is it dangerous for an ancient student to chose a modern topic for investigation? (1 Viewer)

[asquith]

becuase i dont do modern history, am i disadvantaged in terms of knowing how to analyse modern sources or is it sort of like ancient history? also, to all those modern history guys, what sort of things should i be wary of when approaching a modern history topic?
final question: where is everyone up to in their projects?

 

[anjj]

im an ancient kid and im doing a modern project..just figured i'd put an ancient sort of "assess this" or "explain that" question to it and wing it after that

u do make a gud point tho..its not as if u can really find as many historians for and against like u can with ancient..ud hafta read sources n whatnot n draw ur own conclusions i guess

haha dammit..now i wish id chosen something ancient cz itz easier :worried:

 

[Tulipa]

What exactly are your "modern" topics?

I didn't do ancient but I know with modern that there was a large focus on historiography. Not so much for ancient I guess?

What exactly are you worried about as well? I guess you should be wary of the different interpretations of certain events. It all depends on how modern and how controversial your topic is.

 

[bored6]

What exactly are your "modern" topics?

I didn't do ancient but I know with modern that there was a large focus on historiography. Not so much for ancient I guess?

What exactly are you worried about as well? I guess you should be wary of the different interpretations of certain events. It all depends on how modern and how controversial your topic is.

I do both and if anything, there is a larger focus on histiography in ancient history. To the threadstarter, I wouldn't see how doing a modern topic would limit you? Unless your a prodigy, you'd have to do research for any history extension major work.

 

[anjj]

im doing something around indira gandhi/operation bluestar/her assassination..lol yehh bit broad atm =| + proposal due 2moro = freaking out rite about now

duz ur final proposal question hav 2 b wat u actually du? or is there some chance 2 alter it later?

 

[xeuyrawp]

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think the difference between modern and ancient is that ancient requires more in-depth analysis of fewer sources, whereas modern requires a wider reading of more sources. I suppose this is just a result of the nature of the fields, one has 'less' evidence.

That being said, as long as you're aware of how modern and ancient history differ (if at all -- the main thing is really to think about it), you should be fine.