1930’s Newspaper or Magazine Project 2008 TOPIC___
TASK: Each student will create a newspaper or magazine that captures the American
attitude of the 1930’s. The theme of the newspaper or magazine will be a “Trip Back in
Time to the Depression, or the New Deal.” Your focus will be on issues relating to
people, politics, and government policies in the era of either the Great Depression
(Chapter 13) or FDR and the New Deal (Chapter 14).
DUE DATE: Friday Thursday Oct 30. Late work will lose 10% per day late plus loss of
peer review points.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. FORMAT: Be creative! Your product must have a publication name, city, date of
publication, proper section and article headings, and separate sections (World, Nation,
Local, Sports…) Hint: Study a newspaper or magazine for ideas for your format. I
suggest that you use an already made template of a newsletter using Word as shown
in class. Simply replace titles, pictures, captions and headings with those of your
topic and the product is a professional looking magazine or newspaper.
a. You may also want to use a format of a decade or year in review to look back
in time.
2. ARTICLES: You must have at least 3 stories on issues relating to your topic in the
textbook. A minimum of 4 stories total. In addition, you must use at least four
different writing styles from the following: cover story, editorial, letter to the editor,
comic strip, diary entry, Q & A interview, and/or historical advertisement (ex. p.
419). Remember to use your own words and cite sources when ideas or information
is not your own original creation. In text citation is necessary in this project!
3. PICTURES: You are required to have 3 pictures that go along with your stories and
a minimum of 4 total pictures. At least one political cartoon must be used. Each
picture MUST have an original (made by you) caption. No sources are needed for
pictures.
4. WORKS CITED: Page 27-31 in your handbook details the requirements for citing
outside sources. Citation in text for articles is required for this project.
5. PEER EVALUATION: Students will participate in peer review and evaluation of
projects created others. (Friday 10/31)
NOTES:
Choosing reputable sources: A good rule of thumb for reliable research is to use
sources that end in .edu, .gov, .org or .mil. Approve any sources other than that with your
teacher there are exceptions to this rule.
Citing sources & acceptable computer use is MANDATORY: Any students
improperly using information WILL receive a zero on the project. Any students misusing
the computers can lose computer privileges in our school.
Library Availability: The library is open before school 7:15-7:40 AM and after school
until 4:00. Wednesday mornings it opens at 7:15 and remains open until school starts at
9:45.
TIPS:
 ALWAYS back up your project by saving it frequently. Be overcautious and back up
your project on an external USB drive and your student drive. Every year students
have lost projects due to poorly backing up their work.
 Copy and paste your source information before you leave the web page. See page 2731 in your handbook for citing electronic sources. You will save time this way!
 Maximize your research time by researching your book prior to computer use time.
Know what you are looking for! Your textbook will be your best information source.
 Your chosen publication date will definitely impact the content of your publication!