[Smith.Christian]

I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a bind. I'm an IB student in the US and I'm trying to narrow down my EE question. I know I want to do it in ancient history, preferably Ancient Greece or Rome, but I have no idea how to narrow down the question. Can someone give me some advice on this?

[MrJohnDClare]

What a wise question to ask.

Have you read the guidelines (pages 80ff of this document)?


Make sure that you pick a topic which:
1. You can easily get hold of original sources from the time to use/analyse.
2. Has an element of historiographical debate about it - is a subject about which historians have disagreed in the past.


It is vital that you choose the correct question.
It must not be so broad that you need an encyclopaedic knowledge to answer it: 'What was the effect of the Roman Empire in all the areas it conquered?', but neither must it be so narrow that you really need to go and conduct original research to answer it: 'How practical were the cooking vessels used in Pompeii before the eruption?'

My advice is to choose an AREA first - family life in Athens/ the Roman army/ Greek philosphers/ Roman medicine etc. and then skim-READ quickly as you can as many books as you can.
You will quickly find out:
1. is there enough evidence on this to support my project?
2. what are the questions historians are arguing about (if any)?

If your area seems to be a dud, move on to another one.
But if (when) you have found a 'go-er', formulate your questn and then go back to the books, reading them more carefully to answer the question.


Get back in touch if this isn't enough help for the moment.

[Smith.Christian]

This is actually a great help. I work in my public library and have taken out 2 books on the subjects but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. Thank you very much for the link and the advice. You summed it up a lot better than my IB coordinator (sp.) did (but she is always very busy). I will get back to you on the question.