Choosing a History IA Topic

The History IA was the first IA I ever wrote, and it was almost definitely my favorite. I got to study something I really enjoyed because I chose a topic I was passionate about it, and it paid off- I have no doubt my IA contributed to my 7 in SL History. Not sure where to start? Let's walk through the process of choosing a History IA .

This is the first step in your IA process, and it can definitely feel daunting- after all, you are choosing a topic to commit to for the next three to four months, so you want to make sure its bearable at least, fun at best. Generally, I would say the first step is to consider what you're interested in. For instance, my favorite period to study is 1950's- 2000's America, but for some people that might be the Civil War or Vietnam. I feel like it's very overused advice to say to choose something you're interested in, but it's true that it makes the process much more enjoyable.

If you're not a history person and your goal is more getting by than showing out, my advice would be to choose a focus that you very clearly understand/ remember the events of. If you don't remember what happened during WWII, don't choose a WWII topic.

After you pick a historical period, narrow in on a specific focus. Even though the IA is 2,200 words, you'll only get about 1500 to discuss the actual events, so make sure your focus is small enough for that to be a sufficient discussion. Another thing to be conscious of is the number of sources available to your topic- studying something in the Middle Ages will likely have significantly fewer primary sources than something more modern. That doesn't mean you can't do something from a less documented time period, but do a quick source check on the internet before you commit.

One of the biggest errors that people make when choosing a topic is picking something that is not argumentative. For example, my topic discussed which factors caused Jimmy Carter to lose the 1980 presidential election, and I compared the failing economy to the impact of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Although I ultimately argued on behalf of the economy, there was a decently strong case for the other side as well. If you can't make at least a somewhat convincing argument from both sides, it's not a strong topic.

The other aspect of having an argumentative topic is making sure you're evaluating one thing against another. I was confused by this at first, but it's usually not a good idea to do something like "to what extent did the Battle of Normandy change the trajectory of WWII" and have your two sides be that it did or it didn't. You need 2 opposing factors, so you might argue one side for Normandy being the turning point in the war and one side for Stalingrad. This will make for a much stronger paper and give you enough substance to fill the word count without fluff.

Something to remember that can be a little bit difficult getting used to is that your topic, question and focus are fluid. I started out thinking that I was going to write exclusively about the Iran Hostage Crisis, but as I researched, I found something related that not only interested me more but provided a more solid basis for my IA. Don't be afraid to go down a rabbit hole and find a different direction.

Oh. And don't choose Hitler. #1 most overused topic. (It's not actually that bad but maybe try to find other things first).