Preparing+a+Historical+Investigation

This page answers the questions: "What are the different sections of a historical investigation?" "What are the steps should I take to prepare my historical investigation?" and "What do good model historical investigations look like?"

Summary structure
A historical investigation does not have the structure of a classical essay, and it does not look like a typical history article or college term paper. Instead, it has a distinctive three-part structure defined by the IBO to highlight key steps in historical inquiry. To do well on this assignment, a student needs to fulfill the requirements of each of these separate sections:
 * Identification and evaluation of sources 6/25 marks (22% of the grade) Suggested # of words: 500
 * Investigation 15/25 marks (60% of the grade) Suggested # of words: 1300
 * Reflection 4/25 marks (18% of the grade) Suggested # of words: 400
 * Bibliography Not graded, but a poor one can disqualify not only the entire submission, but the candidate from receiving an IB Diploma!

Here is the IBO section in the official IB History Guide, describing and explaining the preparation process for this project, and the main elements it needs to have.

 * =====[[file:HI-Process and Elements-fm IB History Guide.pdf]]=====
 * There is an additional section in the Guide, which covers the assessment aspects of the historical investigation. In History-Schmistory, this is located in the "Evaluating the Historical Investigation" section.

=
Here is a document that I have prepared, listing specific instructions for you to follow, per section. I consider this a CENTRALLY IMPORTANT document for this project, and in fact, I have made part of the assignment to go through this document and check off each point as you complete it.======
 * [|Historical Investigation Steps and Guidelines]

Here is Russell J Tarr's parallel guide, shorter than mine, with clear and specific directions of exactly how to write each section (most of which I have incorporated into my most recent Steps and Guidelines above).
 * [[file:Marksheet-RJT.doc]]
 * [This document needs to be revised in line with the new IB requirements for the historical investigation.]

//Understand the scope of the project//

 * [|HI Advice from Last Year’s Class]

//Consider previous student work//
I advise current year students to examine various ideas developed here by their peers in previous years and inform their own thinking about what kind of topic works and why. Here are the Topic Boards from
 * 2014-15
 * [|HEM HL students]
 * 2013-14
 * [|20C SL students]
 * [|HEM HL students]
 * 2012-13
 * [|20C SL students]
 * [|HEM HL students]

Look at [|this list of "Kinds of Questions History Can Help Answer"] for a listing of past Historical Investigation questions, and the general kinds of historical issues that they allow one to treat.

Perhaps most important, read some model historical investigations. As the IB requirements for this assignment have changed very recently, I don't have a good inventory of these from our our school, or other schools.
 * Here are some provided by the IB, written by IB teachers, as models.
 * Here are some that meet the old, recently obsoleted requirements, but that should nevertheless give you a good idea of the kind and level of work required.

//Draw up a "long list" of topics that could interest you//
I suggest you first brainstorm a variety of topics where you have some knowledge and some curiosity to know more, and develop a "long list" of up to twenty topics that might serve.

This could be just a list of historical periods that you find interesting:
 * Napoleon and his era
 * The founding of Rome
 * World War I

Or this could mean questions about causes, effects, or relevance:
 * What are the causes of X (an event or situation)?
 * What are the consequences of Y (an event or situation)?
 * What is the relevance of particular evidence about Z (an event or situation)?

I suggest you read this chapter about some interesting questions which often serve as central focuses of historical investigations.
 * [[file:Thinking About History-Marius.pdf]]

//Probe your "long-list" topics or questions for evidence of possible controversy//
Your historical investigation should NOT be a "report" about a topic. It needs to show you working to develop an answer to an interesting, manageable question!

Scope out the basic story and also the existing historiography of potential topics. Are there major historical controversies still lying unresolved? Particularly in relation to such areas of controversy, there may be narrow, feasible topics that could serve as central focus for a very short, 2,200-word historical investigation, which is all our assignment allows.
 * Search for your topic, and simultaneously, for "historiography" in Google or Wikipedia: This will sometimes take you to a page devoted entirely to the historiography of the given topic!
 * Try encyclopedia articles, in one of the many general or historical encyclopedias available in libraries.
 * Check out the archives of the best general interest history periodical in the English language, //History Today//, which is published in the UK.
 * The Library has a subscription to it, so we have paper copies since about 2013.
 * You will have to pay a bit over $10 for a week's access to the full archives, but the range, depth and clarity of their treatment of topics is ideal for what we're doing. The entry page to the archives is [|here].

//Define an idea and get my initial feedback on it//
At this point, you should formulate one or more initial ideas for a guiding question. Post them on the appropriate shared online Topics Board I have created for this purpose. You can begin posting as soon as you have the elements of an idea. You should begin posting as soon as possible.

I will give you comments about possible problems or opportunities regarding your ideas.

//Define an initial set of sources, and a logical way you propose to sort them out to answer your research question//
Do some initial collecting of sources, and reading, about your topic. Frame a detailed research question, identify and gather possible key sources.

//Test whether your approach has "legs"//
Test your main candidate topic (or two), by filling out a Historical Investigation Planning Worksheet about it (or them). This is a 1-page worksheet that I have prepared which inventories and describes all the key elements necessary for a successful historical investigation, and requires you to give evidence that you have given due thought and sufficient effort to gather together enough sources, think through key questions, and define a feasible workplan to guide your development of the investigation. I provide detailed recommendations for covering each of these elements, in these History-Schmistory sections:
 * Framing the Question
 * Research
 * Source Evaluation

I expect you to fill in and submit a Historical Investigation Planning Worksheet by the date defined in the Overall Schedule. Here is the worksheet to be filled in:
 * [[file:HI Plng Wksht 120402.pdf]]

Here is a sample well-filled-in form:
 * [[file:HI Plng Wksht 110520.xls]]

Note when your Planning Worksheet is due! There is a penalty for late submissions, and it increases daily. See the separate web page on Evaluating the Historical Investigation for an explanation of how this works.

//Get my feedback on your plan//
I will read your Worksheet and ask you to discuss your plan briefly with me. I may ask that you make basic changes to your plan, or I may even recommend that you find another topic, if your work to date indicates to me that you are unlikely to develop a successful investigation on that basis. Or I may simply give you some suggestions about how to refine your plan. However, in any case, I do require that you obtain my approval to go ahead at this stage.

//Execute your plan for sections A through C//
You should at this point proceed to do what your plan described. Read, take notes, and start to outline the skeleton of your argument for the entire paper as this starts to take shape in your mind.

However, you should also focus on putting together a first full version of each of the sections A-C:
 * Plan of the investigation
 * Summary of the evidence
 * Evaluation of sources

These sections are the more "mechanical" parts of the historical investigation process: They lend themselves to following time-honored "recipes". At the same time, they establish the foundations for the more creative work required in sections D and E. So you need to get these earlier sections done early, to give yourself time. You may discover gaps in your research base that need filling, and this may require identifying additional books that you need to order, wait for their delivery, and read! Even if it turns out you have an ample base of evidence in hand for what your investigation requires, you should leave time between the collection of evidence and the wrapping up of your analysis. You will want to lay out your analysis, and then to reflect critically on it with suitable detachment–leaving sufficient time for you to make substantive changes if you uncover the need for these.

You are required to submit a full draft of these sections separately, by the date indicated on your detailed assignment directions. Again,as an encouragement to timely and well-ordered progress, t here is a penalty for late submissions, and it increases daily.

The main purpose of this deliverable is to focus you and keep you working steadily. I will try to scan these submissions for egregious problems and will try to warn you if I do see such problems. However, the time between this submission and the next is always short, and it is a busy time of the year for me, so I do not commit to give you my feedback, or to assess or grade your work. My extensive documentation of the process and expectations, in this section of History-Schmistory, probably already provides answers to 90% of the questions that students may come up with.

However, if after you have consulted all relevant sections of History-Schmistory, you judge that you would like to speak with me about your work, by all means check my schedule and ask to get on it.

//Execute your plan for section D (the Analysis)//
Carry out the analytical approach you defined in section A; walk through the evidence as you described you would do in section A, and sort out and clarify the issues. Describe your reasoning to your reader as you advance, signposting your progress. I provide detailed recommendations for doing a historical analysis, in this History-Schmistory section.

I provide detailed recommendations for doing a historical analysis, in this History-Schmistory section.

//Format and complete section F (the List of Sources)//
I provide detailed recommendations for doing citations, in this History-Schmistory section.

//Review and revise the ensemble//
Now could be a good time to look over other students' successful work,in this History-Schmistory section, and see how you could apply ideas you get there. It includes exemplary assessed historical investigations written by actual students and teachers.

//Submit the completed work//
On the date identified in your detailed assignment, I expect the completed historical investigation.

Step 5: Consider My Assessment and Comments on Your Submission
How should you interpret the grade you receive on your submitted work? Look over the page in this section devoted to Evaluating a Historical Investigation.

Should you take the option I offered of revising your historical investigation over Spring Break or Summer Vacation for IB purposes?

Remember, this would need to be handed in by the first day of school after the Break or Vacation! And it would not affect your WFS course grade.

Your historical investigation will count for 20% of your overall IB History HL score. And your History performance overall will be summarized on a 1 to 7 grade, which for those of you going for an IB Diploma will then be added with your other grades to give you an overall score.

Remember that 4 is considered a “passing grade”, good enough to earn a certificate or diploma.

However, you should consider revising your paper even if you did earn at least a 4. This is because the historical investigation part of your History HL score is the portion most under your control. There is no time limit on how much time you take to complete it, and you have the benefit of my one round of feedback to you about what you would need to improve. It can make up for lower performance on the exam part of the History HL score. It might also be an easy place to rack up extra score points in case you don’t do as well as you’d like in other parts of the IB program.

Some specific advice about places to pick up easy additional points on the historical investigation:


 * Section A: Plan of the Investigation. If you earned less than the full three points, I would think it would be easy to correct this simply by tightening up your Plan description and making sure that you indeed provide all of the elements specified.
 * Section B: Summary of the Evidence. Many of you could pick up extra points here by (1) correcting your source references to comply with standard Chicago format, (2) ensuring that all text is relevant to the investigation, by cutting “fluff” background description, (3) (this is harder) expanding the number of sources you use to include key sources you missed the first time around.
 * Section C: Evaluation of Sources. If you got less than the full five points here, consider filling in gaps I pointed out in your O-P-L-V analysis.
 * Section D: Analysis. If you missed several points here, I recommend you rewrite the section in line with the suggestions I made on the detailed WFS rubric, the Dos and Don’ts for the Historical Investigation guideline document, and the “Analysis” section of History-Schmistory.
 * Section E: Conclusion. If you earned less than the full two points here, it was either because you claimed to prove more than you actually did or because you did not reference the limits of the investigation. This error should be easy to fix.
 * Section F: List of sources. This may just call for making some formatting changes, Chicago manual in hand. Or you exceeded the word limit (1600>x>2000!). Or you did not have sufficient scholarly sources.