Introduction to Historical Methods

As I did my research for this project, I went in with a belief about Hitler. That he had preconceived notions about the Holocaust from an early age. After going through Mein Kampf, my thesis changed drastically. I was surprised at how so many of the 2ndary sources claimed one thing about Hitler, but it turns out that he was a combination of all the different beliefs. Reading Mein Kampf was like a direct entrance into Hitler’s thought process and he explains himself so clearly in the book. He knew the way he was and was proud of it and felt he was justified in his corrupt ways for various reasons. After this project, I feel like my understanding of Hitler is so much different, in a good way.

Wed – 11/18 – Alex M., Erin B., Victoria Y.

Fri – 11/20 – Jacqueline E., Max S., Gene K.

Mon – 11/23 – Bennett O., Katie O., Ross P.

Mon – 11/30 – David F., Brendan B, Katie H.

Wed – 12/2 – A.J. L., Katelyn M.

Friday — 12/3 — All students attend at least one full session of the 485 presentations and send an email with an evaluation of the presentations you see to Prof. F. by noon on Monday, 12/7 (finals week).

The more sources that I begin to discover throughout these first few weeks of research, the more uncertain I become about the scope of my topic.  I do not seek to change my topic, not in the least, but in reading for my book review, I understand that my familiarity with the topic has been called into question. I have yet again been forced to redefine the questions my paper proposal had set out to answer. Was the issue of race truly the most significant topic of debate amongst the major newspapers? And if this was not the most pronounced aspect of the newspapers’ focus, then what is? Furthermore, if that topic were to change, do I have enough material to subsequently enhance and prove my thesis?

It has also been a tremendous challenge for me to develop my thesis into a clear and concise sentence rather than my previous technique of developing it throughout the course of an entire paragraph. But I feel confident that, through the completion of both my book and literature reviews, my thesis will become more tangible and easier to weed out amongst the bulk of scholarship that I am presently sifting through.

Well as stated in class I was going to be looking at the articles published by the Post and NY Times from june of 1972 to june of 1973 regarding the watergate break-in. However after realizing that this was more than 200 articles I figured a should shoot for a shorter time frame. Thus I have decided to do just the first month of investigation between june and July of 1972. If this does not prove to focus the project enough I may just move to a single elemnt of the writing such as- were any of the information or stories exactly the same in both news papers? or something to this effect.

In light of my recent research not only would i like to inquire about the assessment of media guilt after the events of the New York City Draft  Riots,  but i would like to narrow it down further to  ask if media attention of the draft continued to the same extent as it had before the Riots or was it diminished  due to a fear that rioting may spark again and diminish moral?

The first question that I hope to answer in my paper is whether or not the newspapers had developed a more cohesive stance towards the war after the New York City Draft Riots. If they had, was this triggered by a sense of responsibility for the riots and their earlier coverage before those occurred?

Considering my focus on a very specific event in auto racing history- the creation of Daytona International Speedway- it’s hard to continue honing in on anything more narrow or central than this event. Of course, at the moment I’m looking for three different kinds of impact that the track instigated: on the nation, on the South, and on Nascar. I could cut out the relation to Nascar and center on the reaction of the Nation or the South. I could do the reverse and see how the track’s completion affected the organization’s popularity or standing within the nation. Or, I could just look at economic implications of the track’s creation. So far, I liked that I was able to tie a sense of growing modernism with working class culture based on my primary source analysis. My finding from the source gives me confidence in pursuing a cultural focus on Daytona Speedway. The primary is also complemented by a couple of books, one of which is entitled “From Moonshine to Madison Avenue: A Cultural History of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.” To focus on Daytona in a cultural scope would more appropriately explain why this event is important to understanding the people who love the sport, started it and kept it going.

Focusing my topic is going to be really important because I’m coming up with too much research as it is now. I’m researching women during the Civil War and so far I’ve got information on women nurses, women fighting, the roles of Northern women vs. Southern, and a bunch of other information. So my first idea to focus my topic was to narrow it down to women in their homes. This cut out a lot of information that was really cluttering up my topic. The next step into narrowing it down is to focus on the interaction between Southern women in their homes with the Northern troops. These troops often ramsacked houses in search of food or Confederate soldiers and took over houses for hospitals. My primary resource, the diary of Cornelia McDonald, has lots of interactions with Union soldiers and so I think this would a be good place to focus my research.

As I have been pouring over a wealth of secondary sources on the battle of Gettysburg, it is easy to get lost in all the available information. I have narrowed my topic down to a four-sectioned comparison of Cheat Mountain and Gettysburg. The first section deals with similarities in terrain: in both battles the Union occupied the high ground and the tactical advantage. Secondly I will examine the outside scouting sources Lee used to determine Union position. Third will include the similarities in plans of attack in which Lee divided his forces to create simultaneous converging strategies. Last will be an examination of battle implementation and the consequences of his strategy. Lee’s plans in these two battles, being his first and his most famous, shine light on his overall strategic style as a commander and the outcome of the war. Since I have only 6-8 pages, I will not be able to include the entire battle of Gettysburg. Instead I will focus only on day three, specifically Pickett’s Charge. This is a topic that can easily be expanded upon in 485 to include a study of Lee’s strategies in other major battles and answer the very broad question of why the Confederacy lost the war.

For those who don’t know I will be writing about the Battle of Thermopylae and how it changed Greek Civilization. While that is a broad statement I am actually narrowing it down much further than that. I will be writing on the ethnic and cultural change that began to take place during the Battle of Thermopylae, arguing that before the 2nd Persian wars the Greeks were no more than a set of city states with limited ties between them. However, at the battle of Thermopylae, as well as in later battles, the Greek forces began to gain a larger ethnic sense of being Greeks rather than being Spartans or Athenians or Thespians, etc. Through Herodotus as well as the later historians, Thucydides and Pausanias, I will be able to look at the before, during and after in context of changes in greek culture around the time of the 2nd Persian wars. Therefore rather than simply looking at a battle that was in many cases an absolute defeat for the Greek forces I will be looking into the ethnic ideas that were influenced during the three day course of this battle.