IA Russian Revolution of 1917

[accordingleaf]

What is a good IA topic for the Russian Revolution of 1917?

Edited August 8, 2012 by accordingleaf

[Julie]

My IA was on the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921 so we're close

I would begin looking for a topic by looking at:

• Different political parties/people involved
  
• Any major documents created at the time
  
• Who were the main people involved
  
• Will you focus on both the February and October Revolution or just one?
  
• What controversial topics arise from your research
  

• responsible people/individuals
  
• causes/effects/outcome
  
• reasons stated vs. real reasons
  
• etc
  

[Proletariat]

In terms of sources, don't ebooks count? My school has signed up for several databases, and being able to internet the stuff instead of reading texts was incredibly helpful.

As for a topic, I agree that something controversial would be a great way to start. One possibility's taking up that propaganda idea again, but looking at how the Bolsheviks in the 20s propagandized the events of 1905 and/or 1917.

Another would be examining how much of 1917 could have been prevented. Nicholas II sealed his fate in much of what he did (or, I suppose, what he didn't do) after 1905. If Trotsky had joined the Mensheviks would October have happened?

[accordingleaf]

Thanks for your suggestions guys! I guess the biggest hindrance to my IA are my sources. My school got stuck in a weird position where it had enough money before to pay for the IB program but then can barely afford to have it. The IB students here are very few in numbers (25 this year so not that bad) and all of us dread the program because of all the limitations we have (classes, materials). So now, I'm having trouble finding good sources at the school library or the internet. (Any search on propaganda will bring up Stalin... for pretty obvious reasons). I did eventually find one I guess decent place for materials here:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook39.html

It's part of an internet history sourcebook. It's a mass of various public domain materials gathered together for convenience. Doesn't look like it has been updated in a while but it's much better than the book sources I have now. I ended up buying a decent sized book on the russian revolution titled: The Russian Revolution.

I wish my school had better sources available but I gotta make do with what I have. I guess the best I can do is pick a topic that I can find some sort of information on and then push for a 10-12 / 20.

Man, this comes close to frustrating me as much as the EE did.

Oh, and to address Julie, I want to do the February Revolution but I'm probably going to lean toward whichever topic I can get the best info on. I remember that I thought I was pretty safe picking the propaganda topic... until I couldn't find any decent information from sources the teacher would accept. I guess life's funny like that... or at least ironic.

Edited January 9, 2011 by accordingleaf

[Julie]

Use this to find ebooks... It is where I was able to get most of my information:

scholar.google.com

If google doesn't let you see the whole book, they will let you see sections of it. I got lucky that the sections I needed were available for viewing...

Another thing, once you find a good secondary source (like a historian analyzing the topic or something like that) look at his references and check up those as well. It was so useful...

By the end you can find a lot just using the internet...

Also, you can request a free trial on this webstie, and it is amazing for research. Maybe the free trial will last long enough for you to get all the research you need and save it to your computer.

http://www.ebscohost.com/

Good luck