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By NHD

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NHD Quick Tip: Oral Histories versus Interviews with Experts

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What is Communication? It's about Understanding!

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What is Communication? It's about Understanding!

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Powerpoint slides by NHD Utah

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Google Slides

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Build Your Argument Based on Evidence Fillable

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Build Your Argument Based on Evidence Fillable

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Google Slides

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Build YOUR Argument Based on Historical Evidence Fillable

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Get Ready for NHD with the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA)

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Get Ready for NHD with the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA)

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NHD Video

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Get Ready for NHD 2021 with the National Archives and Records Administration

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NHD 2021 News: What is going on with the Exhibit Category?

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NHD Video

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"Help! I'm a New NHD Teacher!" Part 2 (2020 Edition)

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NHD Video

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"Help! I'm a New NHD Teacher!" Part 2 (2020 Edition)

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New Judging Rubrics (aka Evaluation Forms)

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New Judging Rubrics (aka Evaluation Forms)

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NHD Quick Video

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NHD's New Evaluation Forms - 2020 Edition

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NHD Quick Video

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NHD Quick Tip: What is Historical Context?

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AKA Significance in History

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NHD Quick Tip: What is Historical Significance?

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NHD Quick Tip: Why Include Multiple Perspectives?

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Space Shuttle Program

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Ask a NHD Alum: Individual Website, Space Shuttle

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Rachel Carson

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Ask a NHD Alum: Individual Website, Rachel Carson

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Gertrude B. Elion

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Ask a NHD Alum: Group Performance, Gertrude B. Elion

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Martha Hughes Cannon

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Ask a NHD Alum: Group Exhibit, Martha Hughes Cannon

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Marie-Madeleine Fourcade (WWII Spy)

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Ask a NHD Alum: Individual Exhibit, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade

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Mendez v Westminster

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Ask a NHD Alum: Individual Documentary, Mendez v Westminster

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Navajo Code Talkers

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Ask a NHD Alum: Group Documentary, Navajo Code Talkers

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Plagiarism, rules overview, new rules, judging rubrics

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Art of the thesis, making a historical argument, significance in history, student voice

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Student Voice, Thesis Statements, Making an Argument, Significance

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Thinking Like a Historian: Research, Sources, Evidence

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Thinking Like a Historian: Research, Sources, Evidence

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The research process, online research strategies, analyzing sources, thinking like a historian

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Teaching Historical Thinking & Research Skills Through National History Day

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Presented by NHD Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. Join state coordinators Wendy, Johanna, and Christine for 5 PD sessions recorded in September.

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Theme resources, topic selection strategies, historical context, cultural appropriation.

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NHD overview, planning, contests, creative categories, rule book, judging criteria, storytelling student activity.

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What is an Annotated Bibliography III (Annotations)

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What is an Annotated Bibliography III (Annotations)

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By NHD

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What is an Annotated Bibliography? (Annotations)

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What is an Annotated Bibliography II (Citations)

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What is an Annotated Bibliography II (Citations)

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By NHD

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What is an Annotated Bibliography? (Citations)

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What is an Annotated Bibliography I (Overview)

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What is an Annotated Bibliography I (Overview)

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By NHD

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What is an Annotated Bibliography? (Overview)

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Finding Primary Sources in Secondary Sources

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Finding Primary Sources in Secondary Sources

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Quick Digital Research Tip: Finding Primary Sources in Secondary Sources

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Using the Library of Congress Resources, Teacher Edition

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Using the Library of Congress Resources, Teacher Edition

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By NHD

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Quick Digital Research Tips: LoC Resources

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Smart Searching the Library of Congress, Teacher Edition

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Smart Searching the Library of Congress, Teacher Edition

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By NHD

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Quick Digital Research Tips: Smart Searching the Library of Congress

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By NHD

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Quick Digital Research Tips: Smart Site Searching

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By NHD

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Quick Digital Research Tips: How to Use Google Books

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By NHD

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Quick Digital Research Tip: Mining Wikipedia

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Edit to suit your needs.

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3.5 minute video by NHD Idaho

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Google slides

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Build Your Argument Based on Historical Evidence Fillable

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Build Your Argument Based on Historical Evidence Fillable

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Google slides

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Build YOUR Argument Based on Historical Evidence Fillable

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Google Slides

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National Archives 100 Milestone Documents

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National Archives 100 Milestone Documents

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OurDocuments.gov. Featuring 100 milestone documents of American history from the National Archives. Includes images of original primary source documents, lesson plans, teacher and student competitions, and educational resources.

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Our Past Their Present | Utah Historical Society

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DECODE Fillable Graphic Organizer for Communication in History Theme & Topic

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DECODE Fillable Graphic Organizer for Communication in History Theme & Topic

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By NHD

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DECODE Communication Graphic Organizer Fillable PDF

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More Utah records here!

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Utah Division of Archives and Records Service (Utah State Archives)

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The Utah State Archives' mission is to create innovative solutions that will assist Utah government agencies in the efficient management of their records, to preserve those records of enduring value, and to provide quality access to public information.

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Utah Division of State History Library & Collections

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Utah Division of State History Library & Collections

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Search our digital and physical collections online.

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Library & Collections | Utah Historical Society

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A project of Maryland Humanities, Maryland Public Television, and the Library of Congress

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Home - Special Collections - Teaching with Primary Sources - Inquiry Kits

Teaching with Primary Sources

Inquiry kits are the perfect start for elementary, middle, and high school student research projects. Each theme-based kit features thinking questions, primary and secondary sources, and tools to analyze historical materials from the Library of Congress. Elementary students explore a variety of social studies themes, while middle and high schools choose from a broad collection of U.S. Government, U.S. History, and World History topics.

Teacher Resources for Inquiry Kits

Select a collection to find related topics as well as primary and secondary sources to develop a classroom research project.

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Thinkport.org | Special Collections | Teaching with Primary Sources

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Home - Special Collections - Teaching with Primary Sources - Inquiry Kits Teaching with Primary Sources Inquiry kits are the perfect start for elementary, middle, and high school student research projects. Each theme-based kit features thinking questions, primary and secondary sources, and tools to analyze historical materials from the Library of Congress.

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Search for primary sources from the Mountain West region.

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A central search portal for digital collections about the Mountain West region.

We provide free access to over 1,000,000 resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and government agencies, counties, and municipalities in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, Wyoming and other parts of the U.S. West. To get more involved, see Member Resources.

MWDL as a DPLA Service Hub

In 2012 the Mountain West Digital Library was selected to be one of the first six service hubs for the Digital Public Library of America. DPLA was launched in 2013 as the national digital library in the United States, offering a single point of public access to millions of items from memory organizations around the country. Learn about the Mountain West Digital Library's role as a service hub for the Digital Public Library of America.

Mountain West Digital Library Events

Upcoming Events

June 1st & 2nd 2020
MWDL Hubs Only Meeting and MWDL Community Day

Mondays starting April 27th through July 2020
Digital Metadata Librarian Teresa Hebron will hold regular office hours via Zoom for folks to check in directly about metadata issues

Previous Events

March 24th, 2020
Ryan Ehrfurth and Brandy Helewa of Arizona Memory Project share more on their recent metadata projects

March 12th, 2020
Teresa Hebron (MWDL) and Liz Woolcott (Utah State University) discuss the work of the 2018-19 Metadata Application Profile Revision Taskforce and the newest version of our metadata application profile, V3

February 4th, 2020
Emily Boss of University of Nevada, Reno, Teresa Hebron of Mountain West Digital Library, and Anna Neatrour of University of Utah Marriott Library discuss the many ways in which MWDL members are using GitHub for library projects

Featured Collection

Salt Lake Community College Audiovisual Archives

The Audiovisual Archives provides access to digitized archival materials related to the history of the College from its inception in 1949 as well as newer digital-born audiovisual resources. Tune in here to view contemporary digital stories, graduation ceremonies, convocations, promotional materials, special guest speakers, and other intriguing audiovisual resources. You can also listen to advertisements, talk radio shows, graduation ceremonies, convocations, special guest speakers, and other intriguing audio recordings about social concerns.

Rio Grande Depot, 1912

Featured Partner

Utah State Historical Society

This extensive set of unique collections from the Utah State Historical Society contains tens of thousands of photographs depicting important parts of Utah history. We are located in the 1910 Rio Grande Depot in Salt Lake City.

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A central search portal for digital collections about the Mountain West region. We provide free access to over 1,000,000 resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and government agencies, counties, and municipalities in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, Wyoming and other parts of the U.S. West.

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Teach with documents from the National Archives and Records Administration

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Access thousands of primary sources - letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types - spanning the course of American history. We're always adding more!

Borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities created by the National Archives, and teachers around the world. Copy and modify activities for your students.

Create your own activities using the online tools. It's as simple as: (1) selecting a tool, (2) choosing your primary sources, and (3) customizing instructions. Learn more >

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Access thousands of primary sources - letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types - spanning the course of American history. We're always adding more! Borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities created by the National Archives, and teachers around the world. Copy and modify activities for your students.

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American newspaper database from the Library of Congress

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Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more

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Chronicling America " Library of Congress

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Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more

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Primary Source Sets

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Search results from Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress, Available Online, Primary Source Set

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PDF

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NHD Utah

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Younger researchers can use curated primary source sets, which allows them to focus their time on working with sources rather than searching for them.

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From Rhode Island PBS

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National History Day - Program 3 Extra: Documentary Best Practices

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From an NHD Student Expert

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National History Day - Program 5 Extra: Performance: Tips and Tricks from a Student Expert

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Go to NHDWebCentral

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Video tutorial by NHD Utah

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Building a National History Day Exhibit Tutorial

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Graphic organizers and fillable tools to write the buildings blocks of an NHD project.

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Graphic organizers and fillable tools to write the buildings blocks of an NHD project.

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Pro Tip:  Although the thesis statement appears at the beginning or top of a project, it actually reflects the student's conclusions. So it should not be be written before students have had time to digest and process their research. Plan for at least two revisions as their thinking evolves.

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1. Start with secondary sources
2. Read, record, take notes, and maintain a source tracker
3. Explore primary sources
4. Analyze your sources
5. Keep digging

Yes, the order of these steps does matter!  It's critical that students have a solid grounding in secondary sources and start a source tracking system before they begin looking for primary sources.

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Historians analyze primary and secondary sources, compare multiple perspectives, and assess credibility and bias to build evidence-based claims about people and events in the past.  NHD teachers often use lessons and strategies developed by leading programs such as the Library of Congress, Stanford History Education Group, and more to build these skills as part of their students' NHD learning.

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Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

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Be sure to use the new and improved 2020 edition of the NHD Rule Book!

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Relates to the annual theme
Matters to the student
Isn't too broad
Happened 20+ years ago
Is historically significant
Has plenty of primary and secondary sources available and accessible for the student to use
Ways to Level Up an NHD Topic:
Take a different angle on something familiar
Examine a local aspect of a larger story

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Help students connect to history through their interests!
Using books: host a book-tasting with your librarian, use picture books, bobblehead books, notable person books/lists
Online: Ken Burns' Unum Project, Netflix "Who Was" series, History Channel, Wikipedia

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Using NoodleTools to track your research and create your bibliography

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Using NoodleTools to track your research and create your bibliography

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Using NoodleTools to track your research

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2021 Theme Video - Communication in History

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Students compete in local the contest nearest to where they live. Link to contest dates & deadlines from this page.

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Contests | Utah Division of State History

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A DIVISION OF THE UTAH DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ©2019