The Ultimate IB History IA Guide: Topics, Structure, and Common Pitfalls

At first glance, the History Internal Assessment can seem like a daunting task. It’s worth a considerable percentage of your final grade - 25% at SL, 20% at HL - and requires you to think, research, and write as a historian. However, there is good news: a well-executed IA is one of the most rewarding elements of the IB, and it's completely within your control to score highly.

This guide will break down exactly what the examiners are looking for when they assess your IA, advise you on how to craft an engaging research question, and highlight the common mistakes that you can easily avoid.

Part 1: Deconstructing the History IA (25 Marks Total)

Your IA is a 2200-word historical investigation broken down into three key sections that are assessed separately. Understanding what each part demands is the first step to success.

Part 2: How to Choose a Winning IA Topic

Your topic is the foundation of your entire project. A great topic makes research exciting and analysis possible. A weak one leads to boredom, frustration, and a descriptive paper that will not perform well against the assessment criteria. Here’s your checklist for crafting a solid research question:

• Find a genuine interest: You are going to be living with this topic for weeks if not months, so choose something that genuinely fascinates you. Your passion will fuel your research and shine through in your writing.
• Look for historical debate: The best IAs explore questions that historians themselves disagree on, because these provide rich ground for argumentation among different perspectives. Avoid topics with an obvious, universally accepted answer. Your goal is to enter a historical conversation, not just report facts.
• Narrow your focus: "The Cold War" is a course, not an IA topic. "To what extent was Nixon's Vietnamization policy a success between 1969 and 1971?" is a suitable IA topic. Narrow your focus to a specific event, a timeframe of less than a decade, or a particular group to come up with a research question that you can adequately explore within the scope of the assignment.
• Check for source availability: You need accessible and credible primary and secondary sources. If you can't find solid academic sources within an hour of searching, it's a red flag. Be strategic with regards to the languages you speak as well; some investigations may require the ability to read primary sources in languages other than English. 
• Ensure your topic is historical: The IB requires your topic to be at least 10 years old. This ensures enough time has passed for proper historical analysis and perspective to develop.

Part 3: 25 Battle-Tested IA Topic Ideas

Use these sample research questions as a launchpad to get you thinking about a suitable line of inquiry for you IA:

Revolutions and Political Upheavals

• To what extent was the Haitian Revolution the most successful slave revolution in history?
• How successful was Mao's Cultural Revolution in achieving its stated political goals?
• To what extent was nationalism, rather than Prussian militarism, the primary driver of German unification in 1871?
• An analysis of the successes and failures of the Russian Revolution's initial phase (1917-1918).
• How did the Cuban Revolution's outcomes differ from Fidel Castro's initial promises?

Wars and Conflicts

• How significant was German involvement in determining the outcome of the Spanish Civil War?
• To what extent were foreign powers responsible for the escalation of the Rwandan Genocide?
• Examine the strategic impact of the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front in WWII.
• To what extent can Nixon's policy of "Vietnamization" be considered a military success?
• A study of the bombing of Guernica: Was it a strategic military target or an act of terror?

Social and Cultural History

• How significant was WWII in accelerating the women's rights movement in the United States?
• An investigation into the role of British politics in the ineffective response to the Jack the Ripper incidents.
• How did the New Deal's Farm Security Administration use photography as propaganda?
• To what extent did the Industrial Revolution improve the daily lives of the urban working class in Manchester?
• An analysis of the effectiveness of the US Civil Rights Movement's non-violent protest strategies in the 1960s.

Political Figures and Policies

• How did Stalin's agricultural policies directly contribute to the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor)?
• To what extent did Napoleon III's domestic policies achieve his goal of modernizing France?
• Was the primary purpose of the Berlin Wall to limit the freedom of East Germans or to project Soviet strength?
• To what extent were Stalin's Five-Year Plans successful in industrializing the USSR by 1939?
• An evaluation of Fidel Castro's social policies in Cuba: successes and failures.

Remember that these questions should be narrowed down further with focus on specific dates, locations, or groups to fit the 2,200-word limit. For example, the final question in this list could be refined by focusing on the impact of Castro's social policies on a particular social group in Cuba, such as women or children, and by specifying a timeframe. 

Part 4: Common IA Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Many students lose marks on the same simple mistakes. Here’s how to make sure you’re not one of them.

The Pitfall	The Lanterna Fix