Thesis paper

[Tiggeroo]

Has anybody had to do this? I am only getting an undergrad degree but it's a requirement for my particular degree. Aargh. I'm in the first class for it called Historical Research Methods. I need to have a topic soon. Next semester is a class for finishing it.
How did you pick your topic? How much did you narrow it down? My area of interest is history and underwater archeology and maritime history.
Possible areas to go with this are:
Piracy - economic and social factors leading to it, including modern day piracy both sea and technology/digital.
Piracy on the east coast of the US and piracy's affect on the early
formation of our country
Women in piracy, a means to equality
Shipwrecks - the history of plundering them
- as time capsules of ordinary man
- cooperation of various historians and scientists in their preserv.
- east coast shipwrecks and the value they can give historians
Port Royal - the economic influence of this area on trade of the 17/18th
centuries
- the affect of the earthquake there on trade
I don't really know. I love every type of history. I also have a fondness for ancient egyptian history, historical literature and it's affect on the field, etc...

 

[Crankyshank]

It depends on the major and the school. I'm a history major and I have to do an undergrad thesis. I'm either going to do it on the plague and its effects on trade and the exploration of the new world, or on the whaling trade in New England. I have a year to decide.

I think your choices are all pretty good. I would start by seeing what research material is the best. I think "Piracy on the east coast of the US and piracy's affect on the early formation of our country" would probably be a really cool topic

 

[bananiem]

I like the idea of the plundering of shipwrecks or the value of shipwrecks to historians.
Good luck!
I have a masters or possibly phd thesis picked out. Now I just have to get the courage to do it.

 

[Princess89]

Yeah I had to do one as well for undergrad. I have a dual degree in History and Political Science, and it was required for both.

The shipwrecks one would give you plenty of material given your area of interest.

 

[luvmydogs]

My undergrad degree required a thesis and oral defense of it in front of my department heads. I had a double major in Bio. and Psych., and fortunately was allowed to combine both fields into one thesis instead of having to do two separate ones! I can't begin to tell you how happy I was when that semester was all over.

How much direction and guidance are you getting from your advisor, and is s/he willing to help you narrow down your choices based upon things like relevance to your major, possible carrer opportunities to which your research could eventually apply or the topics in which you're most interested? Those are all things my advisor discussed with me when we were looking over my different ideas.

I love the shipwrecks idea--it sounds really interesting from a reader's perpective!

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

The first half of my senior history thesis paper is due tomorrow.
Our historical research methods class is called History Today: Debates/Practices which I took my sophomore year and we write the thesis fall semester, then take our oral comp spring semester.
I am writing on the Hurricane of 1938 in Long Island and New England which took the region by surprise. I am arguiing that lives, property, and the New England way of life could have been saved had the US Weather Bureau done their job and forecasting this storm as a hurricane, instead they said heavy rain and ignored any ideas suggesting otherwise. There were no hurricane warnings or watches issued for the reason. In addition, the Bureau did not believe that a hurricane could hit full strength that far north and informed the residents of that, therefore no one believed a hurricane could hit them so no one knew what to do. Most people did not even realize it was a hurricane and thought it was a typical nor'easter.
Most people have never heard of this storm.

When picking a topic you need to make sure you can argue something. Not only must you be able to argue something, you need to be able to support that argument with primary sources. Secondary sources will not help support the argument...primary sources are a must.

Also if your school has access to Interlibrary Loan USE IT! I go to school in Indiana and all of my books came out of New England so without them I would have no thesis.

 

[Tiggeroo]

We have a fantastic interlibrary loan program so I can get things from just about anywhere. DOAC - I love your idea. It is very interesting. I believe I saw a special recently on this storm which showed among other families, Kathryn Hepburn and her family losing their home and barely escaping. It was interesting and very sad. Especially a scene with schoolchildren on a bus.
I will have the same professor for this class and the next one and he's very helpful. I already submitted potential topics which he critiqued but he likes almost all of them. Our assignement for this week is to locate 10 sources, these can be secondary. We are also going to the national archives in Phila. this month to look at some primary sources. My career options are as a safety to teach high school history but also to go to grad school, perhaps underwater archeology with university or museum work and writing as a big wish list plan. There are primary sources but one of the things that interested me about this topic is how little it is covered. Especially the lack of course work at the university level and historical texts, rather then romanticized writing in the field. We live an area with a large number or wrecks and yet history majors are receiving very little information on this field.

 

[LukenDC]

I had to write a thesis for my undergraduate history degree at Yale. The focus of my major was Chinese history with a special emphasis on the "two-China" issue. I wrote about the political and diplomatic history of Chinese participation in the Olympic Games.

The most important thing is to select a subject that you feel passionate about and for which there are resources to sustain research and the writing of a substantial paper.

 

[themarquis]

I used to teach college composition classes. Two general suggestions I always give:

1. Pick a topic that you are excited about. Is there one on your list that makes your heart race to think about? Are there others which seem do-able but a bit dull? You will be working on this for an extended period of time -- don't select a project b/c your advisor or your friends picked it. You need something that will sustain your interest during the entire writing process.

2. pick a topic that is both broad and narrow. Broad enough to provide plenty of material to fill up 50 pages or whatever the length requiremet is; narrow enough so that you can really "cover" it instead of just skimming over the surface. Two of your topics are definitely in the "broad" category -- "Piracy - economic and social factors leading to it, including modern day piracy both sea and technology/digital." and "Shipwrecks - the history of plundering them" seem too broad (though fascinating!). These two topics could be modified to make them more narrow -- i.e., the history of plundering shipwreaks in a certain area or during a certain time period; the relationship between one or two particular case studies of sea piracy and digital piracy; etc.

good luck-- sounds like you have lots of fun ideas.

 

[maleficent1959]

Tiggeroo, I sent you a PM about grad school.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

The first half of my senior history thesis paper is due tomorrow.
Our historical research methods class is called History Today: Debates/Practices which I took my sophomore year and we write the thesis fall semester, then take our oral comp spring semester.
I am writing on the Hurricane of 1938 in Long Island and New England which took the region by surprise. I am arguiing that lives, property, and the New England way of life could have been saved had the US Weather Bureau done their job and forecasting this storm as a hurricane, instead they said heavy rain and ignored any ideas suggesting otherwise. There were no hurricane warnings or watches issued for the reason. In addition, the Bureau did not believe that a hurricane could hit full strength that far north and informed the residents of that, therefore no one believed a hurricane could hit them so no one knew what to do. Most people did not even realize it was a hurricane and thought it was a typical nor'easter.
Most people have never heard of this storm.

When picking a topic you need to make sure you can argue something. Not only must you be able to argue something, you need to be able to support that argument with primary sources. Secondary sources will not help support the argument...primary sources are a must.

Also if your school has access to Interlibrary Loan USE IT! I go to school in Indiana and all of my books came out of New England so without them I would have no thesis.

This sounds a lot like the hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, TX! There is even a book about it. Lots of ghosts around here because of it.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Thought I'd just add a li'l .02 on this,
you might want to consider this thesis (Bachelor's)
as a foundation for maybe a future Master's and
so on. Just a thought. And most of all,
Good Luck to ya

 

[pogo791]

Tiggeroo,
Picking a topic and actually getting it done may sound more daunting then this should be. Remember, hundreds of thousands of students have done this before, and there is no real secret to it. You've already got excellent advice from Daughter, Luken, Marquis and others!

I'm not sure of what the requirements are at your university, but assuming a 50-page paper, the paper can't be too broad. What you need is a topic in which you are interested, and where there are secondary (ideally, also primary!) sources available.

With topics like "Shipwrecks as Time Capules of Ordinary Man" or "East Coast Shipwrecks and the Value They Can Give Historians," I would start the paper with general background, but then focus on a specific shipwreck (and title the thesis accordingly). A topic like "Women in Piracy: A Means to Equality" might be difficult for two reasons - the topic has been covered before, and it would require combining your own interest in maritime history with social science. (Of course, if you're interested, go for it!)

Your first example, "Economic and Social Factors Contributing to Piracy, Including Modern Day Piracy Both Sea and Technology/Digital" is wa--ay too broad. Even focusing on modern day maritime piracy is too broad (besides, for example Adler and Mueller have already written on this). However, if you cut it down for example to the factors contributing to the modern resurgence of piracy in South-East Asia, or off the African coast, I think you've got a winner.

"Piracy's Impact on the Early Formation of the United States" sounds somewhat ambitious. You would have to tease out the economic, social and political impact, for one. (I could throw in the impact of piracy on the development of seamanship or on naval warfare just to show the many directions it could lead.) Again, you might want to narrow this one down.

"The History of Plundering Shipwrecks" is, again, somewhat general. There appears to be an extensive literature on this. (Great stuff exists, for example, about the economics of plundering shipwrecks off the Scottish coast - this has even been turned into a movie.)

You have a fascinating list of topics right here. I'm not sure how you could mix in your fondness for ancient Egyptian history, but if you veer off to ancient Mediterranean history, there is again a rich area ripe for mining. Just going through some back issues of National Geographic could spark off some ideas. Besides, think of the future possibility of combining research and pleasure on the spot!

I think your best bet is making a list of topics like these and going over them with your professor, who would have a better idea of what sources exist, and how to access and use them.

Good hunting!