IA Help with History IA topic!

[RiahG22]

I'm wondering if you guys can help me.. I'm just starting my History IA and have the question: ""To what extent did the Bataan Death March contribute to anti-Japanese propaganda during world war two?"

 

I don't know if this is a good question, as it is not exactly arguable..I'm so confused as to what a good research question should look like.

[Thrashmaster]

When people ask for help for History IA questions, I usually tell them that the IA isn't about coming up with something ground breaking. Instead, you're doing a simple, structured history research paper. In fact, it might seem dumb, but choosing a well-worn topic for the IA isn't a bad idea. As an abstract, random example, let's take "TWE did the Constitution of the United States represent the goals of George Washington?" For this question, you'd look up speeches, diaries, letters, whatever primary sources and then compare then to the document at hand. You can come to a good conclusion at the end, even if it's an obvious answer. 

 

In some ways, the IA isn't about your content as much as it is proof that you can write a good paper. That's why they break up the sections - so it's easier to identify which parts you're better at. Your question sounds more like an EE than a short history IA. Obviously, there's a very wide selection of topics to choose from, but I'd recommend choosing something more answerable in simple terms. "Yes, to a large extent, this was true, except for these limitations..."

[isaiguana]

History IA questions have to be specific enough to avoid having to collect too much information but vague enough to actually have credible information on the subject (that is, not a shady website or Wikipedia page). For example, my IA question is: "How successful were Stalin's economic reforms under the First Five-Year Plan?"

I chose this research question because I knew there would be a lot of information about Stalin's First Five-Year Plan in the form of books and database documents, but also because I knew exactly how to go about answering the question (comparing the goals to the results). Because I don't know too much about your research question, I think you should ask yourself the following questions about it:

1. Is it interesting to me? 

2. Is there enough credible information about it? 

3. Is it specific enough?

4. How will I go about answering the question? (that is, will you compare causes and effects, plans and results, events and propaganda, etc. and in what ways)

Your answers to the first three questions should be "yes". The last one will take some judgement on your part as you have to figure out how to show that the Bataan Death March contributed to anti-Japanese propaganda, or perhaps how it did not, and decide if it is a promising approach (or if your research question should be changed). You could use propaganda posters, attitudes to the Japanese, etc.

You mentioned that you do not think that your question is arguable. Since I do not know much about your topic, I'm not sure about this. Generally, it should not be a completely obvious question. Perhaps you could ask your teacher or some classmates what they think of this choice. I hope I was of some help.

[Terminator]

Completely agree with the posts above. 

 

My history told me that its key that you understand the word 'investigate'. Basically, the moderator is testing if you can come up with a topic, but more importantly, investigate it to IB's requirements.

 

Are you using enough sources? How are you organizing your sources? Do you consider multiple interpretations? What, according to you, is the conclusion? etc.

 

A topic isn't nearly as important as how you deal with it!