US- World History 1 Annotated Bibliography 2025: Research Questions

A research question might:

• "ask how or why an event happened (causation, explanation)"
• "ask what the consequences were of a particular event"
• "discuss the intellectual origins of a particular idea"
• "ask what the cultural context of an event was";
• "ask whether or not an individual was responsible for a certain act"
• "ask about the social history of a political event"
• "quantify broad trends in a society at a particular time" (Williams 52)

Source: Williams, Robert C. The Historian's Toolbox: A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History. Second ed. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2007.

This site from William Cronon walks you through the process of selecting a topic and developing a research question.

Slides from Day 1 and 2 of this project can be found here.

Exploration is the important first step when developing your research proposal. While you may have an idea or topic in mind, the research question won’t come to you immediately. You will need to do some initial research and reading to find an angle to pursue, and, even then, your question may change as you find more information. Let your question be guided by research.

Developing a research question:

Level 1: Questions that can be answered with knowledge you have right now

• Example - Did African Americans participate in the Civil War?

Level 2: Questions that can be definitively answered with scholarly research

• Example - How were African Americans participating in the Civil War in eastern Kentucky in June of 1864?

Level 3: Questions that cannot be definitively answered but can be researched and on which a position can be formed and supported with scholarly research

• Example - To what extent did African American participation in the Union army change the course of the war?

Level 4: Questions that cannot be addressed with scholarly research, either because of a lack of evidence or because they ask something that cannot be answered by citing evidence

• Example - What would have happened in African Americans had refused to participate in the Civil War?
• More examples of Level 4 questions from Harvard

You are looking for a level 3 question. Level 1 and 2 questions can help you think about a topic and find sources, but they are too narrow and too easily answered to lead you to an arguable thesis. Level 4 questions can inspire your curiosity and then be scaled back to a researchable scope.

Adapted from: The History Research Process guide from the Newton Gresham Library (Sam Houston University) and Developing Effective Open-Ended and Arguable Research Questions for Eleanor Roosevelt College