Doing Research: The National History Day Way

Review of NHD• Project-based• Appeals to various learning styles• Can be incorporated into class• Teaches history core content (primary sources,

secondary sources, timelines, and artifacts are used to interpret history and historical perspective)

• Teaches literacy• Teaches creativity, problem-solving, analysis,

critical thinking

Categories• Documentary• Exhibit• Paper (individual only)

• Performance• Web site

Students may work in groups for performance, exhibit, website, and documentary (up to 5 students)

History Day Project• It is not a book report• Students will have to think about their

topics, ask questions, find answers, and develop their own conclusions.

History Day Rubric

Research

• Explain research to students– It is natural and all humans are curious.

Tell students that they will become detectives and search for clues and then share their knowledge.

– Activity: Have students research about an athlete they like or a band they like.

Getting Organized for Research

• Students will need a way to manage their paperwork– Pocket folders, Binders,

Accordion folders• Students will need to pick a

note-taking system– Note cards, Looseleaf

paper, Spiral notebook, Computer files

Selecting a Topic

• Students should choose a topic that…– INTERESTS them– Relates to the THEME– Has a NARROWED FOCUS

– Topic Activity: • Give students a current newspaper. Ask them to choose

articles that they think relates to the current theme. It will help them see what kinds of topics are out there.

– Common Mistakes!• Topic is too broad, too recent, and too complex

Background Reading

• Have students begin with secondary sources (have them read only books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and articles for two weeks and NO INTERNET!)

• Tell them to read as much as they can. They are detectives gathering information. Tell them to cast a wide net and read as much as they can about their topic.

Historical Context

• Topic needs to be narrow, but students still need to touch on historical context.

– Activity: Have students do a timeline of historical events before and after their topic to illustrate context

Civil War1861-1865

American Revolution1776-1783

War of 18121812

World War I1914-1920

Gathering and Recording Information

• Where should students go to do research?– Libraries (school, public, and

University) TIP: Ask the reference librarians for help!

– Historical societies and/or museums. Come to KHS!

– Contact college professors– Archival Collections at

organizations (i.e. corporations, YMCA, etc.)

• Have students use source sheets to help them organize their sources.

Identifying, Analyzing, and Interpreting Sources

• Discuss the difference between primary and secondary sources. Use identification and analysis worksheets for primary sources.

–Activity: Provide students with an assortment of different primary and secondary sources at different stations in the classroom. Ask students to work with a partner to identify each source, using the worksheet.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are not created first-hand.

• History Textbook• Encyclopedias • Books or articles written

by scholars about a topic• Oral interviews with

scholars.

Primary SourcesPrimary sources are materials directly

related to a topic by time or participation. – Letters– Speeches– Diaries– Newspaper or magazine articles from the

time– Oral History Interviews– Manuscripts/Paper collections– Songs and Hymns– Photographs and artifacts– Court Proceedings– Government records, including census

data

Sources for Primary MaterialsCompilation

Books:• Eyewitness to

America: 500 Years of American History in the Words of Those Who Saw it Happen by David Colbert

• Living History America: The History of the United States in Documents, Essays, Letters, Songs and Poems

Internet Sources:•Kentucky Historical Society: http://history.ky.gov/ •National Archives: www.archives.gov•Digital Classroom (on NARA Web site): http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html •Library of Congress, American Memory Web site: http://memory.loc.gov•History Matters: http://historymatters.gmu.edu•University of Idaho listing of repositories: http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html•Listing of Primary Source Material Web sites: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listdocumentpa.html•Gilder-Lehrman: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/•Our Documents: http://www.ourdocuments.gov •Digital History: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/•US Historical Documents: http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/•Ad Access: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/•United States Holocaust Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/•Kentucky Virtual Library: http://kyvl.org•ABC-CLIO (this one isn’t free): http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/login.aspx

Developing, Improving and Finalizing a History Day Project

• Students should choose the best category for them (although some topics may lend themselves better to certain categories)

• All categories (except the paper) require a process paper.

• All categories require an annotated bibilography• All projects can be improved between contests

Developing a Thesis• NHD projects make a point about a topic.

A thesis statement makes an argument about the historical impact of the person, event, pattern, or idea you are studying. Often, it answers historical questions.

• Questions like:– Why is my topic significant? – Has my topic influenced anything else of

historical importance? – What changed as a result of my topic?– What causes led up to my topic?

Annotated Bibliography

• All History Day projects require an annotated bibliography

• Example:Banker, Grace. “I was a ‘Hello Girl’.

Yankee Magazine, March 1974.– This article is an almost diary-like look at

the day by day events of life in France. This was one of my first sources and it gave me a clear picture of what France looked like to the girls at the time of their service.