2017 THEME NARRATIVE: TAKING A STAND IN HISTORY Adrienne Harkness, Contest Manager, National History Day and Lynne M. O’Hara, Director of Programs, National History Day, Illinois­Specific Revisions by CMHEC National History Day welcomes you to explore the theme taking a stand in History. This theme is broad enough in scope to encourage investigation of topics ranging from local to world history and across any geographic area or time period. Consider this theme an invitation to look across time, space, and geography to find examples in history of when people took a risk and made a change. You can begin brainstorming for possible topics by thinking about subjects you are interested in, whether it is science, sports, art, travel, culture, or even specific people. Make note of any areas of interest, creating a list of possible subjects. Talking with your classmates, teachers, and parents about your list can help you narrow down your selection. Throughout this process, keep in mind that your topic must relate to ​
​ taking a stand and must be historical, not a current event. A million ideas flood your mind when you think about taking a stand in history, especially because they can mean many different things. U.S. History SAMPLE TOPICS • Taking a Stand Against the British: The Reorganization of the Continental Army at Valley Forge • Roger Williams’ Stand Against Exile: The Establishment of Rhode Island • Thurgood Marshall: Taking a Stand in Court Against Segregation • The Power of Words: Thomas Paine’s Fight Against Tyranny • The War on Poverty: Johnson Stands for “The Other America” • Taking a Stand in Art: Copley’s Artistic Fight Against the British • Horace Mann and the Fight for Quality Education • Protecting the Environment: The Establishment of the National Park Service • Protestants and the Fight for Temperance: The Founding of the American Temperance Society • William Jennings Bryan: Standing Against Evolution • Nat Turner: Taking a Stand Against Slavery • Standing for Separation of Church and School: Engel vs. Vitale • Muhammad Ali: Taking a Stand Against the Vietnam War • Andrew Jackson’s Stand Against the Bank • Betty Friedan: Taking a Stand For Women’s Rights • The Pullman Strike of 1894: Taking a Stand for the Workers • Standing Against Federal Authority: The Plight of the Farmers During the Whiskey Rebellion • Standing Against the British: The Boston Tea Party and Its Consequences • Rosa Parks: Sitting Down to Take a Stand • The Fight for Social Equality: Jane Addams and Hull House • William Lloyd Garrison: Taking a Stand with Words • Fighting Unemployment: The Journey of Coxey’s Army • Taking a Stand Against Kingship: George Washington’s Denial of Power • Standing Against the President: Congress’ Victory in Radical Reconstruction Against Johnson • Taking a Stand Against the Trusts: Teddy Roosevelt as a Trust Buster • Standing Against Big Business: The Sherman Antitrust Act • Defiance in Leaps and Bounds: Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics • Claudette Colvin and the Montgomery Bus Boycott • The Astor Place Riots: Taking a Stand for Theater • Standing Against Conquest: Chief Osceola and the Seminole Indians ​
Chicago Metro History Fair ­ DOs and DON’Ts In your project ​DO​: 1. Tell a story and explain why it is important. Ask yourself the following questions about your story: ● Is it true? Can you prove it? ● Is it interesting? ● Is it historically significant? Can you establish why it is significant? ● Did it happen at least 25 years ago? (according to History Fair, the official cut off for events that are “​current” and events that can be considered “​history” is 25 years...I know this goes against our “​history happens every day” philosophy but we can’t waste our time worrying about things we can’t control). 2. Use a variety of sources, including: ● personal interviews with participants, witnesses or academics ● primary records and documents ● secondary sources that analyze history as well as provide information ● websites & documentaries ­ use healthy mixture of images, quotes, audio, video, and text 3. Develop a thesis/major claim that is a stance on an issue or a debatable argument that can supported with specific evidence. In your project, ​DON’T​: 1. Select an overused topic 2. Select a topic that’s too large 3. Create a wikipedia or encyclopedia page. Your task ​is not ​to simply research and list a bunch of information about a specific topic, ​it is to take a stance on an important issue and support your stance using specific evidence. Choose a topic that occurred within the last 25 years. What is the Difference Between a Primary and a Secondary Source? The basic definition of a primary source is: material written or produced by a participant in, or an eyewitness to the event that the students are investigating. An example of this is: ❖ Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address ❖ Letters written by any historical figure ❖ Pictures from actual events A secondary source is a book or article written by an author who is not an eyewitness or a participant in the historical event. An example of this is: ❖ Reference book ❖ Periodical literature ❖ History textbooks ❖ Monographs ❖ Journal articles Working with Primary Sources: Time and Place/ Bias Time and Place: To judge the quality of a primary source, historians use the “Time and Place Rule.” This rule says the closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be. Bias: The historian’s second rule is the “Bias Rule.” It says that every source is biased in some way. Documents tell us only what the creator of the document thought happened, or perhaps only what the creator wants us to think happened Questions to consider: 1. Did the recorder wish to inform or persuade others? Did she/he have reasons to be honest or dishonest? 2. Was the information recorded during the event, immediately after the event, or after some lapse of time? How large a lapse of time? 3. Was the recorder a neutral party, or did he/she have opinions or interest that might have influenced him/her? Where Can Students Find Primary and Secondary Sources? • School, public and college/university libraries • Local historical societies, local and state archives • Organizations • Art Museums • Around the community • National archives and Records Administration • Internet • The Library of Congress • The Smithsonian Institution • History Education Resources • U.S. Holocaust Museum • Colonial Williamsburg Sites devoted to history research: • www.pbs.org • www.history.com • www.ushistory.org • http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women.html ­ Women’s History Primary Source Materials: • www.ourdocuments.gov – collection of U.S. history documents • http://history.searchbeat.com/ • http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ * Wikipedia is not a reliable source for History Day research and should not be used. Project Rules and Criteria Exhibit Rules: Exhibit Information Sheet • No larger than 40 inches wide, 30 inches deep, and 6 feet high • Circular or rotating exhibits are fine, but cannot be more than 30 inches in diameter. • There is a 500­word limit on all exhibits. Any student­created text that is part of the exhibit is included. This includes the title, subtitles, captions, graphs, timelines, media devices or supplemental materials such as photo albums or scrapbooks where the student uses their own words. (PRIMARY SOURCES ARE THE ONLY PART THAT IS NOT COUNTED) • You must bring 2 copies of your process paper and 2 copies of your annotated bibliography with you for final draft. Exhibit Helpful tips. Background Information Give background information about some of the big ideas that lead into your main event. Build Up More specific information people will need to understand your thesis. Include events in the weeks and months before your main event. Thesis:​Impact 1­3 sentences that argue a main point Give the short term impact of the main and includes all or most of the 5 W’s, event. What happened in the weeks the significance of your topic in history and months after? A connection to the theme. Main Argument “So What?”/Legacy The heart and center of your project. What is the long term impact? Why do Focus on the main event, how it we still talk about this today? This is a happened, who was involved and why. good place to include something about how your topic ties to today. • Use labels for the title and subtitle (if you have one), as well as other main ideas. When in doubt, put a label! • Use construction paper, tag board, mat board to make subtitles stand out. • Dark black lettering makes things easier to read. • Do not clutter your backboard – things should be neat and organized • A successful exhibit has to be self – explanatory. Photographs, written materials, and illustrations should be easy to understand and follow. Captions help with this! Think about it this way – if you look at something and don’t immediately understand it, you are probably going to keep moving on to something else. • Remember, this project is a historical investigation so make sure you include analysis of your topic (when in doubt, look at each part of your backboard and ask yourself “SO WHAT?” If you have answered that question throughout your backboard, you should be good to go! Web Site Rules • Students must go through the National History Day website (www.nhd.org ) or (www.nhd.weebly.com ) and access the NHD weebly website editor to create their projects. THEY CANNOT GO DIRECTLY TO (www.weebly.com ) as it will not be transferable to the (www.nhd.weebly.com ) website. • Can not have more than 1,200 words that are student created. • Citations, code used to build the site, and alternate text tags on images do not count toward the word limit. • Citations that describe illustrations do not count towards the word count. • Cannot exceed 100 MB of space, including all multimedia. • One page must be a homepage. The home page must include participant(s) name, the title of the entry, student(s) age division, and a main menu that directs viewers to the various sections of your site. • All pages must be interconnected with hypertext links. Automatic redirects are not permitted. • The content and appearance of the page cannot change when refreshed. Random text or image generators are not allowed. • Multimedia clips must not last longer than 45 seconds. • Entry must be an original production by the student. • Any sources used must be cited in the website. Footnotes, endnotes and internal documentation are required for these citations. • The NHD web site editor has a full suite of site­building tools available, however the use of third­party tools is allowed. Any items constructed with third­party tools (Dreamweaver, iWeb, MS Expression) must be portable to and function correctly within the NHD website editor. • The process paper and annotated bibliography are submitted as part of the website. How To Write a Thesis Statement What is a Thesis Statement? A one or few sentence summary that explains what the project is trying to prove or analyze. How do I write a Thesis Statement? 1. Start with a Research Question. What do you want to find out about? Some examples are below. Notice how each question would take some research to answer. Why was Thomas Jefferson opposed to slavery? What happened to the Juvenile Court system to bring it to the crisis point? 2. Research enough to be able to take a stand. Add your opinion about the topic. What is the issue or concern? Make sure it’s arguable. Even though Thomas Jefferson had slaves, he showed that he valued every human being in his words and actions. The Juvenile Court system was established to remove children from the adult criminal justice system and help youth reform, but over the years it became a source of punishment and imprisonment. How to Write a Bibliography Bibliography Reference & Examples Book: Author’s name, last name first. Full book title. [underlined or in italics] City of publication: Publisher’s name, year of publication. Ex: Berg, Karlyn. The Wolves of Yellowstone. New York: Cahill, 2007. Website: Author’s name, last name first. [if given] “Article title.” Title of database or website. [italics] Publication date or last update. Place of access. Date of access, <URL>. Ex: Beasley, Maurine H. “Roosevelt, Eleanor.” World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. John Adams High School Library. Chicago, IL. 20 January 2008 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar474780>. Newspaper/Periodical: Author’s name, last name first. “Article title.” Publication title [italics] complete date of publication, edition [if given], section letter or number: page numbers. Ex: Attea, Laurie. “Prehistoric Sea Reptile Remains Found.” Chicago Tribune 4 December 2007, final ed., sec. 1: 6. TV program: “Episode or segment title.” Program title. [italics] Name of the network. Call letters, city of local station [if any]. Broadcast date. Ex: “One Laptop per Child.” 60 Minutes. CBS. 2 December 2007. Interview: Interviewee’s name, last name first “Title of Interview.” Type of interview (telephone, email, personal, etc.). Date of interview. Ex: Schmidt, John. “Living in a Concentration Camp.” Telephone interview. 22 April 2010. Photograph: Photographer’s name, last name first. Photograph title. [italics]. Name of collection or museum, city of collection or museum. Name of website or title of book found [italics]. Date of access. <URL>. Ex: Jones, Mark. Marines Sitting on a Tank. 1967. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. National Archives. Web. 22 April 2014. <www.archives.gov>. 31 Sample Annotated Bibliographies: Fleischmann, Glen. The Cherokee Removal, 1838. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1971 I learned about what happened to the Cherokee Indians before and after they were forced on the “Trail of Tears”. I also learned about several important people from that time period. This was a great source. Mulligan, Elizabeth. “Grandpa was an Indian Chief.” The St. Louis Post­Dispatch. 18 01. 1970: 4. This interview about different accounts of the Cherokee “Trail of Tears” taught me about one of the families who experienced its horrors, but who also continued to maintain its proud cultural identity. Rutledge, Michael J., “Samuel’s Memory”. 1995. 23 10 2009. www.cherokeehistory.com I learned about how difficult it was for the Cherokees to be forced to go on the “Trail of Tears” and how families were uprooted and mistreated. This was a very worthwhile source. HISTORY FAIR SCORING RATIONALE JUNIOR DIVISION PROJECTS HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE​ (35%) Does the student have a thorough and accurate knowledge of the topic? Are the facts gathered by the student appropriate and relevant? Has the student related the project to a larger historical context? Is it historical? Superior 35­32 Great depth of factual knowledge; focused topic; proficient selection of relevant information from sources; solid understanding of context and background, facts well organized to support theme. Excellent 31­28 Thorough factual knowledge; focused topic; relevant facts selected; some context and background apparent; facts clearly support theme of project. Good 27­25 Some description; topic stated but too general; information used is appropriate and relevant. Fair 24­21 Limited, factual description: only surface knowledge; topic is unfocused; facts reported are not always relevant. QUALITY OF ANALYSIS ​(25%) Does the project offer a problem or questions that it then proceeds to resolve or answer? Has the student clearly identified a thesis? Does the project make a point or draw a conclusion? Is the resolution, conclusion, backed by evidence? Are the impact and historical significance of the topic clearly demonstrated? Does it tell a story of change over time or show cause and effect? Superior 25­23 Strong, clear thesis is tightly focused; evidence is fully analyzed to support the argument and conclusions; highly skillful connection of topic to a greater historical context; fully understands the impact and significance of theme. Excellent 22­20 Tells a story of change over time or reflects some other principle of organization; thesis is linked to conclusion; skillful attempt to place project in a larger context. Uses evidence to illustrate story. Some understanding of historical significance. More exposition than argument. Good 19­18 Some attempt to tell a story or organize information; some attempt at showing change over time or cause and effect; some attempt to summarize research. All expository. Fair 17­15 Lacks a storyline or clear line of reasoning; theme is unclear; no real conclusion. QUALITY OF SOURCE MATERIAL (20%) Does the bibliography show use of available sources? Did the student consult sources in more than one institution? Does the bibliography feature a variety of primary and secondary sources which are used effectively in the project? Did the student rely too heavily on one source? Superior 20­19 In depth research of available secondary and primary sources. Material from special collections and archives used and quality secondary sources brought into the analysis. Internet used for primary sources almost exclusively or journal articles/scholarly essays available online. Shows proficiency in the evaluation of sources. Excellent 18­17 Numerous and varied primary sources, some quality secondary and primary sources. Some analysis of sources. Internet sources are credible and used sparingly. Good 16­15 Limited sources; some variety. Heavy and unnecessary use of general websites for sources. Fair 14­13 Sources are few and limited to general reference works and websites. QUALITY OF PRESENTATION​ (20%) Has the student selected an appropriate medium for the topic? Does the project flow logically from beginning to end with a narrative structure? Does the physical appearance of the exhibit, costumes/set, or documentary show attention to detail and show some creativity? Does it demonstrate care in terms of typing, proofreading, neatness? Superior Compelling, engaging, well­organized project that makes the best use of 20­19 sources and medium to reinforce the underlying argument. Lively writing ­­well chosen words. Lively, appropriate blend of visual and audio sources (documentaries), visuals and text (exhibits). Effective delivery, high attention to detail. Makes history “come alive.” Excellent Organized, creative, and interesting project that uses the medium well to 18­17 communicate learning. Descriptive narrative, solid writing, attention to detail. Good Flat, expository display or presentation. Some organization and attempt 16­15 at creativity, narrative is understandable but not substantive. Doesn’t make best use of the medium. Fair Little of own thought apparent in the project, disorganized, sloppy. 14­13 OVERALL PROJECT SCORES: Superior: 99 ­ 89 total points; Excellent: 88.5 – 80.5 total points; Good: 80­70.5. Name: ______________________________________________ Date: _________ Period: _____ Final Reflection((Writing the Process Paper) Directions: You are required to write a 500­word process paper describing your project and the work you have done. Answer the four important questions below to compose your process paper – each question should equal one paragraph! Write your process paper on a separate sheet of paper! **Remember there is a 500­word limit for the essay. Question 1 What is your topic? Why and how did you choose your topic? This paragraph should also include a statement of your thesis. (This should be a brief paragraph to serve as an introduction to the rest of your essay). Question 2 How did you research and develop your topic (project)? What project format did you choose and why? (This is also a brief paragraph giving an overall explanation of the work you have done – gone to the library, used the Internet, gone to museums, changes made etc.) Question 3 How does your topic relate to this year’s theme? (This paragraph should go into detail explaining the evidence you found that either proves or disproves your thesis statement.) Question 4 What is the importance of your topic today? How has your topic changed history or life today? (This paragraph should be in detail. You are analyzing why your topic is important – giving specific details and examples.) Paragraphs 1 and 2 should be relatively short (no more than 4­5 sentences!), and paragraphs 3 and 4 should be longer, including all of the analysis you need to prove your thesis and complete your project. History Day Culminating Activity Quarter 4 Part 1 – Reflection Research Directions: Below are the instructions for the CCPS History Day Reflection Research Assignment. Each student is required to complete this final research component on a separate sheet of paper. The Reflection Research Assignment can either be hand­written or typed. Please see your social studies teacher if you need clarification or help. 1. Identify below three additional resources that were not used for your History Day project – but would provide important additional information about your topic. Resource #1: Resource #2: Resource #3: 2. Select one of the resources above. Summarize the information in the resource below. ______________________________________________________________________
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____________________ 34 3. Explain below the reasons why this resource is an important addition to your research. Provide text examples from the resource as evidence. ______________________________________________________________________
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____________________ 4. Describe whether these additional resources would or would not change your conclusions about your History Day topic. _____ Yes, they would change my conclusions. _____ No, they would not change my conclusions. Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________
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____________________ 35 History Day Culminating Activity Quarter 4 Part 2 ­ Self Assessment Directions: Below are the instructions for the CCPS History Day Self­Assessment. Each student is required to complete this self­assessment on a separate sheet of paper. The self­assessment can either be hand­written or typed. Some sentence starters are provided to help guide you through the writing process. Please see your social studies teacher if you need clarification or help. 1st Paragraph: Summarize what you did in this project. “In this project, I...” “The purpose of choosing this topic for History Day is...” 2nd Paragraph: What did you learn from this History Day project? Describe this in detail. “I learned that when conducting historical research...” “The History Day experience can be described as...” “I experienced....____________...by participating in the History Day program.” 3rd Paragraph: What would you change about your project if you had to do the project again? Why? “If I could do this project over again, I would...” “I would change...___________...in my History Day project. The reason for this is...” “A big improvement to my project would be...” 4th Paragraph: Any suggestions on improving History Day? Explain your reasoning for this. “Benefits of the History Day process to students are...” “The History Day process could be improved by...” 36 History Day Reflection Scoring Rubric Teacher Name: ________________________________________ Student Name: ________________________________________ CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 Summarizing the Project Student completely summarizes the project with specific details Student summarizes the project with some details Student summarizes the project with only a few details Student writes a one sentence summary What Did You Learn Explanation Student completely describes 1. the research process, 2. the experience, and 3. what was learned with specific details Student describes 1. the research process, 2. the experience, and 3. what was learned with some details Student describes 1. the research process, 2. the experience, and 3. what was learned with only a few details Student describes only one or two of the components of this paragraph with little or no detail Changes Student completely describes appropriate changes that could improve the project Student describes appropriate changes that could improve the project Student describes the changes with only a few details Student provides little information about changes or all changes cited are inappropriate Improvements for History Day Student completely describes student benefits and appropriate changes that could improve the History Day Program Student describes student benefits and appropriate changes that could improve the History Day Program Student describes only a few student benefits and changes that could improve the History Day Program Student provides little information about benefits or program changes, or information provided is inappropriate 37