History Projects

siobhanod93

I'm a sixth year student and I'm studying History... I don't really have a great teacher...:eek:

Any advise on how to study for the exam or retain information? In 3rd year, we had a fantastic teacher and that was the reason why I kept on history, but now....

Also we need to come up with out history project titles... What is eveybody else doing?

Canard

Believe me, I know the feeling! Total opposite teachers.

Ive found essays help me to retain information, the problem is getting them right with my teacher, he doesnt mark them. As for research topics, I think mine is relatively simple - and all he did was look through my first draft and tell me it was "spot on". Not possible for a first draft, so I'd hate to imagine if I did something complicated! :P Something with a lot of sources available is what I'd advise

donvito99

We're meant to have decided our RSRs in a fortnight or so, don't have a clue. I keep saying "that could work" but then ask myself, what kind of angle can I look at it from? :rolleyes:

I really don't want to pick a bad theme or topic, like I did for Art in the JC, those were miserable months!

Jolly Red Giant

a couple of things to point out here -

History are LC (higher level) is nothing like for the JC. You can get a high grade at JC level by rote learning. You cannot get a high grade at LC level by rote learning unless you are very lucky. The emphasis at LC level is on analysing and interpreting the question and then giving your opinion backed up by evidence. It is a completely different set of skills that are required. The one big advantage of making an effort to learn these skills is that you will be learning skills that are very useful at third level.

The best advise for studying for the LC is to read a lot and to practice writing essays (and get your teacher to correct them). Sometimes marking eassys can be counter-productive as you can focus on the marks rather than the feedback from your teacher (as long as feedback is provided) - although if you go and ask the teacher to give marks for the essay I suspect they will accomodate you.

In relation to the SRS - get it done as soon as possible - you do not want it to be distracting you in the weeks before the exam. Try not to over-complicate what you are trying to do - keep it as simple as possible - you are not writing a thesis it is a 1200 word essay. Pick a topic with as narrow a focus as possible - ideally a single event or somthing with a very narrow timeframe. Local historical topics are excellent for this. Go to your local library and ask if they have copies of a local historical journal (most counties have one published every year). Once you get a local topic many libraries would have old local newspapers on microfilm where you could find newspaper articles to use as a primary source for your SRS. If you want to pick an international topic or a more general one (which I would advise against) then try searching in Google Books (use the 'preview' and 'full view' functions to find books that you can read).

Niles

Jolly Red Giant makes some good points. The best advice I can give on the Research Topic is to make sure you're genuinely interested in what you choose. It might sound obvious but trust me that will make it much, much easier to do.

Also, depending on your topic, enquire with your teacher if your school has access to the likes of The Irish Times archive on the internet. Probably varies from school to school if they're willing to pay for it but I remember my teacher offering to arrange this.

As for studying, writing essays at regular intervals goes along a way towards success in this subject (and in English too). It also helps you get into the mode of arguing your point as opposed to just learning off a book and spewing it out. This is particularly good practice if you intend to study the subject at 3rd level. Also, over time gradually try to "train" yourself towards completing essays in a particular time frame, so you don't find yourself cut short in the exam.

There's a good deal of writing but with practice History can be a manageable enough subject as the Leaving Cert goes.

siobhanod93

Thanks for the advise! I'll definitely take it on board!

Feistyoneuare

Need help here....
I'm a repeat and I've got to do a new project but my teacher said that I could just change the focus a bit from my previous project.
the title of my old one was "The Role of James Connolly in the 1916 Rising."

Killian In The Name Of

After reading about everyone else's projects, I'm concerned now that my project is too predictable! It's titled 'The Factors That Contributed to the Sinking of the Titanic'. It focuses on human errors, geographical conditions and technical/design flaws. It could be considered unoriginal, but as long as a project is very well done then it shouldn't matter what the title is, right?

Jolly Red Giant

Feistyoneuare wrote: »

Need help here....
I'm a repeat and I've got to do a new project but my teacher said that I could just change the focus a bit from my previous project.
the title of my old one was "The Role of James Connolly in the 1916 Rising."

You could try 'The role of the Irish Citizens Army in the 1916 Rising?'

Killian In The Name Of wrote: »

After reading about everyone else's projects, I'm concerned now that my project is too predictable! It's titled 'The Factors That Contributed to the Sinking of the Titanic'. It focuses on human errors, geographical conditions and technical/design flaws. It could be considered unoriginal, but as long as a project is very well done then it shouldn't matter what the title is, right?

There is nothing wrong with 'unoriginal' - but to be honest I wouldn't put your project in that catagory. Yor project looks very interesting to me and I think you are approaching it in the right way. I would suggest changing the title slightly to 'What Factors Contributed to the Sinking of the Titanic?'