HISTORY FAIR LAUNCH

This is not a project where you have all kinds of freedoms to do what you want to do. It is a very structured project with specific guidelines and parameters. Accept this now and work within them! This project is a commitment and will be with you for the whole semester. Make sure your topic is something that you can work with and find enough research on.

TURNING POINTS IN HISTORY: People Ideas and Events Look for Events / Cases / Controversies in Chicago History where Individuals / Groups had a problem, Debated the issues, and worked out a solution. Want to see change over time!!! There are always 2 sides to an Issue!!!

Remember… Your topic must be of Chicago Metro History. Your topic must go back far enough to start with the research. At least 25 years. Once you have gone back far enough, you can carry it through all the way to the present if you wish. You must dig deep and find the good research— primary sources and documents and credible secondary sources. You can’t just get some articles off the internet and throw them together.

Project Types Documentaries must be self running and Docs Must speak for themselves. You won’t be there speaking (or at all) when the judging is going on. Groups can be 1, 2, or UP TO 3 PEOPLE!!! – BUT NOT MORE THAN 3!!!

AS YOU RESEARCH… Keep track of your sources as you go!!! BUILD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY!!!! Use your Google Doc. Its Bad to forget where you fond something! INFO TO GET FOR BIB: – Author, Title, Publisher, City, Year (Issue, Volume, Page #’s)

Sample BIB Entries… BOOK Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. New York: Pantheon, NEWSPAPER Bradley, Ben. “Nixon’s Violations.” Chicago Tribune. 10 Oct. 1975, sec. 1: 2-3.

MAGAZINE Reed, Walter. “Destruction of the Tiger’s Habitat.” Newsweek. 17 July, 1989: INTERNET Calem, Robert E. “Does the Web Addict People?” New York Times. 17 March 1996: 22 pars. Online. Available: ry/cyber/week/0317addict.html.20March1996

BIBLIOGRAPHY MUST BE DIVIDED INTO… PRIMARY and SECONDARY SOURCES Make Sure you cite Internet Sources Correctly – Just the web address is NO GOOD!!!! BIB’s MUST BE ANNOTATED!!!! 1 to 2 Sentences explaining value of the source to you (how you used it – NOT your opinion of it!!)

CANNOT CITE WIKIPEDIA!!! Cannot be anywhere in your BIB. Use Wikipedia as a tool to get background info Use it to FIND THE SOURCES WIKIPEDIA USED (actual source / research) – Then you can Cite those!!!! ALSO use BIB’s of other Books to find Sources!!!!

WHEN SEARCHING FOR SOURCES Try different combinations of search words: – Chicago Fire – Great Chicago Fire – Chicago Fire of 1871 – Chicago Fire Damage – Chicago Fire Results With your topic, add in words for search like: – Causes, Results, People, Policies, Debate, a Date, etc.

When Gathering Research… DO NOT PRINT OUT WEB PAGES!!!! (especially in the Library!!!!) Copy parts of what you need (remember BIB info) and then… CUT AND PASTE TO YOUR GOOGLE DOC. SAVE WORK EARLY AND OFTEN!!!! – Probably want to have a USB Flash Drive for back up !!!! Sometimes must work too!!!! All Group members must have access at all times!!!!

Web Sites that you will NEED – Chicago Metro History Fair – Can see examples of projects – do’s and Don’ts – Chicago Public Library (Get a Library Card!!!) – Chicago History Museum – Chicago Historical Society

More Sites -Digital Past database of 15 historical society collections – Britannica Online Database – Abc-Clio Database – Encyclopedia of Chicago

And… -Help with setting up BIB format www. citationmachine.com – Interactive format to help with the creation of a BIB – Shows the components of a BIB & gives examples – What constitutes plagiarism, how to paraphrase

And Also… Try Newspaper sites like… – Chicago Tribune – Chicago Sun-Times Try Magazine Sites Like… – Newsweek – Time – Life