American History Resource

If you're studying American History, this resource provides documents, essays, speeches, biographies of influential people, and information about American presidents that you may find useful.

Explore the National Museum of Natural History

If you're looking for something fun to do this Sunday, why not take a virtual trip to the National Museum of Natural History? Let yourself roam the halls of the geology hall, meet your ancestors in the Hall of Human Origins, or look on in awe at the Ancient Seas exhibit.

If virtual tours aren't your cup of tea, you can explore a variety of topics on the Smithsonian website, including The Evolving Earth and the Diversity of Life. You can also take a peek at their Ocean Portal, or head over to their blog, where you can browse through a news archive stretching back 100 years.

WebRangers

If you love nature and are interested in learning about America's national and state parks, you might want to check out WebRangers. You can play a variety of educational games that will help you learn about history, science, and animal life. You can also help the rangers decode puzzles and go on awesome scavenger hunts.

This site is best suited for younger learners. Middle and high schoolers can head over to NPS's Explore Nature site to learn more about conservation efforts all around the country.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is an amazing search engine that serves as an advanced calculator, online dictionary, and virtual database of people, events, statistics, countries, nutritional information, weather, maps, science, art, technology, and more. To see examples of what you can look up with Wolfram Alpha, click here. Follow this link to go straight to the search engine itself. 

The search engine is free, but if you'd like to take it on the go with you, you can download the Wolfram Alpha app for your tablet or smart phone for a small fee.

Decoding Photographs

In most middle and high school history classes, you will come across the dreaded DBQ's. Short for Document Based Questions, teachers tend to make a Big Deal of DBQ's. Educators often spend a lot of time prepping students to answer these kinds of questions because most students are used to learning history from a textbook, or a lecture, of a professional analysis of an event, and are therefore unaccustomed to having to look at a historical document or photograph and analyze it themselves.

In general, DBQ's have a fairly good mix of primary textual sources like letters from soldiers, declarations of war, telegraphs from one leader to another, and newspaper articles written during the event, photographical primary sources, and other sources like maps, charts, tables, and diagrams. In this post, we're going to be focusing on how to decode photographs.

Take a look at this one, for example.

You may have seen it before, or you might not have. Let's pretend for a moment that you've never seen this photograph before in your life, and you don't have any textual hints whatsoever what period of history it might be from. (This will never happen on a test; however, it's quite common to come across an isolated image in real life or in the Internet and have to draw your own conclusions about it.) 

We have to start somewhere, so let's start with the assumption that this photograph was taken after the invention of photography. That's pretty much a given, right? The first photograph of a person was taken in 1838, but photography wasn't very good back then, and it was extremely expensive. For a long time, most of the photographs taken were commissioned portraits of wealthy families or individuals. Those photographs were taken in high street studios and required a mix of good lighting, careful posing, and meticulously chosen props to mimic the style of earlier portrait artists who worked with a paintbrush and canvas to 'idealize' their subjects. However, it's clear that this woman is not wealthy or in a high street studio. She's far from idealized, as well; the photographer's goal here was to highlight her flaws, not to brush them away. 

In 1901, the Kodak Brownie brought photography to the masses. Photography was no longer an exclusive high street profession, and it was affordable enough that the average middle class person could afford a camera. So, now we have somewhat of a date. This photograph was most likely taken sometime between 1901 and 2015. But wait a second. When was the last time you saw someone taking a black and white photograph? Sure, photographers still use black and white filters to achieve an artistic effect or to make a statement, but the majority of people photographing historical events these days use color whenever possible. 

Color photography was invented in 1861. However, it took days of exposure and it was even more expensive than regular photography. The cost of color photography went down in the 1940's, but habit compelled people to use traditional methods well into the 1950's and 60's. You start to see the transition between black and white and color photography around the year 1950, so let's take an educated guess and say that this photograph was taken before the year 1950. 

Now we have a range we can work with. Sure, a lot of things happened between 1901 and 1950, but at least now we know not to guess that this was taken during the Vietnam War or during the American Revolution. 

(I'd just like to take a moment to note that we do have many historical photographs from before 1901. We have photos of officers from the Civil War and pictures of Union camps and photographs of Abraham Lincoln, as well as several other presidents from the 19th century. However, those photographs are primitive compared to the one above, which is superbly defined.) 

So now we can ask ourselves what major events happened between 1901 and 1950. The World Wars come to mind, as does the Flu of 1918, the Roaring 20's, the women's suffrage moment, and the Great Depression. We can eliminate the Roaring 20's right away. This woman isn't happy and carefree. She's worried about her children and her future and her own wellbeing. She's dirty and her clothes are ripped. Her children are in a similar state and the mood of the photograph is altogether bleak and hopeless. We can probably cross the Flu of 1918 off our list as well. She isn't visibly ill and a pandemic can't really explain her unwashed appearance. She's probably not a member of the woman's suffrage movement, either. While many women were jailed and went on hunger strikes in the process of obtaining the right to vote, she wouldn't have her children with her if she was imprisoned and she would probably appear more brave and determined if she was a free woman fighting for her right to be represented in government. So that the leaves the World Wars and the Great Depression. 

Is it possible that she's a European refugee who lost her home and perhaps her husband to a war? Yes, absolutely. However, this is the point in our hypothetical exercise where you realize you're taking an American history class, and that your teacher probably isn't mean enough to try to confuse you with pictures of European refugees. 

So now we've correctly arrived at the conclusion that this photograph was taken during the Great Depression. This woman and her family are living in abject poverty. They barely have enough money for food, let alone new clothes. They're clearly homeless and probably living in a Hooverville somewhere. 

You might be asked to deduce what this woman's concerns are, or how she's feeling, or how she got into this situation. She's clearly miserable, and she's probably worried about providing for her family. She might be hungry, or cold, and her children are crying. She might be wondering when things are going to get better, or she might have given up on hope entirely. She might even be remembering her life before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 plunged the world into an economic depression. 

And we got all of that by being able to place this photograph in its proper historical context. 

National Geographic Learning Resources

At National Geographic's official sites, students can access a wide array of learning tools and educational resources. You can read thousands of articles about new archeological finds, conservation efforts, climate change, strange and wonderful creatures, foreign lands and much, much more. You can also watch educational videos or browse through hundreds of breath-taking photographs of landscapes, weather, and animals from all over the world. Older students can click here to take a look, while younger students and struggling readers should head on over to Nat Geo Kids for content that's easier to comprehend but just as exciting as it's partner site.

Today's Lesson: A Portrait of Humanity

Pretend for a moment that you are a scientist working at NASA. You have a cool little badge that lets you into super-secret labs and everything. You and your colleagues are working on a special project. You're going to send a space probe far, far away, beyond Jupiter, beyond Saturn, beyond Uranus, beyond Neptune, beyond poor Pluto and it's tiny moon, beyond the solar system itself. You're going to be sending it out into the great unknown, like casting a bottle out into the cosmic sea. You're not quite sure where it's going or even if it'll survive the journey. You don't know who - or what - will find it, or even if there's anyone or anything out there to discover it, but you know that when you consider the vastness and age of the universe, it's statistically unlikely that we're the only planet harboring life and, furthermore, you are human and you cannot and will not believe that out of all the star systems in the universe, ours is the only one that supports life.

So your task is to paint a picture of human kind, the planet it calls home, and the billions of creatures it shares that world with. You and your colleagues are going to be including a golden record - a kind of CD, if you will - that will last a billion years. The only question is: What are we going to put on that CD?

Take a few moments to think about that question. If an alien race discovers your space probe a hundred million years from now, what do you want them to see? Are you going to be brutally honest and include a comprehensive overview of world history from recorded history to the present day, or are you going to edit out the worst bits? How are you going to represent the entirety of the human race in just a few dozen photographs? Are you going to include pictures of world leaders or just everyday people? How are you going to communicate the range of human emotion to an alien? How would you communicate love, and joy, and sorrow, and grief? Are you going to include any artworks? If so, which ones? Your mind might go straight to Van Gogh or Rembrandt, but remember that you're supposed to be representing all of humanity. Are you going to include pictures of the weather? How about human dwellings? What about the Great Pyramids and the Coliseum? Are you going to include portrayals of human suffering and cruelty? Are you going to cut genocide and war out of the picture, or will you leave it in the story for the sake of honesty?

What kind of sounds are you going to include? Aliens probably aren't going to speak any human language, so how else would you communicate with them? What kind of music would you include?

You can see how the scientists working on the Voyager probe back in 1977 answered these questions by following this link and clicking on the links to 'Scenes from Earth,' 'Greetings from Earth,' 'Music from Earth,' and 'Sounds from Earth.'

Once you've taken a few minutes to browse through the sounds, music, and pictures, consider this: If the Voyager Space probe is ever discovered by an advanced alien race, this is all they will know of Earth and the people who live here. This is all they will know of humanity, and the creatures that live alongside us. They will hear our greetings and listen to our songs and play our sounds and look upon a few dozen pictures and they will judge everyone who has ever walked this Earth and everyone who ever will based solely on that tiny, tiny bit of information.

Ask yourself if you are happy with the portrait of humanity contained within the Voyager Space Probe. Did it make you proud to be human, or leave you feeling strangely disappointed?

Try, if you can, to put yourself on the receiving end of this message. Who are these people, and what is their place in the universe? What have they accomplished during their species' reign? How have they left their mark? And, ultimately, are they important? When our message in a bottle washes up on the cosmic shores of some distant world, will its inhabitants recognize the thousands of years of art and literature, struggle and triumph, love and joy, beauty and hardship, mistakes and knowledge, hope and faith, science and technology and passion that went into its making? Or will they look upon it as we would look at an ape drawing a line in the sand with a stick, slightly amused, mildly baffled, and ultimately unimpressed?

Filthy Cities Documentary Series

Filthy Cities is a BBC documentary series that explores three historical cities and analyzes how their efforts to clean up led to lasting social, political, economic, and infrastructural changes that helped bring each city into the modern age.

Filthy Cities: Medieval London

Filthy Cities: Revolutionary Paris

Filthy Cities: Industrial New York

I would recommend this documentary series only for high schoolers and mature middle school students due to the depiction of disease, death, organic decay, and execution.

Collection of Online Interactives

Check out this collection of educational interactives from all over the Internet. They're meant mainly for students in grades K-5, but I have to confess that I had fun clicking around the site too. The site hosts links to science, math, ELA, social studies, music, art, and Spanish interactives and is very easy to navigate, so I'm sure that it'll be a breeze to find exactly what you want to learn about.

Why it's Vital to Supplement School with Home Learning

In today's increasingly global, intensely competitive, and dizzyingly fast-paced society, it is vital to supplement what you learn at school with home learning. First of all, let's define what I mean by 'home learning.' I don't mean homework, and I don't mean studying for school-related tests or quizzes. Nor do I mean sitting down and reading your entire biology book in one session. (Seriously, don't do this. You will wake up in terrible pain several hours later regretting every life choice you ever made. I speak from experience. Possibly; it could have been a dream for all I know.)

What I do mean by home learning is going to the library and finding a novel that captivates your attention. I mean tuning into the science channel for a little while. I mean going online to watch educational videos that inspire you. I mean sitting down and writing a poem about what's outside your window, or writing a short story about what your cat does when you're not looking (spoiler: he licks everything you own), or writing a series of novels about alien dinosaurs that may or may not be planets.

Find a topic that interests you and learn everything you can find about it. Admittedly, that's probably an impossible goal in this day and age. If you try to learn everything you can find about volcanoes, say, you'll have to sort through fifty million webpages, videos, articles, pictures, ads, etc, etc. When I was a child, all I had to do was take out five books from the library and watch a 45-minute documentary and presto, I had explored every possible avenue of volcano-related knowledge that existed in my small corner of the world. Perhaps a better bit of advice would be to explore the topic of your desire until your curiosity is throughly satisfied.

Find something you're passionate about. If you like art, take a virtual museum tour. Do some research about galleries that offer free or reduced-price or optional admission, and politely request that your caregiver organize a day trip in the near future. If you want to try your hand at art, see if you can borrow some art supplies from your school or local library. If not, you may just have to settle for sketching with a pencil or pen and drawing online until you can save up enough to explore some other mediums like pastel, watercolor, or sculpture. See if you can apprentice with a local artist or if you can negotiate a work-for-knowledge sort of employment.

You might want to explore film-making or photography. Even if you start with the camera in your phone, you can still play with light and shadow, theme, mood, tone, composition, and subject. Experiment. Mix it up. With your parent's permission, you might even be able to start a Youtube channel. Enlist the help of your friends to interview elders in your community. Gather stories from the people around you, or find an beautiful little place of isolation where you can record the swaying of trees or the blossoming of flowers or the ebb and flow of the urban environment.

Volunteer. Find out if there are any local animal shelters or hospitals nearby that accept volunteers. If you love working with animals or helping other people, this might be a great way to gain experience, give back to your community, and start building your resume or CV.

Spend a day at the library with the goal of exploring something completely new. Go to the geography section and find a book about a country you've never heard of. Wander over to the history section and pick out a few books about time periods you know little about. Make your way over to the science isle and find materials about a theory you've never even knew existed. Either do it the old-fashioned way and leave your electronics at home, or bring along a tablet or laptop for additional research. (Just make sure it's silenced beforehand, or you might find yourself on the receiving end of a very disapproving SHHH!)

If you're interested in computers, electronics, engineering, or robotics, see if you can find a really old desktop computer from the '90s. You might have to look around your neighborhood on trash day or ask around to see if anyone is looking to get rid of a broken computer, or you might have to settle for buying one. A general rule of the thumb is the older, dingier, dustier, and more broken it is, the cheaper it'll be. Your goal here is to take apart the computer, so don't spend more than 10 or 15 dollars. If you can find a tower as well, great. (For those of you too young to remember what a tower is, it's a big, loud, noisy black box that used to run our computers and stub our toes back in the days before laptops.) I took one of those bad boys apart a few years back, and it was pretty awesome. I am, however, contractually obligated to inform you that you will find fifteen years of dust, pet hair, and other assorted debris, so consider yourself warned.

If you're interested in coding, that's another story entirely. I'm planning a post about online resources for students just like you, so keep checking back over the next week.

You might be interested in geography as well. Try starting a rock collection, and learning about the origin of each rock, how it was formed, approximately how old it may be, and how professional geologists would classify it.

If you love nature and find yourself inspired by trees and flowering plants, there's a couple of things you can do to foster that interest. Ask your caregiver if you can start a small garden in your yard, or, if you don't have a yard, ask if you can dedicate a windowsill or corner of your room to a small garden. You might want to try growing herbs, flowers, succulents, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or even bushes and small trees. You might even want to start a butterfly garden or a compost pile. (Please remember that unless you're living on a piece of property that you yourself own, you will either need to ask your landlord and/or caregiver for permission.) You can also join Arbor Day foundation and get ten trees delivered to your house when you purchase a year-long ten dollar membership. You'll be helping the environment, beautifying your community, purifying your air, and providing a place for local birds to nest. And I will stress again that you must ask your caregiver to borrow their credit card before purchasing a membership, unless you are an adult or are old enough to have a high school checking account with a debit card.

If you're interested in writing, you might want to start a blog, or contribute to an existing forum for young writers. If your school has a journalism group or newspaper, enquire about joining.

I'm sure that there are other interests I've missed. If you'd like a personalized recommendation for home learning ideas for your personal interest or hobby, leave a comment and myself or my co-partner will be more than happy to help you.

My point here is that you should find something you love. Find something that excites you, something that inspires you, something that matters to you, something that speaks to your heart and your mind and your very being.

This isn't just important because it'll boost your grades. (Though, it is likely to help you perform better in school. That's just a bonus.) It's important because you are young and full of excitement and curiosity. Right now, you have so much potential. Make the most of it by exploring the world around you and learning as much as you can. If you're doing what you love, it won't feel like 'work' or 'learning,' but it'll still prepare you for your future years of schooling and for your future career. If you find that thing that inspires your mind to soar to new heights, you can start thinking of the kind of job you'll want when you grow up. If you love nature, you might become a botanist. If you can't go a day without animals, consider researching a veterinary career. If you're a computer whizz, think about becoming an engineer or a coder.

The best part of finding what speaks to you is that you'll start to see the world in an entirely new light. The more you know, the more connections you can make. The more you bring into the classroom with you, the more knowledge you'll leave with. Please don't think of learning as a chore. Learning... Learning is a box holding a key to a whole new world. So get out there. Learn something, even if it's one little thing every day, and watch as the world opens itself to you. It won't happen overnight, and it might not happen for years. But if you make a habit of learning, and if you learn to love learning, one day you will look down and find that key in your hand. See where it takes you. You might be surprised to discover where it leads, but I promise you this: you will not be disappointed.

TED Talks

TED Talks online gives learners from all over the globe access to innovative talks given from the world's premier experts. The Talks range from subtly humorous to jaw-droppingly beautiful to awe-inspiringly ingenious. The Talks range in duration from five minutes to just over a half hour, so you can fit them into your morning train commute, your mid-morning coffee break, your lunch hour, or your late afternoon snack time. High schoolers and adult learners would likely get the most out of this resource, but middle schoolers can feel free to take a peek around as well.

Writing Habits to Ditch in Middle School

When you were in elementary school, your teacher might have given you a formula for writing that looked something like this:

• An essay is three to five paragraphs. 
• A paragraph is exactly five sentences. No more, and no less. 
• You start with your introduction. Begin with 'let me tell you all about' or 'first.'
• The next three paragraphs are the body. Use transitions like 'second,' 'next,' 'then,' etc.
• Your fifth paragraph must start with 'in conclusion,' or 'as you can see.' 

If you are in elementary school, this kind of writing is fine. You're still learning how to use your writing muscles and no one is going to expect you to sit down and write Paradise Lost. 

However, if you're in middle school or high school, the above formula is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. My co-partner and I (and probably your teachers as well) feel something like this when they see a middle or a high schooler writing like that. 

Now that you know what not to do, let's discuss some alternatives that will bring your writing up to grade level.

• Begin by acknowledging that an essay can be one paragraph or fifty pages. A paragraph can be one line long, or it could fill it up half your page. This is English, not chemistry or math. There is no formula for the perfect essay, nor any equation that will give you an awesome paper.
• Start with your thesis statement. This is either the point you're trying to prove (if you're writing a 'critical lens' for English or some similar such essay) or the topic you're going to be talking about. 
• Example One: Robert Frost once said that "freedom lies in being bold." There is a compelling truth in these words, as true freedom can only be found by gathering the courage to forge one's own path in life in pursuit of one's hopes and dreams. 
• When you are asked to write critical lenses, your teacher often asks you to agree or disagree with a given statement. I'd recommend that middle schoolers do so explicitly, but that high school students attempt to do so more subtly. In the above example, I never outright said I agreed with the quote, but it's clear that I do in fact support the point of view expressed. 
• Example Two: World War Two caused a great number of social, economic, technological, political, and global changes that paved the way towards the modern world. 
• Finish off your introductory paragraph by providing a little more detail. Give a brief overview of the evidence you're going to use later on in your essay. Just remember not to play all of your cards in the first paragraph. 
• Use your body paragraphs to analyze the evidence you're going to provide to prove your point. 
• For the critical lens, you'll probably want to think of two or more works of literature that support your position. Remember that you can use books, plays, or even poetry to back up your thesis. 
• You can devote one paragraph to a real world example. I'd generally advise against using personal examples. However, feel free to draw from history and current events. 
• For the history essay, spend one paragraph on each point: social changes, political changes, economic changes, and technological changes. You'll want to save the 'global changes' part for your conclusion.
• In each paragraph, give examples of the various changes that happened after the war. You can talk about the Baby Boom, the rise of the suburbs, America's rise to a global superpower, the Cold War and the way it changed the political climate of the 20th century, the Truman Doctrine, women's return to the 'domestic sphere' after comprising a significant part of the workforce during the war, and the various civil rights movements that emerged shortly after the war.
• High schoolers should also acknowledge counter-points to their argument. For the English essay, you should acknowledge that there are other ways of achieving freedom, and that the concept of freedom itself is incredibly objective. For the WWII essay, spend a paragraph talking about the changes that represented a step back for society rather than a leap forward. 
• Now it's time for your conclusion. The best way to do this is to restate your thesis in light of the evidence you provided. This is also the place to acknowledge counter-arguments if you can't devote an entire paragraph to it. You're also going to want to make a Big Picture connection. Explain why the topic of your writing is important. Talk about how Robert Frost's words apply to everyone in some way. Spend a couple of sentences discussing the lasting consequences of WWII and how we are still benefiting (or, in some cases, suffering) from its repercussions. 
• Let your essay end naturally. Allow it to taper off. Think of writing as an art form. You don't want to hammer in your point; you want it to gradually settle upon your reader. Ideally, your essay should have the impact of steel but read with the smoothness of silk.

Khan Academy

A while back, one of our readers suggested that we add Khan Academy to our list of resources.

Khan Academy offers an amazing variety of learning resources. Students can brush up on their math or science skills, learn about economics and finance, dive into the world of computer programing, prep for the Big Test, or access partner content offered by world-renowned museums.

Khan Academy is an awesome resource for learners of all ages. Kindergartners through college students can benefit from using Khan Academy, as can their caregivers and teachers. Adult learners can enjoy these resources as well. Whether you're 5 or 125, Khan Academy will help you learn something new.

A Tudor Feast Documentary

Take a peek at this fascinating documentary in which a team of expert historians attempts to recreate an authentic Tudor feast using a real period kitchen, locally caught and sourced food, and none of the conveniences of modern culinary technology. It'll give you an interesting glimpse into the pre-refrigeration, pre-super-market, pre-running water, pre-electricity past.

Black Death Documentary

This documentary explores the first outbreak of Bubonic Plague in Europe from 1347 to 1350. It provides an overview of the symptoms of the disease, its spread through Western Europe, and society's reaction to the pandemic.

While this documentary is a good starting place to learn about the plague, it is in no way comprehensive. If you're interested in learning more about Bubonic Plague, you should research the Justinian Plague (the first major outbreak of the Bubonic Plague) as well as the frequent and devastating subsequent outbreaks that would continue plague Europe through most of the last millennium.

Please note that this documentary labels the Bubonic Plague as the 'worst event in European history.' While the Black Death was the most devastating pandemic ever to sweep across Europe, both myself and my co-partner firmly believe that several historical events, including the World Wars and the Crusades, would be far better contenders for that grim honor.

As this documentary discusses disease and mortality in vivid detail, I would not recommend it for elementary schoolers, and I would advise that parents of middle schoolers exercise caution before allowing their children to watch it.

Current Events and Reading the News

Here at Infinite Potential Tutoring, we firmly believe in keeping up to date with current events. Students should have a basic understanding of major events happening in their own nation, and in this increasingly global world, a firm grasp of what is happening elsewhere as well.

You've undoubtedly been told time and time again in school that learning about history is a vital component of a good education, and while that is absolutely true, many of us forget that what is happening right now will be history in twenty, or fifty, or one hundred years. The world is changing every single day, and a well-educated, well-spoken, well-rounded person should be aware of those changes.

Please note that this doesn't always apply to elementary and middle school students. The world can be a violent, scary place and while it's still important for you to learn about history, there is no need to expose yourself to the sometimes brutal realities of life just yet.

High school students, however, should dedicate at least ten or fifteen minutes a day to catching up on world affairs, current events, and political developments. If you are an American high school student and you cannot tell me about the various instances of police brutality towards minority groups that occurred in 2014, you are missing a vital piece of knowledge that every American citizen should know about. You should also be able to connect these events to the history of African Americans in this nation, from the colonial slaves to the Civil War to the African American community's continuing struggle for equality, civil rights, and basic human rights.

Now that we've established that you should be reading the news a few times a week, let's discuss where you should go about finding that news. A simple google search reveals millions of results, but not all news sites are created equal. Some are biased, some are written from a radical perspective, and many of them aren't as neutral towards the events they're reporting upon as they should be.

I personally find BBC News to be a good source of mostly unbiased, reliable information. The site also has special sections dedicated to each region of the world, from Europe to North America to the Middle East to Africa to South America to Oceania. They also have science, business, and entertainment news sections in case you're looking for something specific.

http://www.bbc.com/news/ generally focuses on world news, so you'll find current stories and updates from all over the world.

The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) is also one of the most trusted newspapers in the world, as is the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/us).

Feel free to explore other news sites as well. Don't take one site's word for it. Get a second, and a third, and a fourth opinion. Explore all the different perspectives of an issue. There's many sides to every story, and your job is to examine as many as possible to form an educated opinion of the issue at hand.

The best part of making a habit of reading the news (besides learning a lot and keeping up to date on what's happening in your world) is when you're able to impress your teachers and friends by making an insightful connection between a conflict going on right now and a historical event that's been over for a century or two.

So, got out there into the digital forest. Chances are that something important is happening somewhere in the world right this very second. Be the first to know about it. :)

Credible Sources

I promised you a post on credible sources, so here it is. Your imaginary teacher assigned you an imaginary four-page research paper about American involvement in World War II.

Let's take a moment to talk about all that research you're going to be doing. My co-partner has a sort of Golden Rule when it comes to research papers - one hour for every page. Oh my gosh, you might be thinking. There's no way I'm going to be spending four hours on this paper before I've even started writing it! First of all, relax. That rule applies more to college-level papers than the papers your average high school student is going to be writing. I would cut that number in half for you and say that you'll need to spend a good two hours researching for this paper.

So, what kind of research do you want me to do? You might ask. Let's go over the kind of research you aren't going to be doing first.

When you google World War 2, 519,000,000 results come up. You aren't going to be using the vast majority of them. You also aren't going to be using the first result, which looks something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

That's Wikipedia. Wikipedia is good for a great many things. If you need to find out whether your cat is an American shorthair or a Toyger, Wikipedia is your go-to guy. If you need to settle a bet with your best friend, Wikipedia is the way to go. If you need to find out what that new TV show you've been hearing about lately is all about, Wikipedia is your best shot. But if you need to write a high school research paper, Wikipedia is a fast-track to an angry teacher and a big fat C- (or worse!)

Moving on. Now that we've established that Wikipedia is a definite NO, what about this site: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

That's a .net site. It's good for getting a general idea of what the war was about, but that's about it. Use it to get into the researching mood, but don't bookmark it to cite.

Now we're going to get into the kinds of site you can use. Take a look at this one: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137

That's a website from the United States Holocaust Museum. While it's not exactly about American involvement in WWII (which is what your paper is about, remember), it is managed by a museum and was probably written by WWII scholars. These are the kinds of sites you're going to want to research from and cite.

That's a .org site, though. It's still not your best bet if you want to be absolutely sure you're getting the most accurate information available. For that, you're going to want to go to .gov and .edu sites. Government managed sites and those run by universities are some of the most credible sources out there, and should be your go-to research domains.

A government site: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/

A .edu site: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=15&smtid=1

You also want to use a couple of primary sources in your essay. Good luck!

Research Paper Pacing Guide

Let's take a moment to discuss credible sources. Say that your history teacher just assigned you a research paper about World War II. Your task is to summarize American involvement in the war in four double-spaced pages. Your due date is in two weeks. Oh no!

First of all, don't panic. Two weeks is more than enough time to write this kind of paper, even with all the geometry homework you have and the physics test you need to study for and your little sister's dance recital on Thursday night and that sleep-over you'd been planning over the weekend. Four double-spaced pages is only about 1,000 words.

On behalf of your teacher, I'd like to caution you against using any 'tricks' to get out of writing the full thousand words. You can try to set the spacing to 2.5 or use a HUGE font, but don't think you're fooling anyone. Your teacher has seen it all before, and s/he will not be impressed. In fact, s/he might be rather cross with you, and more often than not, teachers take out their frustrations with your little tricks by knocking down your grade a couple of points. That might not seem like a lot, but it could make the difference between an A and a B at the end of the semester.

Okay, back to our plan. After you've taken a few deep breaths and repeated 'I can do this' once or twice, you're going to need to set up a pacing guide for yourself. Start as soon as possible. And by 'as soon as possible,' I do not mean Sunday night at eight p.m. on the Monday before it's due. The best time to start is right now. (There's no time like the present, after all!) If that's not possible, carve out a space in your schedule to begin your research in the next two days. More on this later.

Alright, let's pretend that you've done all your research and gathered all your facts. You're confident that you know enough about WWII to write 1,000 words about it, and you're pumped. You are so ready to write this thing. Your history teacher won't know what hit her/him! You might want to start with an outline to organize your thoughts, or you might want to dive right in. Either way, give yourself three to five days to get through the writing stage.

Time jump. You've got 1,000 words on a Word document and you still have an entire week until your essay is due. At this point, you'll want to start the editing process. Read through your paper to make sure it makes sense. Check to see if it flows. Watch out for spelling and grammar errors. Read it aloud to catch those sneaky mistakes. You might want to get a second opinion as well. Ask a friend, parent, or tutor to give it a quick look through for you. They may be able to spot mistakes you might have missed. If your teacher has office hours or is open to helping students, you might want to give them a visit as well. Don't drop in unexpectedly, though. Shoot them a quick e-mail respectfully asking if they could take a quick look at your essay. Check out the sample e-mail below.

Dear Ms. Robinson,

I've been working on the WWII essay due at the end of the week. I'm in the final stages of editing, and I was wondering if you could take a quick look at it to see if there's any way I could make it better. I would greatly appreciate your input, but I totally understand if you're too busy. 

See you in class tomorrow,

Jane

A word of caution: DO NOT send this e-mail to your teacher the day before the paper is due. If your teacher responds at all, it probably won't be anything to want to hear. No one likes being asked to do things last minute. Also, don't take advantage of your teacher. Asking for help with major papers and requesting general advice on how you can do better in their class is fine. Running to them for every little assignment is not.

This is also the time you want to start working on your bibliography as well. Make sure to cite every source you used. Also, do not plagiarize. This should totally go without saying.

You might also want to add a cover page. Make this part as fancy as you want. Use that weird font you've been eyeing for forever. Just make sure that if you use an image you found online, cite it!

Flash forward to The Dreaded Due Date. You're not stressed, though, because you started (and finished) early. You didn't lose a minute of sleep last night. Just make sure you don't forget your paper in the printer tray. That'd be tragic. (You might want to e-mail your paper to your teacher the night before just in case. Add a joking little note that you're so forgetful and you'd hate to accidentally come to class without your paper.)

Now all that's left to do is sit back and wait for the A's to start rolling in. Check out our next post on credible sources for more help with the 'research' part of your paper.

Reading List: A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States is a book everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. It can be found online here: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

Note: Other great books, resources, documents, and maps can be found at http://www.historyisaweapon.org/indextrue.html

Learning Video Resource - Crash Course

Crash Course is a great way to review for tests and quizzes or to catch up on a lesson you've missed. It's completely free, and while the maker of the videos tends to talk very fast, he manages to make even the dullest subjects fascinating.

World History: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

Biology: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3EED4C1D684D3ADF

Ecology: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNdTKZkV_GiIYXpV9w4WxbX

Literature: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOeEc9ME62zTfqc0h6Pe8vb

US History: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s

Chemistry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPHzzYuWy6fYEaX9mQQ8oGr