Narrowing Down a Topic

Before really getting into the project, the students need to narrow down the area of history which interests them. Once the students think of what historical events or periods most interest them, they can look at the annual theme to see if there are subject areas that fit into the theme Innovation in History: Impact and Change.

The initial challenge for students participating in National History Day is to make sure they choose a topic that demonstrates the theme. Innovation, by definition, involves some sort of change, but not all changes are innovations. Innovation suggests creative new approaches to any facet of life, from politics, religion, society, too science. Of course it would be easy to simply focus on the specific innovation, but the “in history” portion takes the students to the exciting realm of analysis. The students will be able to explore the why and so what?

For example, students could explore innovation in artistic or musical forms, investigating the rise of jazz. The important aspect to any National History Day research project is to situate the topic in the historical context. What was happening in society that supported the rise of jazz at this particular point in time? Another way to extend the topic is to follow the impact of jazz on society through time, e.g., on the African American community or subsequent music forms.

The following summarizes an example of the topic selection process.

Interest: Music

Theme: Innovation in History

Topic: Jazz

Issue: Jazz's influence on popular music

Choosing a Title

The topic and issue selected will also be reflected in the title of an entry. Titles do two things for an audience. First, they explain what the topic is, and second, they can give a clue about the student's point of view on this topic. For example, the title for the above topic could be The New Face of Music: Jazz's Influence on Popular Music. This title not only explains the topic and innovation, but also gives a sense of the impact jazz had on society.

Tips on Topic Selection

• The topic should be of interest to the student.
• The topic should clearly fit the year's theme.
• The topic should be in-depth and narrow in scope. It is better to focus on one issue in detail than to cover many issues superficially.
• The topic should reflect the availability of primary and secondary resources. A local topic is often a good choice, since primary documents are more likely to be available in the community in which an event occurred or in which a person lived.

Source: http://pa.nhd.org/topic.htm