choose one of the topic and write a research paper
Possible topics for the first History 3C paper
1. How did the Enlightenment emerge and what were the major currents of
Enlightenment thought? Compare the ideas of two Enlightenment thinkers. What do
they share in common? In what ways did they challenge the ideas of the age and
how do they make their arguments?
2. What were the main differences between the French and American revolutions?
How can we explain the different paths they took?
3. The Industrial Revolution changed how people lived and worked around the
world. How did industrialization transform the economic, cultural, and social lives
of Europeans over the course of the 18
th
and 19
th
centuries? Were all of these
changes positive? If not, why?
4. Focusing on two countries, explore how nationalism and socialism shaped
European politics during the nineteenth century.
5. What were the forces behind European colonialism? Choose two colonial powers
and compare how their experiences with colonialism differed. What might explain
the dramatic differences say between the German and British, or French and Belgian
colonial regimes?
A Few Things to Check on Your Paper
•
Make sure your introduction clearly lays out what you will be arguing.
•
Indent your paragraphs.
•
Avoid the use of pers
onal pronouns in your essay.
•
Be sure to use transitional sentences to get from one paragraph to the next.
•
Check for run
-Ââ€
on sentences that need to be broken up into smaller units.
•
Break up long blocks of text into smaller paragraphs.
•
Remember to cite your s
ources as you use them throughout your paper.
•
Place any footnotes you have at the end of the sentence.
•
Number your pages.
•
Make a point of proofreading through your paper when you are done to catch
any errors you may have accidentally overlooked.
•
Remove any
spaces between your paragraphs
•
5 pages means 5 pages, citing page not counted in the 5 pages
For footnote formatting, please visit the following website:
http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/citation.htm
