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.