Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
These are six questions you should be asking yourself as you conduct your research. Answering these questions will help you develop your thesis.
A thesis statement is a summary of the main purpose of your project. It explains what you believe to be the impact and significance of your topic in history, and it demonstrates how your topic connects to the National History Day theme. A good thesis statement is specific and does not include generalizations.
Great thesis statement: Child labor laws of the early 1900 broke barriers to rights and protections from exploitation and set precedents for later workplace protections.
Good thesis statement: Child labor laws in the early 1900s were necessary in order to protect the human rights of children.
Bad thesis statement: I am going to tell you about child labor laws.
Primary and Secondary Sources
The basic definition of a primary source is material written or produced by a participant in, or an eyewitness to the event being investigated. Examples are diaries, letters, images, music, historic sites, autobiographies, or other items created during the time of the event. A secondary source is a book or article written by an author who was not an eyewitness or participant in the historical event. Examples are textbooks, encyclopedias, biographies, and other things written after the event occurred.
Where can students go to find primary and secondary sources?
Libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies are the perfect place to start. The staff at these cultural institutions are eager to help students like you!
If you do not have access to such places in your community, there are great online resources, including the National History Day website or the Maryland History Day Facebook page.
Source List
- Digital Maryland
- The Library of Congress
- PBS Learning Media
- Maryland Center for History and Culture
- Maryland State Archives
- National Archives
- US Holocaust Museum
- Colonial Williamsburg
- National Park Service
- Smithsonian Institute
- Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture
- Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Education PortalThe State Library Resource Center at the Enoch Pratt Central Library
- Digital Public Library of America
- The New York Public Library Digital Collections
- National Library of Medicine