In beginning the Historical Investigation, I chose my topic of the controversy behind the Tonkin Gulf Resolution because I had an interest in what may have influenced our defeat in the Vietnam War and I wanted to research a topic that not many people may know about. To find the information for my topic, I found a book, Vietnam: A History, which provided an overall perspective of the Vietnam war as a whole, and I found a book concentrating mainly on the controversy of the decision-making system in place, The Irony of Vietnam: the system worked by Leslie H. Gelb. Along with these sources I researched many websites on the Vietnam War and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution itself. When deciding the best way to organize my paper, I wanted to begin
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Throughout this process I learned about the many problems historians face. I learned about the struggle of finding reliable sources to use in my paper. For example, I found a great quote concerning the reason for North Vietnam to fire at U.S. vessels, but if the source has no author, or if the author is not a credible source, the using that particular resource would be bad decision. Another problem I faced that many historians face as well is determining which events are historically significant to the topic. What I did is I asked myself whether these events truly had a strong influence on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution or if the Resolution influenced them. If neither of these were true, then I decided to leave those occurrences out of my paper. A major problem that historians face is how to avoid bias. The way that I found to avoid bias is to add a counterargument. Showing various viewpoints demonstrates an argument that isn’t opinionated and is more aware of varying interpretations. I believe that historians have a duty to recount history with cold, hard facts that readers and people in the future can be assured are true. In order to try and accomplish this, I used sources with credible authors, and I included a counterargument to display multiple views on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Throughout this process I learned about the many problems historians face. I learned about the struggle of finding reliable sources to use in my paper. For example, I found a great quote concerning the reason for North Vietnam to fire at U.S. vessels, but if the source has no author, or if the author is not a credible source, the using that particular resource would be bad decision. Another problem I faced that many historians face as well is determining which events are historically significant to the topic. What I did is I asked myself whether these events truly had a strong influence on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution or if the Resolution influenced them. If neither of these were true, then I decided to leave those occurrences out of my paper. A major problem that historians face is how to avoid bias. The way that I found to avoid bias is to add a counterargument. Showing various viewpoints demonstrates an argument that isn’t opinionated and is more aware of varying interpretations. I believe that historians have a duty to recount history with cold, hard facts that readers and people in the future can be assured are true. In order to try and accomplish this, I used sources with credible authors, and I included a counterargument to display multiple views on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution