Creating a question and for the internal investigation
Have a topic of interest - for example: The New Deal under FDR
Do some background research 5+ hours
Use tertiary sources such as our textbooks and wikipedia
Take down notes (however you will not be able to use these on your paper this so you can context and understand the big picture)
Write down titles of books and sources used to create the previously stated tertiary source
Modify research further
Now you need to narrow the scope of your research. For example: the WPA
Now do more research on your topic using secondary and tertiary sources (remember you will not be able to use tertiary sources for your IA. You are only using these to gather context so you will understand primary and secondary sources on your topic better.
Take notes
Then modify research by finding something controversial or something that displays conflicting arguments by historians
Modify and narrow investigation further.
For example the effect of WPA on women during the Great Depression
Find a topic that has been debated by historians or has conflicting evidence. In other words what are the different arguments regarding your topic? This is important so you have a topic to argue and analyze. If you do not, you will only be telling a one sided story, which will result in low marks.
Now gather evidence and historical perspective on the effect on women.
Organize the information by categories:
In this case the different ways the WPA affected or helped women
For example employment, equal pay, working conditions (these will end up becoming the scope of your investigation.
Once again it is important to find differing perspectives on your topic.
Now it is time to create a research question.
Remember to have your question in the form of a question not a prompt. In other words make sure it has a question mark.
A potential template for an IA question is as follows:
To what extent (or another command term) +
A verb (is, was, were, are) +
A person/group/region/ideology/event (something specific) +
An action verb like: cause, stop, influence, affect, significant, cause, consequence +
A person/group/region/ideology/event (something specific) +
A time frame or a country.
Your RQ (Research question) must not invite a narrative. For instance: "What were the causes of Hitler’s rise to power?" will only lead to you telling the story, it does not lead to any analysis, evaluation, judgement or debate. It would be better to go with "To what extent did Heinrich Brüning’s economic austerity policies contribute to the conditions that enabled the rise of the Nazi Party?”,which would lead to a better analysis.
One of the most common errors students make when planning and writing the IA is formulating a poor question about their topic. Formulating a good question is essential for success and helps ensure that the IA is a manageable and researchable investigation.The six key concepts for the history course (causation, consequence, continuity, change, significance and perspectives) can be a very useful starting point in helping students to formulate a question. Consider the following criteria when formulating a good question:
|
Is the question researchable? |
• There is an adequate variety and availability of sources related to your topic. • The sources are readable, available and in a language that is accessible. |
|
Is the question focused? |
• Questions that are vague or too broad make it difficult to write a focused investigation limited to 2200 words. (really 1300) • Must be specific – narrow it down as much as you can. •Questions that are too broad make it difficult to manage the number of sources needed to adequately address the topic. •Should have focus – date, time frame, geography, event (turning points are good) |
|
Is the question engaging? |
• Interesting, controversial or challenging historical problems make better questions. • Questions with obvious answers (i.e. did economic factors play a role in Hitler's rise to power?) do not make good investigations. • Should allow for a point to be made, or a debate to be settled. It should not lead to a simple narrative. • To what extent . . . or How far . . . style questions best. |