History is a science which motto can be formulated as “complete subjectivity”. It also makes it very pleasant for everyone who has to write essays on it or, in particular, choose history paper topics. Here we will give you some suggestions on how to do it.
If you are given a free hand in selecting a topic for history papers then the question is not so much about good topics but about the topics that are interesting for you. Look – you have the whole human history before you, with millions of notable people, concepts, events, periods and so on. And every single one of them can be viewed upon from different points of view. If you choose, e.g. Joan of Arc as your history paper topic, then you are free to describe her as a saint-savior of the French, a raving lunatic who led people attracted to her fanaticism, or even a perfectly sane but overly patriotic girl who imitated talking to angels and saints in order to drive the English out of her country; and this is only are at-a-sight examples. You may use any history paper topic in the same way; in fact, the less conventional your point of view, the better (to a certain extent, however – it isn’t a good idea to describe Joan of Arc as an alien from space).
American history paper topics also give a vast space for development. Battle at Little Bighorn, European colonization and its consequences, War for Independence – all of these things may be written and described from different points of view and with concentration on different aspects.
In short, recommendations on selecting a history paper’s topic are simple. Look for something interesting and, most of all – interesting for you, for it is the only way to write something that would interest someone else.