I apologize if this is the wrong subreddit to be posting this, looking through google results it seems like people were asking similar questions to what I'm about to post.
I'm currently in a higher level history course at my college about the history of the crusades, and I have been assigned a 12-page paper. when required to pick a primary source for the paper I chose Christopher Dawson's A Mission to Asia. This work contains the two letters (bulls) that Pope Innocent IV sent to Guyuk Khan and Guyuk's responses. My main issues are that I'm not entirely sure how to even start this. I had a class last semester revolving around the writing of historical essays (it was called Historian's Craft), but the teacher wasn't very effective, so I didn't learn very much from the class. is my thesis supposed to be directly related to my primary source? how broad is my topic supposed to be? if you guys could point me in a good direction to start it would be much appreciated!
MY CURRENT THESIS:
Historians have often considered the interactions between the Mongols and the Crusaders merely failed attempts that yielded little to no results throughout their multiple interactions. However, this paper will argue that through their common goal in the middle-east and other military and religious agreements they maintained good relations and cooperative results throughout the 13th and early 14th century.
edit:
I would like to make this paper more about the effectiveness of the Franco-Mongol Alliance, but I'm not sure if that's too broad.
Believe it or not, it's usually best to start with the research and then develop a thesis out of your reading--not to start with your argument and then support it.
The key here is secondary sources. You've got your basic core (French-Mongol relations). Do some reading about it in a secondary source, see what ideas spark your interest. Go back and reread the primary source now that you've got some secondary info. Does anything stand out to you in a different light? Go read more secondary sources that seem related. Follow tangents. Follow footnotes.
If you still need some inspiration there are a few recent AskHistorians questions about this, which might help point you to some other helpful primary and secondary sources:
Was there much contact between the Crusader states and the Mongol empire?
Best advice for you and any other history students: make an appointment with your tutorial leader. They are there to help you in cases like this. Or, if the class is small, your prof themselves. They can help you with resources, point you in a direction that results in a successful essay, even do a basic proofread of your essay. Also, attend a writing workshop given by the History Department. The people there can help you with formulating a good thesis statement and with your essay’s layout and flow.
If I remember correctly (and to be fair, it's been a while), Christopher Dawson's A mission to Asia mainly concentrated on the missions to the court of the Great Khan. These missions were a political tactic used to deal with the Mongols after their rampage through Eastern Europe, a tactic we've seen used time and time and again, for example: the missions by the Byzantines to the Bulgars and the Slavs of South Eastern Europe. The Iranians Samanid dynasty on the Karluks is another that comes to mind.
You may want to focus on the political situation between this threat to Europe and the mitigation tactics that the Pope was trying to utilize and how or why they were ineffective.
I can assist you by recommending sources or answering questions to help you understand the situation.