History EE, 1890-1991 Lithuania's fight for Independence research question too broad?

[MilduK]

I was thinking of doing my extended essay on the independence of Lithuania through the years of 1890-1991, basically how Lithuania regained their independence.

I told my supervisor this and he said to narrow the topic down to who were the most important figures or in a research question form: "Who were the most important figures in Lithuania's fight for independence during 1890-1991?".

After some consideration, I decided to change my question to: "What were the main events leading to the 1991 independence declaration in Lithuania?" but i was thinking it's too broad. 

If it's too broad, how can I make it more narrow?

 

[Sofia.]

I know nothing of the topic, so it's hard to tell whether it's too broad. It does seem broad, especially if a lot of stuff happen during that time. Maybe you could limit the time frame to fewer years, say 1945-1991? Also, the question that you have at the moment seems very narrative instead of analytic: you're supposed to do more than to describe events. You can possibly change it to "To what extent was [one factor] important in causing the Lithuanian declaration of independence in 1991?" or something more analytical Otherwise, interesting topic!

[MilduK]

I know nothing of the topic, so it's hard to tell whether it's too broad. It does seem broad, especially if a lot of stuff happen during that time. Maybe you could limit the time frame to fewer years, say 1945-1991? Also, the question that you have at the moment seems very narrative instead of analytic: you're supposed to do more than to describe events. You can possibly change it to "To what extent was [one factor] important in causing the Lithuanian declaration of independence in 1991?" or something more analytical   Otherwise, interesting topic!

 

 

Thank you!

Your tips will surely come in handy!

Edited December 18, 2014 by MilduK

[alefal]

Hey there,

 

Sofia. has already covered the main bits, and she is definitely correct when saying it is too broad. Without knowing too much about the topic at all, I can imagine you could write books on the topic. You certainly do not want to be able to write books on your EE topic. A critique on Sofia's suggestion though, even 1945 to 1991 seems way too broad to me. Instead of setting a time frame and discuss everything within that time frame, choose a particular event and assess its impact on the independence movement, AND THEN set a time frame - especially if the event had long-lasting effects. Think about it this way, if you had access to all the relevant evidence available (readily or not), would you be able to write 4000 words, but not much longer? If that is the case, then your RQ is a good one. If not, then you might need to consider narrowing down your topic further. 

 

If you struggle with this part of the task, do read the EE guide here on IBSurvival, and feel free to read my reply in this thread as well: http://www.ibsurvival.com/topic/27373-ee-film-rq/?p=206632 

 

Furthermore, avoid asking 'what' and 'who' questions, those can be answered in a short paragraph. The question you want will be one which will be difficult to answer without carefully studying the various evidence and make deductions from your findings. As such, as Sofia suggested, questions that ask 'to what extent' something is the case is usually the best way to go (though, of course, this can be achieved with different phrases as well). 

 

Good luck!

[MilduK]

Hey there,

 

Sofia. has already covered the main bits, and she is definitely correct when saying it is too broad. Without knowing too much about the topic at all, I can imagine you could write books on the topic. You certainly do not want to be able to write books on your EE topic. A critique on Sofia's suggestion though, even 1945 to 1991 seems way too broad to me. Instead of setting a time frame and discuss everything within that time frame, choose a particular event and assess its impact on the independence movement, AND THEN set a time frame - especially if the event had long-lasting effects. Think about it this way, if you had access to all the relevant evidence available (readily or not), would you be able to write 4000 words, but not much longer? If that is the case, then your RQ is a good one. If not, then you might need to consider narrowing down your topic further. 

 

If you struggle with this part of the task, do read the EE guide here on IBSurvival, and feel free to read my reply in this thread as well: http://www.ibsurvival.com/topic/27373-ee-film-rq/?p=206632 

 

Furthermore, avoid asking 'what' and 'who' questions, those can be answered in a short paragraph. The question you want will be one which will be difficult to answer without carefully studying the various evidence and make deductions from your findings. As such, as Sofia suggested, questions that ask 'to what extent' something is the case is usually the best way to go (though, of course, this can be achieved with different phrases as well). 

 

Good luck!

 

Oh wow!

Thank you so much!

This really helps!