additional Pages: University of Missouri Graduate School
• Reference List vs. Bibliography: OWLL, Massey University
• How to Write Your Dissertation: Goldsmiths University for The Guardian
• Tips on Grammar, Punctuation and Style: Kim Cooper, for the Writing Center at Harvard University
• Acknowledgments, Thesis and Dissertation: Research Guides at Sam Houston State University
• Thesis Formatting, Writing up your Research: Subject Guides at University of Canterbury
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Home — Blog — Topic Ideas — Thesis Topics in History: The List of 100 Perfect Ideas

Thesis Topics in History: The List of 100 Perfect Ideas

When choosing a thesis topic in history, several essential factors come into play. Firstly, consider your passion and interest in the subject matter. Opt for a topic that genuinely intrigues you, as this will motivate and drive your research efforts. Secondly, strive for originality and significance. Look for gaps in the existing historical literature and propose a fresh perspective or a novel approach to a well-studied topic. Your goal should be to contribute new insights and knowledge to the field. If your ideas are recognized, then perhaps in the future some history thesis examples will be written based on them.

Feasibility is crucial in selecting a thesis topic. Ensure that you have access to the necessary primary and secondary sources, archives, or data required to support your research. Additionally, consider the relevance of your chosen topic to current historical debates or contemporary issues. Demonstrating the significance of your research in the broader context adds depth and impact to your work.

Ultimately, the result you should strive for is a well-crafted thesis topic that not only showcases your academic prowess but also excites and captivates your readers or academic committee. Your chosen topic should be engaging, thought-provoking, and capable of advancing the collective understanding of historical events or phenomena. By meticulously selecting a compelling thesis topic and conducting thorough research, you can embark on a rewarding journey of scholarly exploration and contribute meaningfully to the ever-evolving field of history.

✨ Top-20 History Thesis Ideas

• The Role of Media in Shaping Public Perception during the Cold War
• The Great Depression: Economic and Social Impacts on American Society
• The Age of Exploration: Cultural Exchanges and Global Interactions
• Women's Suffrage Movement: Analyzing Strategies and Achievements
• The French Revolution: Causes, Consequences, and Historical Interpretations
• The African-American Civil Rights Movement Essay : Leaders, Strategies, and Legacies
• The Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires: Lessons from Mesopotamia and Egypt
• World War II: Examining the Global Impact and Lessons Learned
• The Scientific Revolution: Advancements in Science and their Societal Impact
• Slavery and Abolition: A Comparative Study of Different Regions
• The Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road: Connecting East and West
• The Age of Imperialism: Colonialism, Resistance, and Global Consequences
• The Renaissance and Its Influence on Art, Literature, and Politics
• The Native American Experience: Examining Histories and Perspectives
• The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on European Society and Religion
• The Construction and Fall of the Berlin Wall: Symbolism and Global Implications
• The Spanish Inquisition: Religious Orthodoxy and Power Dynamics
• The Industrial Revolution: Changes in Work, Society, and the Environment
• The Mongol Empire: Conquest, Governance, and Cultural Integration
• The Crusades: Motivations, Outcomes, and Effects on Christian-Muslim Relations

✍️ History Thesis Topics for Bachelor's Degree: Tips and Tricks

Writing a diploma thesis in history is a significant milestone for university graduates. It allows students to showcase their research skills, critical thinking, and expertise in the subject. Crafting a compelling and well-structured thesis requires careful planning and adherence to specific guidelines. Here are some recommendations and criteria to consider when undertaking a history dissertation:

• Topic Selection: Choose a topic that genuinely interests you and aligns with your academic passions. A well-chosen topic will keep you motivated throughout the research process.
• Originality: Strive for originality in your research. Identify gaps in existing historical literature and propose a unique perspective or fresh analysis.
• Research Depth: Conduct thorough research using a variety of primary and secondary sources. Academic journals, historical documents, and reputable books are essential resources.
• Structure and Format: Follow the prescribed structure and format provided by your university or department. Adhere to proper citation and referencing guidelines.
• Word Count: Depending on your university's requirements, diploma theses in history typically range from 60 to 100 pages. However, check the specific word count guidelines for your institution.
• Abstract: Include a clear and concise abstract that summarizes the key objectives, research methods, and findings of your thesis.
• Introduction: Introduce your topic, provide background information, and state your research question or thesis statement.
• Literature Review: Review relevant literature to demonstrate your understanding of existing research on the topic.
• Methodology: Explain the research methods and approaches you used to collect and analyze data.
• Analysis and Findings: Present your research findings and analyze them in the context of your research question.
• Conclusion: Summarize your main arguments, discuss the implications of your findings, and suggest avenues for future research.
• References: Provide a comprehensive list of all the sources you cited in your thesis.

When starting your dissertation, begin with extensive reading and research to gain a solid understanding of the topic. Take notes and organize your sources efficiently. Create a detailed outline that will serve as a roadmap for your writing process. Seek guidance from your advisor or professors throughout your research journey, as their insights and feedback will be invaluable.

As you write, maintain a clear and coherent writing style, and avoid excessive jargon. Use headings and subheadings to structure your thesis logically. Remember to proofread and edit your work carefully to ensure accuracy and clarity.

In conclusion, writing a diploma thesis in history requires dedication, critical thinking, and meticulous research. By following these recommendations and adhering to the given criteria, you can create a compelling and well-argued thesis that contributes meaningfully to the field of history. Embrace this opportunity to delve into the past, unearth new insights, and leave a lasting academic legacy as you embark on this exciting academic journey.

If you still have not found suitable historical theses, then we continued the list with examples, one of which is right for you

🌆American History Thesis Topics

• The American Revolution : Causes, Consequences, and Legacies
• 1950s Body Image History
• The 1950s vs Modern Era
• 1960s Entertainment
• Abigail Adams Letter Rhetorical Analysis
• Abigail Williams in The Crucible
• American Imperialism: Factors, Impact, and Legacy
• The American and French Revolutions: Causes, Key Events, and Outcomes
• A Comparative Analysis of Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine
• About The Underground Railroad
• Colin Kaepernick Argument: a Controversial Figure in American Sports
• Mitch Landrieu Speech Analysis
• Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in the Civil Rights Movement
• Causes of the Civil War
• Harlem: A Community Profile Examination
• Harriet Hollywood Film
• Manifest Destiny: Expansion, Impact, and Legacy
• A Day Of Infamy: Speech Analysis
• The Lasting Impact of Slavery
• How the Columbian Exchange Benefited Europe and North America

🗺️ Ideas for Thesis Topics in European History

• The Life of Adolf Hitler: Understanding the Emergence of a Monster
• Biography of Adolf Hitler
• Factors Contributing to the Fall of the Roman Empire
• Alexander The Great: a Rhetorical Analysis
• Christopher Columbus: Legacy and Impact
• Julius Caesar: Funeral Speech Analysis
• The Industrial Revolution in Europe: Technological Advancements and Social Changes
• The Cold War in Europe: Superpower Rivalries and the Division of the Continent
• The Age of Exploration: European Voyages and Global Encounters
• The Profound Impact of the Black Death
• The Russian Revolution : Revolution and the Formation of the Soviet Union
• The Crusades: Religious Wars and Their Influence on Europe and the Middle East
• The Treaty of Versailles: Evaluating Its Role in Shaping Post-World War I Europe
• The Spanish Inquisition: Investigating Religious Persecution and Its Consequences
• The Age of Imperialism: European Colonization and Its Global Consequences
• The Holocaust : Examining the Holocaust and the Dark Chapters of European History
• The Berlin Wall: The Divided City and Its Symbolism during the Cold War
• The Byzantine Empire: A Comprehensive Study of Its Contributions and Decline
• The Napoleonic Era: Napoleon Bonaparte's Impact on European Politics and Warfare
• The Reformation and Counter-Reformation: Religious Conflicts and Their Resolutions in Europe

🎭 Ideas for Art History Thesis Topics

• The Renaissance Masters : Analyzing the Artistic Achievements of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael
• Impressionism and Its Influence on Modern Art
• The Evolution of Abstract Art: From Kandinsky to Pollock
• Women in Art: Celebrating Female Artists and Their Impact on Art History
• A Great And Mighty Walk Analysis
• Compare Reverend Hale and John Proctor
• Mark Antony's Speech: A Masterclass in Rhetoric
• Iconography and Symbolism in Religious Art
• African Art and Cultural Identity
• Surrealism: Exploring Dreams and the Subconscious in Art
• The Art of Ancient Civilizations: Uncovering the Aesthetics of Egypt, Greece, and Rome
• The Birth of Modern Photography: Pioneering Photographers and Their Contributions to Art
• Investigating the Relationship between Artistic Expression and Sociopolitical Movements
• Postmodernism in Art: Deconstructing Boundaries and Challenging Tradition
• The Harlem Renaissance: African-American Art and Culture in the 1920s
• Pop Art: Examining the Pop Culture Movement and Its Influence on Contemporary Art
• Islamic Art and Architecture: Tracing Aesthetics across Different Eras and Regions
• Asian Art and Cultural Heritage: A Comparative Study of China, Japan, and India
• Exploring the Intersection of Digital Media and Creative Expression
• The Role of Museums in Shaping Art History

📒 History Thesis Topics for Master’s Degree

Choosing an appropriate history dissertation topic for your master's degree is a key step. It is important to choose a subject that matches academic interests and hobbies. The theme should also offer room for originality and contribution to the existing body of historical knowledge. A master's thesis in history is a comprehensive academic work, often 80 to 100 pages or more. This requires careful research, analysis of primary and secondary sources, and critical evaluation of historical arguments. In addition, the dissertation must comply with the guidelines and formatting requirements set by the academic institution. Seeking advice from faculty advisors and professors is invaluable in the dissertation writing process. Their experience and feedback can determine the direction of the research and ensure its scientific rigor. Here are some examples of possible History Thesis Topics for Master's Degree that can serve as a basis for you:

• Abigail Williams: A Villain Analysis
• Early Colonial Government Policies Still in Use Today
• A Kingdom Strange: Analysis
• History of Egypt
• Compare and Contrast Inca and Aztecs
• Positive Effects of Colonialism in Africa
• Benefits of Colonialism to Europeans and the Colonies
• Japan’s Rise and Fall in the Global Electronics Market
• Information On The Holocaust
• An Analysis of the Leadership Style of Mahatma Gandhi
• Comparison and Contrast of Egypt and Mayans
• Oppression: Contemporary Manifestations, and Resistance
• Analyzing Cultural Exchange along the Ancient Silk Road
• Medieval Queens: Agents of Power and Diplomacy
• Ottoman Empire: Socio-Political Changes and Legacy
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Africa's Role and Impact on the America
• The Fall of Ancient Civilizations: Lessons from Rome and Greece
• Reevaluating the Causes and Impacts of the American Revolution
• Propaganda in World War II: Shaping Public Perception
• The Impact of the Russian Revolution: Political Ideologies and Social Shifts

In conclusion, theses and dissertations serve different purposes and have different requirements depending on the academic level. Each represents a milestone in the student's academic journey, and mastering the arts of research, analysis, and critical thinking is essential to success at every level. Whether you are writing a short abstract or a comprehensive dissertation, the pursuit of knowledge and scientific contributions remains at the center of all academic research. And of course, to prepare a quality thesis, you will have to start choosing your topic among the many history thesis examples. We hope that we have helped you with finding an idea to start. And in the following articles we will try to develop this topic so that you can write an interesting and individual thesis.

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How to Research and Write a Compelling History Thesis

The Importance of Research for Writing a History Thesis

Just as history is more than a collection of facts about past events, an effective history thesis goes beyond simply sharing recorded information. Writing a compelling history thesis requires making an argument about a historical fact and, then, researching and providing a well-crafted defense for that position.

With so many sources available—some of which may provide conflicting findings—how should a student research and write a history thesis? How can a student create a thesis that’s both compelling and supports a position that academic editors describe as “concise, contentious, and coherent”?

Key steps in how to write a history thesis include evaluating source materials, developing a strong thesis statement, and building historical knowledge.

Compelling theses provide context about historical events. This context, according to the reference website ThoughtCo., refers to the social, religious, economic, and political conditions during an occurrence that “enable us to interpret and analyze works or events of the past, or even the future, rather than merely judge them by contemporary standards”.

The context supports the main point of a thesis, called the thesis statement, by providing an interpretive and analytical framework of the facts, instead of simply stating them. Research uncovers the evidence necessary to make the case for that thesis statement.

To gather evidence that contributes to a deeper understanding of a given historical topic, students should reference both primary and secondary sources of research.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events in history, according to Professor David Ulbrich, director of Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program. These sources provide information not only about what happened and how it happened but also why it happened.

Primary sources can include letters, diaries, photos, and videos as well as material objects such as “spent artillery shells, architectural features, cemetery headstones, chemical analysis of substances, shards of bowls or bottles, farming implements, or earth or environmental features or factors,” Ulbrich says. “The author of the thesis can tell how people lived, for example, by the ways they arranged their material lives.”

Primary research sources are the building blocks to help us better understand and appreciate history. It is critical to find as many primary sources from as many perspectives as possible. Researching these firsthand accounts can provide evidence that helps answer those “what”, “how”, and “why” questions about the past, Ulbrich says.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are materials—such as books, articles, essays, and documentaries—gathered and interpreted by other researchers. These sources often provide updates and evaluation of the thesis topic or viewpoints that support the theories presented in the thesis.

Primary and secondary sources are complementary types of research that form a convincing foundation for a thesis’ main points.

How to Write a History Thesis

What are the steps to write a history thesis? The process of developing a thesis that provides a thorough analysis of a historical event—and presents academically defensible arguments related to that analysis—includes the following:

1. Gather and Analyze Sources

When collecting sources to use in a thesis, students should analyze them to ensure they demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the materials. A student should evaluate the attributes of sources such as their origin and point-of-view.

An array of primary and secondary sources can help provide a thorough understanding of a historical event, although some of those sources may include conflicting views and details. In those cases, the American Historical Association says, it’s up to the thesis author to determine which source reflects the appropriate point-of-view.

2. Develop a Thesis Statement

To create a thesis statement, a student should establish a specific idea or theory that makes the main point about a historical event. Scribbr, an editing website, recommends starting with a working thesis, asking the question the thesis intends to answer, and, then, writing the answer.

The final version of a thesis statement might be argumentative, for example, taking a side in a debate. Or it might be expository, explaining a historical situation. In addition to being concise and coherent, a thesis statement should be contentious, meaning it requires evidence to support it.

3. Create an Outline

Developing a thesis requires an outline of the content that will support the thesis statement. Students should keep in mind the following key steps in creating their outline:

• Note major points.
• Categorize ideas supported by the theories.
• Arrange points according to the importance and a timeline of events addressed by the thesis.
• Create effective headings and subheadings.
• Format the outline.

4. Organize Information

Thesis authors should ensure their content follows a logical order. This may entail coding resource materials to help match them to the appropriate theories while organizing the information. A thesis typically contains the following elements.

• Abstract —Overview of the thesis.
• Introduction —Summary of the thesis’ main points.
• Literature review —Explanation of the gap in previous research addressed by this thesis.
• Methods —Outline how the author reviewed the research and why materials were selected.
• Results —Description of the research findings.
• Discussion —Analysis of the research.
• Conclusion —Statements about what the student learned.

5. Write the Thesis

Online writing guide Paperpile recommends that students start with the literature review when writing the thesis. Developing this section first will help the author gain a more complete understanding of the thesis’ source materials. Writing the abstract last can give the student a thorough picture of the work the abstract should describe.

The discussion portion of the thesis typically is the longest since it’s here that the writer will explain the limitations of the work, offer explanations of any unexpected results, and cite remaining questions about the topic.

In writing the thesis, the author should keep in mind that the document will require multiple changes and drafts—perhaps even new insights. A student should gather feedback from a professor and colleagues to ensure their thesis is clear and effective before finalizing the draft.      

6. Prepare to Defend the Thesis

A committee will evaluate the student’s defense of the thesis’ theories. Students should prepare to defend their thesis by considering answers to questions posed by the committee. Additionally, students should develop a plan for addressing questions to which they may not have a ready answer, understanding the evaluation likely will consider how the author handles that challenge.

Developing Skills to Write a Compelling History Thesis

When looking for direction on how to write a history thesis, Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program can provide the needed skills and knowledge. The program’s tracks and several courses—taken as core classes or as electives in multiple concentrations—can provide a strong foundation for thesis work.

Master of Arts in History Tracks

In the Norwich online Master of Arts in History program, respected scholars help students improve their historical insight, research, writing, analytical, and presentation skills. They teach the following program tracks.

• Public History —Focuses on the preservation and interpretation of historic documents and artifacts for purposes of public observation.
• American History —Emphasizes the exploration and interpretation of key events associated with U.S. history.
• World History —Prepares students to develop an in-depth understanding of world history from various eras.
• Legal and Constitutional History —Provides a thorough study of the foundational legal and constitutional elements in the U.S. and Europe.

Master of Arts in History Courses

Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program enables students to customize studies based on career goals and personal interests through the following courses:

• Introduction to History and Historiography —Covers the core concepts of history-based study and research methodology, highlighting how these concepts are essential to developing an effective history thesis.
• Directed Readings in History —Highlights different ways to use sources that chronicle American history to assist in researching and writing a thorough and complete history thesis.
• Race, Gender, and U.S. Constitution —Explores key U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to national race and gender relations and rights, providing a deeper context to develop compelling history theses.
• Archival Studies —Breaks down the importance of systematically overseeing archival materials, highlighting how to build historical context to better educate and engage with the public.

Start Your Path Toward Writing a Compelling History Thesis

For over two centuries, Norwich University has played a vital role in history as America’s first private military college and the birthplace of the ROTC. As such, the university is uniquely positioned to lead students through a comprehensive analysis of the major developments, events, and figures of the past.

Explore Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program. Start your path toward writing a compelling history thesis and taking your talents further.

Writing History: An Introductory Guide to How History Is Produced , American Historical Association     How to Write a Thesis Statement , Scribbr     The Importance of Historic Context in Analysis and Interpretation , ThoughtCo.     7 Reasons Why Research Is Important , Owlcation     Primary and Secondary Sources , Scribbr     Secondary Sources in Research , ThoughtCo.     Analysis of Sources , History Skills     Research Paper Outline , Scribbr     How to Structure a Thesis , Paperpile     Writing Your Final Draft , History Skills     How to Prepare an Excellent Thesis Defense , Paperpile

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History Theses, Dissertations, and Masters Projects

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Convincing The Lady / The Charms Of Our Sex , Taylor Marie Garrison

"Glory To The English And Protestant Name": Protestant Hegemony In Seventeenth And Eighteenth-Century Rhode Island , Mark Mulligan

"I Wish I Was In Dixie / Away, Away": American Emigration, Cultural Negotiations, And The Confederados / "Play Free Bird!": Southern Anthems As "New Dixies" And The Perpetuation Of The Lost Cause , Shannon Baker

Material Bodies: Race, Gender, And Women In The Early American South , Morgan McCullough

Printing The Pacific: How American Writers Set The Terms For Pacific-American Relations In The Nineteenth Century , Travis Hiram Lee

Racing For Rights And Peace / Defeating Massive Resistance And The Color Of Memory , Rebekah Lyndsey Toussaint

The Divine Act Of Creation: Gravier’s Dictionary (1640-1710) And Women’s Embroidery In The Early Republic (1800-1870) , Kathryn Michelle Looff

The Spyglass And The Mirror: The Intelligence State In Conflict And Crisis During The War Of The Spanish Succession , Brandon Wayne Dylan Munda

The Word Of The Body: Gender And The Body In The Writings Of The Bluestocking Circle, 1750-1800 / “Grass Growing Where None Grew Before”: Community, Family, And Identity For New England Seafarers’ Wives, Based On Their Diaries, 1797-1802 , Avonlea Bowthorpe

“This Important War”: The American Revolution And History-Writing In Eighteenth-Century Göttingen / “This Seems To Be A Prelude”: Editorial Creativity In Johann Christoph Saur’s Pensylvanische Berichte, 1739-1755 , Jennifer A. Merriman

Travelogues And Oral Traditions / Sailors, Servants, And Slaves , Dylan Holzer

Unwoven Empire: A Not-So-Natural History Of Environmental Racism And The Transatlantic Slave Trade , Sidney Rose McCall

When The Declaration Of Independence Was News , Emily Jane Sneff

Women In The Records Of The Virginia Company Of London , Martha Louise Reiner

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

A Cherokee Sword And Shield / Crying For Blood , Emily Dixon Magness

Anticipation And Invention: Ideology And Intellectual History From London To Vienna, 1700-1900 , Yasmeen Iman Raffee

Arctic Assimilation: Settler Colonialism And Racialization In The Canadian Arctic And Carlisle Indian Industrial School , Samantha Kramer

Clear-Cut Blues: Violence, Culture, And Labor In The Jim Crow Piney Woods, 1870-1925 , David Marquis

Constitutionality, Compassion, And Convenience / The Consolidation Of Liberty , Evan Riley Stewart

Franklin, Nature, And Authority / Domesticating Pirates , Sydney Sweat-Montoya

'Great Weights Hang By Small Wires': Households And The Making Of The British Empire, C.1650-1713 , Phillip Louis Emanuel

Inside And Out / Dawnland Power , Aidan Kolenik

Macao, Manila, And The Spanish Empire / Litigious Women Religious , Ashley Marie Smouse

Machines On The Farm: Capitalism And Technology In Midwestern Agriculture, 1845-1900 , James Jonathan Rick

Perceptions, Promises, And Power: Anna Maria Falconbridge, The Sierra Leone Company, And The Development Of Freetown, 1791-1802 , Jackson Wood

Seen And Unseen Friends: Becoming Global Citizens In The U.S. Empire, 1914-1941 , Katherine Cartwright

Settlement And Sediment / Segregation And Solidarity , Maxxe R. Albert-Deitch

Spirits Of Settler Colonialism / The Luck Of Jesse Fish , Jenna Lee Hardin

The Age Of Eugenics: Exploring Intersections Of Race, Disability, And Eugenics In United States Culture, 1850-1950 , Jessica Brabble

The British Invasions Of Rio De La Plata. An Atlantic History. 1806-7 , Micaela Miralles Bianconi

The Maritime Frontier: Fear And Forts In Early Modern Anglo-American Seaport Towns , Samuel Aldred Slattery

The Tides Of Time: Temporality And Science In The British Atlantic , Andrew Abrams

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

19Th Century Womanhood In The News: Civil War Women Soldiers And The Early Republic Advice Column “The Ladies’ Friend” , Thalia Maria Chrysathis

A Meaningful Subjection: Kingly Government, Coercive Inequality, And Diplomacy In The North American Eastern Woodlands, 1000-1625 A.D. , Peter Jakob Olsen-Harbich

Credit Is Due: African Americans As Borrowers And Lenders In Antebellum Virginia , Amanda White Gibson

“Fighting Without Firing”/ “My Fellow Slaves” , Kevin Michael Fowler

From Cause To Curiosity: The Underground Railroad And Abolitionism In American Memory, 1865-1945 , Mark Thomas Guerci

Landscapes Of Freedom: Restoring The History Of Emancipation & Black Citizenship In Yorktown, Virginia, 1861-1940 , Rebecca Capobianco Toy

Marketing Agencies For Science: Nonprofits, Public Science Education, And Capitalism In Modern America , Kasey Marie Sease

The Intersection Of Activism And Black Memory: Space, Memory, And Resistance In John Mitchell, Jr.’s Woodland Cemetery And Remembering Emancipation In Hampton Roads, 1917-1963 , Timothy Allen Case

The People Of The Bay: Native Society And Alliance In The Green Bay Region, 1650–1750 , Ian Edward Tonat

To Surrender Their Aspirations And Hopes / Animals Gone Astray , Kai R. Werner

Ulysses S. Grant In Popular Memory / Jewish Quotas At Elite Universities , Shea Simmons

Virginia Society's Response/ Fancy Fantasy , Peighton Lynsey Young

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

A Blanket Of Smoke Over Urban America/Caddies On Early American Golf Courses , Kathleen Loretta Boyce

Across The Atlantic To Jamaica: Enslavement And Cultural Transformations Of The Gold Coast Diaspora During The 18th Century , Phillip Bancroft Nicholas

“An Uncharted Narrative”/“Every Scotchman, Tory, And Jacobite” , Rebecca Albers

Continuities In Native New England: Knowledge In And Of The Atlantic World, 1634-1675 , Yusuf Mansoor

Fraught Labor, Fragile Authority: Households In Motion In Early New England , Caylin Carbonell

Gendered Societies, Sexual Empires: French Colonization Among The Illinois , Michaela Y. Kleber

“Hold For Investigation”: Minnie Atkins And The Contestation Of Indigeneity In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries , Kayla Marie Pittman

Internal Colonialism: Questioning The Soviet Union As A Settler Colonial State Through The Deportation Of The Crimean Tatars/Uranium Fever: Willful Ignorance In Service Of Utopia , Zachary Harris

Memory As A Tool Of Resignification/"The Contested Nature Of Constructing National Identity" , Tyler Jordan Goldberger

“Rather Than Be Suffered To Perish”/The Gendered Language Of Revolution , Elliot Warren

“Riotous And Lawless Proceedings”: Violence, Captivity, And Communication Along The Colonial Mid-Atlantic Frontier/“Great Meetings, In The Night”: An Atlantic Perspective Of The Irish Whiteboys, 1761-1765 , Sarah Donovan

The Assertion Of Federal Authority Reflected Through The Correspondence Of Henry Knox / The Influence Of Southwest Territory Land Claims On Delegate Support For The Ratification Of The Us Constitution In North Carolina , Mark Cullip

"The Role Of Knowledge In Commodification" / Reconceptualizing The Early Modern Dutch Atlantic , Jennifer Ashley Motter

Thomas Paine/“Base Poltroon And Cowardly Tale-Bearers” , Phillip Dudeck

“Those Claiming The Rights Of Freemen Are Themselves The Most Execrable Of Tyrants” / A Taste For Empire , Bennett Herson-Roeser

“Unoccupied And Of A Valuable Kind”/“Dry As The Blood Of Its Builders” , Justin Tyler Estreicher

Unsettling The Little House/Pellegrino Artusi, Italian Cookbooks, And (Northern) Nationalism , Brielle Virginia Popolla

Virginia House Painters 1750-1840/Shad, Herring, And Slavery In The Chesapeake Bay And Albemarle Sound , Jenna Hershberger

“Will-With-The-Wisp”/“May Possibly Pretend To Be A Free Woman” , Tamia Kyana Haygood

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

A School for Leaders: Continental Army Officer Training and Civilian Leadership in the Trans-Appalachian West , David Lawrence Ward

Influencing Empire: Protest And Persuasion In The Stamp Act Period , Molly FitzGerald Perry

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

An Order to Society/A Place Where "You Can Live Freedom" , James Franklin Lowe

Bound among Nations: Labor Coercion in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean , Casey Schmitt

"By the Dear, Immortal Memory of Washington"/The Baptists, Culture, and the Law in Eighteenth-Century Virginia , Douglas Breton

Community and Culture: Material Life in Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1750-1850 , Sarah E. Thomas

Constructing the Non-Western 'Other': Euro-American Interpretations of Race and Gender Among Colonial and Indigenous Subjects , Amy Marie Trostle

Corrupting the Mother Tongue/Broken Constitutions , Megan Whirley

Education Reform in the New American Republic/education and the Charity of Edward Hopkins , Christina L. Beck

Heathen Men and Publicans': Excommunicates, Church Discipline and the Struggle for Freedom of Conscience, 1730-1840 , Samuel Spencer Wells

History of Prostitution/Vampires in the American Republic , Shannon Elizabeth Christensen

Literary Continuities/Imperative Education , Jane Snyder

Making a Home Out of No Home: ‘Colored’ Orphan Asylums in Virginia, 1867–1930 , August Butler

Memories in Stone/Reconstructing the Street , Samuel C. Florer

"Miss Rebecca Story's Book" / "Marrying a Minnister" , Anne Catherine Powell

Settler Colonialism in Russian America/Alaska and the Indian Reform Movement , Ian Lee Halter

Strategic Representations of Black Women in Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Masculine British Print , Joan Elizabeth Jockel

The Family Politic: Free African American Gender and Belonging, 1793-1865 , Elizabeth Joyce Wood

The Public Face(s) of Albinia Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire/"The Shop on the Corner of Wing's Lane" , Alexandra Macdonald

These Graves and Ruinous Houses/So Pertinacious Has Been the Misery , Maddison Jane Rhoa

Watchful Waiting / Money Bags and Cannon Balls , William Sutherland

We Shall Remain: Indigenous Influence in Sixteenth-Century "La Florida" and the Early Twentieth-Century Eastern Arctic , Daniella F. Bassi

Who Have Always Been Secret Enemies/King of the Irish Traders , Ryan P. Langton

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

A mass-produced yet "authentic" food : a transatlantic history of pasta, identity, and national values in Italy and the US, 1890 to 1974 , Melissa Faith Gray

Blood Money: Sex, Family, and Finance in the Antebellum Slave Trade , Alexandra Jolyn Finley

Contesting Identity and Citizenship in National Parks, 1900-1935 , Rebecca Capobianco

Crossroads of Empire: American Fenians Invade Canada , Skye Lynch

“Defenceless Wives” and “Female Furies” / Botany and the Early American Family , Holly Gruntner

Dolly Parton and Southern Womanhood / Race, Respectability, and Sexuality in the Mid-Century South , Madalyn Bell

Fear, Foreigners and Federalism: The Naturalization Act of 1790 and American Citizenship/foundering Friendship: French Disillusionment after the Battle of Yorktown , Cody Nager

Giles Corey as Man, Myth, and Memory / Identity, Family, and Tradition in the Lives of George Robert Twelves Hewes, Robert Twelves, and Boston’s Old South Church , Kaila Knight Schwartz

Masters of Light and Flight/ ”This Most Republican Amalgamation” , James Jonathan Rick

Migrant Nation-Builders: The Development of Austria-Hungary's National Projects in the United States, 1880S-1920S , Kristina Evans Poznan

Native Citizens and French Refugees: Exploring the Aftermath of the Haitian Revolution , Frances Bell

Negotiating American Youth: Legal and Social Perceptions of Age in the Early Republic , Holly Nicole Stevens White

P.s. Don’T Tell My Mother: American Children Debate Race and Civil Rights, 1946-1991 , Cara Anson Elliott

Reading the Gothic at Madame Rivardi's Seminary/Prodigal Sons and Virtuous Daughters , Emily Priscilla Wells

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Thesis Statements

What is a thesis statement.

Your thesis statement is one of the most important parts of your paper.  It expresses your main argument succinctly and explains why your argument is historically significant.  Think of your thesis as a promise you make to your reader about what your paper will argue.  Then, spend the rest of your paper–each body paragraph–fulfilling that promise.

Your thesis should be between one and three sentences long and is placed at the end of your introduction.  Just because the thesis comes towards the beginning of your paper does not mean you can write it first and then forget about it.  View your thesis as a work in progress while you write your paper.  Once you are satisfied with the overall argument your paper makes, go back to your thesis and see if it captures what you have argued.  If it does not, then revise it.  Crafting a good thesis is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process, so do not expect to perfect it on the first few tries.  Successful writers revise their thesis statements again and again.

A successful thesis statement:

• makes an historical argument
• takes a position that requires defending
• is historically specific
• is focused and precise
• answers the question, “so what?”

How to write a thesis statement:

Suppose you are taking an early American history class and your professor has distributed the following essay prompt:

“Historians have debated the American Revolution’s effect on women.  Some argue that the Revolution had a positive effect because it increased women’s authority in the family.  Others argue that it had a negative effect because it excluded women from politics.  Still others argue that the Revolution changed very little for women, as they remained ensconced in the home.  Write a paper in which you pose your own answer to the question of whether the American Revolution had a positive, negative, or limited effect on women.”

Using this prompt, we will look at both weak and strong thesis statements to see how successful thesis statements work.

While this thesis does take a position, it is problematic because it simply restates the prompt.  It needs to be more specific about how  the Revolution had a limited effect on women and  why it mattered that women remained in the home.

Revised Thesis:  The Revolution wrought little political change in the lives of women because they did not gain the right to vote or run for office.  Instead, women remained firmly in the home, just as they had before the war, making their day-to-day lives look much the same.

This revision is an improvement over the first attempt because it states what standards the writer is using to measure change (the right to vote and run for office) and it shows why women remaining in the home serves as evidence of limited change (because their day-to-day lives looked the same before and after the war).  However, it still relies too heavily on the information given in the prompt, simply saying that women remained in the home.  It needs to make an argument about some element of the war’s limited effect on women.  This thesis requires further revision.

Strong Thesis: While the Revolution presented women unprecedented opportunities to participate in protest movements and manage their family’s farms and businesses, it ultimately did not offer lasting political change, excluding women from the right to vote and serve in office.

Few would argue with the idea that war brings upheaval.  Your thesis needs to be debatable:  it needs to make a claim against which someone could argue.  Your job throughout the paper is to provide evidence in support of your own case.  Here is a revised version:

Strong Thesis: The Revolution caused particular upheaval in the lives of women.  With men away at war, women took on full responsibility for running households, farms, and businesses.  As a result of their increased involvement during the war, many women were reluctant to give up their new-found responsibilities after the fighting ended.

Sexism is a vague word that can mean different things in different times and places.  In order to answer the question and make a compelling argument, this thesis needs to explain exactly what  attitudes toward women were in early America, and  how those attitudes negatively affected women in the Revolutionary period.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a negative impact on women because of the belief that women lacked the rational faculties of men. In a nation that was to be guided by reasonable republican citizens, women were imagined to have no place in politics and were thus firmly relegated to the home.

This thesis addresses too large of a topic for an undergraduate paper.  The terms “social,” “political,” and “economic” are too broad and vague for the writer to analyze them thoroughly in a limited number of pages.  The thesis might focus on one of those concepts, or it might narrow the emphasis to some specific features of social, political, and economic change.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution paved the way for important political changes for women.  As “Republican Mothers,” women contributed to the polity by raising future citizens and nurturing virtuous husbands.  Consequently, women played a far more important role in the new nation’s politics than they had under British rule.

This thesis is off to a strong start, but it needs to go one step further by telling the reader why changes in these three areas mattered.  How did the lives of women improve because of developments in education, law, and economics?  What were women able to do with these advantages?  Obviously the rest of the paper will answer these questions, but the thesis statement needs to give some indication of why these particular changes mattered.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a positive impact on women because it ushered in improvements in female education, legal standing, and economic opportunity.  Progress in these three areas gave women the tools they needed to carve out lives beyond the home, laying the foundation for the cohesive feminist movement that would emerge in the mid-nineteenth century.

Thesis Checklist

When revising your thesis, check it against the following guidelines:

• Does my thesis make an historical argument?
• Does my thesis take a position that requires defending?
• Is my thesis historically specific?
• Is my thesis focused and precise?
• Does my thesis answer the question, “so what?”

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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

• Undergraduate
• Honors, Awards, and Research
• Senior Thesis Seminar

Prospective Thesis Applicants

Preparing for the 398 seminar, third-year history majors with a gpa of 3.5 or higher and support from a faculty advisor may apply for admission to the history 398 seminar. applications are due monday, april 15, 2024, by 9:00 am  for students who intend to take the senior thesis seminar in the next academic year. a letter of recommendation from your advisor will be needed to supplement your application..

Students considering an application should begin preparations early, first by completing History 393 and History 395 by the end of their third-year and second by discussing their proposed research with prospective faculty advisers well in advance of the application deadline. Generally, students are best served by approaching faculty they have studied with in the past who work in their research field.

The 398 Seminar

The 398 seminar is a three-quarter sequence taken in the senior year in which senior thesis students prepare a thesis and meet regularly to discuss problems of common interest under the guidance of a faculty member. The seminar typically meets weekly in fall quarter but less often in winter and spring.

Enrollment in 398-1 and 398-2 are mandatory. Students who have otherwise completed their coursework are not required to enroll in 398-3, though all others are encouraged to do so. All three quarters may be counted toward the twelve-course requirement for the History major. Students receive “K” (“continuing”) grades at the end of the fall and winter quarters and then three letter grades at the end of the spring quarter; these three letters grades need not be the same. Seminar grades are decided by the seminar instructor in consultation with individual faculty advisers; the final decision rests with the seminar instructor.

A thesis is an historical analysis based on a student’s individual research using primary materials that makes some original contribution to the field. The variety of methods and approaches currently used in the discipline of history means that no single type of thesis constitutes a model. The originality of the thesis may lie in its explication of untapped sources, its reinterpretations of familiar sources, its new synthesis of existing interpretations, or some other novelty. A thesis will almost invariably include: 1) an introduction to set out the problem, state the argument, limit the scope of the inquiry, and position the thesis in relation to the current state of historical opinion on the topic, 2) a set of chapters to present and analyze the relevant evidence, and 3) a conclusion to summarize the findings and suggest future avenues of research. A thesis is typically 40-60 pages in length including a thorough bibliography.

The final thesis is due in early May to allow your faculty adviser and seminar instructor time to read and review your work in advance of the mid-May deadline for submitting honors recommendations to the College.

Application Process

To apply to the senior thesis program, applicants must submit a thesis proposal and a letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor via our online application.

Applications to the senior thesis seminar AND letters of recommendation are due by Monday, April 15, 2024, by 9:00 am via the online form below.

Admission to the thesis program is decided by the current and incoming instructors of the senior thesis seminar and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Those admitted are generally expected to have both a history GPA and a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. However, no one is admitted solely on the basis of a strong GPA, and we occasionally admit candidates with a GPA below 3.5. The admissions committee is particularly on the lookout for candidates with imagination, analytical acuity, verbal fluency, and personal initiative, and also weigh the degree of enthusiasm evinced in faculty letters of recommendation. Applicants are generally advised of admissions decisions before registration for fall quarter begins.

Writing a Research Proposal

Before they begin, students need to choose a topic that will hold their interest over the long haul and reward in-depth research. Think of the questions or problems that stuck with you from your previous classes. What issues interested you the most? Do you have any special language skills? What kinds of materials do you enjoy working with? Do you feel a special affinity with a particular place or epoch? What sort of question would you like to answer?

All students must secure in advance the agreement of a faculty member to act as their advisor. This faculty member should be knowledgeable in the student’s area of interest. After having given some thought to potential topics, students should approach a prospective advisor and work with her or him to craft a compelling proposal. History senior thesis projects are ordinarily sponsored by tenure-line professors from the Department of History (assistant, associate or full professors). Students may petition to have their thesis advised by a postdoctoral fellow, a visiting faculty member, or a faculty member from another department. Such petitions must be approved by both the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Chair of the History Department prior to submission of the thesis proposal.

Based on this process of thinking, reading, and discussion, applicants prepare a short 1-2 page proposal outlining their proposed topic and its significance. It is important to prepare as concise and coherent a statement as possible at this preliminary stage. Be sure to identify a specific historical problem or question the thesis will address. Indicate the sources that will be consulted. If possible, set your approach within the context of what other scholars working in related areas have written and outline the significance of your proposed contribution. A short bibliography should be included. Your objective is to demonstrate that you have begun to think through the research process, that you have acquainted yourself with relevant materials, and that you are aware of the issues at stake in your project. The proposal should also highlight your abilities, drawing attention to relevant course work, previous research experience, language skills, or other factors germane to the project. Be certain to include the name of a proposed advisor. No one will be admitted to the seminar without faculty sponsorship.

Letter of Recommendation

Once you submit your online application, an email will be sent to your selected advisor, requesting them to submit their letter of recommendation. it is expected that you have already had discussions with your selected advisor prior to completing the application., dual honors.

If you are planning to complete a dual honors project, whether it be an interdisciplinary single project, or two separate theses, please read the information on Weinberg's website . There is an additional form and process required to be approved to complete dual honors.

Students Abroad

Students who study abroad during their junior year may apply for admission to the senior thesis seminar, but must meet the application deadline. Students in this position should contact advisors well in advance of the application deadline since email communication takes longer than verbal exchange.

Undergraduate Research Grants

There are a number of undergraduate research grant (URG) opportunities available to thesis writers and those who apply to the senior thesis seminar are encouraged and expected to seek financial support for their research. Provost-sponsored opportunities include Academic Year and Summer URGs (which carry a $4000 stipend intended to cover living and research expenses). The Office of Fellowships also is a great resource to obtain funding for special interests and research opportunities.  Weinberg College grants include Academic Year grants of up to $1000 and summer grants , which carry up to a $4000 stipend to cover research and living expenses for an eight-week summer period. Additional Weinberg College research scholarships, fellowships and grants include the Katherine L. Krieghbaum Scholarship, a prize one senior thesis writer from each department is nominated for each year, the Herskovits Undergraduate Fellowship Program, which provides funding for research involving NU’s Africana collection, and the Sion Asia-related Research Grants which provide funding for research on Asia-related topics, among others. Additional information may be found on the WCAS website.

New as of 2024!   The Buffett Institute’s International Senior Thesis Research Grant offers awards of up to $6,000 for eight weeks of independent research on a senior thesis, covering travel and living expenses in locations outside the contiguous U.S. as well as research with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities, locally and globally. Applications are due March 17; see more at  https://buffett.northwestern.edu/programs/undergraduate-opportunities/international-senior-thesis-research-grant/

US History Research Paper Topics: Moments that Shaped a Nation

Table of contents

• 1.1 Interesting US History Topics for Research Paper Before 1877
• 1.2 US History Paper Topics on the Civil War
• 1.3 American History Topics for Research Paper on Industrialization
• 1.4 American History Research Topics on Reconstruction
• 1.5 20th-Century American History Paper Topics
• 1.6 US History Term Paper Topics in World War I and II
• 1.7 American History Paper Topics about the Civil Rights Movement
• 1.8 Native American History Thesis Topics
• 2 Which Topics to Choose for History Research?
• 3 Conclusion: Reflections on America’s Past

Exploring the rich and complex narrative of the United States, this article is designed as a resource for students and researchers embarking on assignments that require a deep dive into American history. Perfect for term papers, thesis projects, and detailed historical analyses, the guide presents a curated selection of interesting US history research paper topics.

• We provide a comprehensive guide for students, researchers, and history enthusiasts seeking engaging and insightful topics for their research papers on American history.
• These topics cover critical eras and events shaping America, from the early days before 1877 to the transformative 20th century.

With these good US history research topics in mind, let’s go over each one in-depth, creating a foundation for smart research and analysis.

List of 160 American History Research Paper Topics

History is a rich and complex subject, ripe for exploration in academic research. Whether you’re a student seeking a topic for an assignment or a history enthusiast looking to delve deeper into America’s past, this list offers a diverse range of subjects. From early colonial times to the modern era, each topic provides a unique lens through which to examine the nation’s history.

Interesting US History Topics for Research Paper Before 1877

• The impact of European colonization on Native American societies.
• The Salem Witch Trials: Causes and effects.
• The role of the Seven Years’ War in shaping early American society.
• The Declaration of Independence: Context and legacy.
• The Articles of Confederation: Strengths and weaknesses.
• The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Key debates and outcomes.
• The Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist debate: Impact on the US Constitution.
• The Louisiana Purchase: Motivations and consequences.
• The War of 1812: Causes, course, and outcomes.
• Manifest Destiny: Ideology and impact on westward expansion.
• The Trail of Tears and Native American Removal Policies.
• The role of slavery in antebellum America.
• The Mexican-American War: Origins and effects.
• The Gold Rush of 1849 and its impact on American expansion.
• The Compromise of 1850 and its role in the lead-up to the Civil War.
• The Dred Scott Decision: Implications and controversy.
• The Underground Railroad: Key figures and operations.
• The election of 1860 and its role in the secession crisis.
• The role of women in antebellum America.
• Early American foreign policy: Principles and practices.

US History Paper Topics on the Civil War

• The causes of the American Civil War: A comprehensive analysis.
• Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and its impact on the Civil War.
• The role of slavery in sparking the Civil War.
• Military strategies of the Union and the Confederacy.
• The Emancipation Proclamation: Intentions and effects.
• Key battles of the Civil War: Gettysburg, Antietam, and others.
• The role of technology in the Civil War.
• The impact of the Civil War on civilian life in the North and South.
• The role of African American soldiers in the Civil War.
• The diplomatic dimensions of the Civil War.
• Reconstruction plans: Lincoln vs. Johnson.
• The assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Impact on post-war America.
• The economic consequences of the Civil War for the South.
• The role of women during the Civil War.
• The Draft Riots of 1863: Causes and impact.
• The impact of the Civil War on American literature and art.
• The role of nurses and medical practices during the Civil War.
• The use of propaganda in the Civil War.
• The transition from slavery to freedom during and after the Civil War.
• The legacy of the Civil War in American memory.

American History Topics for Research Paper on Industrialization

• The Second Industrial Revolution: Key innovations and their impact.
• The rise of American industrial tycoons: Carnegie, Rockefeller, and others.
• The impact of the railroad expansion on American society and economy.
• Urbanization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Labor movements and strikes of the late 19th century.
• The rise of monopolies and antitrust laws in the United States.
• The impact of immigration on American industrial growth.
• The role of women and children in industrial labor.
• Technological advancements and their societal impact during industrialization.
• The emergence of consumer culture in the late 19th century.
• The environmental impact of industrialization.
• Social Darwinism and its influence on American society.
• The rise of organized labor and the American Federation of Labor.
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and its aftermath.
• The Homestead Strike: Causes and consequences.
• The impact of the Industrial Revolution on American agriculture.
• The role of education during the Industrial Revolution.
• Transportation innovations and their impact on American life.
• The evolution of American business practices during industrialization.
• The Gilded Age: Wealth, poverty, and social disparity.

American History Research Topics on Reconstruction

• The Reconstruction Amendments: Impact and limitations.
• Presidential vs. Congressional Reconstruction: A comparative analysis.
• The role of the Freedmen’s Bureau in post-Civil War America.
• Sharecropping and tenant farming: Continuation of slavery by another name?
• The rise and impact of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction.
• The Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction.
• The Black Codes: Purpose and effects.
• The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson: Causes and consequences.
• The role of African Americans in politics during Reconstruction.
• Economic challenges of the South during Reconstruction.
• The establishment of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
• The legacy of Reconstruction in the South.
• The Jim Crow laws: Origins and impact.
• The role of women during Reconstruction.
• The Slaughterhouse Cases and their impact on civil rights.
• The Enforcement Acts and their effectiveness in protecting African American rights.
• The impact of Reconstruction on Northern society and politics.
• Education reform in the South during Reconstruction.
• The role of the U.S. military in enforcing Reconstruction policies.
• The long-term effects of Reconstruction on American race relations.

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20th-Century American History Paper Topics

• The Progressive Era: Reforms and key figures.
• The impact of World War I on American society and politics.
• The Roaring Twenties: Culture, economics, and politics.
• The Great Depression: Causes and the New Deal response.
• The impact of World War II on the American home front.
• The Cold War: Key events and American foreign policy.
• The Civil Rights Movement: Key figures and legislative milestones.
• The Vietnam War: Causes, course, and impact on American society.
• The Women’s Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
• The Watergate Scandal and its impact on American politics.
• The Space Race: Technological advancements and Cold War implications.
• The rise of environmentalism in the 20th century.
• The impact of the automobile on 20th-century American life.
• The rise of the American suburbs in the post-World War II era.
• The counterculture of the 1960s and its impact on American society.
• The Reagan Era: Policies and impact on the United States.
• The War on Drugs: Origins, strategies, and consequences.
• The impact of technological advancements on late 20th-century life.
• The rise of the internet and its impact on society and culture.
• The 9/11 attacks and their aftermath on American foreign policy.

US History Term Paper Topics in World War I and II

• The causes and consequences of American entry into World War I.
• The impact of the Treaty of Versailles on post-war America.
• American isolationism between World War I and World War II.
• The Lend-Lease Act and American support for the Allies before entering World War II.
• The attack on Pearl Harbor: Causes and immediate effects.
• The home front during World War II: Women, minorities, and the war effort.
• The role of propaganda in American support for World War II.
• The development and use of the atomic bomb.
• The impact of World War II on American foreign policy.
• The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
• The role of African Americans in World War II.
• The D-Day invasion: Planning, execution, and significance.
• The Battle of Midway: Turning point in the Pacific War.
• American military strategy in the European and Pacific theaters.
• The Holocaust and American responses to it.
• The post-war world order and the establishment of the United Nations.
• The GI Bill and its impact on post-war American society.
• The Nuremberg Trials: Legal and moral implications.
• The Marshall Plan and American post-war economic policy.
• The start of the Cold War: Origins and early confrontations.

American History Paper Topics about the Civil Rights Movement

• The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Causes and outcomes.
• The role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Little Rock Nine and school desegregation.
• The Freedom Rides: Objectives and impact.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Development and effects.
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Importance and consequences.
• The role of women in the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Black Power Movement: Ideals and key figures.
• The impact of the Civil Rights Movement on other minority groups.
• The assassination of Malcolm X: Context and aftermath.
• The Selma to Montgomery marches: Significance and outcomes.
• The role of the NAACP in the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Birmingham Campaign and the use of nonviolent protest.
• The role of the media in shaping public perception of the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Civil Rights Movement in the North: Challenges and Achievements.
• The Economic Bill of Rights proposed by the Poor People’s Campaign.
• The role of music in the Civil Rights Movement.
• The impact of the Civil Rights Movement on American law and society.
• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC): Contributions and challenges.
• The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in contemporary America.

Native American History Thesis Topics

• The impact of European colonization on Native American cultures.
• The Trail of Tears: Causes, course, and consequences.
• Native American resistance movements: King Philip’s War, Pontiac’s Rebellion, and others.
• The impact of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
• Native American life on reservations in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• The role of Native Americans in American wars.
• The Ghost Dance Movement and the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• Native American boarding schools: Policies and impact on culture.
• The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and its implications.
• The American Indian Movement (AIM): Goals and major actions.
• The impact of the Dawes Act on tribal land and culture.
• The role of Native American women in their societies.
• Contemporary Native American issues: Sovereignty, land rights, and cultural preservation.
• The Native American Renaissance: A cultural and literary overview.
• The impact of environmental changes on Native American communities.
• The repatriation of Native American artifacts and remains.
• The role of treaties in Native American history.
• Native American spiritual beliefs and practices.
• The impact of the fur trade on Native American societies.
• Contemporary Native American political activism.

Which Topics to Choose for History Research?

Given the breadth and diversity of US history topics, choosing one to write about can be difficult. To reduce your options, think about your interests and the extent of your investigation. Look for themes that provide a balance of available materials and new perspectives to explore.

When choosing a topic, consider its significance in the larger context of American history. Consider how the topic has influenced or reflected societal, political, or economic trends. For example, topics such as the Civil Rights Movement and World War II provide insights into moments of revolutionary change and struggle.

Also, examine the availability of primary and secondary sources. A well-documented topic provides for a more thorough study and a stronger argument. Always ensure that your chosen topic adheres to the criteria and objectives of your assignment or research aim.

Conclusion: Reflections on America’s Past

In this journey through American history, we have explored various topics that offer a window into the nation’s complex and multifaceted past. From the struggles and triumphs of early American society to the transformative events of the 20th century, these topics provide a foundation for understanding how the United States has evolved. Engaging with these topics enriches our historical knowledge and deepens our understanding of the present. As students, scholars, or simply curious minds, delving into these aspects of America’s past can provide valuable insights and perspectives on the nation’s journey and its ongoing story.

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Thesis and Thesis Project

All public history students must prepare a Master’s thesis based on original primary research and complete a complimentary public history project. At the end of the first year, public history students will apply for candidacy on the basis of their thesis proposal as prepared in HIST 6693 (Historiography). The instructor of HIST 6693 and Director of Public History will then determine whether the student is sufficiently prepared to enter the thesis track. If deemed unprepared, students may be encouraged to pursue the traditional history track via the exam option, or to leave the program.

By the completion of HIST 6693 (generally the end of the first year), all thesis students must set up a Thesis Committee. This will consist of two graduate faculty members from the Department of History and a third member selected from History or another department. The advisor will be the primary instructor who oversees the student’s thesis work, while second and third readers may offer advice and read some of the thesis, although they generally wait to read a completed thesis. All thesis students will meet with their full committees at least twice–first to defend their thesis proposal at the end of HIST 6693, and secondly to defend the completed thesis and project. The Director of Public History need not be a member of a public history student’s thesis committee but will work with the student on her/his public history project and provide written comments to the student’s thesis committee in advance of any thesis defense.

Anatomy of a Public History Thesis

These are merely offered as some general guidelines and are the minimum requirements. Flexibility exists and many students have completed a more traditional History MA Thesis of greater length and a connected public history project.

Part I. Historiography or Review of Literature (10-15 pages)

In addition to the seminar paper, the public history thesis must include a historiography of your topic. This will look much like the historiography chapters of your peers who are working on a traditional master’s thesis. You are not required to have a separate historiography section but the thesis must be grounded in relevant historiography.

Part II. Scholarly essay (25-35 pages)

Any thesis in the master’s program must be based on original research and should add to the literature on the topic. This section will not only serve the purposes of the public history thesis, but would be an adequate writing sample should the student decide to pursue doctoral study. Finally, original scholarship is vital to the preparation of any historian, especially those who enter the field of public history.

Part III. Thesis Project

Students will develop a public history project in conjunction with their thesis topic and in consultation with the Director of Public History. Students may develop a historic preservation project, an exhibit for a museum or historic site, a website or online resource for an organization, or a short film or podcast series (though students are not limited to these choices). This project, which must be made available to the public, provides students with valuable experience in the practical application of scholarship, and prepares them to better serve the general public as they interpret that knowledge for a broad audience.

Senior Thesis

The history major senior thesis.

All history majors at Berkeley take a History 102 seminar, during which they complete their major capstone project, in the form of a thesis paper. Beginning in Fall 2023, the department will be introducing a new History thesis course infrastructure, which offers all history majors a capstone experience. Students pick from one of the following two paths:

1) a  one semester capstone project track

This track enables students to be  eligible for honors , high honors, or highest honors.

2) a  one year capstone project track

This track also enables students to be eligible for honors, high honors, and highest honors.

For more information about the department's honors program, please see our honors page .

The one semester thesis track

The one term senior project preserves the option for all of our majors to be eligible for honors by offering a capstone requirement that is a serious research paper, traditionally called the senior thesis.  Expectations for the one semester capstone track in terms of page length and scholarly engagement will be a paper of between 25-30 pages. Note that well-qualified students might opt for the one-term project over a one-year project for reasons such as participating in study abroad or double majoring.  Effective Fall 2023, highest and high honors will be open to students who choose to do the one semester thesis track.  

The one year thesis track

Students interested in the one-year project track must apply during the summer one year before their intended graduation. Applications will be vetted by the Faculty Committee on Honors. 

A standard fall/spring sequence for the one-year track is expected. During their senior fall, honors students will enroll in the first course, HIST 101A with a designated faculty advisor while they develop their topic, identify and work through relevant primary and secondary sources, sharpen their questions, and produce a robust prospectus. During their senior spring, the same students will enroll in the second course, History 101B.  Expectations for the one-year project track in terms of page length and scholarly engagement will be a paper of between 45-60 pages.

In order to participate in the one-year project track, students must meet the following prerequisites before applying:

• 3.5 overall GPA and 3.7 major GPA at time of application to the two-term program (only UC courses count toward the major GPA); and
• on track to have completed 90 units before the end of their junior year; and
• at least four upper-division history courses completed.

The application for the 2024-25 academic year is now OPEN.

Students can apply using this link .  Please ensure you are logged into your Berkeley email, as you will need it to access the form.  The deadline to submit is Monday, July 8th at 11:59 PM PST.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jump to a section:, the experience, what is a 102 thesis.

Your 102 project is a chance to carry out a piece of original research. You pose and answer a historical question based on independent research in primary sources. You also place your findings in the context of what other historians have said on the topic.

How do I write my thesis?

You carry out your project in a section of History 102 if you are doing the one semester track, typically in your final semester. Each section is limited to 15 students and is centered around a theme. If you are doing the one year track, you will work on your thesis over the course of 2 semesters- HIST 101A in the fall semester and HIST 101B in the following spring semester.  Your instructor will guide you through the process of research and writing.

How long should the thesis be?

It depends on your capstone project track. If you are completing a one-term track, your 102 paper should be 25 to 30 pages in length (papers in excess of 30 pages are not encouraged). If you are completing a one-year track, your 101A/B paper should be 45 to 60 pages in length (papers in excess of 60 pages are not encouraged). 

What are considered primary sources, and to what extent must my thesis be based on them?

Primary sources are documentary materials arising directly out of the historical episode you are studying. They can include letters, diaries, speeches and literature, written records of all sorts, oral histories, photographs, physical artifacts, and other items created by historical figures. Primary sources are the raw material of history, and your thesis needs a strong base in them.

How do I find primary sources?

Your instructor will help you with this, but you should think about it on your own, too. There are sources in the library (published materials, government documents), in museums and archives (artifacts, maps, papers of individuals or organizations, oral histories), and online (digitized collections of primary sources, databases).

Are foreign languages required for topics on non-English-speaking countries?

Clearly, reading knowledge of the appropriate foreign language would be very useful for such topics. However, with the amount of source material available in translation, it is often possible to work around the language problem. Thesis instructors are aware of the issue.

How can I prepare for the capstone project?

You should begin thinking about topics as you proceed through the history major. A paper from a previous class can start you thinking about questions to explore further. The 103 seminar , especially 103s with the R designation (for "research"), will help you understand how historical arguments get constructed. Defining your Field of Concentration (see the Requirements for the History Major) will let you focus on a particular area. You can also explore topics raised by courses outside the department. And good 101 projects often arise from independent research with a professor or in centers like the Regional Oral History Office (e.g., in the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program).

Can I get financial assistance if I need to travel to conduct my research?

There is a limited amount of money available from the History Department. Applications are accepted each semester.  Please see the application form here.  You may apply early, with faculty support for your project, but you will not be reimbursed until you are in a thesis course (HIST 102 or HIST 101A/B). In addition, the Office of Undergraduate Research has competitive grants for summer research. Please see especially the SURF grant and Haas Scholars Program information here .

Can I get more information about the capstone project?

Yes, see the Undergraduate Advisor, or visit an instructor from one of your previous courses or a professor in your field. The 101 student manual is also available here.  *Manual is pending updates!*

Do I have to wait until my final semester to take 102?

You can take 102 at any time during your undergraduate career. It it is strongly recommended that you at least reach junior standing, and it is often good to take 103 first. At that point, however, you should consider taking 102 at any time when it fits your schedule. 102 offerings vary from semester to semester and are listed on the department website. If you see a seminar that interests you, seize the opportunity. Don't count on finding the perfect-fit 102 during your final semester on campus.

How do I sign up for the course?

Sign-ups for 102, as for 103, are conducted via the Undergraduate Advisors. Course descriptions will be posted online at classe.berkeley.edu. After you list your top choices on a form, your section is determined and the class number is provided. Fall semester sign-ups currently take place the week before classes start; spring semester sign-ups, in mid-October.

What do I do if I can't find an appropriate section for a topic I have in mind?

It is almost always possible to "spin" topics to fit into available sections. Please see the Undergraduate Advisors, if you find yourself in this situation. In some semesters, a "Writers' Group" is offered for students who already have well-defined projects. Admission to the "Writers' Group" is offered on the basis of an application made when 102 sign-ups go up.

Do I have to take a 102 or 101A/B in my field of concentration?

Yes, this is required. But if a section directly in your field of concentration is not available, you can usually carry out a project in a related section.

Can I contact a professor to supervise my paper individually?

No, there is no "independent study" thesis course.

Can I take the thesis courses at another school?

No, all thesis courses- HIST 102 and HIST 101A/B must be taken here at Berkeley.

Are the thesis courses offered during the summer?

Is there a difference between a thesis course taught by a grad student and one taught by a professor.

There is no difference in the quality of instruction and supervision. If you will be seeking a letter of recommendation specifically based on the thesis for graduate or law school, you should be aware that a letter from a member of the faculty carries more weight than a letter from a graduate student.

Can I take a thesis course P/NP?

HIST 102 and HIST 101A/B (and all required courses for the major) must be taken for a letter grade.

What is the minimum grade I can get on my thesis course and still graduate?

You can graduate with a "D-" (D minus) in your course, so long as your overall GPA, your GPA in upper-division courses in the major, and your major GPA are all above 2.0.

Does the thesis paper determine if I get honors?

Along with GPA requirements (see the Honors page), your 101 paper contributes heavily to determining if you get honors. This is true for students who declared the major 5/31/03 and after. If you declared before then, consult the earlier major requirements.

What have past students said about completing the thesis?

• "The course was lots of work. I felt lost when I started, but the whole thing really paid off. (I almost decided not to declare the major when I found out about the thesis requirement, but I'm glad I didn't.)"
• "I got to dig into a question of my own and shape it to my interests. It gave me a hands-on feeling for what it means to do history."

What advice do past students give to those about to take the course?

• Jump into the project at the start of the semester; don't imagine you can write it at the last minute.
• Take the time commitment seriously.
• Talk with your instructor — they are there to help you.
• Enjoy it! This may seem ludicrous, but it's a great experience (by the end).

102 (formerly 101) Thesis Database

Undergraduate student research.

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Senior Thesis Projects

There is no senior thesis required for the History of Art major, but students are encouraged to think about a thesis if they are particularly interested in research or are considering going to graduate school in history of art. 

There are several different types of thesis projects that can be completed, as is outlined below. The key thing that they all have in common, however, is that you need a faculty member to advise your thesis. This is typically someone that you have worked with already in a course or have gotten to know. You must identify a faculty thesis advisor, talk to them about your proposed project, and gotten their approval during the semester before you plan to write the thesis in order to move forward. There are no specific length requirements for History of Art thesis projects; this will be determined in consultation with your advisor. But most thesis projects in the department are in the range of 20-50 pages (double spaced, not including images or bibliography) and are submitted with full scholarly apparatus (footnotes, bibliography, images, etc.). 

Questions about thesis projects may be directed towards any undergraduate advisor or faculty member. To register for thesis credit hours (after getting the approval of a faculty advisor), please contact Gabrielle Stephens. 

Thesis Options for History of Art 

Honors Thesis 

Honors students who are majors or double-majors in History of Art should complete a thesis. Full guidelines and requirements for Honors Thesis projects can be found here: https://aschonors.osu.edu/honors/research-thesis   Among other requirements, you must take at least 4 credit hours of HistArt 4999H (either all in one semester or across two semesters) in order to complete the honors thesis. You must also successfully defend the thesis during an oral examination. 

Thesis for Graduation with Research Distinction 

History of Art majors may complete a thesis project for graduation with “research distinction” in their major, according to the guidelines set out by the university. All of the guidelines and requirements for research distinction may be found here: https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/advising/research-distinction-research-thesis   Among other requirements, you must take at least 4 credit hours of HistArt 4999 (either all in one semester or across two semesters) in order to complete the research distinction thesis. You must also successfully defend the thesis during an oral examination. 

Departmental Thesis in History of Art 

Students may also complete a regular departmental thesis in History of Art. This is done via a departmental process, rather than through the wider university, and does not lead to a special distinction on your transcript or diploma. It is, however, a great way to gain research experience in the field. Students who wish to complete a departmental thesis in History of Art must complete 3 credit hours of HistArt 4999. Departmental thesis projects are typically completed in one semester, and are usually shorter than honors or research distinction theses. 

Funding for Thesis Research 

There are multiple funding opportunities for undergraduate research projects; in the past, a number of History of Art majors have successfully applied for these grants and have made trips to study objects/artworks in person or conduct archival research. Talk to your advisor about any of these grants: 

Arts Undergraduate Research Scholarship (link: https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/current-students/undergraduate-students/scholarships-and-grants/research-and-creative-activity/arts ) 

Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Funding (multiple opportunities) (link: https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/current-students/undergraduate-students/scholarships-and-grants/research-and-creative-activity ) 

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Writing a thesis, department schedule of thesis preparation .

The thesis writer and adviser should agree on a working schedule which will adequately conform to the calendar of thesis requirements established by the Senior Honors Adviser. Each of these written requirements should be submitted to the Tutorial Office for review by the Senior Honors Adviser. Paradigms for each of the written requirements are held on file in the Tutorial Office, for consultation.  An updated schedule of departmental dates and deadlines relative to the thesis will be available at the beginning of each Fall Term.  All writers of the senior thesis shall enroll in an HAA 99 for course (and requirement) credit - joint concentrators will enroll in the 99 course of their primary concentration.

Beginning in 2006-07, every concentrator writing a thesis will enroll in the senior thesis seminar in the fall of the senior year. Overseen by the Senior Honors Adviser, the senior thesis seminar will meet several times during the semester for a two-hour session devoted to facilitating the preparation and writing of a thesis. These sessions will cover such topics as compiling a bibliography, using archives, and constructing an effective argument. Late in the semester, each participant will deliver a twenty-minute presentation on his or her thesis topic, illustrated with slides or digitally projected images. All departmental faculty and students will be invited to these presentations. By the end of the semester, each participant in the seminar will submit a complete first draft of the thesis, complete with illustrations.

Application for Pulitzer and Abramson Travel Grants: Early March. See above under Prizes for details on grant and application.

Announcement of Pulitzer and Abramson Grant Awards Mid-March: By letter to the recipients.

Adviser's Review: Early March. Ideally, you should present the full, finished and finalized draft of your text to your adviser for a final review before formal submission to the Department.

Thesis Submission: Mid-March - a week before Spring Break. You must submit your thesis in the afternoon at a Thesis Reception. In exchange for your finely crafted magnum opus you will receive a glass of champagne and our heartiest congratulations. Please do attend this afternoon because a thesis submitted late is usually not accepted.

Reader's Response: after Early May. Senior Honors Theses are read and critiqued by Members of the Faculty and the Museum at the request of the Senior Honors Adviser. Readers' identities no longer remain anonymous.

Faculty Meeting on Honors: Early May. Department Faculty meet to vote on final honors recommendations, after which thesis writers will receive by letter from the Senior Honors Adviser notification of their thesis grade and recommendation for honors. Writers will also receive at this time the written responses of their readers. Students should speak with their Allston Burr Senior Tutor for anticipated final honors decision of the College.

Grading of the Senior Thesis

Theses are read and critiqued by faculty members applying a higher standard than expected for work written in courses or tutorials. Faculty do make use of the full range of grades, and students should consider that any honors grade is a distinction of merit. If you have any questions, please contact the Senior Honors Adviser, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, or the Undergraduate Coordinator at 495-2310.

SUMMA CUM LAUDE: A summa thesis is a work of "highest honor." It is a contribution to knowledge, though it need not be an important contribution. It reveals a promise of high intellectual attainments both in selection of problems and facts for consideration and in the manner in which conclusions are drawn from these facts. A summa thesis includes, potentially at least, the makings of a publishable article. The writer's use of sources and data is judicious. The thesis is well written and proofread. The arguments are concise and logically organized, and the allocation of space appropriate. A summa is not equivalent to just any A, but the sort given by instructors who reserve them for exceptional merit. A summa minus is a near miss at a summa and is also equivalent to an A of unusual quality.

MAGNA CUM LAUDE: A magna level thesis is a work worthy of "great honor." It clearly demonstrates the capacity for a high level of achievement, is carried through carefully, and represents substantial industry. A magna plus thesis achieves a similar level of quality to a summa in some respects, though it falls short in others; it is equivalent to the usual type of A. A magna thesis is equivalent to an A-. For a magna minus, the results achieved may not be quite a successful due to an unhappy choice of topic or approach; it is also equivalent to an A-.

CUM LAUDE: As is appropriate for a grade "with honors," a cum level thesis shows serious thought and effort in its general approach, if not in every detail. A cum plus is equivalent to a B+, a cum to a B, and a cum minus to a B-. The cum thesis does not merely represent the satisfactory completion of a task. It is, however, to be differentiated from the magna in the difficulty of the subject handled, the substantial nature of the project, and the success with which the subject is digested. Recall that, as students putting extraordinary effort into a thesis most frequently receive a magna, theses of a solid but not exceptional quality deserve a grade in the cum range. When expressed in numerical equivalents, the interval between a magna minus and a cum minus is double that between the other intervals on the grading scale.

NO DISTINCTION: Not all theses automatically deserve honors. Nevertheless, a grade of no distinction (C, D, or E) should be reserved only for those circumstances when the thesis is hastily constructed, a mere summary of existing material, or is poorly thought through. The high standards which are applied in critique of theses must clearly be violated for a thesis to merit a grade of no distinction.

Examples of Past Theses 

Senior Honors Theses which are written by students who graduate Summa or Magna are deposited in the University Archives in Pusey Library. Copies of theses which are awarded the Hoopes Prize are held in Lamont. Students are urged to consult past theses as much can be gained in exploring precedent or seeking inspiration.

Discontinuance of a Thesis 

The process of writing the thesis is a serious commitment of time and energy for both the writer and the adviser. In some cases, however, it might be agreed that the thesis should be discontinued at mid-year. The Senior Tutorial HAA 99 may be divided with credit through a procedure in which the student must submit a written paper presenting the project and research to that point.

Guidelines for Writers and Advisers of Senior Theses  

Senior Concentrators wishing to graduate with honors in the Department must write a senior thesis and carry academic standing of Group II or better, with a minimum GPA of 3.00 in concentration grades. In deciding whether one wishes to fulfill the honors requirements the student should consider his/her academic interests, commitment to independent research and other deadlines and obligations during the thesis year. Many students find the task of researching and writing a substantial piece of critical scholarship interesting and rewarding, but others find the senior thesis can become a frustrating and unwieldy burden. Some students prefer the freedom to savor extra-curricular pursuits during their last year at the College unhampered by the encroaching demands of thesis preparation. In general, it may be remarked that students are unlikely to do well in the honors program who are not already committed to this process of scholarship, and proven practiced writers; the senior thesis is not the place to acquire basic skills in writing and research. In considering the Department's honors requirements, it should be remembered that students with honors grades overall may graduate with University Honors (Cum Laude) even if they do not receive Honors in History of Art and Architecture.

Academic Requirements 

The writing and evaluation of the thesis is a year long process, during which the writer meets at scheduled intervals with his/her adviser, to formulate, develop, and ultimately refine their thesis work. The Department has also instituted a "thesis writing seminar" which writers will participate in through the fall term. The thesis is due just before spring break, and is then sent to its readers for their judgment and critique. The final thesis grade and recommendation for honors is determined at a faculty meeting in mid-May. Students working towards a March degree will follow a schedule to finish the thesis in early December.

The Department encourages seniors to think broadly and explore a problem of interest. The thesis topic does not necessarily have to be within the writer's declared major field, except when required for a joint concentration, in which case, the topic must address an issue shared by both concentrations. The thesis should demonstrate an ability to pose a meaningful question, present a well-reasoned and structured argument, and marshal appropriate evidence. The student should apply a clear methodology and be aware of the assumptions behind the argument, the possible deficiencies of the sources and data used, and the implications of the conclusions. The various parts of the thesis should cohere in an integrated argument; the thesis should not be a series of loosely connected short essays. A primary expectation of the thesis is that it is a work of independent scholarship, directed and crafted by the student, with the thesis adviser serving in a capacity of "indirect overseeing of the project".

There is no set pattern for an acceptable thesis. The writer should demonstrate familiarity with scholarly methods in the use of sources, but this should not be the sole criterion for evaluation. Of equal if not greater importance is the development of the central argument and the significance of the interpretation. A thesis may be research on a little-studied problem or a perceptive reassessment of a familiar question. A well-pondered and well-presented interpretive essay may be as good a thesis as a miniature dissertation.

Skill in exposition is a primary objective, and pristine editing is expected.  The department encourages writers to keep to a very short page count, so as to craft a clear, concise paper, and further edit it to an exemplary presentation. In general, a History of Art and Architecture thesis will have a text ranging from 40 to 80 pages, dependent upon the topic. Students are encouraged to explore the resources available to thesis writers at the Writing Center and the Bureau of Study Counsel.

The writer must indicate the source of material drawn from others' work, whether quoted or summarized. Violations of this rule are considered serious and should be brought to the attention of the Director of Undergraduate Studies immediately.

Senior Honors Adviser 

The process of taking honors and writing the thesis in this Department is overseen for all concentrators by the Senior Honors Adviser. The Senior Honors Adviser leads the Fall Term thesis-writing seminar, and directs the meetings for departmental approval once theses have been submitted.  The department Tutorial Office holds examples of the written requirements (Thesis proposal and prospectus) and of the Pulitzer, and Abramson Grant application which students might wish to consult as paradigms.

Thesis Adviser 

Students must seek a thesis adviser who is a full faculty member of the History of Art and Architecture Department or museum curator holding a teaching appointment in this department. The adviser ought to serve as a critic of your synthesized ideas and writings, rather than as a director of your work. The adviser should be chosen with consideration more to compatibility in overseeing the process of the work than to being an expert in the field. Prospective advisers should be approached as soon as you have identified a thesis topic. You should be prepared to show examples of your written work to your prospective adviser. Your verbal agreement with your adviser should be communicated promptly to the Senior Honors Adviser. If you have trouble identifying an appropriate adviser, please consult with the Senior Honors Adviser before the deadline for the Thesis Proposal.

Graduate students in the Department of History of Art and Architecture do not advise Senior Theses.

Thesis Readers 

As voted by majority consensus of department faculty, a new procedure for the reading and grading of senior theses will go into effect. Each thesis will have two readers chosen by the Department, ideally, but not exclusively,one from within the student's area of interest, and the thesis adviser. All readers will be asked to submit written comments and grades, which will be factored equally to produce the final grade of the thesis. Individual grades are not released and the readers no longer remain anonymous, and there exists a procedure by which a writer may request, via the Senior Adviser, to speak with a reader provided that reader is willing to discuss the work in further detail or expound on the written critique.

Grade Report and Honors Recommendation 

At the end of each term, Fall and Spring, the student's progress in the Senior Tutorial (HAA 99) will be graded SAT or UNSAT. At the end of the Department's Honors Review process the Senior Honors Adviser calculates a recommendation for Honors based on the factored grades of the thesis and the student's grades in concentration coursework. This recommendation is presented to the faculty at their meeting in May for review. A faculty vote is taken and this decision is passed as an honors recommendation to the Registrar of the College. The decision of Final Honors to be granted on the degree is made by the Registrar based on departmental recommendation and grades. Students should consult with their Allston Burr Senior Tutor to determine what final honors might be anticipated at Commencement.

The needs of the Department for fair deliberation dictate that there may be no report of decisions regarding the thesis until after the Faculty has considered and voted upon each recommendation for honors. After honors recommendations have been voted by the faculty, students will be notified of the department's recommendation to the College and will receive an ungraded copy of each evaluation of their thesis (the needs of the Department for fair deliberation dictates that there may be no report of decisions regarding the thesis until after the Departmental Honors Meeting). The comments in these evaluations should provide the student with a clear explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis, bearing in mind the difficulties of the field and the type of thesis submitted, and evaluating what was accomplished in terms of what was undertaken, given the student's limitation of time and experience.

Proposal for Senior Thesis Design Projects, Honors Consideration

The History of Art and Architecture concentration asks Harvard College students to select an Area of Emphasis for fulfillment of their degree - either Design Studies or History + Theory. The History + Theory Area of Emphasis has traditionally required the completion of a senior thesis paper and presentation as a product of two requirements in order for the student to be eligible for honors consideration: 1/ completion of course HAA 99a Senior Thesis Tutorial and 2/ discussion of a thesis topic to be studied in said course supported through advisement by History of Art and Architecture faculty over the fall and spring semesters of senior year.

The Design Studies Area of Emphasis orients students toward making-based design courses wherein students develop design experiments engaging disciplinary issues, often incorporative of both historical and contemporary architectural precedents. The primary courses currently offered that address thinking through making include: HAA 179x Tectonics Lab (fall), HAA 92r Design Speculations (fall), HAA 96a Transformations (spring), and HAA 96Bb Connections (spring). An increasing number of Harvard College students who have selected the Design Studies Area of Emphasis are interested in extending their architectural design focus to their conclusive senior year work via ‘creative thesis’ projects. These creative thesis projects would include a hybrid of written text and visual and physical design materials originally produced by the student.

This proposal outlines a draft course requirement guideline and set of final submission requirements for a senior thesis design project that aims to support the design and making-based methodologies as thesis research on a topic of interest while simultaneously paralleling the well-conceived course requirements of the traditional thesis paper and presentation within HAA. This proposal offers that through the requirements outlined here, this senior thesis design project could be eligible for honors consideration for any student pursuing this final thesis option.

Senior Thesis Design Project / Course Requirements for Honors Consideration

Senior Year – fall term

1/ HAA 92r Design Speculations Seminar – required (see fall 2019 HAA 92r syllabus for details)

• course prerequisite: completion of either HAA 96a Transformations or HAA 96b Connections studios
• this course requires students secure a pair of faculty advisor - one from Harvard History of Art and Architecture (HAA) faculty and one from the Harvard GSD to support their research work within the course; course faculty advisor(s) would serve as advising faculty for senior thesis design project
• Megan Panzano, GSD Arch Studies Director, and Jennifer Roberts, HAA DUS, would both help make faculty advisor connections for students pursuing this path

2/ HAA 99a Senior Thesis Tutorial (fall) – strongly suggested to be taken in parallel with HAA 92r above

3/ Presentation of design work to History of Art and Architecture and select GSD faculty as part of HAA Thesis Colloquium (fall) – required

• to be coordinated with senior thesis tutorial presentations usually made to faculty in December of senior year fall term

Senior Year – spring term

1/ Advisement meetings with individual faculty advisors to guide production of design work (architectural analytical drawings and/or physical models) and edits to digital presentation made in fall term to HAA

2/ Submission of final senior thesis design project digital presentation inclusive of photographs of physical models, high resolution originally-produced design drawings as a PDF and descriptive written text to accompany images in presentation*

Senior Thesis Design Project / Submission Requirements for Honors Consideration

Final Project Requirements: A single multi-page PDF file labeled with student’s full last name and first initial and should be submitted containing the following elements:*

• Assemble a visual bibliography of references for your ongoing research project. The references included should be sorted into categories of your own authoring in relation to the research. Each reference should be appropriately cited using the Chicago Manual of Style for recording citations (refer to The Chicago Manual of Style ), and each reference should also include an affiliated image. This bibliography should include a brief annotation, which should comprise a description of the rationale/intention behind sorted categories of research references. This description should be approximately 200 words.
• Discourse , the development of a proposition for the role and significance of architecture relative to the project topic of interest, and
• Context , the relationship of the project topic of study to broader surroundings which include but are not limited to the discipline of architecture, cultural contexts, technical developments and/or typologies.
• The manifesto should take into account the intended audience for the project and use language and modes of communication that reflect this audience in the written text.
• A visual drawing or info-graphic that describes your process of design research on your topic. This will include the criteria for evaluating the project, the steps planned to be taken in examining the topic, and when/where along the process of working it may be necessary to stop and assess outputs and findings.
• High resolution drawings, animations, and/or diagrams and photographs of physical models (if applicable) that have been produced through research. These should be assembled in single-page layouts of slides to follow preceding elements listed here.

 *submission deadlines would parallel HAA thesis paper draft and final submission schedule

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Project Example

Get inspired by NHD projects submitted in previous years’ contests.

Disclaimer: These projects are presented for illustrative purposes only and serve as an example. It may not adhere to the NHD Contest Rule Book’s latest rules, guidelines, or best practices. Consult the Contest Rule Book  for accurate and up-to-date information for each contest category.

Documentary Project Example 4: Wade in the Water: How African Americans Got Back Into the Pool

Documentary Project Example 3: “¡Sί Se Puede!” How the United Farm Workers Grape Boycott Broke Barriers for Social Movements

Performance Project Example 4: The Northern Dream

Performance Project Example 3: “Deeds, Not Words”: How Emmeline Pankhurst Expanded the Frontier of Women’s Rights

Exhibit Project Example 4: Window to the Universe: How the Hubble Space Telescope Revolutionized the Study of Astronomy

Exhibit Project Example 3: Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution: a New Frontier in Agriculture

Paper Project Example 4: The Founding Fathers of Military Medicine: How Hammond, Letterman, and the U.S. Sanitary Commission Crossed a Medical Frontier through Policy and Organizational Reforms

Paper Project Example 3: A “Social Frontier”: Boy Scouts, Progressive Education, and the Turner Thesis

Website Project Example 4: Nidoto Nai Yoni, “Let It Not Happen Again”: Navigating Belonging in the Frontier of Japanese American Identity

Website Project Example 3: A Geopolitical Frontier: The Aleutian Islands, Home of the Unangax^ People

Website Project Example 2: PARC v. Pennsylvania: Pioneering the Right to Education for Children with Cognitive Impairments

Website Project Example 1: Communication Through Cartoons

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Module 4: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests (1763-1774)

Historical thesis statements, learning objectives.

• Recognize and create high-quality historical thesis statements

Some consider all writing a form of argument—or at least of persuasion. After all, even if you’re writing a letter or an informative essay, you’re implicitly trying to persuade your audience to care about what you’re saying. Your thesis statement represents the main idea—or point—about a topic or issue that you make in an argument. For example, let’s say that your topic is social media. A thesis statement about social media could look like one of the following sentences:

• Social media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans.
• Social media are useful tools for social movements.

A basic thesis sentence has two main parts: a claim  and support for that claim.

• The Immigration Act of 1965 effectively restructured the United States’ immigration policies in such a way that no group, minority or majority, was singled out by being discriminated against or given preferential treatment in terms of its ability to immigrate to America.

Identifying the Thesis Statement

A thesis consists of a specific topic and an angle on the topic. All of the other ideas in the text support and develop the thesis. The thesis statement is often found in the introduction, sometimes after an initial “hook” or interesting story; sometimes, however, the thesis is not explicitly stated until the end of an essay, and sometimes it is not stated at all. In those instances, there is an implied thesis statement. You can generally extract the thesis statement by looking for a few key sentences and ideas.

Most readers expect to see the point of your argument (the thesis statement) within the first few paragraphs. This does not mean that it has to be placed there every time. Some writers place it at the very end, slowly building up to it throughout their work, to explain a point after the fact. For history essays, most professors will expect to see a clearly discernible thesis sentence in the introduction. Note that many history papers also include a topic sentence, which clearly state what the paper is about

Thesis statements vary based on the rhetorical strategy of the essay, but thesis statements typically share the following characteristics:

• Presents the main idea
• Most often is one sentence
• Tells the reader what to expect
• Is a summary of the essay topic
• Usually worded to have an argumentative edge
• Written in the third person

This video explains thesis statements and gives a few clear examples of how a good thesis should both make a claim and forecast specific ways that the essay will support that claim.

You can view the  transcript for “Thesis Statement – Writing Tutorials, US History, Dr. Robert Scafe” here (opens in new window) .

Writing a Thesis Statement

A good basic structure for a thesis statement is “they say, I say.” What is the prevailing view, and how does your position differ from it? However, avoid limiting the scope of your writing with an either/or thesis under the assumption that your view must be strictly contrary to their view.

Following are some typical thesis statements:

• Although many readers believe Romeo and Juliet to be a tale about the ill fate of two star-crossed lovers, it can also be read as an allegory concerning a playwright and his audience.
• The “War on Drugs” has not only failed to reduce the frequency of drug-related crimes in America but actually enhanced the popular image of dope peddlers by romanticizing them as desperate rebels fighting for a cause.
• The bulk of modern copyright law was conceived in the age of commercial printing, long before the Internet made it so easy for the public to compose and distribute its own texts. Therefore, these laws should be reviewed and revised to better accommodate modern readers and writers.
• The usual moral justification for capital punishment is that it deters crime by frightening would-be criminals. However, the statistics tell a different story.
• If students really want to improve their writing, they must read often, practice writing, and receive quality feedback from their peers.
• Plato’s dialectical method has much to offer those engaged in online writing, which is far more conversational in nature than print.

Thesis Problems to Avoid

Although you have creative control over your thesis sentence, you still should try to avoid the following problems, not for stylistic reasons, but because they indicate a problem in the thinking that underlies the thesis sentence.

• Hospice workers need support. This is a thesis sentence; it has a topic (hospice workers) and an argument (need support). But the argument is very broad. When the argument in a thesis sentence is too broad, the writer may not have carefully thought through the specific support for the rest of the writing. A thesis argument that’s too broad makes it easy to fall into the trap of offering information that deviates from that argument.
• Hospice workers have a 55% turnover rate compared to the general health care population’s 25% turnover rate.  This sentence really isn’t a thesis sentence at all, because there’s no argument to support it. A narrow statistic, or a narrow statement of fact, doesn’t offer the writer’s own ideas or analysis about a topic.

Let’s see some examples of potential theses related to the following prompt:

• Bad thesis : The relationship between the American colonists and the British government changed after the French & Indian War.
• Better thesis : The relationship between the American colonists and the British government was strained following the Revolutionary war.
• Best thesis : Due to the heavy debt acquired by the British government during the French & Indian War, the British government increased efforts to tax the colonists, causing American opposition and resistance that strained the relationship between the colonists and the crown.

Practice identifying strong thesis statements in the following interactive.

Supporting Evidence for Thesis Statements

A thesis statement doesn’t mean much without supporting evidence. Oftentimes in a history class, you’ll be expected to defend your thesis, or your argument, using primary source documents. Sometimes these documents are provided to you, and sometimes you’ll need to go find evidence on your own. When the documents are provided for you and you are asked to answer questions about them, it is called a document-based question, or DBQ. You can think of a DBQ like a miniature research paper, where the research has been done for you. DBQs are often used on standardized tests, like this DBQ from the 2004 U.S. History AP exam , which asked students about the altered political, economic, and ideological relations between Britain and the colonies because of the French & Indian War. In this question, students were given 8 documents (A through H) and expected to use these documents to defend and support their argument. For example, here is a possible thesis statement for this essay:

• The French & Indian War altered the political, economic, and ideological relations between the colonists and the British government because it changed the nature of British rule over the colonies, sowed the seeds of discontent, and led to increased taxation from the British.

Now, to defend this thesis statement, you would add evidence from the documents. The thesis statement can also help structure your argument. With the thesis statement above, we could expect the essay to follow this general outline:

• Introduction—introduce how the French and Indian War altered political, economic, and ideological relations between the colonists and the British
• Show the changing map from Doc A and greater administrative responsibility and increased westward expansion
• Discuss Doc B, frustrations from the Iroquois Confederacy and encroachment onto Native lands
• Could also mention Doc F and the result in greater administrative costs
• Use Doc D and explain how a colonial soldier notices disparities between how they are treated when compared to the British
• Use General Washington’s sentiments in Doc C to discuss how these attitudes of reverence shifted after the war. Could mention how the war created leadership opportunities and gave military experience to colonists.
• Use Doc E to highlight how the sermon showed optimism about Britain ruling the colonies after the war
• Highlight some of the political, economic, and ideological differences related to increased taxation caused by the War
• Use Doc F, the British Order in Council Statement, to indicate the need for more funding to pay for the cost of war
• Explain Doc G, frustration from Benjamin Franklin about the Stamp Act and efforts to repeal it
• Use Doc H, the newspaper masthead saying “farewell to liberty”, to highlight the change in sentiments and colonial anger over the Stamp Act

As an example, to argue that the French & Indian War sowed the seeds of discontent, you could mention Document D, from a Massachusetts soldier diary, who wrote, “And we, being here within stone walls, are not likely to get liquors or clothes at this time of the year; and though we be Englishmen born, we are debarred [denied] Englishmen’s liberty.” This shows how colonists began to see their identity as Americans as distinct from those from the British mainland.

Remember, a strong thesis statement is one that supports the argument of your writing. It should have a clear purpose and objective, and although you may revise it as you write, it’s a good idea to start with a strong thesis statement the give your essay direction and organization. You can check the quality of your thesis statement by answering the following questions:

• If a specific prompt was provided, does the thesis statement answer the question prompt?
• Does the thesis statement make sense?
• Is the thesis statement historically accurate?
• Does the thesis statement provide clear and cohesive reasoning?
• Is the thesis supportable by evidence?

thesis statement : a statement of the topic of the piece of writing and the angle the writer has on that topic

• Thesis Statements. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/wp-admin/post.php?post=576&action=edit . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Thesis Examples. Authored by : Cody Chun, Kieran O'Neil, Kylie Young, Julie Nelson Christoph. Provided by : The University of Puget Sound. Located at : https://soundwriting.pugetsound.edu/universal/thesis-dev-six-steps.html . Project : Sound Writing. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Writing Practice: Building Thesis Statements. Provided by : The Bill of Rights Institute, OpenStax, and contributing authors. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:L3kRHhAr@7/1-22-%F0%9F%93%9D-Writing-Practice-Building-Thesis-Statements . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected].
• Thesis Statement - Writing Tutorials, US History, Dr. Robert Scafe. Provided by : OU Office of Digital Learning. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjAk8JI0IY&t=310s . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

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Home > College of Liberal Arts > History > Culminating Projects

Culminating Projects in History

Culminating projects from 2022 2022.

Huskies Go to War: St. Cloud State During the World War II Era , Kayla Stielow History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2020 2020

Trial by Fire: Cultural Complacency, Institutional Learning, and the Development of the Fire Warden System in Minnesota, 1870-1920 , Blake M. Johnson History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2018 2018

Miter and Sword: Fighting Norman Bishops and Clergy , Timothy Robert Martin History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Ojibwe Absent Narratives in Minnesota Forest Park History , Elizabeth Steinson History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2017 2017

“Extermination or Removal”: The Knights of the Forest and Ethnic Cleansing in Early Minnesota , Catherine M. Coats History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Cokato Through August Akerlund's Lens , Johanna M. Ellison History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Families on the WWI Home Front , Melissa Peterson History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Stalin: From Terrorism to State Terror, 1905-1939 , Matthew Walz History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2016 2016

The Register and the Wrecking Ball: A Case Study of Four Minnesota Carnegie Libraries and What They Reveal About the Destruction and Preservation of Historic Structures , Karah Hawkinson History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

“Not with Sword and Spear”: The Evolution and Disintegration of the Anglo-Powhatan Economy, 1622-1646 , Steven J. Schroeder History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2014 2014

Highway 83 Revisited: Small Towns Rerouted by School Reform , Paul David Anderson History: M.A. Thesis

"Uniquely American": The Great Northern Railway, the Blackfeet, and the Creation of a National Identity in Glacier National Park, 1910-1935 , Caitlin A. Carlson History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2012 2012

Art Acknowledged and Disregarded: Art and Its National Context at St. Cloud State University , Krista L. Lewis History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2011 2011

Norwegian Immigrants and Adaptation: The Evolution of Concordia Lutheran Church in Edmore, North Dakota , Jacqueline A. Johnson History: M.A. Thesis

A Psychological Analysis Of Stalin , Brian Junkermeier History: M.A. Starred Paper

Hirohito's Role In Japanese Military Decision Making , Brian Junkermeier History: M.A. Starred Paper

Culminating Projects from 2008 2008

Crystal, Minnesota and the American Suburb , Matthew Ottinger History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

Minnesota And The Age Of Railroads , Jay Timmerman History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2007 2007

Stalin, Jews, and the Nationalities Question , Kazimir B. Gazdzik History: M.A. Thesis

A Western Brand for Religion: The Baptist Anti-Mission Movement in the First American West, 1790-1840 , David Mead History: M.A. Thesis

Real Potemkin Villages : Pokazukha and Propaganda in the Soviet-Cuban Connection , Michael Thomas Westrate History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2006 2006

Adapting with the Times: The Railroad Depot in South Dakota, 1873 to 2006 , Jason B. Haug History: M.A. Thesis

"Under Every Tree:" The Relationship Between Agriculture and Sawmilling in Central Minnesota , Kyle L. Kohl History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2004 2004

Barden Park: A Case Study in Preservation , Richard E. Kelly History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

The Development of An Artist's Paradise: Minnesota Landscapes: 1840-1940 , William J. Wittenbreer History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2003 2003

Changing Times, Changing Themes: An Exhibit Proposal of the Historical Occupancy at the Library Site from 1849 to 1869 , Jaime Yap Special Studies: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 2000 2000

Newspapers and the Spanish American War: Effects on a Midwestern Community , Steven C. Penick History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 1998 1998

St. Cloud's Munsinger and Clemens Gardens: A Public Legacy , Ann Marie Johnson History: Public History: M.A. Thesis

The 13th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment and the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, 1898-1899 , Kyle Ward History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 1995 1995

The Gold in the Hill , Jeffrey Clark Wood Special Studies: M.A. Creative Work

Culminating Projects from 1993 1993

"Been A Long Time A 'Brewing": A History of the Minneapolis Brewing Company, 1890 - 1975 , Michael R. Worcester History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 1976 1976

The Siege of Herat: 1837-1838 , John Carl Nelson History: M.A. Thesis

Culminating Projects from 1963 1963

Account of Winnebago Indian Affairs at Long Prairie, Minnesota Territory: 1848-1855 , Edward J. Pluth History: M.S. Thesis

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