The Individual in History

This year's theme for National History Day asks student to look at an individuals contribution, impact, or effect on history or a historic event. Here are some tips for choosing your topic:

1. Pick something that you're interested in; it could be something from history (like World War II) or a general interest (music). Then choose an individual that had an impact on that event. For example, a World War II project could look at the foot soldiers impact on the western front. A music project could look at Alan Freed (the Cleveland DJ) and how he coined the term "Rock & Roll," bringing this music to a wider audience.

2. Pick an individual that you'd like to research (or wouldn't mind spending a school year thinking about!). After doing some preliminary digging, select one impact that he or she had on history. Someone like George Washington impacted history in several ways, but a History Day project should focus on a specific event, decision, or effect that General or President Washington had on our nation's past.

Remember
Projects can be from ANY period in history, but look back at least 20 years. As Dr. Gorn says, this is HISTORY day, not current events day.

Projects don't have to be Ohio or American history, they can be from anywhere in the world.

Make life easier for yourself, check and see what primary sources are available on your topic.

For some more topic ideas, look at the links at the bottom of this page: http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/hd06.html