Embedded Files
2025-2026
Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
Welcome to the TPMS National History Day Pathfinder!
Welcome to the TPMS National History Day Pathfinder!
This year's National History Day theme is Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. Watch this video for an explanation of the theme. To learn more about the theme, visit the National History Day theme page. To learn more about the project guidelines visit the getting started guide.
Serious about competing? Be sure to consult the NHD Rule Book!
REVOLUTION
REVOLUTION
“the forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system,” or “a dramatic and wide-reaching change in the way something works or is organized or in people’s ideas about it.”
REACTION
REACTION
“an action performed or a feeling experienced in response to a situation or event; the resistance or opposition to a force or movement.”
REFORM
REFORM
“the effort to change to a better state or form; to improve by alteration, substitution, abolition.”
Research Resources
Research Resources
You will need usernames and passwords to use many of the resources below. To access the passwords document, you must be logged into your MCPS Gmail account.
Recommended Websites
Recommended Websites
Docs Teach (Great for primary sources)
Docs Teach NHD (Primary sources specifically for this year's NHD theme)
Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (Great for primary sources)
Maryland History Day Research Topics (Get ideas for your project)
More Websites to Explore
More Websites to Explore
National Museum of African American History & Culture
National Museum of American History
National Museum of the American Indian
Reference Sources
(Kid, Student, Advanced, Spanish, & Timelines)(ES, MS, & HS)(College Level)(Spanish)(Pictures of ancient documents, writing, etc. can count as primary sources!)Reference Sources
Interactive Learning Tools
Interactive Learning Tools
(These will only be useful for a few topics. Don't waste time on these if your topic isn't included.)
(Educational Cartoons - Sign in with Clever)
Child Labor. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest, Accessed October 15, 2025. https://quest.eb.com/images/139_1920532.
In the early years of American industry, labor conditions were often poor; child labor was also common.
Find & cite pictures for your Project
Find & cite pictures for your Project
(Pictures can count as primary source documents! Be sure to click the citation button and choose Chicago for each picture you use. Copy the citation into your NoodleTools works cited. See the example under the photo on the left. Then be sure to add an annotation in the annotation box on NoodleTools.)
Research Strategy
Research Strategy
You will need to cite both PRIMARY and SECONDARY sources in your project
Primary Sources - Raw and unedited sources that give a firsthand account of a specific event from the time period when it occurred. CLOSEST TO THE ORIGIN OF INFORMATION. (Examples: diary entries, correspondences, photographs, memoirs, historical newspapers, speeches, cartoons, videos, artifacts, etc.)
Secondary Sources - These give an overview of the topic. Often analyzing, interpreting, or summarizing. RELATE TO INFORMATION THAT ORIGINATED ELSEWHERE. (Examples: reference/encyclopedia articles, textbooks, magazine articles, etc.)
Citing Your Sources
Citing Your Sources
*Be sure to save the citation (bibliography) for each source using NoodleTools! The Online References and Databases will make this easy for you, by providing a citation generator tool or listing the citation with the article.
Victims of the disastrous famine produced by the Great Leap Forward. Between 18 and 42 million people died of starvation.. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest, Accessed October 15, 2025. https://quest.eb.com/images/325_4375760.
Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens of millions of excess deaths.
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