Extended Essays in History
Choosing a History Topic
Start with a topic in history that you are interested in learning more about. Once you have a broad idea, such as Ancient Egypt or The Cold War you can consider some "limiters" these are concepts that you can apply to your topic to make it more specific.
| causation | focusing on the causes of a particular event |
continuity |
focusing on the ways in which things have stayed the same over time, for better or for worse |
geography |
focusing on the ways in which a concept or event played out in a particular place |
| consequence | focusing on the effects of a particular event |
significance |
focusing on how much influence a person, event, or concept had on something else |
time period |
focusing on the ways in which a concept or event played out in a particular time period |
| change | focusing on the ways in which a place, person, or concept have evolved or decayed over time | perspectives | focusing on the variety of different ways to perceive a particular person, event, or concept | groups of people | focusing on the ways in which a concept or event played out among a particular group of people |
Topic Examples:
| Broad Topics | Focused Topics |
| The overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan | An examination of the economic reasons that led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. |
| Denazification in Germany after the Second World War | An evaluation of the success of denazification carried out in the US zone of Germany 1945–48. |
| The introduction of collectivization in the Soviet Union | An examination of the extent to which the Holodomor in the Ukraine 1932–1933 was a failure of Stalin’s policy of collectivization. |
| The coup against Allende in 1973 | An examination of the extent to which the overthrow of Allende in 1973 was the result of external factors. |
| History Sources |  |
| Students who use both primary and secondary sources for their research will find it easier to achieve the highest marks. If a student chooses to use only secondary sources, they will need to take particular care to address the assessment criteria. | |
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In Context Databases Gale In-Context databases offer topic pages and the Topic Finder search feature. This video will show you how to use topic pages.
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Browse Topics in: |
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Browse Issues in: |
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Gale OneFile Databases Gale OneFile databases have two features to help you find search words as well as topics and sub-topics. Use the "subject guide search" feature in Gale OneFile databases to help you find good search terms.(tutorial video). Use the "topic finder" to help you find good topics and sub-topics (tutorial video) |
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CUNY Databases Access to this collection of primary-source databases is provided by CUNY. Here you can find lots of primary source material on a variety of topics from as far back as the 1400s! These six individual databases also use the Topic Finder as well as a "Term Frequency" search. |
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Ten Year Rule
Extended Essays in history must focus on events more than 10 years old in order to be acceptable. Any essay that does not will be compromised across several criteria.
Approaches to Research
