An EE in History - Ancient Egypt?

For my extended essay we are supposed to start looking into it over the summer and I decided to do history with a general topic of ancient egypt. Now I Know my final topic has to be much more specific but I don't really know how to go about doing this...Like i was thinking maybe look into the controversial death of a pharoh or how women had more rights in egypt than faster developing european colonies? Any suggestions....I'm really lost as to how to go about choosing my specific topic and how to formulate my essay...

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Reply 1

stranger

Maybe you should read up on something that interests you in a particular topic in a subjects of your choice and the find something that interests you even more.

There are also many things to take into consideration such as avaliability and amount of resources, and so forth. The IB EE Guide explains all of these in detail. After reading that you should consult your teacher since they should have the answer to many of you question (regarding most related matters). And after that others who did History EE's should have some valuable points for you. From experience I would say the initial phases of starting your EE are vital, obviously because you will write about 4000 words on it.

Apart from that I can't say much since I'm not an IB student historian.

Reply 2

Honzan

I woulnd't do it. Bad topic - sure you can find a lot of literature on it but you cannot do any of those 'cool' things that people do within their research...like interveiws and stuff.....and the examiners like that :smile:

Reply 3

cramnotes

Hi,
I was originally going to medieval japan, but was advised against it, since there aren't many primary sources to go upon, or at least their availability is limited. I ended up doing modern egyptian history. (Nasser) Anyway, it is probably advisable to do something a bit more contempory

Reply 4

stranger

Thank God for Pychology Journals!

Reply 5

andy_cole2

i would say ancient egypt is an alright topic. One of the key focuses in history is source availability. my mate did the existence of king arthur and got an A cos it was based on sources. the further back you do in many ways the better because then you can argue the toss more about what sources are good and bad etc.

I think the most important thing to do is not worry about sources ever for history. if you're thinking of doing a title your almost guaranteed someone has thought about it before. If you go to a decentlibaray dunno where ur from but like london has senate house, where i went or british library etc they have books on anything in history, so obscure isnt bad either :p:

Reply 6

mysteria

finittz - I did my E.E. on Ancient Greece against the advice of EVERYONE, especially my history teacher. I had ideas during the summer holiday but didn't start until first term of my second IB year. It was the most stressful part of my IB course and so many times I thought I should just tear up all my research and write an English essay instead, but I smacked myself a few times, got to working, and I got an A.
Listen to me.

People will obviously try and persuade you not to do your essay on Ancient History, but trust me, if it's something you actually enjoy, DO IT. All my friends doing their E.E.'s in something they didn't find interesting would sit there and bitch about it ALL THE TIME and did not get good results for it, and although I was STRESSED I actually did enjoy it and am very glad I did it.

Biggest problem - obviously sources. However, you can get on the good side of your marker by EXPLICITLY stating that you understand the unreliability and limitations of your sources, you know how historians are obsessed with the whole "value and limitations" idea. Not a problem. Besides, just take a couple of quotes from random "reliable" ancient historians, and for the rest of it use the internet! And you sound like someone who already knows quite a lot about the topics you're considering.

The controversial death of a pharoah idea is good, as you can choose 2 opposing historians and compare their arguments and come to your own conclusion.

Secondly - title. DO NOT STRESS OVER THIS! You will undoubtedly have a lot of trouble coming up with a specific title (word for word) and I actually came up with my exact title about an hour before the final E.E. deadline. If you have an idea about a general concept, like how women had more rights in egypt than faster developing european colonies, make it just a little more specific, e.g. between a certain time period, a certain part of egypt, specific european colonies, and just write a first draft essay on it. Structure and other specifics can later be tweaked and parts cut out/added.

Structure - use subtitles. I was completely anti-subtitles and headings at first, but an ancient history essay would most definately be quite complicated in structure and this really helps narrow down the things you want to write about.

I'm writing so much because I am REALLY AGAINST the idea of "oh your e.e. doesn't matter so much, you probably won't get the points anyway" because that is NOT TRUE! If you do something you actually ENJOY and do it properly, chances are you'll get the grade you want. (chances are, I said, not most definately)

If you want any more help, I'm more than happy to send you my E.E. to have a look at.

Reply 7

mysteria

Oh, and, I forgot to mention, ancient history is also good because chances are, your marker will know jack**** about it, and if you get anything factually wrong, they won't be able to spot it. Maybe that's where my A came from *grins*.

Reply 8

HMSChocolate

the thing is whether you will be able to get decent resources on it. otherwise, dont worry about an official title yet, decide on topic first and write the essay before naming a title

about the ancient history, a lot of pple would advise you against it, yes, but if you think you can do it then do it

Reply 9

odd creature

Hey, I write my EE about ancient Egypt (XX. Dynasty - Ramesses III), the only problem is the sources, but there are a few possibilities (internet archives ect.). If you need help e-mail me.

Reply 10

andy_cole2

wtf!! sources are you joking! this millions of stuff go to a decent library there is more then just the internet! British Libarary Bodelian (sp?) senate house lol any uni library sources should never concern u for any history essay IMO unless its like the really recent stuff i guess, but then 15 years is the earliest u can get isnt it?

Reply 11

odd creature

andy_cole2

There is lots of stuff about ancient Egypt but not every topic is equally well covered, so it totally depends on what you write about. Some things are hard to get (and believe me I have been to a few “decent libraries”) and quite a few sources are available in only one language (lots of German, French and Dutch articles and books).

Reply 12

finittz

Thanks everyone for the replies....I went down to a reference library we have here (im not in Europe)...I couldn't find any primary resources. If I'm looking for ancient egypt primary sources am I hitting a wall?

Reply 13

odd creature

There are several translations of primary sources by the Harrassowitz Verlag;

http://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/

Reply 14

finittz

odd creature

There are several translations of primary sources by the Harrassowitz Verlag;

http://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/

I looked but it doesn't seem to be in english, unless I missed something.

Reply 15

windsong

finittz

I looked but it doesn't seem to be in english, unless I missed something.

Everything on the left side is in English for me.

Reply 16

finittz

windsong

Everything on the left side is in English for me.

Everything on the left is in English, but the actual translations of the ancient egypt texts are in German.

Reply 17

andy_cole2

just put it in a language translator, google is pretty good. then it gives u more **** to write about when you quesiton reliability of sources, which IBO will love you for :p:

Reply 18

stephen.swn

Hi, I am currently researching about my E.E topic and I really want to do something about ancient greece, but I don't have an idea about what yet. What did you focus on as a topic.

Reply 19

flash1234567

Hello,Thank you so much for your advice. I'm thinking of doing my EE in ancient Egypt as I really love it. Do you think you could send me yours so I could see it?