Thesis Topics

And How to Choose Them

By: Mandi Nash

Deciding what to write your thesis on can be a very difficult process. A thesis is the culmination of a graduate student’s work at school, and narrowing it down to one particular topic can be an overwhelming task. Throughout this difficult process, I discovered a series of four steps that helped me: find your historical field of Interest, find your time period of interest, find a gap in existing literature, and find your word. Following these steps helped me develop my exact thesis topic and research question. 

First, you must find your historical field of interest. Fields of history can include material culture, military history, political history, cultural history, economic history, as well as many others. I personally have always loved the field of military history. Even when diving into public history or material culture, I always find myself trying to find the link to military history. Military history covers everything from the causes of war down to the lives of individual soldiers. Once I settled on military history, it was a matter of finding which period of war I wanted to study. 

Then, you must find what historical time period you are interested in. Are you interested in ancient military societies such as the Spartans? The wars of Medieval Europe? Or does your interest lie in modernity? My personal interest has always been Revolutionary and Pre-Revolutionary America. So for me, choosing to focus my thesis around the American Revolution was an easy choice. However, I have also always loved the time period surrounding the Jacobite Rebellion. Since I was between two time periods, I knew I needed to narrow my topic down further. 

Third, you’ll want to find a gap in the existing literature. Any historian, whether professional or ameteur, will tell you there is an extensive catalog of literature surrounding popular topics. Having chosen the military history of the American Revolution and Jacobite Rebellion, the amount of literature in existence was vast. While there is a lot of literature in existence, something that was sorely missing was comparative literature on the conflicts. I have always enjoyed seeing events from both sides. For every book that I’ve read from the American perspective on the American Revolution, I’ve also read a book from the British perspective. Since I like to see both sides of every story, the idea of a comparative analysis appealed to me. The fact that there was very little of that sort of analysis in existing literature helped me make the decision final. 

Finally, you should find your word. If, after the first three steps, you are still undecided on a concrete idea like I was, then finding a word to center your thoughts around can help you focus on one concept. I chose the word “civil.” Up until this point in my planning, I had been back and forth on choosing either a comparative analysis on the combatants of the American Revolution or a comparative analysis on the combatants of the Jacobite Rebellion. However, every time I began work on one, I found myself disappointed that I wasn’t doing the other. As I worked over these topics, it clicked that both the American Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellion developed out of civil strife against the British monarchy. From there, I did some preliminary research to see if I could ground a thesis argument in both the American Revolution and Jacobite Rebellions as civil uprisings. To my delight, I could, and my thesis was decided! 

Ultimately, the topic I landed on for my thesis is a comparative analysis of the American Revolution and Jacobite Rebellion as civil uprisings against Britain. My hope for you as you journey into your thesis semesters and begin narrowing down your interests into a single topic is that you’re able to easily find your interests and begin pinpointing where you want to go. However, if you are as confused as I was and are looking for ways to narrow down your many interests, these steps can be helpful tools to help you along the way! Writing your thesis will be one of the most exciting, exhausting, nerve-wracking, and informational endeavors of your academic career. Through it, you will learn just as much about yourself as you do about your topic. Make sure to enjoy the journey!