History 12 Research Project: 1920’s – 1945
Research Assignment:
Using a variety of resources find documents and resources that can be used to support one of the following topics:

Evaluate the forces of change and the change itself on the role of women in the time period of
1919-1939.

What were the most significant technological changes that occurred in the time period of 1919-
39? Evaluate how they changed peoples lives during this time period.

The decade of the 1930’s is known as the Great Depression. To what extent is this an accurate reflection of this decade?

To what extent was FDR’s New Deal Legislation popular amongst the American electorate?

Although the United States turned its back on the League of Nations and the ratification of the
Treaty of Versailles; the United States did not completely adopt a policy of isolation in the interwar period. To what extent were US policies isolationist in this time period? Consider its political, economic, military and social policies.

What were the “real” causes of the Spanish Civil War? What was the impact on the rest of
Europe’s leaders and WWII?

Analyze the role of the U.S. in WWII.

Evaluate the role of mass media in the 1930’s.

Compare and contrast the roles of German and Japanese aggression during World War II.

Discuss the issues surrounding the United States’ decision to use atomic bombs against Japan.
What motives were behind this action, and what arguments have been made against it?

Discuss the role that Italy played in World War II. How did the nation become involved in the conflict?
How did its participation affect the direction of the war and Germany’s fortunes?

In every conflict, there are pacifists and an underground resistance movement. Analyze the role of the
French Resistance or the resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto and its impact on the course of WWII.
ADAPTED FROM: W.Axford: Burnaby Central Secondary School revised 2013

History 12
Assignment: Research & Analytical Skills
This assignment will help your develop your research and writing skills that are required for essay writing. An essay is not required for this assignment but you will have completed the essential pre-
writing requirements when you finish.
Required Resources
 You will need to refer to the skills of the Historian handout for this exercise
 Your text resources, Global Forces and The World This Century
 Additional Library resources
 Internet resources * note when using the Internet ensure you are using reliable sites. Check the information provided, the origins of the site and any references that they make to their sources
Selection of supporting documents
 You are to prepare a thesis QUESTION and then research supporting documentation for your thesis. You are looking for compelling evidence that is from reliable sources. Once you’ve gathered your documents, summarize each piece.
 What does the research say about your topic?
 This will form your THESIS. A thesis is best defended with a variety of supporting evidence drawn from a various sources that examines the question in a variety of formats.
DOCUMENTS:
Documents can be selected from a number of sources both in print and electronic format.
 No source shall be used for more than 3 documents. (a book or website counts as one source)
 Documents should be split between primary and secondary sources; approximately 9-10 primary and 6-7 secondary. (16 primary or secondary documents required in total)
You must have a minimum of the following types of resources
 2 statistical resources (graphs, tables, charts)
 2 visual resources (a picture, poster, photograph or map.)
 Your documents are to be presented in order of the least supportive to the most supportive of the thesis. Notations of reliability are to accompany each document.
 Two documents may be selected for their specific collaboration of each other, but any more than 3 documents on the same specific point will be counted against you!
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A complete bibliography with page notations must be provided.
ADAPTED FROM: W.Axford: Burnaby Central Secondary School revised 2013

 Refer to the guideline for bibliography provided by the librarian
 The Bibliography is worth 25% of the entire assignment
SUMMARY OR INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:
Write a summary paragraph that could be attached to an essay for this topic.
It must reflect the thesis and the content of your documents.
It should reflect the ideas of the documents over their specific content.
Your paragraph must clearly conclude to what extent the evidence applies to the question selected.
For Example:
“In the eyes of the rest of Asia and of key areas threatened by communism in other areas as well, South
Vietnam is both a test of U.S. firmness and specifically a test of U.S. capacity to deal with wars of national liberation. Within Asia, there is evidence-for example, from Japan-that U.S disengagement and the acceptance of Communist domination would have serious effect on confidence. More broadly, there can be little doubt that any country threatened in the future by Communist subversion would have reason to doubt whether we would really see the thing through. This would apply even in such theoretically remote areas as
Latin America.
Source:
Robert McNamara: Memorandum to the President, January 7, 1964 cited in Robert S. McNamara In
Retrospect: tragedy and lessons of Vietnam, page 107
Toronto: Random House of Canada limited, 1995
ANALYSIS:
This is a primary document from a reliable source. Robert McNamara was Secretary of Defense during
President Johnson administration. It is a memorandum to the President, so it would not be intended for public distribution so it could be assumed to reflect accurately the viewpoint of the Secretary of Defense. In his position as Secretary of Defense he would be aware of detailed information on the crisis.
The document could be used to show how the US government feared inaction in Vietnam could lead to a domino effect in other strategic areas. This document clearly shows how the Secretary of Defense felt justified in taking action in Vietnam to protect US interests elsewhere in the world. The document is biased towards the US position in Vietnam, but explains the grounds for that point of view. The bias does not diminish the reliability of the document.
The document also suggests that the US government officials were aware at an early stage of the conflict that it had an element of “National liberation” , yet still concerned about the acceptance of Communist domination seriously undermining relations with allied nations around the globe. This might suggest that they were willing to sacrifice a nations right to liberate itself in exchange for containing the spread of communism.
ADAPTED FROM: W.Axford: Burnaby Central Secondary School revised 2013

STRUCTURE:
Your completed project should be organized in the following manner:
Name and Block
Topic
Thesis
A list of the 16 supporting documents with required footnote information, document analysis and annotation as to how it relates to YOUR designated thesis.
ADAPTED FROM: W.Axford: Burnaby Central Secondary School revised 2013