How to Find a Viable and Original Research Topic for your Project (and how Ai will help!)
The number one thing my students struggle with . . .
Magdalen College, Oxford, Summer 2024
You have to choose a research topic . . .
If you are training to be a historian, you need to do original research, which means going past what other historians have already written about so many times before. That sort of exercise is fine for a beginning history class but not if you want to be a historian.
But how do you find an original topic? One that’s manageable and for which you can actually say something meaningful? (That’s also not of a multi-book length?)
A lot of times that means finding a local topic--one for which you can get to the primary sources.
How do you do that?
When it comes to finding an original research topic using primary sources, start by thinking about what interests you. If you are in a class, you may have a set topic—like American West, or Early Republic, or American women in the 1940s. What in that area interests you? Is there something that interests you specifically?
Let’s use American women in the 1940s as an example.
(Note that if you are interested in the topic, you’ll find the research process more rewarding and stay more motivated throughout your project.)
You’ll want to do the next step in tandem, going back and forth.
First, do a brief overview of what’s been written about American women in the 1940s already by other historians. This is easy now that we have AI. I typed into Perplexity.Ai the prompt: “what are the top ten historical monographs on American women in the 1940s?”
I got back ten responses that range from books on female code breakers, to birth control, to an American in Berlin at the war’s end.
Since I’m interested in something more local, I asked the follow up question: “are there any books on women at the local, county level working during the war?”
Perplexity told me that there are some, though most are focused on the national level. But that’s great—that means that there’s a gap that my research might fill.
Here’s a book Perplexity.AI listed that’s a collection of articles that interests me: Women and War: The Changing Status of American Women from the 1930s to the 1950s by Maria Diedrich and Dorothea Fischer-Hornung.
Now, I’ll get that book and review the articles—I’ll see what other historians have written on these topics AND more importantly, I’ll review these articles’ bibliographies—what primary and secondary sources are these historians citing?
The lawn at Magdalen College, Oxford, Summer 2024
Next, I’ll begin exploring primary sources, both local and online. I’ll begin to familiarize myself with the kinds of materials available that are directly related to my chosen topic, which is sort of generically at this point, the ways in which women’s statuses changed during the war.
I’ll begin by checking out what my university’s library or a nearby library or archives has to offer—many institutions have collections related to local history, land records, and even personal letters or diaries.
I won’t overlook online resources, though. There are many excellent digital archives that provide access to a wealth of primary sources. For example, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Digital Public Library of America all have extensive collections of documents, maps, photographs, and other materials. Specialized databases can also be treasure troves of information.
As I’m browsing these primary sources, I’m still thinking about what’s already been studied and looking for gaps or questions that haven’t been fully explored. Is there a particular group of people, event, or aspect of life that’s been overlooked? For example, if many studies have focused on women in factories, perhaps looking at women who worked closer at home, such as for the county, might offer opportunities for original research.
To narrow down my topic further, I might consider specific sources that intrigue me. For instance, if I find a collection of letters from someone, I might ask what new insights those letters could provide. Maybe they offer a fresh perspective on daily life, relationships, or the challenges faced during this time period. I might ask myself, “What can this source tell me that hasn’t been fully explored yet?”
I can, of course, reach out to librarians or archivists for guidance. They can point me toward under-researched sources or suggest archives I might not have thought to explore. Archivists, in particular, often know about hidden gems in their collections that haven’t been heavily studied.
Back to American women in the 1940s—as I was digging around, I discovered that when the men went off to do war-work, women had to take over their jobs. Of course, this topic has been written about at the national level a lot—we are all familiar with Rosie the Riveter. But in my local, rural community? I discovered that women had to step in for men, too, and they did so by taking over as county clerks, county treasurers, county tax assessors, and even sheriffs! Has anyone written about this before? No!
For a brief paper, I might look at only one county, exploring those women, placing them in context, what led them to take these jobs? And what happened to them after the war? For a longer paper, I could look at several counties or compare rural and urban counties. For a book-length work, I could look at an entire state or even compare states.
A ceiling at one of the colleges in Oxford, Summer 2024
In fact, I did this for an article I published last year, though I looked at women running for local office at the county level over time. I had the article published and it won an award!
Here is the citation, if you are interested: Kelly McMichael, “Rural Women and the Gendered Socialization of Local Political Offices in Rural Texas Counties," West Texas Historical Review 98 (April 2023), 8-21.
But someone still needs to explore this topic in the 1940s—so there’s a topic, if you are interested.
And that’s how you find a viable and original research topic that hasn’t been written about to death already by other historians.
If you want to chat about this, leave a comment!