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Selecting a Topic & Creating a Research Plan 

Begin by choosing a topic, usually starting with a broad preliminary area of interest and then narrowing it down. While investigating potential subjects, you need to determine if there are sufficient primary and secondary sources available to support your entry. You must make sure that the topic is related to the annual theme and that you can explain its significance in history. The flexibility of the theme encourages you to pursue subjects that interest you; many students research events or issues related to their family or community. After choosing a topic, you need to develop a research plan. You must set goals, form hypotheses and create thesis statements to guide your research, and meet deadlines.

Researching the History Day Entry 

While researching your History Day entry, you should become a historian who does history rather than just read about history in textbooks. Begin the research process by identifying and reading secondary sources such as monographs, articles, and encyclopedias. These sources provide you with an overview of your topic and an understanding of its broader historical context. You might find it usefull to contact experts for additional information or suggestions for other sources. After doing this background research, you are then ready to do more in-depth research in primary sources. The quest for primary sources may take you to libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, or historic sites as well as to the Internet. You may conduct oral history interviews with participants in the events you are studying. Frequently, you might find non-textual sources such as photographs, maps, videos, and artifacts. You must then analyze your sources, reconstruct the meaning, and evaluate the bias and credibility of each source. You should take notes and keep your notes well organized. You should look critically at your own research and make sure that it has considered all appropriate perspectives; you should identify weak areas that require additional investigation.

Developing an Interpretation 

As you conduct your research, begin to develop your own interpretation of your topic. You must analyze and synthesize the information you have discovered in your primary sources and construct your own historical narrative, organizing your material chronological or topically. Your interpretation should be balanced, incorporating all relevant perspectives. You should consider the opinions and actions of opponents as well as supporters. Your interpretation should place your subject into historical context -- its intellectual, physical, social, and cultural setting. You must also provide historical perspective on your topic, explaining its causes and consequences, or, for a family or local history topic, how it relates to larger events or trends.