Choosing A TopicExploration, Encounter, Exchange in History

Narrow your topic

◆ Does the topic interest you?

◆ Does the topic fit the theme?

◆ Is the topic significant?

◆ Is the topic in-depth and narrow? (It is better to focus on one issue in detail than to cover many issues superficially.)

◆ Are there primary and secondary sources available for this topic? (Local topics are a good choice.)

Keep this in mind:

Your Interests

◆ Circle 5 subjects on your interest area sheet

◆ Read through the descriptions of the different project types: Historical Paper, Exhibit (Display), Documentary, Performance, Website

◆ Complete questions 2 - 4 on your History Day Packet ONLY.

Step ONE:

Topic Ideas

Step TWO: Where do I find topic ideas?

◆ NHD Sample Topic List◆ NHD Theme Book Essays◆ Pier School Lib Guide◆ Digital Public Library of America◆ RI topics from the Library of Congress◆ Exploration and Settlement of Rhode Island◆ “Early Encounters of Native Americans and Europeans”◆ “Narragansett”◆ “First Encounters: Native Americans and Christians”

Topic Ideas

Hot topics for 2016Ms. Kirby’s picks:1870 French Impressionist Artist

1936 US Gold Medal Olympic Rowing Team

1968 First International Special Olympics

1940 Radiocarbon Discovery by Willard Libby

1960 Beat Poetry Movement

1964 Beatles Perform in US

1989 Tiananmen Square Protest China

2015 Cuba/US Diplomatic Relations Restored

Ms. Miller’s picks:Equal Exchange/Free Trade Products

Investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein unearth the Watergate scandal

The CIA’s discovery of espionage by double agent, Aldrich Ames

Virginia Hall, “the limping lady” and the creation of the French resistance in World War II

Mission to Mars: the exploration of the red planet

Northern extreme: exploration of the Arctic

Exploration of the sea: our final frontier

Topic Ideas

Hot topics for 2016Mrs. Mouradjian’s picks: Actress Hedy Lamarr and the invention of technology used in WiFi and BluTooth today1944

The New England settlers encounter and exchange with the Narragansett Indians leading to the Great Swamp massacre

Robert Ballard’s exploration of underwater archeology resulting in the discovery of the Titanic (Yorktown, PT 109)

1944 African American sailors encounter with racism in the United States Navy and the Port Charles Disaster

Exploring Antarctica: Shackleton's encounter with nature, human and other

Ms. Holmes’ picks:Exploring African-American Culture: The Harlem Renaissance

Exploring their Rights and Encountering Change: Women of the 1920s •

Disproportionate Exchange: Slaves and the Triangle Trade

Sit-In Movement – non violent protest (1959)

Gilded Age Newport in Color:The African American Summer Experience In Newport, RI from 1870-1925

The Great Migration: African Americans Move From the Rural South to Northern Cities (1910-1970)

Topic Ideas

Step THREE:

◆ Once you’ve looked through the topic websites, answer questions 5 & 6 on your NHD packet.

Pre- Search

Step Four:

◆ Out of the 4 topics of interest you listed, choose 3 you would most like to pre-search as possible topics for your NHD project

◆ Using the pre-search worksheet, begin your pre-search using wiki and google sites.

Pre- Search

Step Five:

◆ Check in with your teacher. Which one of the 3 topics you pre-searched would you most like to choose for your NHD topic?

◆ Fill out questions 7-9 on your NHD packet.

◆ Complete your project proposal to hand in to your teacher.