Big Ideas
- Investigation
Essential Purpose:
By completing a National History Day project, students are exposed to research skills that need to be learned and used to guide the historical research. Secondly, the students are exposed to a set of questions about every document a researcher uses when encountering a source.
New York Herald, April 15, 1912
American Memory, Library of Congress
Each year, National History Day uses a different theme. The theme is intentionally broad enough to allow a student the freedom to select interesting topics across time and from many different places. Once a topic is chosen, a student investigates historical context, historical significance, and relationship to the theme through researching primary and secondary sources. A student must evaluate historical sources for bias and credibility. After analyzing and interpreting his or her findings, a student chooses a method of presentation. The student must also make a very important choice: whether to work alone or in a group of up to five students.
Historical accounts of the same event, person, or idea may differ because historians have asked different questions of the same sources or because they have used the sources differently. Historical records just lie there. The factual information in them does not jump out without questions being asked. The questions help to determine the answers and therefore the conclusions. The well-armed student is aware that the phrasing of the questions underlying a research design influences the conclusions. After a few pages of a historical narrative, it is obvious usually where that historian’s methods and original questions will lead. Now the student can assess how persuasive the argument is while realizing it is that historian’s argument, not the last word on the topic.
A student undertaking research should begin with who, what, when, where, how, and why. Students should be advised and encouraged to continually investigate: become like detectives, keep asking questions; brainstorm new questions to ask, especially as answers are learned to the first few questions. The first thing to do is to get the simple facts straight. Use a secondary source such as a dictionary, biographic dictionary, or documents to establish a date, such as a person’s life span or to discover elementary information that would put the person into a context in history. Students should think about what questions a historian might ask when researching a given topic. Students should formulate questions as often as try to find answers. The interpretative part of questions in history means that historical conclusions will likely be challenged sometime in the future as different historians ask different questions or find different sources.
Historical sources all mislead to a certain extent because they tell only part of the story from one perspective. As long as human beings generate documents, there will never be an unbiased document. Students must learn to recognize bias and understand why sources are biased. When a historian encounters any document, questions must be raised. Sometimes a document will seem perfect, but caution students to not get so thrilled about the contents of a document that you overlook necessary questions. What is the genealogy of this document? How did it come to be located in this archive or collection? Is the path from its creation to its location believable? Could it have been planted? Is the document out of character with other documents?
Students should continually question the trustworthiness and credibility of sources, particularly for online research. Anyone can start a website to say almost anything. Students at this grade level tend to trust or use the first site to appear in a search engine. A good rule of thumb for academic research would be to use websites from educational institutions -- universities, museums, archives, etc.
Delaware State Standards measured in the Transfer Task
History Standard Two 6-8a: Students will master the basic research skills necessary to conduct an independent investigation of historical phenomena.
History Standard Two 6-8b: Students will examine historical documents, artifacts, and other materials, and analyze them in terms of credibility, as well as the purpose, perspective, or point of view for which they were constructed.
Essential Questions
- Is this source credible? How do I know?
- What questions should I ask before I use this source? After I use it?
- What makes a person or historical event a triumph or a tragedy?
- What is the best way to complete a research project?
- How do I avoid plagiarism?
General Instructions
Write the Essential Questions on a board or wall for all students to reference throughout the learning activities.The Check for Understanding should be used as a formative assessment and may be used as writing prompts or as small-group or whole class discussion.
Use a Word Wall strategy to reinforce essential vocabulary. Important words can serve as a constant reference for concepts. Words may be categorized.
Review the Transfer Task with students before beginning Lesson 1 in order to set a purpose for learning.]
Essential Content- Analysis
- Research
- Historical sources (primary & secondary)
- Context
- Bias
- Credibility
21st Century Skills
- Analyze, access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information in a variety of forms and media
- Understand, manage and create effective oral, written or multimedia communication
- Frame, analyze and solve problems
- Locate appropriate resources
This transfer task should be reviewed with students prior to beginning Lesson 1.
Essential Questions Addressed by the Transfer Task
- Is this source credible? How do I know?
- What questions should I ask before I use this source? After I use it?
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Prior Knowledge
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Now that you have learned about the best way to complete a research project, you are ready to use that knowledge to complete a National History Day project. |
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Problem
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Now that you’ve selected a topic to research and written a thesis statement, you need to find credible historical sources to provide evidence that supports or disproves your thesis statement. You need to prove where you found those historical sources and why you chose them as a basis for historical conclusions. |
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Role/Perspective
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You are a researcher that is working on a National History Day project. Your goal is to create a written record that will show the depth and quality of your research and highlight your conclusions. |
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Product/ Performance
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Submit a process paper and annotated bibliography for your National History Day project.
A process paper is a description of no more than 500 words explaining how you conducted your research and created and developed your entry. You must conclude your description with an explanation of the relationship of your topic to the contest theme. An annotated bibliography is required for all categories. It should contain all sources that provided usable information or new perspectives in preparing your entry. You will look at many more sources than you actually use. You should list only those sources that contributed to the development of your entry. Sources of visual materials and oral interviews must be included. The annotations for each source must explain how the source was used and how it helped you understand your topic. |
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Criteria for an Exemplary Response
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Be sure to include these items in your process paper:
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Rubrics for Transfer Task
Rubrics for each presentation category may be found at the NHD website.
Resources
Students will benefit from an individual copy of the NHD Contest Rule Book. They may be purchased very inexpensively (about 25¢ each). Contact Ellen Rendle, Delaware State History Day coordinator at mailto:photos@hsd.org The Rule Book is also available online in PDF format.
Internet ResourcesDelaware Libraries and Museums