While writing a dissertation, the first big hurdle is that of choosing a relevant and compelling topic. Once you have selected the perfect topic, the rest of the work that follows will then have a direction. Scribble Master LLP understands that it may seem like a daunting task for our learners and hence, we are here to guide you every step of the way. Selecting the perfect topic/question in a sea full of possibilities is difficult and often leaves us very indecisive. However, if we understand the baseline of what you are aiming to put across your readers, in this case a dissertation topic/question that explores History as a field of study, we can build a framework for choosing a topic, do our research, collect evidence/statistics/findings, and write down the information.
Steps to Follow Before Writing History Dissertations
Selecting a Compelling Topic
The field of study that we are tackling today is History, and as we know the diverse range of topics we have to choose from given the rich and vast history of all important events, let’s narrow down some of the few important events that we can put our insights into and provide a fresh analysis from our perspective. Now, we don;t want to confuse our readers when we say our perspective as dissertations usually are objective in nature not subjective. We will definitely present our facts and findings with accuracy but we can give the analysis on the findings from our perspective and in what angle would we like to highlight the topic to our audience. For example- if we are selecting the topic of World War I, we can present how WW1 affected the economic scene of that time, or we can highlight the social angle of family dynamics.
Research
Once you have selected the topic, chosen in what angle you would like to highlight your work, you can start your research. Firstly, you will need to do a round of preliminary reading, going through scholarly articles, encyclopaedia, etc to get an overview of the period and theme you are covering. This will be followed by going through existing literature on the particular topic you have chosen and lastly, you will need to define your dissertation question or thesis statement. There are mainly two kinds of sources you can gather material from – Primary sources like online databases, archives, libraries, photographs, government records, etc., and Secondary sources like books, journals, historian’s accounts of your topic, etc. Research will not only provide you with materials but also will give a depth on what are the existing debates on your topic, what questions have been asked already, what methodologies were used for the research and did how are you willing to approach your work.
Organising Materials
Once the materials have been collected, make and organize detailed notes and embed the notes in an outline. This step gives you clarity as all your findings are now in a chronological order, periods, themes, etc. This maintains the flow of work and also will be an aid when you start writing the dissertation. If the findings are all over the, it will be a time-confusing task to sort through everything and may even result in missing out on including important information. Lastly, keep a list of all the citation sources and references. This helps in avoiding plagiarism.
Interpretation
By this time, we have completed our research, organized our notes, created an outline, and now we interpret the information we are planning to put in your dissertation. In this step, you will develop your dissertation question or thesis statement. The aim here is to add something with value to the existing body of historical knowledge. We will decide whether your research question/thesis statement will fit perfectly with the existing literature, challenge them,builds on it, etc.
Key Components of Writing a History Dissertation
Writing the Dissertation
We have finished all the previous steps and now we start writing our Dissertation paper. The structure of the dissertation follows like this :
- Acknowledgement – Here we acknowledge all the people who have contributed to our work, like mentors, professors, peers, family, etc.
- Table of Content – This section is basically a guide for your paper and helps the reader to pin-point to a selective section.
- Introduction – This is where you will need to grab your reader’s attention and also give a brief overview of what the reader should be expecting from the rest of the paper that will follow.
- Literature review – In here, you will give a review on the existing literature/work available on your chosen topic or that are relevant to your work.
- Methodology – Here, you will provide the exact methodology you have followed in researching, outlining, and writing your work. This is done so that if another writer would like to replicate your work to test the authenticity, it passes that test. Or if any other writer is researching for a reference point to build their work on. Hence, we need to make sure that the methodology is accurate to what you have actually done.
- Analysis – This section presents your analysis and interpretation of your findings. We answer our research question via this part or prove our thesis statement.
- Conclusion – In here, we provide a summary of all the key points of your work and if we would like to add a question, thought-provoking statement, we add in.
- Bibliography(Citations) – In here, we cite all our sources, primary and secondary. This is an ethical practices to provide the due acknowledgement of authors and their work that has helped you with your research.
Proofreading
After finishing writing your dissertation paper, dedicate some time to revise and edit your paper for errors or improvement. This step is crucial to clear out any ambiguities and ensure your work comes across as professional. You can also ask your trusted peers, friends and family to go through your work and provide valuable inputs. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes and especially that from a reader’s perspective can provide certain information/interpretation in a way you wouldn’t have perceived while writing.
A list of History Dissertation topics
- The Role of Women in Colonial American Society?
- Impact of the Great Depression on the Middle Class Families in America.
- A Political and Economic Analysis on the Fall of the Ancient Babylonian Empire.
- Was Modern Feminist Movements Inspired by the French Revolution?
- The Rise of American Women’s Workforce Participation – A Social Analysis.
- A Study of Harlem Renaissance Influences African American Identity.
- How Religious Movements are Linked to the Abolition of Slavery in America?
- America’s Involvement in the Vietnam War.
- Dissecting African Intellectual Movements.
- The Role of The Treaty of Versailles in Shaping Post-WWI Europe.
- A Comparative Study of Allied and Axis Powers – Technological Landscape.
- Development of Ancient Egyptian Civilization.
- A Study on the Historical Significance of the Silk Road Trade.
- A Study of Feminist Thought in 20th Century America.
- Economic Impacts of Industrialization in Europe.
- The Haitian Revolution.
- What Was the Role of Maritime Trade in the Expansion of the Portuguese Empire.
- The Development of the Nationalist Movement in America.
- Enlightenment Ideas and American Revolution.
- A Focused Study on the Cultural Exchange of Islamic World and Medieval Europe.
Conclusion
Given above are few probable topics you may consider building your paper on while you are searching for the History dissertation topic. If you are following the steps and doing your due diligence, you will be able to write a unique and engaging Dissertation paper that adds value to the Historical literary community.