Help narrowing down history EE topic?

[guruofgreatness722]

I'm really interested in doing something in US Government, like plans that presidents made or something of the sort. I initially wanted to compare the New Deal with the Great Society in terms of how well they solved poverty problems but my advisor said that's too broad.

Then i wanted to focus on the education aspects of the Great Society and the New Deal and compare how effective they were in bettering education or even ultimately reducing poverty. Again, my advisor said that it was too broad.

Eventually we settled on looking at how the public perceived one of the education acts of the Great Society. Should I stick to this or is there a way I could somehow work the education stuff into solving poverty without getting into economics too much? Is there any way I could include the education acts of the New Deal and the Great Society together in my EE (preferrably comparing them)?

[guruofgreatness722]

I've also considered analyzing literary technique in a few or even just one of the Sherlock Holmes short stories. Any advice?

[Cynthia]

Should I stick to this or is there a way I could somehow work the education stuff into solving poverty without getting into economics too much? Is there any way I could include the education acts of the New Deal and the Great Society together in my EE (preferrably comparing them)?

I have never studied US History in depth so I don't know much about this, but some thoughts I had that might be helpful on narrowing down the topic: for example, pick one group of people (for example a minority) or one area (state or maybe your local city) and focus on that. You could also pick just one stage of education or the effect on income inequality.

I don't feel that including economics is really a problem, as you could consider it a work of economic history ("Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations.") as long as you don't get into the economic theoretical part in your essay too much.

Edit: Literary technique in Sherlock Holmes is definitely doable but you need to decide whether you would rather do a history or english EE before taking it any further.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Cynthia