2023-24 History Day:
Turning Points In History
What is a Turning Point?
A turning point is a point at which a decisive change has taken place. It could be an idea, event, or action that directly, or indirectly, causes change. With any turning point, there should be a distinct before and after.
Springboard
Below is a list of ideas to spark your thinking about turning points. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but is meant to get you thinking about the direction of your research. Think about how the concept of a frontier can intersect with your own personal interests.
Women's Suffrage
Jackie Robinson
WWI
Manhattan Project
Emancipation
Westward Expansion
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Internet
Industrialization
Moon Landing
Printing Press
American Revolution
Music Streaming
Transatlantic Flight
The New Deal
Light Bulb
Great Fire in Chicago
Challenger Space Shuttle
Polio Epidemic
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Search Terms & Key Words
Use the following terms with Boolean search method (i.e. pioneers and technology)
landmark
impact
change
watershed
crisis
Boolean Search Operators
Boolean operators form the basis of mathematical sets and database logic.
They connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.
The three basic Boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
A good research project will have a mix of primary and secondary sources. Think of primary source as being direct from the first person perspective, and a secondary source as being told by someone else, or after the fact. Tertiary sources, like encyclopedias
Fact Checking and Balanced Resources
Good research is based on good resources. Be sure to evaluate your sources, and choose those that are high on reliability and lower on bias. Use the tools below to help.
