National History Day In Minnesota - Blog en Regional Event Judging: What to Expect <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Regional event season officially begins in two days! Thousands of students around the state will soon be presenting their hard work to a team of judges, and for many students, this is their first academic encounter with someone other than their parent or teacher. </p> <p>Judging can be a nerve-wracking process for some students, especially if they're not quite sure what to expect. Here are a few things students can expect from their judging at a regional event:</p> <ul><li> For exhibits, judging will take 15 minutes. For performances and documentaries, judging will take 20 minutes.</li> <li> Judges will first view the entry. For exhibits, judges will read the exhibit board and bibliography. Students should NOT have a prepared presentation for their exhibit; the board should stand alone. For performances and documentaries, students will have 10 minutes to present their project.</li> <li> After the judges review the entries, they will ask the students questions. Questions vary per judge team and per project, but students can expect questions about their topic, their research and development process, their experiences while creating the project, or their understanding of the topic's relation to the theme.</li> <li> The interview is important, but ultimately, judges will choose finalists based on the project and the research.</li> <li> Judges will take with them at least one copy of the bibliography and process paper. This is so the judges can refer back to the paperwork while making their decisions.</li> <li> At regionals, there is no second round for documentaries or performances. Exhibit second-round judging is done behind closed doors, with no students present. This is why it is critical for an exhibit to stand alone.</li> <li> Although it doesn't factor into the judging score, students should refrain from texting or talking on the phone during their judging, should dress appropriately, and should treat the judges respectfully (shake their hands, look them in the eye, etc.). Interacting with adults this way is a great skills for students to learn!</li> </ul></div></div></div> Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:57:46 +0000 jessica ellison 174 at Category Tips Series: Papers <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The research paper category is the most traditional format for a historian's work, and probably the format that you will be creating the most if you head to college. For your pre-college career, a History Day paper might be the longest one you have ever written.</p> <h3> Research Papers</h3> <ol><li> <strong>The thesis statement should appear immediately</strong>. You don't want to leave any doubt about your argument, so the thesis statement should appear on the first page at the very least, and possibly in the first paragraph. </li> <li> <strong>Follow the five-paragraph model</strong>. Similar to exhibits, research papers will have five basic sections: Background (or context), build-up (the days or weeks preceding your main topic), the heart of your story (main topic), short-term impact, and long-term impact.</li> <li> <strong>Create a detailed outline before you start writing</strong>. Have your English teacher help you construct a detailed outline so you know exactly what points you will be making in each section of your paper. Once you have an outline, it is much easier to start writing your paper.</li> <li> <strong>Embed primary source quotes</strong>. Sometimes, you can support your analysis best with primary source quotes. Your analysis should stand on its own, but a well-placed primary source quote can emphasize your point.</li> <li> <strong>Write historically, not creatively</strong>. This is not a creative writing assignment. While you can be creative with some of your language, remember that this is a piece of historical writing and should be factual and analytical. This doesn't have to mean boring! </li> <li> <strong>Keep your appendices brief</strong>. If you must include appendices with primary sources, keep them brief. Remember that any words that you write in the appendices counts toward your total word limit.</li> </ol></div></div></div> Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:15 +0000 jessica ellison 172 at Category Tips Series: Websites <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The website category, at first glance, might seem like the "easiest." But it is more than cutting and pasting text into a web program. You still need to make some pretty thoughtful decisions.</p> <h3> Websites</h3> <ol><li> <strong>Write all of your text first</strong>. Don't just open up Weebly, start building pages, and type your words in. It is hard to stay organized that way. Write your complete text first. That way, you can see how it all flows and break it up into sections later.</li> <li> <strong>Don't overdo it on the quotes</strong>. Although quotes don't count toward your word limit, be sparing with the quotes you choose. We've all seen websites where the text goes on and on, and we usually don't read those sites. </li> <li> <strong>Clarity is more important than flashiness</strong>. It is important for your website to look pretty, but it is more important for your information to be clearly organized. Don't let flash overtake your information.</li> <li> <strong>Use readable fonts and colors</strong>. Just like with exhibits, it is tempting to use a lot of different fonts and colors, but always keep in mind your readability. Clear fonts (and only one or two different fonts) and appropriate colors are a must.</li> <li> <strong>Include videos when applicable</strong>. With this format, it is very helpful to include footage or interview clips when you can. Make sure that they relate well to your subject and advance your argument.</li> <li> <strong>Embed primary documents in links within your text</strong>. Rather than including full primary documents on the same page as your analysis, create links within your words to another page that has  your primary documents in full. That way, the judges can read your words and click over to the documents for more information.</li> </ol><p>To see a few sample of excellent websites, visit the <a href="">Sample Projects page</a>. </p> </div></div></div> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:25:17 +0000 jessica ellison 168 at Category Tips Series: Performances <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>If you have chosen to do a performance, then you likely have a dramatic flair. But for History Day, you cannot rely on fancy costumes or elaborate backdrops to make your performance great.</p> <h3> Performances</h3> <ol><li> <strong>Your script should be as realistic as possible</strong>. Time travel, speaking from beyond the grave, statues coming to life, and modern students conversing with long-dead historical figures do not lend an academic air to your performance.</li> <li> <strong>Analysis should be the focus of your script</strong>. Long reenactments of historical events or reciting a long list of facts may be historically accurate, but they don't offer your analysis on your subject. We don't want a biography, and we don't want to see a play-by-play of your battle/court case/coronation.</li> <li> <strong>Use characters wisely</strong>. Choose characters that have a logical reason for speaking about your subject. If you need to, you can create a "composite" character that is based on a combination of several others from your research. Narrators can be used, but sparingly. </li> <li> <strong>Don't change scenes too much</strong>. The audience only has ten minutes to understand your topic, and if you are constantly changing scenes and characters, it can get very confusing. Three changes of scenery/characters is a good maximum.</li> <li> <strong>Use primary sources in your script</strong>. What better way to provide words and perspectives of the time than to read from excerpts of primary sources!</li> <li> <strong>Costumes, props and scenery should be appropriate</strong>. Be as accurate as possible with your costumes, without going overboard and spending lots of money. Props and scenery should be useful, and shouldn't take away from your words. Sometimes, scenery is not necessary at all. Let your words tell the story!</li> </ol></div></div></div> Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:10:53 +0000 jessica ellison 167 at Category Tips Series: Documentaries <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Next up in the Category Tips Series: Documentaries! Students may be experts with technology, but there are some substance and style issues they should pay attention to when creating documentaries.</p> <h3> Documentaries</h3> <ol><li> <strong>"Say cow, see cow."</strong> The images on screen should match the script that is being read. If you are speaking about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, don't just show random pictures of Hawaii, or stock footage of planes. Make it match!</li> <li> <strong>Use primary sources as images.</strong> Photographs are not the only images that work for documentaries. Use newspaper articles, documents, posters, propaganda, advertisements or artwork, to name a few. </li> <li> <strong>Divide the documentary into sections with headlines.</strong> For clarity, it helps to insert "headlines" in between sections, so viewers know what is coming up next. Keep them short and sweet. </li> <li> <strong>Record the script in small increments.</strong> If you try to record too much at once, there is more of a chance you might stumble over lines. Find a very quiet place, and record 30 seconds to one minute at a time. </li> <li> <strong>Music and footage can be helpful, if they advance your argument!</strong> Don't just use music to use music. Make sure it has a purpose. Also, using historical film footage is a great idea, as long as it matches your subject and helps your analysis.</li> <li> <strong>Keep track of all images used.</strong> You will need to account for your all of you images in your bibliography. Just citing "Google Images" does not count!</li> </ol></div></div></div> Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:12:17 +0000 jessica ellison 165 at Category Tips Series: Exhibits <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>School History Day events are happening fast and furious in these early days of February, and students are making changes and updates to their projects. This series of blogs will offer hints for each category to help students make the best possible showing at school and possibly regional events.</p> <h3> Exhibits</h3> <ol><li> <strong>Be conservative with font and color choices</strong>. Use readable fonts, and no more than two fonts on the board. Make sure the colors match the subject matter. Bright pinks and greens are not appropriate for a project on the Holocaust. </li> <li> <strong>Use a variety of images, in a variety of sizes</strong>. If all your images are tiny photographs of someone's face, it doesn't tell us anything. Use photographs in large enough sizes that we can tell what's going on, but also use primary documents on your board. Newspaper headlines, advertisements, propaganda and letters are fantastic for exhibits.</li> <li> <strong>Divide your project into sections</strong>. It is much easier to read and understand a project if it is cleanly divided into sections with clear headlines on top.</li> <li> <strong>Make sure your thesis statement is front and center</strong>. The thesis should be one of the first things we read, so it should be in the middle of the project, toward the top, in large, readable font.</li> <li> <strong>Steer clear of gimmicks!</strong> Your research and analysis is what is important, not necessarily the props sitting in front of your exhibit, the PowerPoint slide show running on your laptop in front of your exhibit, the Christmas lights strung across the top, or the scale model of the Battle of Gettysburg you built. When in doubt: words and images pasted on your board.</li> <li> <strong>Be neat and organized</strong>. Don't discount the importance of being neat. Cut straight, glue straight, organize your information. This will make it much easier for us to read and understand, and it will show that you took some time to be clear.</li> </ol></div></div></div> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:38:40 +0000 jessica ellison 161 at Primary Sources 101 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Primary sources can be a tricky business: what are they? where are they? how do I use them?</p> <p>In some situations, it can be difficult to pin down the exact nature of a primary source, especially when it comes to citing that source in a bibliography. And even trickier still, a lot of people have slightly different definitions of what constitutes a primary source.</p> <p>Here are a few rules of thumb to think about, regarding primary sources:</p> <ol><li> <strong>Primary sources are firsthand accounts.</strong> This can mean that they were created at the time of an event or created by a witness. Sometimes, witnesses give interviews or write books years after the event, which still makes them a primary source. <em>(Example: autobiographies, interviews with war veterans).</em></li> <li> <strong>Primary sources are more than just photographs and newspapers</strong>. Although those two primary sources are very helpful, consider letters, diaries, government documents, propaganda, posters, artwork, literature, buildings, oral histories, maps, historical film footage, objects, trial opinions, and petitions, among many others.</li> <li> <strong>Individual quotes are not primary sources</strong>. If you find a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt on or another quote website, that quote has been removed from its original document by someone else and therefore, cannot be considered primary. You need to find the original document. Think twice before you fill up your primary source bibliography with 50 quotes found on quote sites.</li> <li> <strong>Incomplete documents are usually not primary</strong>. Similar to individual quotes, documents that you find in pieces have been modified by someone else; they have decided what is important about that source, so it is no longer primary. The entire text of the Declaration of Independence is primary (even if found in your textbook), but a single charge against King George from that document, listed alone, is not. (<em>Use your discretion here and check with teachers and librarians</em>.)</li> <li> <strong>Cite the primary source first, then the secondary source where you found it.</strong> That way, judges and teachers can see that you are referencing a primary source that you found in a secondary source, and not just a secondary source. <em>Example</em>: "Advertisement for Vacuum Cleaner," 1918. Bissell Motor Co. <em>American Passages: A History of the United States</em>, ed. Ayers, Gould, Oshinsky and Soderlund. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Page 559.</li> </ol><p><a href="">This online module</a>, created by the University of Illinois, gives some good information on defining and using primary sources.</p> </div></div></div> Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:58:47 +0000 jessica ellison 150 at Short, Sweet and to the Point: Thesis Statements <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The time is nearing.</p> <p>Topics have been chosen, research is in full swing, students are starting to ponder color schemes and costume choices. That can only mean that the time for one of the most difficult steps in the process is at hand: the writing of the thesis statement.</p> <p>The thesis statement, best written when students are in the middle of their research so the statement is based on knowledge but still has a chance to be flexible, helps direct students through their argument and, later, judges and teachers through the project’s ultimate point. It is so important, and for a lot of students, so daunting.</p> <p>There are no hard and fast rules for thesis-statement writing, but here are a couple of guidelines to ease students’ path.</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"><li> <strong>Keep it short.</strong> Thesis statements should hover between 40-60 words. Too short, and there’s not enough information to explain the argument. Too long, and too many details have been included. Plus, if the students are creating an exhibit, and they only have 500 student-composed words to use, it doesn’t make sense to use up 100 of those words on just the thesis.</li> <li> <strong>Include all five W’s.</strong> The thesis is the first thing the viewer reads, so we should know immediately the who-what-where-when, and also the why-is-this-important.</li> <li> <strong>Include the theme words.</strong> Judges and teachers need to know how the topic relates to the theme, especially if the topic is obscure, extremely narrow, or isn’t immediately clear in its connection to the theme words.</li> <li> <strong>Leave facts out, put arguments in.</strong> We don’t need to see every detail of the topic in the thesis. Leave those for the project itself. What we need to see in the thesis is the student’s argument, or the point he/she is trying to make.</li> <li> <strong>Write, revise, research, revise.</strong> Students should not use the first draft of their thesis statement, but instead should revise based on feedback, go back to their research or conduct new research to make sure the thesis is accurate, and then revise once more.</li> </ul><p>If you can, show students good examples of thesis statements, as well as bad examples. <a href="/historyday/sites/default/files/files/ThesisRRR.pdf" target="_blank" title="RRR Thesis">Here is a good resource</a> to get you started. While a good thesis statement doesn’t automatically ensure a good project, it certainly makes the project better and helps the student find a focus.</p> </div></div></div> Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:16:07 +0000 Shana Crosson 148 at Hypothesis v. Thesis Statement <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong>hy•poth•e•sis/hīˈpäTHəsis/ Noun</strong></p> <ol><li> A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.</li> <li> A proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.</li> </ol><p><strong>the•sis/ˈTHēsis/ Noun.</strong></p> <ol><li> A statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved: “can you support your thesis?”. (in Hegelian philosophy)</li> <li> A proposition forming the first stage in the process of dialectical reasoning.</li> </ol><p>Too many times we see History Day students attempting to write a thesis statement too soon after choosing their topics. We’ve all done this at one time in some capacity. In college it was easy to cling to an idea of how you wanted to conclude your paper in an effort to either propose a new analysis on the topic or to solidify what others had already concluded. It was a marvelous idea, until you soon realized that the resources didn’t exist to support your “new” analysis on the topic or you were referencing the same sources as those before you.</p> <p>As a student who only participated in science fairs growing up, my view on research was skewed to look at a topic, create a statement/guess on why something happened, and then set out to prove it. And as I entered college I realized that though I had chosen to study history I was truly only trained in the scientific method. I lacked the skill of looking at a topic and creating a question to answer, rather than trying to prove a hypothesis.</p> <p>It is vital for students to understand the differences between these two words. Too many times they become interchangeable. If a student is pushed to develop a thesis statement too soon they are much more likely to get frustrated during their research. Letting the research lead them to a thesis statement can be a fascinating process. When you see the light bulb go off, you know they made an important connection that will lead to a great thesis statement.</p> <p>In science class students are usually expected to come to the same conclusion at the end of an experiment. Whereas with historical research, two students, starting with the same topic, can develop two very different thesis statements and conclude with two very different ideas.</p> </div></div></div> Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:48:57 +0000 Shana Crosson 31 at