2027 NHD Project
2027 NHD Project
Embedded Files
You will complete a historical research project using the guidelines of the National History Day competition. You may choose to complete a museum exhibit, write a paper, create a performance, or create an interactive website.
"The theme for National History Day® (NHD) 2027 is Innovation in History: Impact, Influence, Change. Innovation goes beyond creating new tools or devices to finding new ways of thinking, organizing, and influencing society. To put it simply, innovation, at its core, is about change and the impact of that change.
To fully explore innovation in a historical context, we must look beyond the idea itself and examine its effects. How did people, over time, imagine, develop, and implement new ideas, technologies, or methods? And in what ways did those innovations influence societies?" -https://nhd.org/en/contest/theme/ accessed 10/8/26
ESSENTIAL PROJECT ELEMENTS:
Before you begin to research or construct your NHD project, be sure to read the new guidance on AI effective Oct. 1, 2026.
It is also recommended you download and read the Contest Rule Book (latest ed. 2020).
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Historical context is the larger setting in which your topic took place. Consider the relevant economic, social, intellectual, religious, cultural, and political conditions of the place and time. Pay attention to how your topic developed over time.MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
A perspective is one point of view, one person’s experience, or one side of the story. Think of perspective as what one person saw, thought, or wrote about the events or issues you are studying. you must look for multiple perspectives as you piece together what happened in the past. You must examine and show more than one side of the story. To do that, look for primary and secondary sources created by people with different viewpoints.HISTORICAL ACCURACY
Historians must be accurate when presenting information about the past. Facts matter. You must present accurate historical facts before you can make your historical argument and interpret historical significance. If you use sources that are contradictory about a fact, dig deeper to determine the correct information.HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Significance refers to the impact or consequences of your topic. What occurred as a result of your topic, both in the short term and the long term? What changed or stayed the same? What impact did your topic have on society or on the course of human events? Think of historical significance as answering the question, “So what, why does this matter?”HISTORICAL ARGUMENT
Your historical argument states the central point or focus of your project in two or three sentences. It is sometimes called a thesis or claim. Historians create historical arguments after carefully analyzing evidence from the past. The evidence that supports your argument will come from the primary and secondary sources that you discover during your research. Your argument should reflect your analysis of the historical evidence that you gathered.
Types of Sources
Types of Sources
Primary vs. Secondary
Primary vs. Secondary
Primary Sources
Eyewitness accounts
Written materials, such as letters, speeches, diaries, newspaper articles, and other documents from the time
Verbal testimony, such as oral history interviews with people from the time, and oral traditions (i.e., histories that are preserved and shared through word of mouth rather than in writing)
Images and artifacts such as photographs, paintings, drawings, maps, and objects from the time
Anything else that provides a first-hand account about your topic
Secondary Sources
History textbooks
Articles in professional journals and books written by historians
Biographies
Articles found on credible internet sites
A primary source is a piece of information about a historical event or period in which the creator of the source was an actual participant in or a contemporary of a historical moment. The purpose of primary sources is to capture the words, the thoughts, and the intentions of the past. Primary sources help you to interpret what happened and why it happened.
Primary Sources
A secondary source is a source that was not created first-hand by someone who participated in the historical era. Secondary sources are usually created by historians, but based on the historian’s reading of primary sources. Secondary sources are usually written decades, if not centuries, after the event occurred by people who did not live through or participate in the event or issue. The purpose of a secondary source is to help build the story of your research from multiple perspectives and to give your research historical context.
Primary Source Annotation Example
Primary Source Annotation Example
"Hedy Lamarr's Patent." Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institute, airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/4790640jpg#:~:text=Patent%20%23%202%2C292%2C387%20for%20a%20%22Secret,would%20give%20it%20more%20credibility.Accessed 3 Sep. 2020.
This is a primary source because this is the patent Hedy Lamarr filed with the patent office in 1942. I will use this source to show the record of her contribution to advancing communications technology. This source is evidence of her role of as an inventor and is the most relevant piece of information related to the theme of communication as it documents her involvement in designing a secret communication system.
Secondary Source Annotation Example
Secondary Source Annotation Example
"Hedy Lamarr." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 21 Jun. 2018. school-eb-com.bps.idm.oclc.org/levels/middle/article/Hedy- Lamarr/626817. Accessed 3 Sep. 2020.
This is a secondary source because it is a Britannica database article in 2016 looking back at the event of the 1940s. This source gives a good overview of Hedy Lamarr's life. I will use the section that shares how she contributed to inventing technology that changed communication technology significantly. This is relevant to the topic of communication because the source shows that she was a pioneering figure of communication technology that lead to wifi, and Bluetooth.
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Student Collected Resources
MCPS Online Resources
MCPS Online Resources
Gale in Context Middle School* (Multiple Subjects)-browse by topic
Gale Onefile: News* (National, Local, & International Newspaper Articles)
FactCite* (Multiple Historical Databases)
Britannica School-(Select MS or HS)
SIRS Issues Researcher ( Helps middle and high school students with research on current issues. )
Don't forget, you can also look put on hold and check out non-fiction books from the Montgomery County Public Libraries!
Online Database Resources
Online Database Resources
Additional Credible and Reliable Websites
Additional Credible and Reliable Websites
DocsTeach
This resource from the National Archives offers activities and collections of primary sources specifically for NHD projects.
Founders Online
This resource provides access to the papers of major figures of the American Founding, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, all relevant to the American Revolution and early reform movements.
White House Historical Association
This organization offers resources specifically tailored for NHD students, including guides and collections related to White House history, such as protest movements, civil rights, and Native American policy.
Science History Institute
Their collections contain primary and secondary resources related to the history of science.
EDSITEment (National Endowment for the Humanities
A resource archive is available with resources on various topics such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Mexican Revolution, and women's suffrage.
National Women's History Museum
This organization provides resources for students and educators working on NHD projects, which can be useful for topics related to reform and the women's rights movement.
Maryland Humanities Student Resources
National Museum of African American History & Culture
National Museum of American History
National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of African American History & Culture
Online Image Resources
Online Image Resources
To use our subscription databases from home, log in to your MCPSMD.NET account to access the CJMS Online Services. The logins are also on the library media center page.
Search Google, YouTube, Pixabay, SoundCloud, and other popular sites here- already approved for reuse.
Smithsonian Open Access Images
This Smithsonian just shared a platform that they are sharing open-source images for use. Use this website to find images for projects.
Google Arts and Culture Image Search
This website is a good resource for images for projects.
19,147 items about 193 countries between 8000 BCE and 2000
Library of Congress Primary Source Sets
Library of Congress Digital Collection of Primary Sources
NHD and NoodleTools partner together to bring teachers and students the opportunity to organize their research. Noodle Tools can help students track their sources, take notes, organize their ideas, and create their annotated bibliographies. The program allows the teacher to see the progress the students have made and offer direct electronic feedback. Your annotated works cited can be done in NoodleTools using either the MLA or Chicago style for your citations.n
Using NoodleTools you can create: Your Annotated Works Cited for the primary and secondary sources you used You will need to Log into NoodleTools using your MCPS Gmail Account. Click here, or on the image to the right to log in.
A guide to citing primary online resources from the Library of Congress.
Using NoodleTools-Logging In & Creating a Project.mp4Log in & Create a Project in NoodleTools
Log in & Create a Project in NoodleTools
Begin your Research!
Begin your Research!
Use your MCPS 6 digit Google account
login and password
Create your Works Cited with NoodleTools
Create your Works Cited with NoodleTools
NoodleTools_ Adding Notecards to Sources .mp4Create Notecards in NoodleTools
Create Notecards in NoodleTools
Attach to the Source, Paste & Paraphrase
Attach to the Source, Paste & Paraphrase
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