Assignment Instructions

For this assignment, you need to visit the National Archives Experience. Historians typically use two types of materials, secondary source, and primary source documents. Secondary sources are typically books and articles written on a particular historical event, well after the fact. Primary source documents are usually generated by first-hand participants. Good historians rely heavily on original materials created at the time of the event. For this reason, historians spend a good deal of time at the archives. There are many types of archives, but by far, the largest in the United States, is the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

The National Archives contains more than 10 billion documents, and they have collected over 1,200 of those in the National Archives Experience. After you have opened the above link, click on "continue" in the bottom right corner. This will take you to the Experience site. Here, you can select a topic, and collect documents relevant to that aspect of history. The system will then allow you to create posters, or even a video.

There are a number of ways that you can complete this assignment. Once you have collected your documents, you can create three posters, a video, a PowerPoint, or use them as evidence for writing a 3-5 page essay. Naturally, you will need some other information, and you can gather that through the internet, or other books and articles. It is best to avoid using textbooks.

Poster Option:

• Must include a minimum of one relevant image or document for each poster.
• Each poster must include a narrative that explains the historical significance.