Choose and Focus
Your Topic
Inspiration:
Here are some topic ideas. You would still have to formulate your research question from these!
Links to Lists of Topics
Try this one first....
The lists below are very extensive. If you find something that looks interesting, do a quick Google search to learn a bit about it.
Subject-Specific
Primary Source Sets from the Library of Congress
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Alexander Hamilton (Plan of new government, Federalist Papers)
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Child Labor (Labor reforms, anti-child labor)
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Civil Rights Movement (Civil rights reforms, reactions to reforms)
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Civil War: Nation Moves Toward War, 1850-61 (Reactions to pro/anti-slavery movements, abolition, efforts at political reform)
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Constitution (Creating new government and debates about)
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The Great Migration (Reactions to demographic changes in the United States)
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Immigration Challenges for New Americans (Reactions to changes in immigrant populations)
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Industrial Revolution in the United States (Wide-reaching change in how the economy works and how society is organized)
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Informational Text (Sources showing reactions to different historical events and ideas)
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Inventions and Innovations (Changes to how things work and reaction to changes)
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Inventive Wright Brothers (Changes to how things work, ideas about how things work)
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Japanese American Internment (Reactions to and experiences of internment)
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Jim Crow and Segregation (Calls for reform, reaction to reform efforts)
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LGBTQ Activism and Contributions (Calls for reform, reaction to reform efforts)
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Mass Persuasion Campaigns (Campaigns representing reaction to an event/issue, including calls for reform)
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NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom (Calls for reform, reaction to reform efforts)
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The New Deal (Government reform, in reaction to economic conditions)
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Political Cartoons and Public Debates (Campaigns representing reactions to an event or issue, including calls for reforms)
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Reconstruction (Calls for and examples of reform, rebuilding, reaction to reform efforts)
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Rosa Parks (Civil rights reforms, roles of individuals and groups)
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Transportation (Reforms and efforts to improve)
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Women’s Suffrage (Voting reforms, reaction to proposed reforms)
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World War I (Social reactions to aspects of WWI)
Once you have done some exploring, you will list 3 of your topics of interest in Mrs. Brooks' or Mr. Smith's myMCPS Classroom. We will narrow that down to one topic and then continue below.
Once you know what your broad topic is...
This worksheet will help you narrow that broad topic to a focused, researchable question and then to a thesis.