The Great Research Project!

Or

How to Avoid aResearch Project Nightmare

Bell Activity

Your word is “sustain”Find the word on your yellow study guide and

complete the following information for the word.Find the definition using a glossary.Use your own knowledge and experience to

complete the rest of the definition.

Where should your backpack be?

No gum in class. Throw it in the garbage before class begins!

Word: sustain My Understanding: 4 3 2 1

Definition: to supply with food or other Draw a picture of it:

necessities of life

Sentence: The town was able to

Sustain itself through farming.

Synonym/Example: nourish, support, aid, feed

Antonym/Non-Example: sap, drain, deplete

Does your work look something like this?

Objectives

• History Objective - We will understand the importance of choosing a topic we think is interesting when we do research.

• Language Objective - We will listen and read for topics that we think would be an interesting research project.

Behavior Objective – Work Ethic and Collaboration: We need to listen closely and work well with our group to complete the activity.

The Dreaded Research Topic!

• Choosing a research topic can be fun, frightening, frustrating, or mind numbing.

• It is up to you!

Interest is Everything!

• Choose something that is interesting to you.

• It will make the project easier and more fun.

What makes a good topic?

• However, you also need to make sure the topic is appropriate to our class and studies.

• Our projects must all be a part of Utah history and need to take place within the years 1847-1896.

You never know where you will find inspiration!

• You can find a research project in unlikely places.

• Talk to your family, friends and think about things in history that you like (That should be easy!).

• You might find a great topic in strange places that could take you to amazing heights.

• One student your age found inspiration from the movie Jaws.

The Research

• Seeing the clip you just saw, a 12-year-old student decided to do a research project about the ship mentioned in the clip, the U.S.S. Indianapolis.

• He was surprised that there was not much information about the ship in the library.

The Project

• So he and his dad began looking for real survivors of the sinking and interviewed them.

• He eventually collected so much information and was so interested in the project that he and the survivors joined together to rewrite history.

The Presentation

• Even after his project was completed, the student wanted to learn more and continued to work with the survivors of the Indianapolis to learn about the tragedy.

• He and the survivors gained national attention in newspaper stories and articles.

• They were eventually called on to testify before Congress in Washington, D.C.

The Presentation

• In his testimony before Congress, then 15 year old Hunter Scott said:

“This is Captain McVay’s dog tag from when he was a cadet at the Naval Academy. As you can see, it has his thumbprint on the back. I carry this as a reminder of my mission in the memory of a man who ended his own life in 1968. I carry this dog tag to remind me that only in the United States can one person make a difference no matter what [his or her] age. I carry this dog tag to remind me of the privilege and responsibility that I have to carry forward the torch of honor passed to me by the men of the USS Indianapolis.”

• Obviously, Hunter cared a lot about this history topic and the men he was helping.

The History• The collected research

they presented caused Congress to change history.

• They concluded that the sinking of the Indianapolis was not the fault of the Captain, who had been blamed for the incident, and exonerated the whole crew.

• The survivors, their families, and the families of the sailors who didn’t survive were very grateful.

Make your project important to you!

• You’re project probably won’t change history, but it should be important to you.

• Choose a topic that you would be interesting in learning about even without having to do the assignment, and the project will be much easier.

• It will also likely result in a better grade!

Here are some possible research topics for our class. The items on this list are not the only possible topics! If

it happened between 1847-1896 and is related to Utah History then it is a possible topic for you!!

• Bear River Massacre / Battle of Bear River

• Beehive House / Lion House

• Black Hawk War

• Cannon, Martha Hughes

• Conner, Patrick Edward

• Corinne

• Creation of Native American Reservations

• Cumming, Alfred

• Deseret Alphabet

• Diversity in Early Utah

– African Americans -Catholic

– Chinese -Hawaiian

– Jewish -Episcopalian

• Early Schools in Utah

• Fort Utah

• Golden Spike/Promontory Point/Railroads in Utah

• Hamblin, Jacob

• Handcarts

• Journalism in Utah

• Midwives

• Mining in Utah• Mountain Meadows Massacre• Outlaws (ie. Butch Cassidy)• Polygamy – laws and legislation• Pony Express• Powell, John Wesley• Pratt, Romania B.• Rockwell, Orrin Porter • Sagwitch• Salt Lake Theatre• Settlement of Wellsville• Settlement of Logan • Shipp, Ellis R.• Snow, Eliza R.• Utah War• Walkara• Wells, Emmeline B.• Women’s Suffrage/Voting• Z.C.M.I.

Research Website

Where to start?• We are going to practice how to research a

topic, prepare the information about it, and presenting it using the topics in our text book to do so.

• We have several topics left to learn about in this chapter…– Territorial Schools/Education

– Electricity comes to Utah

– More Mining

– Butch Cassidy

– John Wesley Powell

– Buffalo Soldiers

Topic

• The first thing to do is to think about this topic. Do I know anything about it?– Maybe I have never heard of the buffalo

soldiers so I might not be able to write much about them.

– Another topic, like mining, that we have learned about in class I would be able to write a lot more about.

Buffalo Soldiers• The next step is to write questions I want to

learn the answer to in my research. (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?)– Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

– Why were they called “Buffalo” Soldiers?

– Why did they come to Utah?

– What did they do when they came here?

– When did they live in Utah?

– Where did they work or live here?

– How did they affect our state’s history?– These are just a few questions that we should find the answers

for. As we think of other questions, we can add them to our list.

Now to the text…page 203

• Now that I have the questions I want to answer, it is time to read about the Buffalo soldiers in the book.

• Listen and see if any of the questions I ask were answered…

Research Cards• When I find the answer to a question then I

need to fill out a research card to note (or cite) where I got my information.

• A research card helps me remember what I learned, but also forces me to only write down what is most important from my source of information.

• If I don’t write down where my information is coming from, I am plagiarizing it (which is very illegal!).

• Here is how I fill out a research card…

Filling out a research card…Name ______________ Hour ___ Topic _______________________

Bibliographic Entry

Keywords, Questions Quotes/Summary

Name ______________ Hour ___ Topic _______________________

Filling out a research card…Name __Nancy Thatcher____________ Hour _1_ Topic __Buffalo Soldiers______________

Bibliographic Entry

Keywords, Questions Quotes/Summary

Name ______________ Hour ___ Topic _______________________

Ellsworth, George S. and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel. The Utah Journey. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2009. Print.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

1st - Be sure tofill out your name, hour, & topic on each card! 4th - When you find

your information, you must include a biblio. entry on each card!

2nd – Write the

question or key words about the

information you are

going to be taking

notes on.

3rd – When you find the answer to a question, or some details you want to include in your project, write them here (including the back if necessary!).

The Buffalo Soldiers were African-American soldiers sent to Utah and other western posts during the late 1800s.

Then…

• After you have collected enough information, you will organize the information on your cards into a presentation.

• Put the cards in an order that makes sense (chronological usually is best, or thematically).

• Select and write up the information for your presentation.– Remember not to plagiarize!

The Next Step – An Outline for the PowerPoint

• Slide 1: Thesis StatementThe Buffalo Soldier were the black soldier sent out west after the Civil War to keep the peace.

• Slide 2: Main Idea/Title of the Slide__The Origin of the Buffalo Soldiers ________

• Important Facts

During the Civil War, the Union (North) created regiments of black soldiers to fight in the war….

Tell us what your project is going to be about.

The Buffalo Soldiers of Utah

Utah Studies1st Hour

By Nancy Thatcher

Thesis• The Buffalo

Soldier were brave African-American soldier who were sent out west after the Civil War to keep the peace.

• They increased the diversity of Utah’speople and enriched our history.

The Origins of the Buffalo Soldiers

• During the Civil War, the Union in the North needed more soldiers to fight.

• They began to create all black regiments of soldiers, who fought to end slavery in the United States.The movie Glory dramatized the history of

one Civil War black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts.

Research Time• For the rest of our time, go through these steps with

your group.– First think of everything you already know about your topic.

(It is a waste of time to ask questions you already know the answer to!!)

– Second write a series of questions you want to answer about the topic. (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How)

– Third read your section of the book to find the answers. (Usually, you will need more than one source to answer all of your questions.)

– Fourth, fill out your research cards with a bibliography.

– Finally, organized your cards into an understandable order and make an outline.

The Next Step• Once you have completed your research,

then it is time to make an outline for your presentation.

• Take your research cards and organize them in a way that is understandable and logical.– For a person (Brigham Young), typically you will tell

about their youth, middle years, and then the end of their life.

– For important events (Mountain Meadows) typically you want to explain what happened first, second, etc.

– For broader topics (journalism in Utah) you will want to arrange your information in categories (newspapers, famous journalists, important stories).

Make a presentation…• Use PowerPoint to make a short

presentation about your topic.

• For this practice activity, only create 5-8 slides.

• Then decide who is going to say what in the presentation, practice, and present!!

• On Wednesday we will present the information we learned about our topics.

Bell Activity

Your word is “retire”Find the word on your yellow study guide and

complete the following information for the word.Find the definition using a glossary.Use your own knowledge and experience to

complete the rest of the definition.

Where should your backpack be?

No gum in class. Throw it in the garbage before class begins!

Word: retire My Understanding: 4 3 2 1

Definition: to withdraw from office or Draw a picture of it:

business, usually because of age

Sentence: The librarian retired to

Spend more time with her grandkids.

Synonym/Example: stop working,

Antonym/Non-Example: employee, worker

Does your work look something like this?