History Subject Guide — Research Topics and Questions in History

Choosing a General Area for Research

Start by reviewing what the expectations are for your paper or project. Are there specific places and times that you need to focus on? What broad areas of history are appropriate for this paper or project? For instance, is it a class that emphasizes political events, or social change, or economic developments? What things interest you that are related to the main emphases in the class? For example, if it is a class that emphasizes economic developments, you might be interested in the changing role of women in commerce.

When you start to look at scholarly works in a broad area that interests you, think about these things: How do the authors describe their topics? Are there key terms (words or phrases) that might be useful in doing a search for more information? Are there specific places or times that are more or less represented in the scholarship around a particular topic? Are there overlaps between broad topics that might let you combine them to expand or narrow your own research?

Narrowing Your Topic

Once you’ve done some initial thinking and research into some broad topics, you will need to narrow your own research topic down to fit your assignment. What are the expectations around the length of paper or project? For instance, if you are writing a 10-12 page research paper, you can’t possibly cover a topic that many scholars have written entire books about, such as the American Revolution. What specific aspect of the Revolution could you focus on? Also consider the expectations around the use of primary and secondary sources. Are there enough secondary sources (peer-reviewed journal articles, edited essay collections, or monographs) to support your analysis of a narrow topic? Are there primary sources available in a language you can read, and are they available to you—either through the UConn Library or interlibrary loan, or digitized and open access?

Developing a Research Question

After narrowing your topic you will need to form a research question. Research questions often begin with “how” or “why”—for instance, you might ask why enough colonists in North America decided that a monarchy was no longer necessary to govern them, to gain wide support that their rebellion was eventually successful. Then examine your sources to see what kind of evidence they provide to answer your research question. You may need to adjust your research question, and the thesis statement that will answer it.