HISTORY FAIR AND YOU
Tips for Students about History Fair
Projects
2014-2015 Theme:
Leadership and Legacy 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 Leadership and Legacy in History.
What exactly is Leadership?
Leadership is the act of leading: providing motivation, guidance
or direction, usually from a position of authority. Leadership takes many forms.
You might immediately think about presidents and kings as leaders, but what
about local community representatives and organizers? How about religious
leaders, governors, mayors, or business owners?
Some leaders are elected, others are appointed, and some seize a position of
authority. When it comes to monarchies, some leaders inherit their positions.
Consider the leadership that it takes for a small group of people to come
together to accomplish a common goal, fight for rights, or social change.
Sometimes a leader emerges because he or she happens to be
in the right place at the right time.
Not all leaders have been seen as positive, some are identified as
destroyers or tyrants versus leaders.
WHAT IS A LEGACY?
• Looking carefully at the impact on society and change over time,
you will also need to think about the leader’s legacy. Legacy is
what is handed down to us from our ancestors or predecessors.
More broadly, legacy is what is left behind for future
generations—such as ideas and accomplishments.
• Sometimes a legacy depends on perspective. Not all legacies are
positive ones. What happens when leadership goes awry?
Legacies also can be controversial. Events can lead one group of
people to feel that a leader was a great and moral influence who
facilitated a positive outcome, while a different group of people
believe exactly the opposite.
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.
Theme: Leadership and Legacy
Interest: Worker’s Rights
Topic: Cesar Chavez
Issue: UFW and the Salad Bowl Strike
OR
Theme: Leadership and Legacy
Interest: India
Topic: Protest for Freedom
Issue/Events: Quit India Movement
OR
Theme: Leadership and Legacy
Interest: Female Leaders
Topic: Social Mistreatment
Issue: Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of
Charity
CHOOSING A TOPIC
• Exhibit – Individual or Group
• Historical Paper - Individual only
• Performance - Individual or Group
• Documentary – Individual or Group
• Website- Individual or Group
CHOOSING PROJECT PRESENTATION
• 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
Exhibit
• 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
Paper
• 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.
Performance
• 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
Documentary
• 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
Websites
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 sourcesGet an overview of
the circumstances, then move to primary
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
SECONDARY 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
PRIMARY SOURCES
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
American West
New database that provides source information about the American West
American Indian Histories
and Cultures
Another new database that covers information about American Indian Histories and
Cultures.
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
Website Identification
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.
Showing Results of
Research
• 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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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.
Process Paper
Criteria for a quality history project
Historical Quality (60%)
Historically Accurate
Shows analysis and interpretation
Shows wide research
Uses available primary sources
Research is balanced in relation to various points
of view
Relation to the Theme (20%)
Clarity of Presentation (20%)
• http://www.nhd.org/StudentProjectExamples.htm
NHD EXAMPLE PROJECTS