History IA Topic Feedback

[Gonegirl42]

My topic is: To what extent was humanitarian intervention used to justify imperialist ambitions by the united states during the Spanish-American War?

What part of it would I have to tweak? Is it too broad, or too narrow? I have a lot of research done on the Spanish-American War. I'm afriad that what I sit down and write it my question wil bring me issues or my research and sources will not help me at all. I'm just really nervous that there is still some tweaking to be done with my question, but I don't know what part of it to tweak. Any ideas?

Edited January 14, 2018 by Gonegirl42

[Nomenclature]

The basis of the question is good and it's an interesting topic. I think you have a potentially effective essay here, but–like you say–I don't think it's a bad idea to slightly adjust the question here and you might even decide to fine-tune the question as your write your essay. My minor worry would be that in simply saying, "hey, the U.S. wasn't so altruistic" is a generally consensus historical opinion, so try to dig deeper than that. It's not a bad essay; it could score quite highly if written well, but it's not a 36/36 essay in my opinion. There's going to be true-believers who really do want to free other territories, and there's going to be cynical opportunists as well. Some possible ways to take that extra step (there are many, I'm only giving you examples here to give you an idea) would be to answer some more nuanced questions such as "Did the most U.S. politicians go into the Spanish-American War cynically or were they more opportunistic", "Did the U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War deliver any humanitarian benefits it promised", etc. You can even mix these into your main question and answer both.

You'll want to analyze primary speeches, addresses to Congress, private letters of prominent figures, and newspapers as the war broke out. Then examine the U.S.'s not so admirable actions (with the aforementioned sources) as the war concluded.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Nomenclature

[kekelazza]

hello i really need some help im desperate. I've had to change my topic for the ia because it was too difficult and i wasn't able to write something good. I have very little time left to write the essay and need some help. Firstly, is the IA question i have come up with suitable? : To what extent did ww1 end colonialism? If you have any suggestions on improvements go ahead. Secondly, if anyone has ideas on what i should say or how i should structure it... anything... please feel free to write them down. Thank you a lot i appreciate it. 

[Marxi]

On 2/1/2018 at 3:11 PM, kekelazza said:

hello i really need some help im desperate. I've had to change my topic for the ia because it was too difficult and i wasn't able to write something good. I have very little time left to write the essay and need some help. Firstly, is the IA question i have come up with suitable? : To what extent did ww1 end colonialism? If you have any suggestions on improvements go ahead. Secondly, if anyone has ideas on what i should say or how i should structure it... anything... please feel free to write them down. Thank you a lot i appreciate it. 

Hi - I think your topic is really interesting and can be formulated into a really good IA.  I always try looking at any essay topic as a two way street, analyzing says it went one way or the other; thus I think a better way to word your topic could be: "To what extent did WW1 have an effect on imperialism around the world"