sarah is writing a research paper for history of the vietnam war

The Vietnam War

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American POW's in the Vietnam War
Oral Histories of the Vietnam War
Photographs of the Vietnam War
Press Coverage of the Vietnam War
Protests Against U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
Vietnam War Historical Footage
The War's Impact on New Jersey
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Kean university history department.

Visit the History Department's web page for excellent "Research Paper" resources:

Subject-Focused Encyclopedias

Need to select a research topic or find background information?

The Reference Collection includes a variety of different sources, such as: subject-focused encyclopedias, handbooks, almanacs, maps/atlases, statistical compendiums, dictionaries, and more. Look here to find introductory articles on subject-related topics. The broad perspective offered by such articles often proves helpful for narrowing research topics before pursuing more in-depth information.

This guide provides some recommendations for encyclopedias and other reference resources that might provide helpful information relating to your topic.

Recommended Subject-Focused Books

sarah is writing a research paper for history of the vietnam war

Aid under Fire

Electronic Resource

The American War in Vietnam

Beyond the Quagmire

Forever Vietnam

Looking Back on the Vietnam War

Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War in American Childhood

Waging Peace in Vietnam

The War after the War

War Without Fronts

Phantom in the Sky

Recommended Online Reference Databases

The following databases provide access to online encyclopedias covering multidisciplinary topics. Remember, these subject encyclopedias are great sources of background information on countless topics.

Working from off campus? If so, you will need to log in with your Kean Google username and password.

Recommended Multimedia Databases

Recommended statistics databases.

The following databases provide access to statistics and other kinds of data.

Working from off campus? If so, you will need to log in with your Kean Google username and password.

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Last Updated: Jul 15, 2024 4:06 PM
URL: https://libguides.kean.edu/vietnamwar

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HI 4263 : American's Vietnam War

Research Questions

Topic to Research Question

Previous interpretations.

Finding Secondary Sources
Primary Sources at MSU
Additional Primary Sources
Managing Your Research

First think about historical topics that interest you broadly. Then, gather background information by reading encyclopedias, major books on the topics, and then add focus with a research question.

Qualities of good historical questions.

Open-ended, asks “how” and “why” questions about your general topic
Considers causes or effects
Is argumentative and uses interpretations based on the evidence)
Appropriate specificity (think who, where, when)
Consider the “so what?” of your topic. Why does this topic matter to you? Why should it matter to others?
Reflect on the questions you have considered. Identify one or two questions you find engaging and which could be explored further through research.

Example: "How did white and African-American defense plant workers create and think about interracial relationships during World War II?"

This question investigates broad issues—interracial romance, sexual identity—but within a specific context—World War II and the defense industry.

WARNING: Avoid selecting a topic that is too broad: "How has war affected sex in America?" is too broad. It would take several books to answer this question.

A good question is narrow enough so that you can find a persuasive answer to it in time to meet the due date for this class paper. A good historical question also demands an answer that is not just yes or no. Why and how questions are often good choices, and so are questions that ask you to compare and contrast a topic in different locations or time periods; so are questions that ask you to explain the relationship between one event or historical process and another.

Adapted from: George Mason University Writing Center, (2008) " How to write a research question ," and Brown, " Writing about History ."

Connecting your interpretation to previous work by other historians:

Once you have a topic in mind, you need to find out what other scholars have written about your topic. If they've used the same sources you were thinking of using and reached the same conclusions, there's no point in repeating their work, so you should look for another topic.

Most of the time, though, you'll find that other scholars have used different sources and/or asked different questions, and that reading their work will help you place your own paper in perspective. When you are writing your paper, you will cite these historians—both their arguments about the material, and also (sometimes) their research findings.

Example: "As Tera Hunter has argued concerning Atlanta's laundresses, black women workers preferred work outside the homes of their white employers"(and then you would cite Hunter in a footnote, including page numbers).

As such, you should consider categories of analysis or angles that are different from other historians when developing your research question. Not all historical research is going to be ground breaking. If you can explore questions that have already been asked with a different methodology - that is, a different set of subtopics, documents, or theoretical perspective - then you are adding a valuable contribution to historical discussions.

Adapted from: Brown, " Writing about History ."