EE Research Question

[Valentine]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you could give me so help/feedback on my EE research question. I'm doing it about History, this is my question: To what extent do War Communism and the NEP differ in terms of their social and economic impacts on the Russian peasantry between 1918 and 1924? 

 

I was thinking about doing this other question, but I decided to stick to the one above. – To what extent did political or economic factors contribute to Kruschev’s abolishment of the Gulags? 

 

Thank you!!

[AndresLopez]

The first thing you should do is ask for your adviser's feedback, as he will probably give you better guidance.

Your question seems to be focused and not too broad, so it's a good starting point. It's definitely less broad than the Khrushchev question. As you start writing your EE, you might find that you don't have enough resources, or that your question is still broad and you won't have time to cover all your arguments. In that case, don't worry about it; just tweak your question and adapt it to suit your needs (e.g. just do social impacts), and if this isn't possible don't be scared of changing your question completely if you have time. But for now, start with that question if you feel comfortable with it and feel like it's something you want to write about.

Edited August 1, 2018 by AndresLopez

[Valentine]

Thank you so much for your response

Do you think social would be better to do instead of economic? I'm just slightly confused what I would talk about in terms of social, as economic seems more factual. 

 

[AndresLopez]

I agree that the social aspect can be more broad and cover more things, such as class differences, ethnic tensions, etc. There's a lot you could talk about, which may be overwhelming. Analysing just the economic impact may be more straight-forward.

However, I'm not telling you to choose one over the other. If you want to do both, then go ahead. If you want to just do one, then you should choose the one you  feel will be better to right about and the one you have more data available.
If you choose to just talk about the economic impact, you could mention that a limitation in your essay is that NEP and War Communism had an impact on other aspects (such as social) and that you chose to ignore them due to the word limit. Being critical of your work is good, so while you should be trying to make the best EE possible, don't be shy to point out weaknesses and limitations.

[Valentine]

Hi again! 

Thank you so much for your advice. It has been very helpful. But now I'm trying to figure out what I can add into my introduction, as I have decided to write about the economic impacts. The rubric for the EE tells us to identify and state the importance of investigating this topic. And honestly, I have no idea what to say. Do you have any ideas? Thank you so much:))

[AndresLopez]

Have a look into the context of the topic and what it links to in terms of global history or economic events - this often helps to show its importance!