Thus a historian may be accumulating evidence and arguments to prove or disprove a clearly stated proposition or accumulating coherent data and ideas in order to describe a topic accurately and to present significant data, often new data, on the topic. Of course, historians may use some analysis with the descrip­tive or narrative topic; and the thesis format has much description. So the two are not mutually exclusive. Four precautions must be taken in selecting a thesis or topic for research:

a) The thesis or topic may be too broad for the time to do adequate research and writing.

b) A thesis or topic can be too narrow or insignificant for research -- ask if the results will interest your audience.

c) Enough resource materials must be available to carry out the necessary research.

d) If a thesis or topic is not clearly stated, the reader becomes disoriented and you end up with a collection of useless, unrelated data.

After each of the following, indicate whether it is primarily a thesis or a topic, then use the four guidelines above to decide whether you consider it a suitable one for HIS 316.

1. The leaders of all the Southern states which seceded from the Union were motivated primarily by greed and desire for wealth and power.

2. An examination of all the conditions in the South from 1700 to 1860 that led to a dependence on cotton and slavery.

3. The laws passed by the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1619 to 1660 dealt mostly with land policy and trade matters, that is, economic affairs.

4. A study of the world view of the Chickasaws, Cherokees, and other native tribal groups of the south-eastern part of North America prior to the arrival of Europeans.

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