Higher education has always been a challenging career to pursue. It needs a lot of determination, dedication and patience. Research is an integral part of higher education. While some students prepare certain research articles during their college or university tenure, a student gets the opportunity of preparing a full-fledged research paper when he is pursuing M-Phil or Doctorate or higher degrees.  A research paper is always interesting in the sense that it opens the door for discovering more hidden truths, new propositions which were earlier not present. 

History is one of the most intriguing subjects to study. Even though we are living in the present, a lot can be learnt from past incidents and events that happened centuries ago. History is the study and analysis of the past events that formulated the present and will continue to have a great impact on the future. A lot of inquisitive students choose history as their focus of study. All of them are interested in finding history research paper topics because most of these interesting events need validation, justification, and explanation. 

Apart from research scholars, there are many college and school students who are always interested in studying the past because it promotes their ability to analyse and interpret the present and the future happenings to some extent. History helps them to know and understand the truth about real events and the reasons behind famous situations and this changes their outlook on life. However, the selection of a good topic for a research paper is of utmost importance. If a suitable topic is researched on, then the results derived from the research work not only benefit the scholar but also everyone who is part of the society. History topics should be more carefully chosen as unlike other subjects, this subject deals with incidents which happened decades ago or maybe, a thousand years ago. 

So, the direct proofs are rarely available for such incidents and one needs to rely more on other scholar’s articles and research work. This article aims to give insights into some popular researched topics in history.

History can be divided into three parts:

• Ancient History
• Medieval History
• Modern History

The time period for ancient history is taken to be 3000 BC- 500 AD.  This refers to the aggregate of past events from the beginning of writing and recorded human history and extending as far as the post-classical history. The medieval and the modern ages, however, began during different times in different continents.  

History can also be divided into World History, Indian History, American History, European History etc. Every past contains some glorious as well as dark phases as well. It solely depends on the scholar which part of the history he should concentrate on. It is always better to look at answers for incidents which have remained unanswered for years. One can also research areas where much research has not been done due to lack of data. In that case, looking for data will be a hectic procedure, but the end results will always enhance the capability of the researcher. It will also make the work aware of the reasons for which things happened in the past.

Some of the very popular history research paper topic guidance for the scholars are:

The political autonomy of women during the Mughal era:

Mughal era is one of the most important chapters in the history of Indian sub-continent. The time period of this empire is almost 331 years. We have read about glorious battles, benevolent rules of the Mughal rule. Even though there had been small instances of powerful women of this great dynasty but that is not enough to understand the political autonomy of women in general during this phase. In the modern light of feminism, the political autonomy of women during the Mughal era will be a well-chosen topic to be researched on.

The Rule of Pharaoh and its influence on the rest of the world:

One of the most thrilling parts of ancient history is the rule of the pharaoh and the history behind the enigmatic pyramids. The Egyptian empire not only attracts historians or archaeologists, but it also intrigues travellers across the world. A lot has been researched on the rule and lifestyles of the Egyptian monarchs, popularly known as the Pharaohs. Many debates and discussions have taken place regarding its impact and influence on the rest of the world. Yet some incidents remain hidden in the ancient bricks of the pyramids. There is a lot to discover such an ancient empire and it will benefit our society in a positive way.

Differences in colonization in different parts of the world:

Colonialism is a political-economic fact which states that different nations discovered, conquered, settled, and exploited large zones of the world. The world history is shrouded in the cries of the exploited people of the colonized countries. The colonization pattern in different countries had been different. A very informative research paper on history can be written based on the differences in colonization in different parts of the world. Although the colonized people suffered irrespective of regions, to know the extent of problems they went through will enrich our world history.

Since history is a study of the past, many lucrative research topics have already been covered by eminent historians and well-known research scholars. But that should not necessarily give rise to any dearth of good research topics. If one re-research on an already proved proposition, there remains a chance to unearth new truths. After all, the past has a very peculiar way of surprising everyone.

“History repeats itself”.  So, it is important to understand the past incidents and happenings. If one can find reasons why an unfavourable incident happened in the past, then in the future we can take necessary steps to prevent it. History might get boring at times. So, if one has enough zeal to understand the past, it is advisable to go forward with higher studies in history only then. Past, present and future- we may not always understand but these three are always interconnected.