Begin at the Start

Research is the foundation of any History Day project. Now that you have selected a topic, the research process begins. Learning about the main events of your topic is a great start. Learn what happened before, during, and after your topic so that you can show an understanding of your topic’s significance in history.  

Begin by finding sources of information. Sources are used to interpret a topic. It is your job to seek, locate, and find information from a variety of sources.

Think of a detective who seeks accurate and credible information and clues in order to re-create events and solve a crime. A history researcher is like a detective because they seek out a wide variety of information to see the big picture. Ask questions, seek additional evidence, and make connections between primary sources. A researcher must locate, comprehend, and analyze sources to tell a historic story. 

Sources are tools that researchers use to support their claims.

The information that you find in each of these areas will be part of your final project and you will use it to write the thesis and text for each section of your project.

Historians use two key types of sources while conducting research: primary and secondary. Using both types of sources strengthens an argument.

Do you know the key differences between these types of sources?

What is a secondary source?

We suggest you begin your research examining secondary sources because it can help provide important historical context related to your topic. They can help put a historical figure or event into a “big picture” context. Reading secondary sources helps you make connections between a topic and other important ideas, people, places, and events.

Secondary sources:

• are written after an event is over by someone who did not experience the historical era first-hand
• are usually written decades, if not centuries, after the time period by historians
• retell, analyze, or interpret events
• are drawn from the study of many primary sources
• have the advantage of hindsight
• provide facts and details about a particular topic
• allow a researcher to discover history first hand, through the words, artifacts, and images of the people who lived it

They can help you grasp:

• what was known about the event from the primary source’s creator
• other related events from the same time period
• why the event is considered historically significant

What is a primary source?

Primary sources:

• are created during the time that the event took place
• are fragments of information told form one perspective
• are unaltered by time
• provide facts and details about a particular topic
• allow a researcher to discover history first hand, through the words, artifacts, and images of the people who lived it

Bias in Primary Sources

Some primary sources are biased. Your job as a researcher is to understand how and why people behaved the way that they did in the past. One single viewpoint, or perspective, is not the only opinion expressed during a particular historic era. Finding a variety of perspectives can help a researcher understand the complexity of the past.

Approaching History Day Research

In the past, students have found that choosing a source tracking system and starting with secondary sources helps them gauge whether enough research is available before investing more time. If not, they can pivot topics early. We suggest you do the same. Build a solid grounding in secondary sources before moving on to primary sources. After you have selected your topic, follow these helpful steps:

Explore These Collections for Sources

Other Online Primary Source Collections

The following collections of primary sources listed below may be helpful.