The History Project: Designing an Independent Historical Inquiry
What the project requires
The History Project is an extended independent inquiry in which you define a historical question, locate and evaluate sources, construct an argument, and reflect on the process of doing history. It rewards methodological self-awareness as much as content. The concepts you must command are: research question and scope, historiographical positioning (what debates your question enters), source selection and evaluation (provenance, purpose, audience, reliability, corroboration, silences), methodology (how you will analyse evidence), argument and synthesis, referencing and acknowledgement of sources, and reflection on the historian's role.
Traps that appear in questions and marking
- A topic, not a question. "The Vietnam War" is a topic; "How did Australian newspaper coverage of conscription shift between 1965 and 1970, and why?" is a question. A question must be arguable and answerable with available sources.
- Scope too broad or too narrow. If sources cannot answer it, or the answer is obvious, refine the question.
- Description instead of argument. A project that recounts events without a thesis and without engaging interpretations will not reach the top band.
- Uncritical source use. Quoting a source without evaluating its provenance and purpose is a common weakness.
- Neglecting the reflection. Explaining how your question changed, what difficulties you met and how you resolved them demonstrates genuine historical practice.
- Poor referencing. Unacknowledged borrowing undermines the project; consistent citation is part of the method.
Rule of thumb
Test your question with the FEAS check: Focused (a specific period, place, group or debate), Evidenced (sources exist and are accessible), Arguable (reasonable historians could disagree), Significant (it connects to a historiographical debate or a public understanding of the past). If any element fails, revise before drafting.
Worked example
A student wants to study a local memorial. Narrowing to "How and why has the memorial's meaning changed since its dedication?" allows analysis of dedication records, newspaper reports, oral interviews and later commemorative speeches, and positions the project within debates about memory and national identity. The reflection can discuss how the student's own questions changed after discovering the absence of Indigenous perspectives in the archive.