thesis national history day

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Research Rendezvous

Missed the live Mastering your Thesis event?  Watch the recording here, as Kayla Gabehart shows you how to form and revise your thesis. FAQs at the end answer students' questions about NHD in Colorado.

More information from  National History Day in Colorado

Thesis Statement

From NHD website:

Develop a Thesis Statement NHD projects should do more than just tell a story. Every exhibit, performance, documentary, paper and website should make a point about its topic. To do this, you must develop your own argument of the historical impact of the person, event, pattern or idea you are studying. The point you make is called a thesis statement. A thesis statement is not the same as a topic. Your thesis statement explains what you believe to be the impact and significance of your topic in history. Example:

Topic: Battle of Gettysburg Thesis Statement: The battle of Gettysburg was a major turning point of the Civil War. It turned the tide of the war from the South to the North, pushing back Lee’s army that would never fight again on Northern soil and bringing confidence to the Union army.

• Tackling the Thesis [PDF]
• Handout from Minnesota Historical Society [PDF]
• Thesis Creator Helpful template to guide you through your working thesis
• Thesis Organizer & Checklist [PDF]

Videos from NHD Affiliates

Process Paper

Form NHD website Rule 15 | Process Pape r

All categories, except historical paper, must include a process paper with the entry. It must describe in 500 or fewer words how you conducted your research and created your entry. The process paper must include four sections that explain: 1. how you chose your topic; 2. how you conducted your research; 3. how you selected your presentation category and created your project; and 4. how your project relates to the NHD theme.

You can view sample process papers at http://www.nhd.org/CreatingEntry.htm .

• Process paper rules [PDF]
• What is a Process Paper? [PDF]

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• Last Updated: Oct 24, 2024 5:56 PM
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Paper Project Example 3: A “Social Frontier”: Boy Scouts, Progressive Education, and the Turner Thesis

Disclaimer:  This project is presented for illustrative purposes only and serves as an example. It may not adhere to the NHD Contest Rule Book’s latest rules, guidelines, or best practices. Consult the  Contest Rule Book  for accurate and up-to-date information for each contest category.  Image: American Progress, John Gast, 1873 – Library of Congress

Related Resources

History of underrepresented service members in the korean war.

“Because of the Color of Our Skin”: 400 Years of African American History

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National History Day / Research: The Process

• Contest Rules
• The Process
• Annotations and Citations
• Website NEW
• Noodletools

Before you begin

To better understand what you, as a researcher, should focus on, it would be wise to read these pages from the National History Day rulebook. Even if you are not creating a project with the aim to compete, you will have a clearer understanding of what makes a successful historical research project.

IF YOUR TOPIC DOES NOT MEET ANY ONE OF THE REQUIREMENTS, YOU MIGHT NEED TO REFINE YOUR TOPIC!

• Preparing your entry Read this section from the NHD rule book to understand more about the essential elements of your project and the research process. These expectations form the basis for how judges will evaluate your entry.

NHD Research Guide

NHD Research Guide for Students

National History Day, in collaboration with the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium, created this open-access student guide filled with hints, tips, and activities to encourage student inquiry and historical research.  Finding, Analyzing, and Constructing History: A Research Guide for Students  was developed through a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress.

Step 1.Topic Selection

Begin your exploration by reading the  

ANNUAL THEME BOOK: RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES  As you read,  think about something that topics that appeal to your personal interests and also relate to the theme. Then begin exploring a variety of secondary sources to determine whether there are enough sources to create a strong, in-depth project.  

BALANCE: Graphic Organizer: Rights and Responsibilities

Use this editable graphic organizer to analyze and confirm that your topic is viable for in-depth historical research

• Turning Points in History: Rights and Responsibilities in History

1A Developing Questions

Questions determine the direction your research may take. You are not just looking for a list of facts, but rather, reading to understand ideas and motivations, to understand the CONTEXT of why things happened. In order to do that, you want to think of your search in terms of answering questions. Use the worksheet below to develop your own questions, both simple and complex, as you select your sources. Questions and sources dovetail together to create the foundation for strong research. Think about the questions you have, then ask yourself where or who is the most likely place to investigate the answer?

Organization

When you are searching for sources, it is helpful to identify what you are looking for. Repeatedly searching for the same information is fruitless. By organizing your inquiry, you will be able to develop searches that yield answers to the many pieces of the research puzzle. Use this graphic organizer to help you organize and identify what it is you are looking for. Adapted from Minnesota History Day.

• History Day Graphic Organizer Use this organizer to identify the elements of your research. Start with the main ideas, then research the historical context, both immediate and previous. Then identify the short term impacts, then the long term impacts.

Your research is only as good as your sources. Begin with secondary sources to give you a solid understanding of the scope of your subject. While you are learning and reading, make note of important dates, ideas, people and places as these will become part of the keywords you will use when looking for primary sources. Books and databases should be foundational to your research . You will want to access information that is accurate ( has been fact-checked), has breadth and depth, and is organized; books and databases lend themselves as the best bet to sink your teeth into a subject.  Web sources require the reader to fact check as well as draw together multiple websites to create a deep understanding of the topic. Use the Sources checklist to make sure you are using a variety of sources.

Each new source you find should be entered into Noodletools. Leaving citations to the end of the project will be overwhelming. In addition, students often cannot remember where that one terrific bit of information came from, but if the sources you use are cited, you will never have to wonder where it is!

• Source Checklist

Note Making

After you have gathered a solid base of sources it is time to begin taking notes. First, read through your material to understand the most important elements of the source. Then, read it again, highlighting what you want to extract for later use in your research. Finally, transcribe those highlighted sections onto your notecards in Noodletools. If you are using a book as your source, make sure to note the page #, as you will need it for later citation.

• When copying down a quote, make sure it is exact, and make note of the speaker
• Transcribe the information into your own words. This will reinforce your understanding of the material
• Write down any questions you still might want or need to explore

An outline helps you to organize your notes and identify and gaps in your research. If you create your outline in Noodletools, ( which is highly suggested) you can drag your notecards into the outline, directly to the section to which they pertain. The outline attached here is an EXTENDED OUTLINE- you may be looking at your topic through only one or two lenses, so the outline would be modified.

• Extended Outline Modify this outline to reflect the lenses that you are viewing your topic. You may be researching using only one lens or up to three, that is entirely up to you.

A thesis is an argument that you are making, which you will support with evidence. It should be 2 to 3 sentences.

• Wesleyan University: Writing a Thesis This brief article will help you define and identify a strong thesis statement
• Minnesota History Day:Thesis Statement worksheet Use this worksheet to organize and develop a thesis for your project
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• Last Updated: Sep 25, 2024 11:52 AM
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