HISTORY FAIR AND YOU

Tips for Students about History Fair Projects

2013-2014 Theme:Rights and Responsibility in History

WHAT IS HISTORY FAIR?

• What is the National History Day Contest, you ask? Each year more than half a million students just like you participate!

• You will choose a historical topic related to the annual theme, and then conduct primary and secondary research.

• You could look through libraries, archives and museums, conduct oral history interviews, and visit historic sites.

• After you have analyzed and interpreted your sources, and have drawn a conclusion about the significance of your topic, you will then be able to present your work in one of five ways: as a paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary, or a web site.

• The NHD website has tons of information: www.nhd.org

Competition Time!In round one, you may enter your work into your school NHD contest where it will be judged. If your work is chosen as one of the best, you will compete in the Lee Regional History Fair in March.

If your work is chosen as one of the best at Lee Regionals, you will move on to your state's NHD contest. State contest is held in Austin, Texas in May.

If you are a winner at your state NHD contest, you will be eligible to attend the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park in June. This is where the best National History Day projects from across the United States, American Samoa, Guam, International Schools and Department of Defense Schools in Europe all meet and compete.

WHAT is the THEME?This year’s theme is Rights and Responsibility in History.

What exactly are Rights? A RIGHT IS SOMETHING THAT IS GIVEN OR ESTABLSIHED EITHER THROUGH LAW, BIRTHRIGHT, OR SOCIAL EXPECTATION. IT IS OFTEN PROTECTED OR ENFORCED BY LAW OR CONTRACT ONCE ESTABLISHED.

There are the rights to worship, right to a fair trial, right to vote, right to life (the most basic right), right to liberty, and the right to pursuit of happiness. These are the basic rights, but there are also rights of groups and institutions such as rights of gays, rights of minorities, and so on. There are also copy rights, work rights, property rights, gun rights, economic rights, religious rights, and many other rights.

WHAT IS A RESPONSIBILITY?

Every citizen of the country has certain obligations towards the country, the most important being obedience to the laws of the country. A responsibility is what we are supposed to do or fulfill. Responsibilities are also called our duties and are expected of us.

•How to they go together? Rights carry responsibilities that citizens have to understand and fulfill. For example, in order to enjoy freedom of speech / expression, we have the responsibility to respect the opinions and beliefs of others.

CHOOSING A TOPIC

Theme: Rights and Responsibilities in HistoryInterest: Native AmericansTopic: Treaty RightsIssue: 1788 Fort Schuyler Treaty

OR

Theme: Rights and Responsibilities in HistoryInterest: IndiaTopic: ProtestIssue/Events: Gandhi’s Salt March

OR

Theme: Rights and Responsibilities in HistoryInterest: Science / Medicine / DisabilitiesTopic: Medical rights / SocietyIssue: The Black Stork Film

1. Understand there is a theme.

2. Pick something that is interesting to you.

3. Pick a topic.. Something to do with your interest.

4. Narrow your choice down to a particular issue.

CHOOSING PROJECT PRESENTATION

• Exhibit – Individual or Group

• Historical Paper - Individual only

• Performance - Individual or Group

• Documentary – Individual or Group

• Website- Individual or Group

Exhibit

• CAN BE EITHER INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP (MAXIMUM OF 5)

• AN EXHIBIT IS A VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF YOUR TOPIC

• EXHIBIT IS TYPICALLY EITHER A PAPER OR WOODEN TRI-FOLD BOARD

• PICTURES, MAPS, DIAGRAMS DESCRIBE YOUR TOPIC

• TEXT TO EXPLAIN CONCEPTS– YOU CAN CREATE 500 OF YOUR OWN WORDS AND CAN USE QUOTES FROM OTHERS

Paper

• 1,500-2,500 WORDS(8- 10 PAGES OF TYPED INFORMATION)

• TYPICALLY A FORMAL PAPER, BUT CAN BE PORTRAYED USING CREATIVE WRITING SUCH AS A FICTIONAL DIARY OR POEM

• CITATIONS (FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES) ARE REQUIRED

• INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY ONLY- NO GROUP PAPERS ARE PERMITTED

Performance

•INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP (MAXIMUM OF 5 STUDENTS)

•NO LONGER THAN A 10 MINUTE PERFORMANCE

•STUDENTS CREATE SCRIPT BASED ON HISTORICAL RESEARCH, LEARN LINES, CREATE THE SET, AND CONSTRUCT COSTUMES.

Documentary

• INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP (MAXIMUM OF 5 STUDENTS)

• MOVIE MUST BE LESS THAN 10 MINUTES

• STUDENTS PRODUCE A MINI-MOVIE: NEED TO HAVE TECHNOLOGY SKILLS TO DO THIS CATEGORY. A COMPUTER AT HOME IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

• YOU WILL ADD SOUND, PICTURES, AND VOICE OVERS

Websites

• INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP CATEGORY (MAXIMUM OF 5)

• MUST USE THE NHD.WEEBLY WEBSITE

• ADD TEXT, MOVIES, DOCUMENTS, QUOTES

• MEDIA (MOVIES) MUST BE LESS THAN 45 SECONDS

CONDUCTING RESEARCH

• Begin with an outline… Ask yourself 10-15 questions that will guide your research.

• Use note cards (either paper or electronic) to keep up with your information. Make sure you are identifying your source of information so that you can go back to the source later.

CONDUCTING RESEARCH• Then start READING secondary sources-

Get an overview of

the circumstances, then move to primary

sources.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Secondary Sources – A source that seeks to explain or interpret an event written by someone such as a historian decades or even centuries after the event.

- Books

- Articles

- Interviews that explain or interpret – the person is talking about an event and was not a participant

- Media productions

PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary Sources – Information created by the event or the process of an event

- Archival documents (Government Documents)- Manuscripts and/or diaries- Photographs- Newspapers, magazines, journals if they are written at the

time of an event- Personal interviews if the person participated or was an

eyewitness

RESEARCH• Research should be balanced: Type: You should not have

just internet sources, or just books. Try to balance your type of sources.

• Research should be balanced: Quality: You should locate information that you know is accurate from reliable sources. Not everything on the internet is always true!

• Research should be balanced: Bias: If you read / present information from one side of the argument, you should do the same with the other.

• Research should be balanced: Primary / Secondary: Try to support your primary source documents with secondary sources and vice versa.

RESEARCH

These are just some of the websites that contain reliable information:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

http://www.loc.gov

http://www.history.com

http://www.archives.org

http://www.si.edu

http://www.pbs.org/

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/

http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/civil/

RESEARCH

Our district databases are beneficial to conduct both primary and secondary research:

District Database Relevance

AP Photos Modern and Historical Primary Source Photos

ABC-Clio Historic American and World History

Gale A resource center that searches magazines, newspapers, and reference books.

SIRS A general reference database containing thousands of full-text articles that explores social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political, and global issues.

WorldBook Online encyclopedia that provides great background information

Website Identification

Domain ending example

.edu = educational institution http://docsouth.unc. edu

.gov = US government site http://memory.loc. gov

.org = organization or association http://www.theaha. org

.com = commercial site http://www.historychannel. com

.museum = museum http://nc.history. museum

.net = personal or other site http://www.californiahistory. net

Showing Results of Research

Your project should…Create a strong, interesting, and persuasive thesis statement, then

provide information to support that statement.

Remember that you are the expert on your topic. Make sure your project is clear and to the point. Read through your information and make sure that you can understand the material. If you can not understand the material, no one else will be able to either.

• Use primary research and show that these sources have been used - Use quotes, pictures, and headlines from the sources.

• Use secondary sources help to support the primary sources

• Make sure materials used are part of the “story” and help prove your thesis. You should not place random pictures throughout your project without knowing how they tell your story.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Provide annotations for each source by describing the source and what was learned from it – be specific about the quality of the help, what you learned from the source, and where it was used

• Choose one type or style for citing sources that your teacher provides for you. Noodletools or Easy Bib are both great online bibliography citation machines.

Process Paper

Historical papers do not need a process paper

All other categories require a process paper

The process paper is limited to 500 words. The information presented on the process paper includes:

1.How you chose your topic

2. How you conducted your research

3. How you selected your presentation category and created your project

4. How your project relates to the NHD theme.

Criteria for a quality history project

Historical Quality (60%)

Historically AccurateShows analysis and interpretationShows wide researchUses available primary sourcesResearch is balanced in relation to various points of view

Relation to the Theme (20%)

Clarity of Presentation (20%)

NHD EXAMPLE PROJECTS

• http://www.nhd.org/StudentProjectExamples.htm