Yo, I’m an undergraduate student of history and I want to write a research paper on the United Kingdom’s involvement in the Cold War (first time I’m required to work with primary sources). But I’m not sure about how to go about it. As I see it, typical discussions about the Cold War usually focus on the United States and Soviet Union as the two main players of the conflict. But, there were many more parties involved, and I want to see how (and why) they shaped it as more than a battle between Soviet and US interest. I picked the British primarily because I have to focus on Europe and I can only work with sources in English, (or Spanish but I’m not interested in Spain). I also pick the UK because of its close relationship with the US and because of its considerable influence around the world, even after world war 2. I’m not sure on what period to focus on, but I’m thinking about limiting within the period from 1945 to 1950/51. It’s right after the war, there is a lot of uncertainty about the new international order, it was when the Labour party had a majority and when the British empire lost many of its colonies. My main problems are finding the right primary sources and with the question of “originality”. I thought about looking for archives or books with government documents, treaties, speeches, etc. from the period on the topic, and so far, I’ve found this:
• The Brussels and North Atlantic Treaties, 1947-1949: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Volume X (Whitehall Histories) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Tony Insall (Editor), Patrick Salmon (Editor) Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brussels-North-Atlantic-Treaties-1947-1949-ebook/dp/B00OCKEHEY/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me= • European Recovery and the Search for Western Security, 1946-1948: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Volume XI: 11 (Whitehall Histories) Kindle Edition by Gill Bennett (Editor), Patrick Salmon (Editor) Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/European-Recovery-Western-Security-1946-1948-ebook/dp/B01MQRJ3HJ/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me= • The Nordic Countries: From War to Cold War, 1944–51: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Vol. IX (Whitehall Histories) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Tony Insall (Editor), Patrick Salmon (Editor) Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Countries-Documents-Whitehall-Histories-ebook/dp/B006LMPP10/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me= • Britain and China 1945-1950: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I Volume VIII (Whitehall Histories) 1st Edition by S.R. Ashton (Editor), G. Bennett (Editor), K. Hamilton (Editor) Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Britain-China-1945-1950-Documents-Whitehall/dp/041576131X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492129534&sr=1-1&keywords=Documents+on+British+Policy+Overseas
If there are any expert on the topic, does this seem appropriate? Does anybody have any suggestions of other possible sources (principally ones that have not been looked at before or fully explored)? maybe not government documents? (Disclaimer, I’m not made of money, I’m already spending a lot of money getting these books.) Second thing, since I just started reading my secondary sources, I don’t know which of these documents have already been researched and I fear I might end up writing something redundant. Do any observers here think something original can be derived from this? Last thing, the final product should be around 20-30 pages long, are there any suggestions on how to focus/limit this investigation? For secondary sources, I plan to use:
Books: *1) Britain and the Cold War By Anne Deighton *2) The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt, 1945-1956: Strategy and Diplomacy in the Early Cold War Paperback – August 31, 2004 by Peter L. Hahn *3) From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s 1st Edition by David Reynolds *4) The Impossible Peace: Britain, the Division of Germany, and the Origins of the Cold War (Clarendon Paperbacks) Revised ed. Edition by Anne Deighton *5) Britain and the Cold War: 1945 as Geopolitical Transition By Peter J. Taylor *6) Origins of the Cold War: An International History (Rewriting Histories) 2nd Edition by Melvyn leffler (Author), Melvyn P. Leffler (Editor), David S. Painter (Editor) *7) The United States, Great Britain, and the Cold War, 1944-1947 Hardcover – May, 1981 by Terry H. Anderson *8) Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World (Foundations of Britain) by L. J. Butler (Author) *9) British Imperial Strategy and the Origins of the Cold War 1944-49 by John Kent Journals: I got a bunch of jstor articles, not going to list (39).
(Not going to lie, I’m quite late in the semester to start doing this, but I got until May 15 to finish it and since there is a student strike at my university, I have at the very least 2-3 weeks of uninterrupted vacation time to work on this. I’m also a quick reader.)
My main problems are finding the right primary sources and with the question of “originality”
I love how much work you've already done gathering your sources--that's going to be SUCH a big help.
I was just telling another AH reader yesterday how nobody teaches us how to come up with a topic and a thesis! I could give you some "shortcuts" for ideas--compare and contrast; trace the effects of a decision; identify the causes of an event; find a topic that scholars disagree about and use your own interpretation of primary sources to decide which one is right--and you might find one of those helpful. But in general, here's how I come up with a topic and then an argument:
I read. I start by reading secondary sources. I just let myself go down paths I'm interested in, but with an eye towards narrowing my reading. For example: Cold War => UK and Cold War => Cold War and UK international policies => Cold War and the UK as international empire => Cold War and former UK colonies versus active non-British Isles UK commonwealth countries => Cold War era-propaganda in former UK colonies versus commonwealth countries
While you read some of your secondary sources, be noting what primary sources the authors are using. A lot of them will probably be alphanumeric gobbledygook, which means they are achival sources (that is, in archives, not published books), but some of them will be in anthologies like you've got. (I picked propaganda as an example because speeches and propaganda posters are things you are, I'm guessing, more likely to find in published sources).
Eventually, through reading, you'll come across a "topic" like I did above, and then you can start to put together your argument based on secondary and primary sources together. It's a balancing act between being so narrow that you can't write enough, and being so broad that you either (a) go insane or (b) can't actually answer your question. (As a college writing teacher, I'll say that 95% of papers try to be too broad). To get from "topic" to "thesis," it's a good idea to look for patterns in your sources, or use the shortcuts I mentioned above (compare/contrast, scholarly debate, etc).
Is that helpful at all?