Is this a valid EE Question for History? (Kissinger, US Foreign Policy)

[bahbushkah]

To what extent did Henry Kissinger play a part in US Foreign Policy?

Or, if I need to narrow it down, it can be:

To what extent did Henry Kissinger influence US Foreign Policy decisions in the Vietnam War?

I am currently in another country as I go to school to school in the US. I will be on vacation until early August (almost 2 months). Do you think I can do all my research here in Romania (I can read in Romanian and can go get a library card with my ID)?

Also how do I ask my teacher if it is a valid question/topic? I should send her an e-mail right?

Thank you

Edited June 29, 2013 by bahbushkah

[ak18]

Use the narrowed down question as its explicit while at the same time giving you enough scope for research. And yes you can go to the library to do your research and you can research online too and yeah send your teacher an email asking her. thats what i did

[Arrowhead]

Neither of those are narrow enough questions. The Vietnam War lasted decades and saw three Presidents at the helm.

Kissinger was the National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State for two of the Presidents most embroiled in this war (Ford and Nixon). To ask the extent to which he "influenced" foreign policy is silly to the point of redundancy. Obviously, he influenced US foreign policy, it comes with his job!

In my honest opinion, your question is not only too broad at the moment, but its current phrasing - "how did Kissinger 'influence' foreign policy" - also makes it a terrible RQ.

[flinquinnster]

I would agree with Arrowhead that you need a lot more specificity - US involvement in the Vietnam War was quite extensive, so perhaps choosing a specific timeframe would be the way to sharpen its focus. As to the wording of your RQ, I think that whilst "influence" might be acceptable, you might want to change it to assess Kissinger's impact in a specific issue where the extent of his foreign policy control is under significant historical dispute. So I think that when you start researching, you need to keep refining the specificity and wording of your question to reflect the content, interpretation and arguments that you want to include in the essay in your RQ's scope. If you are on summer holidays, as I presume, then that would imply that you've still got some time before your final EE is due, so don't despair.

Also, yes, I would agree that informing your teacher of your topic selection process would be prudent, as would doing online research by signing up to online databases like jstor (which is pretty much where I get all of my research for anything, ever).

[bahbushkah]

Thank you guys, I will look into it.

Edited June 29, 2013 by bahbushkah

[LoveXavii]

"How has America's puritanical foundation affected its modern views on pre-marital sex?"- is that narrow enough?

[Arrowhead]

"How has America's puritanical foundation affected its modern views on pre-marital sex?"- is that narrow enough?

Well, there are a few issues with this question:

(1) Are you referring to the United States of America or the entirety of the North and South American continents?

(2) People's opinions differ on what exactly were the so-called strict religious and moral ("puritanical") codes used. Perhaps specifying this to a particular area within the USA that had a noted and documented homogenous religious outlook would be beneficial.

(3) When was this so-called "foundation" established? Pre-independence? In the days, weeks, years, decades post-independence? It's impossible to pinpoint any moment in history where such a foundation was definitively established.

(4) How is this a historical investigation if you're assessing people's views? For that matter, how can you assume that all people have the same view, especially if you're researching ground spans all of the USA's supposedly homogenous puritanical foundation?

Your question is unworkable.

My advice: Scrap this. Pick a definitive moment/event in history that is fairly well documented and devise a Research Question around that. Try and not pick something obvious (related to the US Civil War/World Wars/rise of Hitler/Stalin/Mussolini/anything else from the History HL syllabus). I would advise you to go local with it.

Arrowhead.

[LoveXavii]

"How has America's puritanical foundation affected its modern views on pre-marital sex?"- is that narrow enough?

Well, there are a few issues with this question:

(1) Are you referring to the United States of America or the entirety of the North and South American continents?

(2) People's opinions differ on what exactly were the so-called strict religious and moral ("puritanical") codes used. Perhaps specifying this to a particular area within the USA that had a noted and documented homogenous religious outlook would be beneficial.

(3) When was this so-called "foundation" established? Pre-independence? In the days, weeks, years, decades post-independence? It's impossible to pinpoint any moment in history where such a foundation was definitively established.

(4) How is this a historical investigation if you're assessing people's views? For that matter, how can you assume that all people have the same view, especially if you're researching ground spans all of the USA's supposedly homogenous puritanical foundation?

Your question is unworkable.

My advice: Scrap this. Pick a definitive moment/event in history that is fairly well documented and devise a Research Question around that. Try and not pick something obvious (related to the US Civil War/World Wars/rise of Hitler/Stalin/Mussolini/anything else from the History HL syllabus). I would advise you to go local with it.

Arrowhead.

Okay. I would like help constructing a new question.

I want it to be History. The main focus will be on the effectiveness of the 1960s Women's Liberation Movement in the United States Workforce. I'm not sure how to narrow this further.

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I'm going into my first year of IB and I want to be a little ahead of the game with my Extended Essay.