1. Doing Research: The National History Day Way

2. 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

3. Categories Documentary Exhibit Paper (individual only) Performance
Web site
Students may work in groups for performance, exhibit, website, and documentary (up to 5 students)

4. 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.

5. History Day Rubric

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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 War
American Revolution
War of 1812
1812
World War I

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Primary Sources
Primary 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

15. Sources for Primary Materials
Internet Sources:
Compilation 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
Kentucky Historical Society:
National Archives:
Digital Classroom (on NARA Web site):
Library of Congress, American Memory Web site:
History Matters:
University of Idaho listing of repositories:
Listing of Primary Source Material Web sites:
Gilder-Lehrman:
Our Documents:
Digital History:
US Historical Documents:
Ad Access:
United States Holocaust Museum:
Kentucky Virtual Library:
ABC-CLIO (this one isn’t free):

16. 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

17. 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?

18. 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.