lesson of history thesis

Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument

Almost every assignment you complete for a history course will ask you to make an argument. Your instructors will often call this your "thesis"– your position on a subject.

What is an Argument?

An argument takes a stand on an issue. It seeks to persuade an audience of a point of view in much the same way that a lawyer argues a case in a court of law. It is NOT a description or a summary.

• This is an argument: "This paper argues that the movie JFK is inaccurate in its portrayal of President Kennedy."
• This is not an argument: "In this paper, I will describe the portrayal of President Kennedy that is shown in the movie JFK."

What is a Thesis?

A thesis statement is a sentence in which you state an argument about a topic and then describe, briefly, how you will prove your argument.

• This is an argument, but not yet a thesis: "The movie ‘JFK’ inaccurately portrays President Kennedy."
• This is a thesis: "The movie ‘JFK’ inaccurately portrays President Kennedy because of the way it ignores Kennedy’s youth, his relationship with his father, and the findings of the Warren Commission."

A thesis makes a specific statement to the reader about what you will be trying to argue. Your thesis can be a few sentences long, but should not be longer than a paragraph. Do not begin to state evidence or use examples in your thesis paragraph.

A Thesis Helps You and Your Reader

Your blueprint for writing:

• Helps you determine your focus and clarify your ideas.
• Provides a "hook" on which you can "hang" your topic sentences.
• Can (and should) be revised as you further refine your evidence and arguments. New evidence often requires you to change your thesis.
• Gives your paper a unified structure and point.

Your reader’s blueprint for reading:

• Serves as a "map" to follow through your paper.
• Keeps the reader focused on your argument.
• Signals to the reader your main points.
• Engages the reader in your argument.

Tips for Writing a Good Thesis

• Find a Focus: Choose a thesis that explores an aspect of your topic that is important to you, or that allows you to say something new about your topic. For example, if your paper topic asks you to analyze women’s domestic labor during the early nineteenth century, you might decide to focus on the products they made from scratch at home.
• Look for Pattern: After determining a general focus, go back and look more closely at your evidence. As you re-examine your evidence and identify patterns, you will develop your argument and some conclusions. For example, you might find that as industrialization increased, women made fewer textiles at home, but retained their butter and soap making tasks.

Strategies for Developing a Thesis Statement

Idea 1. If your paper assignment asks you to answer a specific question, turn the question into an assertion and give reasons for your opinion.

Assignment: How did domestic labor change between 1820 and 1860? Why were the changes in their work important for the growth of the United States?

Beginning thesis: Between 1820 and 1860 women's domestic labor changed as women stopped producing home-made fabric, although they continued to sew their families' clothes, as well as to produce butter and soap. With the cash women earned from the sale of their butter and soap they purchased ready-made cloth, which in turn, helped increase industrial production in the United States before the Civil War.

Idea 2. Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main Idea: Women's labor in their homes during the first half of the nineteenth century contributed to the growth of the national economy.

Idea 3. Spend time "mulling over" your topic. Make a list of the ideas you want to include in the essay, then think about how to group them under several different headings. Often, you will see an organizational plan emerge from the sorting process.

Idea 4. Use a formula to develop a working thesis statement (which you will need to revise later). Here are a few examples:

• Although most readers of ______ have argued that ______, closer examination shows that ______.
• ______ uses ______ and ______ to prove that ______.
• Phenomenon X is a result of the combination of ______, ______, and ______.

These formulas share two characteristics all thesis statements should have: they state an argument and they reveal how you will make that argument. They are not specific enough, however, and require more work.

As you work on your essay, your ideas will change and so will your thesis. Here are examples of weak and strong thesis statements.

• Unspecific thesis: "Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong leader as First Lady."  This thesis lacks an argument. Why was Eleanor Roosevelt a strong leader?
• Specific thesis: "Eleanor Roosevelt recreated the role of the First Lady by her active political leadership in the Democratic Party, by lobbying for national legislation, and by fostering women’s leadership in the Democratic Party."  The second thesis has an argument: Eleanor Roosevelt "recreated" the position of First Lady, and a three-part structure with which to demonstrate just how she remade the job.
• Unspecific thesis: "At the end of the nineteenth century French women lawyers experienced difficulty when they attempted to enter the legal profession."  No historian could argue with this general statement and uninteresting thesis.
• Specific thesis: "At the end of the nineteenth century French women lawyers experienced misogynist attacks from male lawyers when they attempted to enter the legal profession because male lawyers wanted to keep women out of judgeships."  This thesis statement asserts that French male lawyers attacked French women lawyers because they feared women as judges, an intriguing and controversial point.

Making an Argument – Every Thesis Deserves Its Day in Court

You are the best (and only!) advocate for your thesis. Your thesis is defenseless without you to prove that its argument holds up under scrutiny. The jury (i.e., your reader) will expect you, as a good lawyer, to provide evidence to prove your thesis. To prove thesis statements on historical topics, what evidence can an able young lawyer use?

• Primary sources: letters, diaries, government documents, an organization’s meeting minutes, newspapers.
• Secondary sources: articles and books from your class that explain and interpret the historical event or person you are writing about, lecture notes, films or documentaries.

How can you use this evidence?

• Make sure the examples you select from your available evidence address your thesis.
• Use evidence that your reader will believe is credible. This means sifting and sorting your sources, looking for the clearest and fairest. Be sure to identify the biases and shortcomings of each piece of evidence for your reader.
• Use evidence to avoid generalizations. If you assert that all women have been oppressed, what evidence can you use to support this? Using evidence works to check over-general statements.
• Use evidence to address an opposing point of view. How do your sources give examples that refute another historian’s interpretation?

Remember -- if in doubt, talk to your instructor.

Thanks to the web page of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Writing Center for information used on this page. See writing.wisc.edu/handbook for further information.

Module 4: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests (1763-1774)

Historical thesis statements, learning objectives.

• Recognize and create high-quality historical thesis statements

Some consider all writing a form of argument—or at least of persuasion. After all, even if you’re writing a letter or an informative essay, you’re implicitly trying to persuade your audience to care about what you’re saying. Your thesis statement represents the main idea—or point—about a topic or issue that you make in an argument. For example, let’s say that your topic is social media. A thesis statement about social media could look like one of the following sentences:

• Social media are hurting the communication skills of young Americans.
• Social media are useful tools for social movements.

A basic thesis sentence has two main parts: a claim  and support for that claim.

• The Immigration Act of 1965 effectively restructured the United States’ immigration policies in such a way that no group, minority or majority, was singled out by being discriminated against or given preferential treatment in terms of its ability to immigrate to America.

Identifying the Thesis Statement

A thesis consists of a specific topic and an angle on the topic. All of the other ideas in the text support and develop the thesis. The thesis statement is often found in the introduction, sometimes after an initial “hook” or interesting story; sometimes, however, the thesis is not explicitly stated until the end of an essay, and sometimes it is not stated at all. In those instances, there is an implied thesis statement. You can generally extract the thesis statement by looking for a few key sentences and ideas.

Most readers expect to see the point of your argument (the thesis statement) within the first few paragraphs. This does not mean that it has to be placed there every time. Some writers place it at the very end, slowly building up to it throughout their work, to explain a point after the fact. For history essays, most professors will expect to see a clearly discernible thesis sentence in the introduction. Note that many history papers also include a topic sentence, which clearly state what the paper is about

Thesis statements vary based on the rhetorical strategy of the essay, but thesis statements typically share the following characteristics:

• Presents the main idea
• Most often is one sentence
• Tells the reader what to expect
• Is a summary of the essay topic
• Usually worded to have an argumentative edge
• Written in the third person

This video explains thesis statements and gives a few clear examples of how a good thesis should both make a claim and forecast specific ways that the essay will support that claim.

You can view the  transcript for “Thesis Statement – Writing Tutorials, US History, Dr. Robert Scafe” here (opens in new window) .

Writing a Thesis Statement

A good basic structure for a thesis statement is “they say, I say.” What is the prevailing view, and how does your position differ from it? However, avoid limiting the scope of your writing with an either/or thesis under the assumption that your view must be strictly contrary to their view.

Following are some typical thesis statements:

• Although many readers believe Romeo and Juliet to be a tale about the ill fate of two star-crossed lovers, it can also be read as an allegory concerning a playwright and his audience.
• The “War on Drugs” has not only failed to reduce the frequency of drug-related crimes in America but actually enhanced the popular image of dope peddlers by romanticizing them as desperate rebels fighting for a cause.
• The bulk of modern copyright law was conceived in the age of commercial printing, long before the Internet made it so easy for the public to compose and distribute its own texts. Therefore, these laws should be reviewed and revised to better accommodate modern readers and writers.
• The usual moral justification for capital punishment is that it deters crime by frightening would-be criminals. However, the statistics tell a different story.
• If students really want to improve their writing, they must read often, practice writing, and receive quality feedback from their peers.
• Plato’s dialectical method has much to offer those engaged in online writing, which is far more conversational in nature than print.

Thesis Problems to Avoid

Although you have creative control over your thesis sentence, you still should try to avoid the following problems, not for stylistic reasons, but because they indicate a problem in the thinking that underlies the thesis sentence.

• Hospice workers need support. This is a thesis sentence; it has a topic (hospice workers) and an argument (need support). But the argument is very broad. When the argument in a thesis sentence is too broad, the writer may not have carefully thought through the specific support for the rest of the writing. A thesis argument that’s too broad makes it easy to fall into the trap of offering information that deviates from that argument.
• Hospice workers have a 55% turnover rate compared to the general health care population’s 25% turnover rate.  This sentence really isn’t a thesis sentence at all, because there’s no argument to support it. A narrow statistic, or a narrow statement of fact, doesn’t offer the writer’s own ideas or analysis about a topic.

Let’s see some examples of potential theses related to the following prompt:

• Bad thesis : The relationship between the American colonists and the British government changed after the French & Indian War.
• Better thesis : The relationship between the American colonists and the British government was strained following the Revolutionary war.
• Best thesis : Due to the heavy debt acquired by the British government during the French & Indian War, the British government increased efforts to tax the colonists, causing American opposition and resistance that strained the relationship between the colonists and the crown.

Practice identifying strong thesis statements in the following interactive.

Supporting Evidence for Thesis Statements

A thesis statement doesn’t mean much without supporting evidence. Oftentimes in a history class, you’ll be expected to defend your thesis, or your argument, using primary source documents. Sometimes these documents are provided to you, and sometimes you’ll need to go find evidence on your own. When the documents are provided for you and you are asked to answer questions about them, it is called a document-based question, or DBQ. You can think of a DBQ like a miniature research paper, where the research has been done for you. DBQs are often used on standardized tests, like this DBQ from the 2004 U.S. History AP exam , which asked students about the altered political, economic, and ideological relations between Britain and the colonies because of the French & Indian War. In this question, students were given 8 documents (A through H) and expected to use these documents to defend and support their argument. For example, here is a possible thesis statement for this essay:

• The French & Indian War altered the political, economic, and ideological relations between the colonists and the British government because it changed the nature of British rule over the colonies, sowed the seeds of discontent, and led to increased taxation from the British.

Now, to defend this thesis statement, you would add evidence from the documents. The thesis statement can also help structure your argument. With the thesis statement above, we could expect the essay to follow this general outline:

• Introduction—introduce how the French and Indian War altered political, economic, and ideological relations between the colonists and the British
• Show the changing map from Doc A and greater administrative responsibility and increased westward expansion
• Discuss Doc B, frustrations from the Iroquois Confederacy and encroachment onto Native lands
• Could also mention Doc F and the result in greater administrative costs
• Use Doc D and explain how a colonial soldier notices disparities between how they are treated when compared to the British
• Use General Washington’s sentiments in Doc C to discuss how these attitudes of reverence shifted after the war. Could mention how the war created leadership opportunities and gave military experience to colonists.
• Use Doc E to highlight how the sermon showed optimism about Britain ruling the colonies after the war
• Highlight some of the political, economic, and ideological differences related to increased taxation caused by the War
• Use Doc F, the British Order in Council Statement, to indicate the need for more funding to pay for the cost of war
• Explain Doc G, frustration from Benjamin Franklin about the Stamp Act and efforts to repeal it
• Use Doc H, the newspaper masthead saying “farewell to liberty”, to highlight the change in sentiments and colonial anger over the Stamp Act

As an example, to argue that the French & Indian War sowed the seeds of discontent, you could mention Document D, from a Massachusetts soldier diary, who wrote, “And we, being here within stone walls, are not likely to get liquors or clothes at this time of the year; and though we be Englishmen born, we are debarred [denied] Englishmen’s liberty.” This shows how colonists began to see their identity as Americans as distinct from those from the British mainland.

Remember, a strong thesis statement is one that supports the argument of your writing. It should have a clear purpose and objective, and although you may revise it as you write, it’s a good idea to start with a strong thesis statement the give your essay direction and organization. You can check the quality of your thesis statement by answering the following questions:

• If a specific prompt was provided, does the thesis statement answer the question prompt?
• Does the thesis statement make sense?
• Is the thesis statement historically accurate?
• Does the thesis statement provide clear and cohesive reasoning?
• Is the thesis supportable by evidence?

thesis statement : a statement of the topic of the piece of writing and the angle the writer has on that topic

• Thesis Statements. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/wp-admin/post.php?post=576&action=edit . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Thesis Examples. Authored by : Cody Chun, Kieran O'Neil, Kylie Young, Julie Nelson Christoph. Provided by : The University of Puget Sound. Located at : https://soundwriting.pugetsound.edu/universal/thesis-dev-six-steps.html . Project : Sound Writing. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Writing Practice: Building Thesis Statements. Provided by : The Bill of Rights Institute, OpenStax, and contributing authors. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:L3kRHhAr@7/1-22-%F0%9F%93%9D-Writing-Practice-Building-Thesis-Statements . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected].
• Thesis Statement - Writing Tutorials, US History, Dr. Robert Scafe. Provided by : OU Office of Digital Learning. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjAk8JI0IY&t=310s . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

Home — Blog — Topic Ideas — Thesis Topics in History: The List of 100 Perfect Ideas

Thesis Topics in History: The List of 100 Perfect Ideas

When choosing a thesis topic in history, several essential factors come into play. Firstly, consider your passion and interest in the subject matter. Opt for a topic that genuinely intrigues you, as this will motivate and drive your research efforts. Secondly, strive for originality and significance. Look for gaps in the existing historical literature and propose a fresh perspective or a novel approach to a well-studied topic. Your goal should be to contribute new insights and knowledge to the field. If your ideas are recognized, then perhaps in the future some history thesis examples will be written based on them.

Feasibility is crucial in selecting a thesis topic. Ensure that you have access to the necessary primary and secondary sources, archives, or data required to support your research. Additionally, consider the relevance of your chosen topic to current historical debates or contemporary issues. Demonstrating the significance of your research in the broader context adds depth and impact to your work.

Ultimately, the result you should strive for is a well-crafted thesis topic that not only showcases your academic prowess but also excites and captivates your readers or academic committee. Your chosen topic should be engaging, thought-provoking, and capable of advancing the collective understanding of historical events or phenomena. By meticulously selecting a compelling thesis topic and conducting thorough research, you can embark on a rewarding journey of scholarly exploration and contribute meaningfully to the ever-evolving field of history.

✨ Top-20 History Thesis Ideas

• The Role of Media in Shaping Public Perception during the Cold War
• The Great Depression: Economic and Social Impacts on American Society
• The Age of Exploration: Cultural Exchanges and Global Interactions
• Women's Suffrage Movement: Analyzing Strategies and Achievements
• The French Revolution: Causes, Consequences, and Historical Interpretations
• The African-American Civil Rights Movement Essay : Leaders, Strategies, and Legacies
• The Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires: Lessons from Mesopotamia and Egypt
• World War II: Examining the Global Impact and Lessons Learned
• The Scientific Revolution: Advancements in Science and their Societal Impact
• Slavery and Abolition: A Comparative Study of Different Regions
• The Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road: Connecting East and West
• The Age of Imperialism: Colonialism, Resistance, and Global Consequences
• The Renaissance and Its Influence on Art, Literature, and Politics
• The Native American Experience: Examining Histories and Perspectives
• The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on European Society and Religion
• The Construction and Fall of the Berlin Wall: Symbolism and Global Implications
• The Spanish Inquisition: Religious Orthodoxy and Power Dynamics
• The Industrial Revolution: Changes in Work, Society, and the Environment
• The Mongol Empire: Conquest, Governance, and Cultural Integration
• The Crusades: Motivations, Outcomes, and Effects on Christian-Muslim Relations

✍️ History Thesis Topics for Bachelor's Degree: Tips and Tricks

Writing a diploma thesis in history is a significant milestone for university graduates. It allows students to showcase their research skills, critical thinking, and expertise in the subject. Crafting a compelling and well-structured thesis requires careful planning and adherence to specific guidelines. Here are some recommendations and criteria to consider when undertaking a history dissertation:

• Topic Selection: Choose a topic that genuinely interests you and aligns with your academic passions. A well-chosen topic will keep you motivated throughout the research process.
• Originality: Strive for originality in your research. Identify gaps in existing historical literature and propose a unique perspective or fresh analysis.
• Research Depth: Conduct thorough research using a variety of primary and secondary sources. Academic journals, historical documents, and reputable books are essential resources.
• Structure and Format: Follow the prescribed structure and format provided by your university or department. Adhere to proper citation and referencing guidelines.
• Word Count: Depending on your university's requirements, diploma theses in history typically range from 60 to 100 pages. However, check the specific word count guidelines for your institution.
• Abstract: Include a clear and concise abstract that summarizes the key objectives, research methods, and findings of your thesis.
• Introduction: Introduce your topic, provide background information, and state your research question or thesis statement.
• Literature Review: Review relevant literature to demonstrate your understanding of existing research on the topic.
• Methodology: Explain the research methods and approaches you used to collect and analyze data.
• Analysis and Findings: Present your research findings and analyze them in the context of your research question.
• Conclusion: Summarize your main arguments, discuss the implications of your findings, and suggest avenues for future research.
• References: Provide a comprehensive list of all the sources you cited in your thesis.

When starting your dissertation, begin with extensive reading and research to gain a solid understanding of the topic. Take notes and organize your sources efficiently. Create a detailed outline that will serve as a roadmap for your writing process. Seek guidance from your advisor or professors throughout your research journey, as their insights and feedback will be invaluable.

As you write, maintain a clear and coherent writing style, and avoid excessive jargon. Use headings and subheadings to structure your thesis logically. Remember to proofread and edit your work carefully to ensure accuracy and clarity.

In conclusion, writing a diploma thesis in history requires dedication, critical thinking, and meticulous research. By following these recommendations and adhering to the given criteria, you can create a compelling and well-argued thesis that contributes meaningfully to the field of history. Embrace this opportunity to delve into the past, unearth new insights, and leave a lasting academic legacy as you embark on this exciting academic journey.

If you still have not found suitable historical theses, then we continued the list with examples, one of which is right for you

🌆American History Thesis Topics

• The American Revolution : Causes, Consequences, and Legacies
• 1950s Body Image History
• The 1950s vs Modern Era
• 1960s Entertainment
• Abigail Adams Letter Rhetorical Analysis
• Abigail Williams in The Crucible
• American Imperialism: Factors, Impact, and Legacy
• The American and French Revolutions: Causes, Key Events, and Outcomes
• A Comparative Analysis of Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine
• About The Underground Railroad
• Colin Kaepernick Argument: a Controversial Figure in American Sports
• Mitch Landrieu Speech Analysis
• Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in the Civil Rights Movement
• Causes of the Civil War
• Harlem: A Community Profile Examination
• Harriet Hollywood Film
• Manifest Destiny: Expansion, Impact, and Legacy
• A Day Of Infamy: Speech Analysis
• The Lasting Impact of Slavery
• How the Columbian Exchange Benefited Europe and North America

🗺️ Ideas for Thesis Topics in European History

• The Life of Adolf Hitler: Understanding the Emergence of a Monster
• Biography of Adolf Hitler
• Factors Contributing to the Fall of the Roman Empire
• Alexander The Great: a Rhetorical Analysis
• Christopher Columbus: Legacy and Impact
• Julius Caesar: Funeral Speech Analysis
• The Industrial Revolution in Europe: Technological Advancements and Social Changes
• The Cold War in Europe: Superpower Rivalries and the Division of the Continent
• The Age of Exploration: European Voyages and Global Encounters
• The Profound Impact of the Black Death
• The Russian Revolution : Revolution and the Formation of the Soviet Union
• The Crusades: Religious Wars and Their Influence on Europe and the Middle East
• The Treaty of Versailles: Evaluating Its Role in Shaping Post-World War I Europe
• The Spanish Inquisition: Investigating Religious Persecution and Its Consequences
• The Age of Imperialism: European Colonization and Its Global Consequences
• The Holocaust : Examining the Holocaust and the Dark Chapters of European History
• The Berlin Wall: The Divided City and Its Symbolism during the Cold War
• The Byzantine Empire: A Comprehensive Study of Its Contributions and Decline
• The Napoleonic Era: Napoleon Bonaparte's Impact on European Politics and Warfare
• The Reformation and Counter-Reformation: Religious Conflicts and Their Resolutions in Europe

🎭 Ideas for Art History Thesis Topics

• The Renaissance Masters : Analyzing the Artistic Achievements of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael
• Impressionism and Its Influence on Modern Art
• The Evolution of Abstract Art: From Kandinsky to Pollock
• Women in Art: Celebrating Female Artists and Their Impact on Art History
• A Great And Mighty Walk Analysis
• Compare Reverend Hale and John Proctor
• Mark Antony's Speech: A Masterclass in Rhetoric
• Iconography and Symbolism in Religious Art
• African Art and Cultural Identity
• Surrealism: Exploring Dreams and the Subconscious in Art
• The Art of Ancient Civilizations: Uncovering the Aesthetics of Egypt, Greece, and Rome
• The Birth of Modern Photography: Pioneering Photographers and Their Contributions to Art
• Investigating the Relationship between Artistic Expression and Sociopolitical Movements
• Postmodernism in Art: Deconstructing Boundaries and Challenging Tradition
• The Harlem Renaissance: African-American Art and Culture in the 1920s
• Pop Art: Examining the Pop Culture Movement and Its Influence on Contemporary Art
• Islamic Art and Architecture: Tracing Aesthetics across Different Eras and Regions
• Asian Art and Cultural Heritage: A Comparative Study of China, Japan, and India
• Exploring the Intersection of Digital Media and Creative Expression
• The Role of Museums in Shaping Art History

📒 History Thesis Topics for Master’s Degree

Choosing an appropriate history dissertation topic for your master's degree is a key step. It is important to choose a subject that matches academic interests and hobbies. The theme should also offer room for originality and contribution to the existing body of historical knowledge. A master's thesis in history is a comprehensive academic work, often 80 to 100 pages or more. This requires careful research, analysis of primary and secondary sources, and critical evaluation of historical arguments. In addition, the dissertation must comply with the guidelines and formatting requirements set by the academic institution. Seeking advice from faculty advisors and professors is invaluable in the dissertation writing process. Their experience and feedback can determine the direction of the research and ensure its scientific rigor. Here are some examples of possible History Thesis Topics for Master's Degree that can serve as a basis for you:

• Abigail Williams: A Villain Analysis
• Early Colonial Government Policies Still in Use Today
• A Kingdom Strange: Analysis
• History of Egypt
• Compare and Contrast Inca and Aztecs
• Positive Effects of Colonialism in Africa
• Benefits of Colonialism to Europeans and the Colonies
• Japan’s Rise and Fall in the Global Electronics Market
• Information On The Holocaust
• An Analysis of the Leadership Style of Mahatma Gandhi
• Comparison and Contrast of Egypt and Mayans
• Oppression: Contemporary Manifestations, and Resistance
• Analyzing Cultural Exchange along the Ancient Silk Road
• Medieval Queens: Agents of Power and Diplomacy
• Ottoman Empire: Socio-Political Changes and Legacy
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Africa's Role and Impact on the America
• The Fall of Ancient Civilizations: Lessons from Rome and Greece
• Reevaluating the Causes and Impacts of the American Revolution
• Propaganda in World War II: Shaping Public Perception
• The Impact of the Russian Revolution: Political Ideologies and Social Shifts

In conclusion, theses and dissertations serve different purposes and have different requirements depending on the academic level. Each represents a milestone in the student's academic journey, and mastering the arts of research, analysis, and critical thinking is essential to success at every level. Whether you are writing a short abstract or a comprehensive dissertation, the pursuit of knowledge and scientific contributions remains at the center of all academic research. And of course, to prepare a quality thesis, you will have to start choosing your topic among the many history thesis examples. We hope that we have helped you with finding an idea to start. And in the following articles we will try to develop this topic so that you can write an interesting and individual thesis.

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The Process for Developing Thesis Statements for History : Home

Process for developing thesis statements for history, developing a thesis statement for history .

More than most other academic disciplines, History is focused on clear, organized, and developed writing. And the key fundamental to writing in History is to focus on developing the proper thesis from start to finish.  

You can be much more efficient in your searches for research by narrowing down a topic from the very beginning with a working thesis.

For example: Your history teacher assigns a Portfolio Project about how the US ended up fighting for the Allies in World War I. The teacher prompts you by writing that the US could have fought for either the Allies or the Central power in World War I, but they ended up fighting for just the one. Why not the other? Or how remaining neutral in the war would have affected the eventual outcome. Take a position and argue which one was the better choice and why. Defend a strong position.

So, if you develop a working thesis out of this prompt you can immediately focus in on your position. 

The essential elements of a proper History working thesis:

• Asserts an historical argument - not a fact, but an ARGUMENT
• Therefore, you are asserting a position that you have to defend .
• Is historically focused and precise,
• and ALWAYS answers the question, "so what?" Why should we care, TODAY?
• Finally, your thesis should identify the main points that you are using to defend your position and will form the basis of every topic sentence in your body paragraphs. This part of the working thesis will take more time to develop. 

The thesis statement can be up to three to four sentences and is expected to be at the end or your introduction.

The Finish:

Your working thesis stays with the writing project until you revise it for the VERY last time - right before submitting your whole paper. You want to make sure that is closely reflects your conclusion, which was written after you developed the body of the paper. 

Remember: the very first thing that your reader will read is your introduction. First impressions are critically important. So, you will want to go back and update your thesis, which will be the end of your writing process. 

Using the prompt above, here is a successful thesis:

Although the US entered World War I on the Allied side against Germany and the Central Power on April 6, 1917, the war had already been raging in Europe for three years. The largest ethnic group in the US were German, equating to 10% of the population; yet while a majority of the nation favored England, France and the other Allies--both groups highly favored US neutrality as the best approach. Therefore, had Germany not continue responding to the Allied blockade by indiscriminately sinking all ships, regardless of citizenship and cargo, the US would have stayed neutral, and the eventual tide of the war would have gone the other way - for the Central Powers. 

These helpful tips were provided by James Meredith - Senior Faculty Associate

• Last Updated: Jun 6, 2024 8:14 AM
• URL: https://csuglobal.libguides.com/thesis_statement

Creating a Historical Thesis Statement

Using the  History of Nursing Timeline and supplemental web resources, students will collate significant ideas and facts and write a cohesive thesis statement to introduce the assigned historical topic. Their statement will present historical and contemporary evidence connected to the evolution of the nursing profession in the United States (18 th – 21 st century).

One to two class sessions; can be assigned as homework.

Working independently or collaboratively, students will study the web based resources provided to identify important events, people, and ideas that influenced, progressed, or changed the nursing profession in the United States from the Colonial era to present day.

Students will reflect , analyze , and synthesize significant information taken from source materials and select one “foundation” word from the list provided to use as the premise for their thesis statement. Students may select a word not on the list provided; however they should defend that decision.

Students will present and support their thesis statement in a cohesive and factual statement using information and knowledge gained from their research . Students will be able to cite which sources they selected.

• Unpacking the Box: Ideas to Consider guidelines (pg 2)
• Foundation Words (pg 4)
• Graphic Organizer worksheet (pg 3)
• Required and suggested resources (pg 5-6)

Getting Started:

Discuss with your students that while it may seem strange in our modern world; for thousands of years people were born at home, died at home and, if they became ill, were treated at home. Trained doctors were rare in early America. Most people lived in small communities where basic medical knowledge and care was handed down by generation. Women played an essential role; they were the primary caregivers and “keepers” of medical knowledge and they were the midwives that helped bring new life into the community. Their skills and knowledge were largely passed down or from learning from other women. Nursing schools did not appear in the United States until after the Civil War. If time allows, give each student or group a copy of the historical overview provided with the lesson plan materials.

In this lesson, students will explore the history of the nursing profession in the United States as a basis for creating a thesis statement introducing a historical topic.

Before giving students the lesson materials, discuss that a thesis statement is a concise summary or main point of research paper or essay. Generally, it is one to two sentences, but for this assignment; the student’s thesis can be up to 300 words. Their challenge in creating a thesis statement for this assignment is to choose one word from the list of “foundational words” provided that they feel best describes their key points. They may select a word not on the list provided; however, they must defend that decision.

Before beginning their research, ask students to review the Unpacking the Box : Ideas to Consider guidelines. As a class, discuss how these questions can help guide research. Make a list of any additional ideas or questions the students suggest.

• Unpacking the Box: Ideas to Consider
• The list of Foundation Words
• Graphic organizer worksheet
• List of required and additional sources
• Explain the research parameters: (see Lesson Resources for links).

If working collaboratively, students may assign specific research tasks to group members. Before doing so, they should outline a matrix for research and reporting to provide consistency in gathering, collating and sharing research

Students will review the History of Nursing Timeline using a minimum of four timeline entries; presenting a cohesive and compelling connection to their thesis. 

Students will include a minimum of one referenced source from Nursing as a Career in the 21st Century  to support their thesis statement.  

Students will read and use a minimum of two reference sources from The Evolution of Nursing  and biographies on the web site and article.

Students will read Nursing Careers & Specialties for RNs  and include a minimum of two facts to defend their thesis statement. Suggested guidelines are included on the resources sheet.

Last students will include a minimum of two facts gathered from one or more of the additional resources listed. They are not limited to the sites referenced. If their research or interest leads them to specific questions or topics; they are free to use resources they select to reference their interests.

Students will present their thesis statement to the class. If working collaboratively, assign one group member as the spokesperson. Their thesis does not need to cite every source used; however, students should be prepared to discuss how the resources they used helped to shape their ideas and perceptions. What evidence and facts were particularly influential? How does the thesis statement reflect the foundation word they selected?

Consider the question: Why do they think women have dominated the nursing profession?

After completing the project, as a class the students will discuss the purpose of a thesis statement and decide if selecting and working with a “foundation word” was useful. 

Ask students will discuss “next steps” outlining what questions, research or information they would pursue if they were writing a thesis paper on the subject.

If they did not do so in their research, suggest that students look at job announcements for nurses today and compare those specifications to 18 th and 19 th century nurses’ roles.

Additional Resources:

Hampton, Ellen. "How World War I Revolutionized Medicine."  The Atlantic . February 24, 2017. 

"Changing Times...Male/Female Workforce Statistics in the Nursing/Doctor Professions."  Online Nursing Degrees . 2017.

Hunt, Deborah Dolan. "Key Facts in Nursing History Every Nurse Should Know."  DailyNurse . May 28, 2017.

"The Future of Nursing 2017 and Beyond."  Nurse Buff . May 6, 2016.

"Women Nurses Throughout War History."  Online Nursing Degrees.  2017.

"Short History of Military Nursing: Nursing Programs in U.S. Military Branches." University of Wisconsin. 2017.

"Experiencing War: Women at War." Library of Congress. February 6, 2012.

"Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project." The University of North Carolina Greensboro. 

"Army Nurse Corps History." U.S. Army Medical Department Office of Medical History. April 13, 2016.

VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Project.

Hess, Robert G. Jr. "Making the Case for More Men in Nursing."  Nurse.com . March 17, 2017.

Extend the Lesson :

Invite a nurse to the class to discuss the range of specialties the nursing field offers today. What training and education is required to be a nurse?

Common Core

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1

Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7

Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

His.2.6-8. Classify series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.

D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

D2.His.16.3-5. Use evidence to develop a claim about the past.

D2.His.14.6-8. Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.

D2.His.15.6-8. Evaluate the relative influence of various causes of events and developments in the past

D2.His.16.6-8. Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.

D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

D3.3.3-5. Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions.

D3.4.3-5. Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.

D3.3.6-8. Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations.

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AP World History: Sample DBQ Thesis Statements

Using the following documents, analyze how the Ottoman government viewed ethnic and religious groups within its empire for the period 1876–1908. Identify an additional document and explain how it would help you analyze the views of the Ottoman Empire.

Crafting a Solid Thesis Statement

Kaplan Pro Tip Your thesis can be in the first or last paragraph of your essay, but it cannot be split between the two. Many times, your original thesis is too simple to gain the point. A good idea is to write a concluding paragraph that might extend your original thesis. Think of a way to restate your thesis, adding information from your analysis of the documents.

Thesis Statements that Do NOT Work

There were many ways in which the Ottoman government viewed ethnic and religious groups.

The next statement paraphrases the historical background and does not address the question. It would not receive credit for being a thesis.

The Ottoman government brought reforms in the Constitution of 1876. The empire had a number of different groups of people living in it, including Christians and Muslims who did not practice the official form of Islam. By 1908 a new government was created by the Young Turks and the sultan was soon out of his job.

This next sentence gets the question backward: you are being asked for the government’s view of religious and ethnic groups, not the groups’ view of the government. Though the point-of-view issue is very important, this statement would not receive POV credit.

People of different nationalities reacted differently to the Ottoman government depending on their religion.

The following paragraph says a great deal about history, but it does not address the substance of the question. It would not receive credit because of its irrelevancy.

Throughout history, people around the world have struggled with the issue of political power and freedom. From the harbor of Boston during the first stages of the American Revolution to the plantations of Haiti during the struggle to end slavery, people have battled for power. Even in places like China with the Boxer Rebellion, people were responding against the issue of Westernization. Imperialism made the demand for change even more important, as European powers circled the globe and stretched their influences to the far reaches of the known world. In the Ottoman Empire too, people demanded change.

Thesis Statements that DO Work

Now we turn to thesis statements that do work. These two sentences address both the religious and ethnic aspects of the question. They describe how these groups were viewed.

The Ottoman government took the same position on religious diversity as it did on ethnic diversity. Minorities were servants of the Ottoman Turks, and religious diversity was allowed as long as Islam remained supreme.

This statement answers the question in a different way but is equally successful.

Government officials in the Ottoman Empire sent out the message that all people in the empire were equal regardless of religion or ethnicity, yet the reality was that the Turks and their version of Islam were superior.

Going Beyond the Basic Requirements

• have a highly sophisticated thesis
• show deep analysis of the documents
• use documents persuasively in broad conceptual ways
• analyze point of view thoughtfully and consistently
• identify multiple additional documents with sophisticated explanations of their usefulness
• bring in relevant outside information beyond the historical background provided

Final Notes on How to Write the DBQ

• Take notes in the margins during the reading period relating to the background of the speaker and his/her possible point of view.
• Assume that each document provides only a snapshot of the topic—just one perspective.
• Look for connections between documents for grouping.
• In the documents booklet, mark off documents that you use so that you do not forget to mention them.
• As you are writing, refer to the authorship of the documents, not just the document numbers.
• Mention additional documents and the reasons why they would help further analyze the question.
• Mark off each part of the instructions for the essay as you accomplish them.
• Use visual and graphic information in documents that are not text-based.

Don’t

• Repeat information from the historical background in your essay.
• Assume that the documents are universally valid rather than presenting a single perspective.
• Spend too much time on the DBQ rather than moving on to the other essay.
• Write the first paragraph before you have a clear idea of what your thesis will be.
• Ignore part of the question.
• Structure the essay with just one paragraph.
• Underline or highlight the thesis. (This may be done as an exercise for class, but it looks juvenile on the exam.)

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• Researching
• 7. Hypothesis

How to write a hypothesis

Once you have created your three topic sentences , you are ready to create your hypothesis.

What is a 'hypothesis'?

A hypothesis is a single sentence answer to the Key Inquiry Question  that clearly states what your entire essay is going to argue.

It contains both the argument and the main reasons in support of your argument. Each hypothesis should clearly state the ‘answer’ to the question, followed by a ‘why’.

For Example:  

The Indigenous people of Australia were treated as second-class citizens until the 1960’s (answer) by the denial of basic political rights by State and Federal governments (why) .

How do you create a hypothesis?

Back in Step 3 of the research process, you split your Key Inquiry Question into three sub-questions .

Then at Step 6 you used the quotes from your Source Research to create answers to each of the sub-questions. These answers became your three Topic Sentences .

To create your hypothesis, you need to combine the three Topic Sentences into a single sentence answer.

By combining your three answers to the sub-questions , you are ultimately providing a complete answer to the original Key Inquiry Question .

For example:

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Does history have lessons for the future? Roman Krznaric looks to the past to discover the rules for radical hope

Emeritus professor, History, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

Peter McPhee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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Answers to the question about the lessons of history generally oscillate between two extremes. One is summed up in the 1905 aphorism of the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana : “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The other is the famous opening to the English novelist L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between (1953): “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”

Can we draw direct lessons from history, or was the past so different as to tell us little about current challenges and their solutions? Most commonly, historians assert the uniqueness of past events while insisting that an historical perspective – evidence-based, thorough, sceptical, holistic – results in richer cultural awareness and wiser public policy.

Recently, more than 30 historians contributed to a collection titled Lessons from History: Leading Historians Tackle Australia’s Greatest Challenges , edited by Carolyn Holbrook, Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe from the Australian Policy and History Network . They argued compellingly for the lessons to be learned from key moments in Australian history, and for how closer knowledge of the successes and failures of that history would produce better policy in future.

History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity – Roman Krznaric (W.H. Allen)

Roman Krznaric’s latest book, History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity , is a far bolder version of this approach. He explores what we can learn from the last 1,000 years of global history to tackle urgent issues ranging from the climate crisis to the risks of artificial intelligence.

Born and raised in Sydney, Krznaric is now a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at Linacre College, University of Oxford. Eudaimonia is a Greek word, meaning “good spirit” or happiness, that was used by Aristotle to identify the highest human experience of wellbeing.

Krznaric’s books emphasise the capacity of ideas to create practical change and the social consequences of long-term thinking and focused empathy. Among them, The Good Ancestor and Empathy , in particular, have been celebrated and republished across the globe.

His new book’s ten chapters range across most of the dimensions of what Krznaric describes as today’s “permacrisis”. This crisis extends to the use of fossil fuels, the dangers of eugenics, threats to water supplies, social media and artificial intelligence, the need for regenerative economics, and the future of democracy, equality and tolerance.

What is genuinely distinctive about the book is Krznaric’s way of responding to these crises. He does not turn to the past simply for an explanation of their historical roots, but to find examples from the past 1,000 years of innovative social actions that might suggest ways of responding.

There are constant surprises. His chapter on tolerance, for example, draws on the lessons of the Islamic kingdom of Al-Andalus of 1000CE, 19th-century Chinese immigration to the United States, and contemporary Ghana. Violent Caribbean slave revolts in the 18th century and the direct action of suffragettes in the 20th century offer him justification for the most militant tactics of Extinction Rebellion : his argument is that only such “radical flank” actions ultimately achieve fundamental change.

At other times, Krznaric’s solutions are attractive but idealistic. He advocates subscription-based social media platforms with paid moderators as a solution to the excesses of social media, and even coffee shops with “Menus of Conversation” on the tables.

Krznaric is not starry-eyed about the past. He is well aware that history is littered with disasters and is by no means a linear progression towards improvement. “Human history is strewn with tragedies,” he admits: “wars broke out, people starved, exploitation reigned, societies crumbled.” Notably absent from his bibliography is Steven Pinker and his panegyrics to human progress, such as The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined and Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress .

Very often, sweeping surveys such as Pinker’s crumble under the weight of their simplifications of the lessons of history. The claims made about specific historical episodes are so skewed or inaccurate as to call into question the whole edifice of the argument. In contrast, one of the striking aspects of Krznaric’s work is the detailed and mostly convincing understanding he evinces of his historical examples.

The breadth of his research is startling, and he is a careful scholar for the most part – but not always. Many of his historical examples, while always fascinating and thought-provoking, are highly selective. In his chapter “Finntopia: How Finland Went from Economic Backwater to Egalitarian Showcase”, for example, he argues that Finland’s deserved reputation as an exemplar of progressive egalitarianism, especially in education, was solely the result of women’s strong political participation. He fails to mention Finland’s natural advantages in mining, forestry and chemical reserves that form the bedrock of its affluence.

A self-fulfilling prophecy?

What is most arresting – and controversial – in Krznaric’s analysis is his dismissal of representative democracy as “no longer fit for purpose”. He dismisses liberal representative democracies, with their multi-chamber parliaments and separation of powers, as simply a way of stifling the popular voice.

His model of genuine and effective democracy is citizens’ assemblies, chosen by lot if necessary, with genuine power rather than their usual advisory function. Krznaric’s fundamental belief is that, if invested with power and the necessary information, such assemblies will make the most responsible decisions.

Some would argue that here Krznaric slides into self-fulfilling prophecy. One of his examples is a citizens’ assembly in Ireland on the challenges of climate change for biodiversity. He was profoundly impressed with the way the 100 or so participants found their way to well-informed, radical conclusions. He agreed with those conclusions – but he had also played a major role in briefing the participants.

Krznaric is a remarkably productive writer – he has published seven substantial books in the past 12 years – and at times his conclusions are hasty and sweeping. He is aware that 18th-century revolutionaries in America and France were mostly wary of unlimited democracy, preferring the balance of upper houses based on property. But his assertion that they were determined “to filter out the voice of the demos , the people” is wrong.

He ignores the modern world’s first experience of universal suffrage for men in a single house of parliament in the French Republic in 1792–95. Nor does he dwell on citizens’ assemblies that came to the “wrong” conclusions.

For example, Emmanuel Macron organised advisory nation-wide citizens’ assemblies after the gilets jaunes protests of 2018–19. These turned into pointless talkfests. Their failure was less a result of their lack of power than their becoming occasions for voicing contradictory demands for lower taxes, higher social security payments and cheaper petrol. Similarly, lively citizens’ assemblies in regional Queensland are currently contesting renewable energy projects as ugly, unnecessary intrusions on farmland.

Such examples should not detract from ways in which such local assemblies may make significant, inclusive and farsighted community-based decisions. There are plenty of “co-design” projects that have effectively involved local users and stakeholders from the beginning of a project through to its implementation. This may be as simple as a small coastal community handling the parking needs of daytrippers, or as complex as a tourist town managing the proliferation of short-stay accommodation.

The difference, of course, is the scale of the polity. When can local assemblies best decide for themselves, and about what? Are regional, national and international issues always best handled by representative, elected bodies?

Krznaric acknowledges that the most radical actions to avert potential collapses of entire societies have been by national governments: the US response to Pearl Harbour in 1941, for example, or the Dutch government’s Delta Works program following devastating floods in 1953, or even some governments’ responses to the COVID pandemic.

The French revolutionaries who grappled with the modern world’s first great attempt to create mass democratic structures were steeped in the classics they had studied at school. They were all too aware of the contrasts between small Greek and Roman city-states and a large nation like France. They fought over the issue of direct or participatory democracy, and over the idea of representatives being simply the people’s mandatories.

In his most important speech, On Political Morality , delivered on February 5 1794, Maximilien Robespierre put it like this:

Democracy is not a state in which the whole people, continually assembled, itself rules on all public business, still less is it one in which a hundred thousand factions of the people decide, by unrelated, hasty, and contradictory measures, on the fate of the entire society; such a government has never existed, and it could exist only to lead the people back to despotism. Democracy is a state in which the sovereign people, guided by laws which are its own work, itself does all it can do well, and through delegates all it cannot do itself.

Like other sweeping surveys of the past made to prove a thesis – from Pinker to John Pilger to Francis Fukuyama – Krznaric’s historical examples are often too selective or questionable to be fully convincing. History for Tomorrow is, nevertheless, invaluable for two reasons. One is its breadth and range across time; it is an inspiring and often surprising read. The other is where Krznaric ends up. His “five reasons for radical hope” seem incontrovertible:

Disruptive movements can change the system.

“We” can prevail over “me”.

There are alternatives to capitalism.

Humans are social innovators.

Other futures are possible.

Krznaric’s great achievement in this book is that he prompts us to consider how changes to decision-making in complex societies with overlapping structures of government and administration might result in some issues being resolved more democratically and promptly. His expansive grasp of human history enables him to stud his book with engrossing examples of where this has proved to be possible. History for Tomorrow is a superb example of the capacity of the humanities and social sciences to reflect on the lessons of the past, without being despairing or simplistic.

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Lesson Plan

Aug. 29, 2024, 2:01 p.m.

7 resources for teaching about Labor Day

Updated on August 29, 2024

Looking for powerful Labor Day lesson plans and resources? Help students understand the history of the labor movement and its current relevance at home and around the world. Checkout NewsHour's website Journalism in Action on how journalists covered the role of civic engagement in U.S. history, including units on Exploitation: Labor and Immigration and the Muckrakers .

1. Lesson plan: Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and migrant farm workers

Take a look at these primary sources of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist factory of 1911 and the hardships migrant workers have faced in the U.S. for decades. Be sure to check out the political cartoon activity that follows the lesson above here .

Screenshot of New-York Tribune. March 26, 1911 via Journalism in Action

Screenshot from New-York Tribune. March 26, 1911 via PBS NewsHour Classroom's Journalism in Action

2. Lesson Plan: Dolores Huerta — a lifetime of activism

Learn about Dolores Huerta’s role as a labor leader, organizer and activist beginning with the California grape strike and boycott in 1965.

Press conference with the UFW leadership, Dolores Huerta, Richard César Chávez, and Rick Tejada-Flores, 1972. Photo Credit: Farmworker Movement Documentation Project

3. Lesson plan: How the Amazon Labor Union was formed

Learn more about the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and the role of the news media in covering unionizing efforts.

“This campaign should be the most talked about campaign in the country. … We’re talking about workers. Workers from the bottom who have nothing.” — Christian Smalls, president, Amazon Labor Union

Screenshot of Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, taken in March 20, 2022 on Krystal, Kyle & Friends. Credit: Krystal, Kyle & Friends

4. Mini-lessons on the muckrakers and the Progressive Era

Using Journalism in Action , NewsHour Classroom's website on the history of journalism in America, take a closer look at the harsh conditions facing workers in the U.S. as reported by the muckrakers (journalists in the Progressive Era who exposed corruption and wrongdoing in business, housing and factories at the turn of the 19th century).

Ida Tarbell and Standard Oil (2 activities)

Upton Sinclair and the meatpacking industry

Jacob Riis and living conditions in NYC's tenement housing

5. Lesson Plan: Role of labor unions today and in the past

United Auto Workers, Aramark workers carry strike signs while picketing outside the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. September 15, 2019. Photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters

6. Student activity: For Labor Day, explore this labor/management negotiation scenario

Use this lesson to engage students in the basics of labor negotiations through the lens of professional sports and a simulation activity that puts students in the seat of negotiators.

Supporters of the California Grape Boycott demonstrate in Toronto, Ontario, December, 1968. Credit: "United Farm Workers Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University

7. Student activity: The global effort in making a t-shirt

NPR’s Planet Money decided to make a t-shirt and follow the process of its creation around the globe. This lesson plan takes your class along for the ride by interspersing activities with NPR’s exciting video tour around the world.

Fill out this form to share your thoughts on Classroom’s resources. Sign up for NewsHour Classroom’s ready-to-go Daily News Lessons delivered to your inbox each morning.

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Book Review: ‘A Day in September’ examines the lessons from a key Civil War battle

This book cover image released by Norton shows “A Day in September: The Battle of Antietam and the World It Left Behind” by Stephen Budiansky. (Norton via AP)

This cover image released by W.W. Norton shows “A Day in September: The Battle of Antietam and the World It Left Behind,” by Stephen Budiansky. (W.W. Norton via AP)

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About 57,000 books have been published on the American Civil War so what possibly could be left to explore ?

Quite a bit, it turns out, particularly regarding the bloodiest battle of the war and in American history, Antietam. In one day of savage fighting, Sept. 17, 1862, an estimated 6,500 soldiers were killed and at least 15,000 wounded.

In 291 brisk, fact-stuffed but engaging, thought-provoking pages, “A Day in September” by Stephen Budiansky examines how ill-prepared we as a nation were for war, but more significantly, what we learned and how those advances led to better military training, rapid improvements in battlefield medical care and the beginnings of a reconciling of the differences in North and South society, values and beliefs.

Some key American institutions at the outbreak of the Civil War were astonishingly primitive and Antietam revealed just how bad. Pre-Civil War, for example, most graduates of the U.S. Military Academy were well-schooled in math and engineering, much less so in military tactics.

Many soldiers lacked even rudimentary training such as target shooting. Militias often behaved like fraternal organizations or a mob, Budiansky writes.

Medical care was primitive. For example, most doctors of the Civil War era did not understand how disease was transmitted. Treatment of the wounded at Antietam typically was chaotic; drivers charged with taking wounded to field hospitals often were drunk, the book observes.

What might have made the book even more engaging would be to carry the lessons learned from these failings to the present day.

For example, can we resolve our current differences peacefully ?

This is an absorbing, illuminating, compelling book that calls on us to consider the advances in military strategy, medical care and diplomacy that Antietam gave us at horrific cost.

It also asks us to consider a rift between science and religion that emerged after the war. The book notes that our religious leaders also fell short, telling the populace on both sides during the Civil War that God was on their side, but as the author quotes Lincoln as observing, one side must be wrong.

Then and now, reasoned discussions and diplomacy largely failed and some Americans are openly talking about a potential Civil War II.

They would not if we absorbed some of the lessons from this book.

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The Real Lessons From the Michigan Ghost Town Called Singapore

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The short-lived town of Singapore in Michigan offers lessons about environmental management and historical memory that can reshape Singapore’s local and regional commitments today.

Singapore, Michigan ca. 1869. The lumber mill is visible in the foreground on the photo’s right. Stacks of milled lumber line the waterfront where the dock crew is visible loading timber into sailing vessels. At the peak of its production, the Singapore sawmill produced 14,000 board feet of timber daily.

Many Singaporeans were surprised and amused last week when Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke in his first-ever National Day Rally speech about the years he spent studying in Michigan . He began the story by mentioning the U.S. state’s most famous ghost town. Its name? Singapore.

Wong only talked about the town for a minute to set up a contrast. Singapore, Michigan, lasted barely more than 50 years before being swallowed up by the dunes of Lake Michigan, but Wong hopes that the country of Singapore will be around “for the next thousand years and beyond.”

Most Singaporeans I saw reacting online said similar things: I can’t believe there was a town in America called Singapore! I was surprised and amused for different reasons. 

After spending five years researching, living, and working in the original Singapore as an anthropologist and linguist, I’ve spent the last four years studying the ghost town of Singapore, Michigan. I’ve combed through local archives, surveyed the physical landscape, and interviewed dozens of community members about the town.

The remnants of Singapore, Michigan are buried in sand. Today, the former town is owned by a private developer and closed to the public. It’s also caught in ongoing lawsuits , and the plans for its development are deeply contentious, not only locally but also in places hundreds of kilometers away like Chicago and Detroit.

Singapore, Michigan has more – and more challenging – lessons than Wong’s speech let on. The ghost town can give more than a sense of pride about being the Singapore that survived. It offers lessons about environmental management and historical memory that can reshape Singapore’s local and regional commitments today.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong waves during his address at the National Day Rally in Singapore, Aug. 18, 2024.

What Was Singapore, Michigan? Why Singapore?

I want to start by setting the record straight. Wong’s description of Singapore, Michigan wasn’t exactly wrong, but intentionally or not, it was misleading. In the speech, he said that the town was founded in the 1830s and “became a busy lumber and shipbuilding town.” Busy, yes – but not large, and certainly not significant. At its peak, Singapore didn’t have more than 500 people living in the town, and for decades never passed 200. Singapore was really more of a factory than a community.

Wong also anticipated a question I have learned everyone asks almost immediately after learning about the former town: why the name Singapore? Wong’s answer was again mostly correct – no one knows why – but he also claimed that “it was very likely inspired by a British port in the exotic Far East founded in 1819,” the Singapore of Southeast Asia. He didn’t quite say that Singapore was a direct source of inspiration for the town’s founders, but his description implies that the influence was more substantial than it was.

The fact is that any “inspiration” was extremely indirect. There’s no evidence that the town’s founders knew anything at all about Southeast Asia or could even pinpoint the location of their town’s namesake. The White settlers of Michigan also weren’t above making up names that they thought sounded exotic, Indigenous, or just plain fun . In other words, there’s no reason to suspect that it was the founders’ knowledge of, or admiration for, the original Singapore that motivated its naming.

Of course, Wong isn’t an anthropologist or historian, and the people who told him about the ghost town of Singapore, Michigan, probably weren’t either. I share these corrections because it’s important to understand the buried town of Singapore, Michigan doesn’t “ illustrate the theme of staying resilient and rising above challenges in a troubled world .” 

It’s a warning that connects sand to memory. The story of Singapore, Michigan highlights the dangers of pursuing competition over cooperation and encouraging a community to ignore its history.

A cottage partially buried in the sands alongside Lake Michigan and the Kalamazoo River, ca. 1918. This photo circulates as an image of “buried Singapore,” but is more likely a photo of a cottage built during the early 20th century that also suffered the same fate as Singapore due to its proximity to the sands released by Singapore’s lumbering practices. Photo courtesy the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society archives.

Singapore Sands

In Michigan, Singapore is sometimes called “Michigan’s Imaginary Pompeii.” The phrase was first quoted in a Detroit, Michigan newspaper in the 1930s and became immortal when it was recycled by the historian Charles R. Starring in 1953 . But for all its color, this phrase, too, is misleading. The town wasn’t swallowed up all at once in a catastrophic event, thriving one day but engulfed by sand the next. The burial of Singapore, Michigan also wasn’t an act of nature. It happened because of human environmental mismanagement.

The town of Singapore, Michigan was founded with big ambitions. Its founders dreamed that the town would outcompete Chicago as the economic, social, and cultural powerhouse on the American Great Lakes. In 1871, when misfortune struck Singapore’s rival in the form of the Great Chicago Fire, Singapore’s timber industry boomed. The forests around the town were quickly clear-cut to meet demand. Without the trees to hold the sand in place, the dunes began to shift, and within four years, residents were forced to abandon the town.

The competition between closely connected cities is just one side of the story. The other side is the competition between White settlers and the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Tribes who have stewarded the land for millennia . Singapore, Michigan taught settlers a hard lesson about managing the fragile forest and dune ecosystems, but their self-styled Native American competitors had possessed this knowledge long before.

The view from the tallest dune just outside the present-day town of Saugatuck, Michigan, towering roughly 85 meters (280 feet) above Lake Michigan. The dunes that bury Singapore, Michigan are faintly visible in the distance near the lakeshore. Photo by Joshua Babcock 2024.

The parallel between Singapore, Michigan’s relationship with sand resonates with the fraught role of sand in Singapore, the country. Wong’s first National Day Rally speech was mostly standard fare: plans for businesses, workers, families, students and the future of Singapore’s economy and built environment . But like the cause of the sands that swallowed Singapore, Michigan, Singapore’s coastline is anything but natural .

Singapore is the world’s largest sand importer , and while Singapore only imports sand with proper documentation, there’s evidence that players further up the supply chain are sidestepping local and international regulations. Unsustainable dredging practices driven by Singapore’s demand create adverse effects, from fishery collapse to drought throughout Singapore’s neighboring ASEAN countries where the sand is dredged, especially Cambodia . 

This might not seem like it’s Singapore’s problem . But especially when it comes to environmental issues, no country can act like an island – not even a country that is literally an island, like Singapore. Singapore, Michigan shows that solving local problems by prioritizing pure competition over cooperation hurts everyone in the long run.

Memory Is Political

The State of Michigan’s historical marker for Singapore, MI, located outside the Saugatuck Village Hall. Installed in 1958, the marker is down the Kalamazoo River roughly 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the site of the former town. Photo by Joshua Babcock 2023.

Wong concluded his story about Singapore, Michigan by showing a photo of the town’s historical marker, which was placed in the nearby town of Saugatuck in 1958 . He said: “Today, only a signboard remains as a marker of its existence.” 

This statement is more obviously incorrect. A 2017 archaeological survey of the site by a team of archaeologists at Michigan’s Ball State University found around 200 artifacts in the sand. When Singapore was finally abandoned in the 1870s, around 11 houses were relocated, either piece-by-piece or rolled on logs, fully intact, down the frozen Kalamazoo River to the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas. You can visit approximately five of the “Singapore Houses” in these towns today. The building that once housed the infamous Wildcat Bank of Singapore – which in the late 1830s issued currency, the Singapore Dollar, until the state’s laws changed and the Singapore Dollar was found to be backed by fraud, not gold – now houses an art gallery in downtown Saugatuck.

Beyond these physical remnants, the town’s existence is extensively documented in publications and the archives maintained by volunteers from the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas. Local historians have spent their entire lives researching and writing books about Singapore, Michigan, and the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society regularly gives free talks to further educate the public about the ghost town .

Artifacts unearthed during the 2017 Ball State University excavation of the Singapore Archaeological Site. The survey found more than 200 objects, including glass bottles, metal parts, and textiles. Artifacts courtesy of the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society. Photo by Joshua Babcock 2024.

This is Singapore, Michigan’s far more challenging lesson for Singapore. As the recent controversy over the new statues at Fort Canning Park shows, in Singapore today, the question of what to remember and how to remember it remains complex and contentious.

The town of Singapore, Michigan is facing a standoff today between private developers and locals. The developers, like Wong, insist that nothing remains: that there is nothing worth remembering or preserving on the archaeological site of Singapore, Michigan, either environmental or historical. They have argued for nearly two decades that the land is better used today for things like condos, private marinas, and a country club . 

Yet the residents of the towns who refuse to forget the past aren’t convinced. They know the stories and remember the past, and this isn’t a barrier to progress. Their historical memory just might offer a better path forward – one that doesn’t continue to accelerate environmental harms like those created by their competition-minded ancestors who caused their dreams’ premature end.

A fragment of a wooden plank from a house in the former town of Singapore, Michigan. The plank is pasted over with a newspaper from New York, either for decoration, insulation, or both. Artifact courtesy of the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society. Photo by Joshua Babcock 2024.

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‘The Piano Lesson’ Brings Another Powerful August Wilson Play to the Screen

Telluride Film Festival: Samuel L. Jackson anchors Malcolm Washington’s film, which confronts generational history and pain

The vibes were electric from a full theater at the Telluride Film Festival in anticipation of Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut, “The Piano Lesson.”  After Washington humbly thanked everyone for making it out to the early morning screening,  lights dimmed and the experience of Boy Willie, Doaker, Berniece, Whining Boy and Lymon began.  

The August Wilson play was originally performed at the Yale Repertory Theatre in November 1987 with Samuel L. Jackson starring as Boy Willie, before moving to Broadway where Charles “Roc” Dutton took over the role originated by Jackson. “The Piano Lesson” would go on to be nominated for five Tony Awards and win for Best Play, also taking the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. It would go on to get a 1995 television adaptation for Hallmark before  being revived in 2022 for the stage. Directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson, the revival starring Danielle Brooks, Samuel L. Jackson (moving to the role of Doaker Charles) and John David Washington became the highest-grossing revival of a play on Broadway. 

Jackson, Washington, Ray Fisher and Michael Potts have carried over from that production to the new Netflix film. The action kicks off in 1936 on Independence Day, with the narrative of strong-willed siblings Boy Willie (Washington) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) simmering as they fight over the future of a 137-year-old piano serving as a legacy symbol representing the family’s history.

Generational wealth and preserving the legacy of one’s family no matter what form it may come in is a staple in the Black community, as well as using music as our language to congregate, elicit joy and/or despair. Additionally, we all have that one relative who comes with slick talk selling dreams of grandeur, as well as a sibling that no matter what we do just can’t seem to see eye-to-eye on anything – let alone selling our legacy for someone to burn or use as firewood, ignorant to the historical significance of the instrument in question.

Berniece and Boy Willie may not agree, but Danielle Deadwyler and John David Washington are the dynamic cinematic duo I didn’t know I needed. Both perfectly capture the fire associated with August Wilson’s dialogue. When Boy Willie says, “I feel slow just like molasses with the world just slipping by me,” it will resonate with audiences through every fiber of their being as everyone has felt this way personally or professionally at some point in their lives.

Wilson is known for his meaty monologues; his characters often provide subtext about their lives during the course of any given scene. Doaker has one of the best speeches, breaking down the piano’s history and importance and solidifying Berniece’s unwillingness to sell. Samuel L. Jackson is hilarious as Doaker and serves as the anchor for the entire piece. Deadwyler is equally powerful, one of the best and brightest talents of her generation. 

However, John David Washington is transformatively magnificent as Boy Willie. His command of this character is complex, layered and empathetic all in one fell swoop, making Boy Willie his best performance to date.  Equally as powerful are Corey Hawkins (Avery), Michael Potts (Whining Boy) and Ray Fisher (Lymon).

Production designer David J. Bomba should be lauded for the piano alone, with its intricate, haunt-like carvings. Costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck has a proven record of Black excellence and this time is no different.

Malcolm Washington, in tandem with cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, brought vivid imagery to something as simple as a reverberating plucked piano key, placing the audience right in the belly of the instrument. With his cinematic re-envisioning of this Wilson classic, Washington hits every note to perfection.

Having seen the original play, I missed the larger presence Grace had on stage, but was enthralled by the juke joint world she inhabits alongside Erykah Badu as the chanteuse club vocalist.

More than just a sibling story, “The Piano Lesson” reminds women they can be anything without a man. As a rule of thumb, most of Wilson’s plays only feature one or two women, leaving the men to shoulder the heavy loads of dialogue. Yet these male characters run the gamut from conniving to loving, supportive and comical, reminding us of another Black community staple: owning land.  Having property is as important as securing an education for people of color and is something ingrained since slavery when Blacks were forbidden to read and write.

With performances that will resonate and a directorial debut that will not soon be forgotten, “The Piano Lesson” is a lesson in love, friendship and family. It serves as a reminder that generational wealth is not just monetary, but emotionally and genetically tied to our ancestors.

“The Piano Lesson” will be released by Netflix.

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Blog The Education Hub

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/08/20/gcse-results-day-2024-number-grading-system/

GCSE results day 2024: Everything you need to know including the number grading system

Thousands of students across the country will soon be finding out their GCSE results and thinking about the next steps in their education.   

Here we explain everything you need to know about the big day, from when results day is, to the current 9-1 grading scale, to what your options are if your results aren’t what you’re expecting.  

When is GCSE results day 2024?  

GCSE results day will be taking place on Thursday the 22 August.     

The results will be made available to schools on Wednesday and available to pick up from your school by 8am on Thursday morning.  

Schools will issue their own instructions on how and when to collect your results.   

When did we change to a number grading scale?  

The shift to the numerical grading system was introduced in England in 2017 firstly in English language, English literature, and maths.  

By 2020 all subjects were shifted to number grades. This means anyone with GCSE results from 2017-2020 will have a combination of both letters and numbers.  

The numerical grading system was to signal more challenging GCSEs and to better differentiate between students’ abilities - particularly at higher grades between the A *-C grades. There only used to be 4 grades between A* and C, now with the numerical grading scale there are 6.  

What do the number grades mean?  

The grades are ranked from 1, the lowest, to 9, the highest.  

The grades don’t exactly translate, but the two grading scales meet at three points as illustrated below.  

The bottom of grade 7 is aligned with the bottom of grade A, while the bottom of grade 4 is aligned to the bottom of grade C.    

Meanwhile, the bottom of grade 1 is aligned to the bottom of grade G.  

What to do if your results weren’t what you were expecting?  

If your results weren’t what you were expecting, firstly don’t panic. You have options.  

First things first, speak to your school or college – they could be flexible on entry requirements if you’ve just missed your grades.   

They’ll also be able to give you the best tailored advice on whether re-sitting while studying for your next qualifications is a possibility.   

If you’re really unhappy with your results you can enter to resit all GCSE subjects in summer 2025. You can also take autumn exams in GCSE English language and maths.  

Speak to your sixth form or college to decide when it’s the best time for you to resit a GCSE exam.  

Look for other courses with different grade requirements     

Entry requirements vary depending on the college and course. Ask your school for advice, and call your college or another one in your area to see if there’s a space on a course you’re interested in.    

Consider an apprenticeship    

Apprenticeships combine a practical training job with study too. They’re open to you if you’re 16 or over, living in England, and not in full time education.  

As an apprentice you’ll be a paid employee, have the opportunity to work alongside experienced staff, gain job-specific skills, and get time set aside for training and study related to your role.   

You can find out more about how to apply here .  

Talk to a National Careers Service (NCS) adviser    

The National Career Service is a free resource that can help you with your career planning. Give them a call to discuss potential routes into higher education, further education, or the workplace.   

Whatever your results, if you want to find out more about all your education and training options, as well as get practical advice about your exam results, visit the  National Careers Service page  and Skills for Careers to explore your study and work choices.   

You may also be interested in:

• Results day 2024: What's next after picking up your A level, T level and VTQ results?
• When is results day 2024? GCSEs, A levels, T Levels and VTQs

Tags: GCSE grade equivalent , gcse number grades , GCSE results , gcse results day 2024 , gsce grades old and new , new gcse grades

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Mike McCarthy reflects on Cowboys tenure, eyes a repeat of history

Ali jawad | sep 2, 2024.

• Dallas Cowboys | News, Scores, Schedules & Standings

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy's tenure in Dallas has been a rollercoaster, marked by both highs and lows. However, as he enters this pivotal year , there's a sense of optimism and determination in the air.

The veteran coach opened up about the valuable lessons he's learned during his time in Dallas, emphasizing the unique experience of working alongside Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

MORE: Jerry wants Mike McCarthy to feel 'angst, pressure' in contract year

He acknowledged that Jones's perspective and approach have opened his eyes to new possibilities, contributing to his growth as a coach.

The conversation took an intriguing turn when McCarthy was asked if he recalled what transpired in his fifth season with the Green Bay Packers.

When @toddarcher asked how he feels about entering his 5th season with the #Cowboys , Mike McCarthy was very reminiscent of his time here so far. McCarthy talked about the lessons he’s learned and how working with Jerry Jones has opened his eyes to new things. When Archer asks… pic.twitter.com/S3qQr1AqkX — Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) September 2, 2024

McCarthy's response was succinct yet impactful: "Sure do." That year, the Packers clinched a Super Bowl victory, a feat that McCarthy undoubtedly hopes to replicate with the Cowboys.

This exchange highlights the underlying ambition driving McCarthy and the Cowboys organization. With a talented roster and a seasoned coaching staff, expectations are high for the upcoming season.

McCarthy's past success serves as a reminder of his capabilities and fuels the belief that a Super Bowl run is within reach.

As McCarthy embarks on his fifth season in Dallas, he carries the weight of expectations, immense pressure , and the lessons learned from his journey.

The Cowboys' faithful are eager to witness if history will repeat itself, and if McCarthy can lead the team to the promised land once again.

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Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and More

She wants to protect the right to abortion nationally. Here’s what else to know about her positions.

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By Maggie Astor

• Published July 21, 2024 Updated Aug. 24, 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris having replaced President Biden on the Democratic ticket, her stances on key issues will be scrutinized by both parties and the nation’s voters.

She has a long record in politics: as district attorney of San Francisco, as attorney general of California, as a senator, as a presidential candidate and as vice president.

Here is an overview of where she stands.

Ms. Harris supports legislation that would protect the right to abortion nationally, as Roe v. Wade did before it was overturned in 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

After the Dobbs ruling, she became central to the Biden campaign’s efforts to keep the spotlight on abortion, given that Mr. Biden — with his personal discomfort with abortion and his support for restrictions earlier in his career — was a flawed messenger. In March, she made what was believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a president or vice president.

She consistently supported abortion rights during her time in the Senate, including cosponsoring legislation that would have banned common state-level restrictions, like requiring doctors to perform specific tests or have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortions.

As a presidential candidate in 2019, she argued that states with a history of restricting abortion rights in violation of Roe should be subject to what is known as pre-clearance for new abortion laws — those laws would have to be federally approved before they could take effect. That proposal is not viable now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe.

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