History special topic project!

imakenoise

End of 5th year now and i cant think of anything to do for my project and have to start preparation for it next week.Was just wondering what some people did here and if it was interesting so i could get some ideas of what to do for mine.
Thanks.

Riotguy

It took me ages to find a topic as well...well, one that appealed to me and that was already sufficiently researched, with enough credible sources.

I settled on Elizabethan espionage and Elizabeth I's secret service.

A word of advice, try to pick something v. unique, an examiner will always be impressed if you've tackled an unorthodox subject, prefarably, something that's not covered on the LC syllabus.

turgon

I agree with point above

As well make sure you can get information on your chose topic. Dont pick like "the history of honey making in south western Australia" cause you just wont get the information!!!

I picked "David Livingstone and African Exploration". Quite easy to do to be honest.

titan18

Pick something that you're interested in so you'll actually do the work for it.Something unique as you have a better chance to get marks.So for that try to stay away from anything to do on the rising or War of Independence aswell as Battle of Britain,Somme,Atlantic.

I did Mussolini and Hitler's influence in sport.I doubt anybody has ever done that and the whole corruption in sport is something I'm interested in.

deise_boi

I handed in mine there a few weeks ago about Irish emmigrants in America who worked on a specific railroad in Pennsylvania in 1832 (all 52 died within 2 months of arrival). I found watching programs like Hidden History quite useful for picking some non-obvious topics to research.

The one bit of advice I could give is to really pick something you have an interest it. I've seen people pick topics because they percieve them to be easy rather than interesting... then they find it awful trying to wade through books to narrow it down.

Enjoy it though, Its handy marks for something you can make really interesting!

whatsyourquota

I did joan of arc and the battle of new orleans! if i were you i would try and steer clear of modern irish history and especially michael collins because so many people do it!

delighted.

i did marie antoinette, and it was a lovely topic to do, easy to get information and all that

dragonfly!

stay awa y from any of the personalities on your course or anything you have covered in class if poss.
i did mine on the causes and consequences of the Famine.
if i was doing it again id pick something from the ancient world i think.

imakenoise

Thanks everyone for the help.

I was possibly thinking about doing a serial killer,opinions?

imakenoise

Well i still havent picked something for this,have to have a topic in 2 days so not much time! any more opionions or ideas would be nice.

PrivateEye

off the top of my head, some mates did...

Anti-Fascism within Republicanism, 1930-40 (I think that's correct yearwise...this was my one. Republican Socialists, the Spanish Civil War, that German fella....)

Belfast and industrial dispute, 1907. (My mates, pretty good stuff on the catholic and protestant working class uniting, with even the po-lice going on strike)

The Limerick Soviet (Huge strike and workers council (soviet) in Munster, around the time of the war of independence kicking off? )

Bloody Sunday, 1971. Liked this one. Fascinating stuff, and the museum up there helped her out a lot.

The French Resistance during world war II
Micky Collins and the laaaaadies.
Irish Republicanism in Britain, 1960s and 70s
Loads of stuff on them Nazis
Football and politics, 1970s England.
Wolfe Tone: Republicanism and Class.
Womens right to vote, the struggle in England.
1798 in Wexford
Jack Doyle (The Cork boxer, fascinating one too)
Black Panthers and Black Nationalism in the U.S

JohnG18

I choose a topic that was hard to find solid information on but I still enjoyed it so much.
My topic was Female Espionage Agents of the OSS, SOE and French Resistence.

PrivateEye

Deadly. I love anti-fascist history and was considering something around the French Resistance for ages before going with Irish anti-fascists. What books/sources did you use in the end JohnG18?

Aisling(",)

theres people in my class doing
the dunnes strike
coco chanel
the battle of thermopolye(sp)
the battle of the somme
bloody sunday
the invinciples
the stardust fire
alcatraz
the boucing bomb
actor black list during ww2

thats all i can think of off hand

JohnG18

PrivateEye wrote: »

Deadly. I love anti-fascist history and was considering something around the French Resistance for ages before going with Irish anti-fascists. What books/sources did you use in the end JohnG18?

I ended up having to buy Vera Atkins(The woman who pretty much ran the SOE in Britain) Autobiography and A Sisterhood of Spies. The libraries were very under equiped. I found the internet a great source but at times not so reliable. I found espionage during WW2 fascinating however.

KatCookie

What about Franz Ferinand, (himself and the wife were assassinated in Sarajevo) and that was the immediate cause of WWI ... lots of stuff there

GA361

imakenoise wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the help.

I was possibly thinking about doing a serial killer,opinions?

I was thinking of doing that also. . . BUT my teacher said the project must be of historical relevance!:(

KatCookie

Well thats not very true, i know soemone who done theirs on Christain Dior..
What about JFK's killer, or is what overdone?

degausserxo

I'm doing positive discrimination under Nixon and how it created the black middle class in America, specifically in Alabama.. just thought I'd throw that out there!

actua11

Collect a few ideas together and check out what sources you can get on each. If you find find good sources for a topic, stick with that topic. The hard part will be over.

titan18 wrote: »

I did Mussolini and Hitler's influence in sport.I doubt anybody has ever done that and the whole corruption in sport is something I'm interested in.

I did the very same thing for mine last year

KatCookie

sounds interesting.. it doesnt sound like a topic that is done repeditively, like Micheal Collins would be!

Mardy Bum

Personally I wanted to do some interesting and "outside the box". So I decided to "Society in London during the Whitechapel Murders".The Whitechapel Murders are the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper.I just gave a description of the media, the media coverage, reactions to the murders and anti-semitism during the period.Its a very interesting topic for those bord stiff of the "normal boring" side of history.It didnt take too long to complete there are some excellent sources about this topic-Philip Sugdens book would be one!;)


I took a look at the exam during the reviews and it turns out I got 96 out of 100 so it was close enough to full marks and lost the four marks carelessly.So my advice would be do something interesting if you want to do well!

titan18

If you interested in WW,do Kursk.It's different form the BAttle of the Atlantic and Stalingrad that come up.

Also,the Crusades may be intersting to do.Contraception in Ireland aswell(I'm serious)A lad in my class did that.

All these got 95 or higher in the LC and I got 98 in ym own that is already mentioned so they might be worth doing

Racecar

I did mine last year on charles manson and the manson family.(:

hatrickpatrick

I did mine on the early formation of U2 and got 96/100 - And apparently the 4 I lost were because my essay was 150 words too long

As long as you canfind something relevant to history in any way you'll be grand - I justified U2 by saying that not only were they Irelad's most successful band but there was no definitive account of their formation - three books dealing with it (one by U2, one by Eamonn Dunphy and one by their friend Neil McCormick) conflict wildly, making a hilarious read if you put them together - there's clear bias on every side. So I said I was hoping to discover how a historian would try to judge the most accurate versions of a story.

Maybe I just got lucky and my examiner was a fan of U2 :cool:

Fuascailt

I did Charlie Haughey, and how he survived in Fianna Fail. Friends did.. Gay Byrne and his impact on Irish society, Tom Crean, Pink Floyd (Cant remember exactly what about them), Bob Geldof and Live Aid, Eva Peron in Argentina.

+1 on the picking something you're interested in

brianthebard

Jaysus they'll let you do an essay on anything these days!

Mygsy

brianthebard wrote: »

Jaysus they'll let you do an essay on anything these days!

You're right was so restricted back in my day, only a 100 yrs scope and nothing modern like gay byrne or U2
I was lucky in mine we all went to the library and i randomly picked up a book on da civil war in wex and there was a whole piece about my great uncle and his "Flying column" and a bit about his death( he was shot whilst on the run from the treatyites) so was really interesting as it was family hist as well!! ask your grandparents about any interesting family history!! e.g my granda was shot @by the british when he was only 7, the bullet went through his jacket but he was left unscathed...heck of a story!!!

phasers

I just went to the library and got the shortest book they had.
I actually lucked out, because it was about this woman who was a feminist and a republican, it was pretty good actually

Histrionic

You should really treat the Special Topic as one of the best things you get to do for the LC - Proper research and education - so try and do something you enjoy. I did the Spanish Pact of Oblivion (Anything to do with the Spanish Civil Was is fascinating, original and easy to find infomation on.) Try to be original and remember it's so easy to pick up marks here if you give it the time it deserves.

I also considered looking at the portrayal of women on the Shakespearean Stage - I'm not sure about this one. Original and a lot of research oppurtunities but it's also very broad, very literary and, probably, a lot of work.

Hope you find something good!

imakenoise

Thank you everyone who said something and gave tips.
Much appreciated.

Imallin9989

In my view I think you should pick something local and unique, for example I picked a local racing event that was of huge importance to Carlow town in th 17 and 18th century. It gives the examiner something she/he has prob never come across before. So pick something from your locaility thats interesting.:pac:

zonEEE

So just wanted to know how far on are people in this. We are just starting ours but i still cant make up my mind on what to do. I doing religion as well so i want something that i can do for both History and Religion. Any ideas? I was thinking the Results of Vatican 2 in Ireland but i have kind of gone off it now.

LiveLifeLively

I really haven't even thought about it yet. Everyone else in my class seems to have some idea of what they are doing. Could I do Anne Boylen maybe or else maybe Boolavogue? I know this next one's a long shot but maybe the sign of the horns? You know the thing you do at heavy metal concerts and stuff. Cos that I'm interested in... and plus it also has different meanings in different religions and cultures. It'd be so cool if I could do that!

KatCookie

LiveLifeLively wrote: »

I really haven't even thought about it yet. Everyone else in my class seems to have some idea of what they are doing. Could I do Anne Boylen maybe or else maybe Boolavogue? I know this next one's a long shot but maybe the sign of the horns? You know the thing you do at heavy metal concerts and stuff. Cos that I'm interested in... and plus it also has different meanings in different religions and cultures. It'd be so cool if I could do that!

with the little finger and the index pointing up? .. i thought that meant love..

Piste

It has a name?!

Insect Overlord

I did my History project (LC 2007) on the Influence of Grigori Rasputin on the Russian Royal Family, 1910-1917. Was given 98/100 for it.

My girlfriend did hers on Tom Crean (LC 2008) and got 97/100.

Both topics were very difficult to research due to the lack of available (and reliable) texts on these individuals.

LiveLifeLively

KatCookie wrote: »

with the little finger and the index pointing up? .. i thought that meant love..

Yeah that's why I want to do it cos it means a lot of things... not very historical though so i suppose i should scrap that idea.

Aisling(",)

strongr wrote: »

So just wanted to know how far on are people in this. We are just starting ours but i still cant make up my mind on what to do. I doing religion as well so i want something that i can do for both History and Religion. Any ideas? I was thinking the Results of Vatican 2 in Ireland but i have kind of gone off it now.

em im on my 2nd draft but im my class of around 15 id say theres at least 6 who havent started it yet.

lilmizzme

If you're in 6th year, you should be all well into it now...we had our first draft done about half way into October

I did mine on an artist called Cesca Trench who lived during 1916 and how all the events of the time influenced her work....pretty obscure and i only started it at after Christmas TBH!I had been doing Irish neutrality during WW2 but was way too broad!

My advice is too keep it specific as possible...if you're interested in Hitler for example, choose a small part of his life i.e his time in the bunker, his relationship with Eva Braun maybe. Though, if the person is lesser known, as my artist was, I was able to pretty much write about her life. We were told this was a godd idea too, as its simple and straight foward....they were born here, they did this, they died at this time...

Also, the examiners love love LOVE local history....i.e the story of your town, how it grew etc. It shows you actually went out and did some researcgh instead of just picking up your history book and regurgitating the info!

Hope this helps!

lilmizzme

LiveLifeLively wrote: »

I really haven't even thought about it yet. Everyone else in my class seems to have some idea of what they are doing. Could I do Anne Boylen maybe or else maybe Boolavogue? I know this next one's a long shot but maybe the sign of the horns? You know the thing you do at heavy metal concerts and stuff. Cos that I'm interested in... and plus it also has different meanings in different religions and cultures. It'd be so cool if I could do that!

If I was to do it again, I'd do Anne Boylen or Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (loving the Tudors and the film "The Duchess"!!) Would be easy to get sources on them as there seems to be more of a general interest in period dramas lately.

I'd also love to look into the life of Eva Peron....she seems a pretty interesting story!

spurious

lilmizzme wrote: »

Also, the examiners love love LOVE local history....i.e the story of your town, how it grew etc. It shows you actually went out and did some researcgh instead of just picking up your history book and regurgitating the info!

Primary research FTW

KatCookie

Ah! i think i've just found out tht the topic i was going to do has no actual sources, ie i can't prove what happened is real, anbd i've to have my outline plan done by next week!!

does anybody have an ideas on agricultural topics? ie farming, tractors, im fairly stuck here!

CDfm

KatCookie wrote: »

Ah! i think i've just found out tht the topic i was going to do has no actual sources, ie i can't prove what happened is real, anbd i've to have my outline plan done by next week!!

does anybody have an ideas on agricultural topics? ie farming, tractors, im fairly stuck here!

if you are into farming why not try the tractor one

its nice - horses - threshing machines -tractors etc and define a period say 1930-60

so you could have onset of mechanisation
decreae in uses of horses
war years and fuel its impact
post war and tractor
fall in agricultural labor with mechanisation

it would bring you thru ww ii etc

loads of sourses especially from farming organisations and ploughing championships

Aine1981

I did my history project on Bloody Sunday 1920. I mapped out the activities from the morning to the night time. I enjoyed the project as this was the area that interested me.
As some of the guys on the form have said pick something you are interested in. It helps. Best of luck