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Starting points in your research project.

RESEARCHING COLD WAR TOPICS

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Hungarian Revolution of 1956Where to begin?• Data bases: SSI; Historical Abstracts; Library reference guides; browsing in library; Internet sites.• Newspaper/Journal accounts in Western countries (Europe, U.S.)• Other media sources: BBC; VOA; Radio Free Europe• Government sources: Foreign Office reports (U.K.); Hungarian/Soviet official agencies• Eye-witness accounts: film and radio documentaries; published recollections.• Memoir literature: autobiographical accounts of leading participants, e.g. Nikita Khrushchev.• Secondary scholarly literature: Published (academic) journal articles and monographs on Hungarian rising.

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Researching the Hungarian Revolution, cont.• Evaluating primary source material: Pro-communist accounts; Anti-communist accounts; “Neutral” observers.• Government documents: Which agency? Who is reporting? Completeness of descriptive narrative?• Newspapers and journal reports: Based on first-hand observations or news services? Caliber of source: reputable paper and/or journal?• Eye-witness testimonies: Participants; neutral observers; partisans of a political group or movement.• Secondary sources: Quality of academic publication (University or Institution known for upholding scholarly standards. For example, peer reviewed articles.)

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Interpreting sources:• Do sources present a wide-ranging view of the event(s) being studied?• Can sources – even those which appear to be one-sided -- be independently corroborated?• Is the range of research material you are using to develop your narrative broadly based?• Does your analysis take into account existing historiographical concerns/trends? • Are your conclusions supported by discussions and supporting evidence cited earlier in the essay?

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Essay’s analysis• Can you identify clearly the major features of the event/topic you are developing in the paper?• Does you description of event follow a well-established chronology?• Is your interpretation/analysis grounded in a wide-range of sources? Do your views correspondent to existing interpretations of the events? • Have you properly attributed in your narrative and/or footnotes insights and information obtained from other sources?• Does your bibliography reflect the full range of materials you consulted in the course of investigating your chosen topic(s)?