Right around the corner - the 24th Illinois
History Expo will be held on May 6.
Here is a list of events for the day:
8:30 a.m. |
Project setup begins at the Prairie Capital Convention Center |
10:30 a.m. |
Opening Ceremony, First Floor Auditorium, Prairie Capital Convention Center |
1:00-2:00 p.m. |
Public viewing of projects |
2:00-2:45 p.m. |
Budinger Room closed for ribbon and evaluation placement |
2:45-3:45 p.m. |
Awards Ceremony |
 What is the Illinois History Fair?
The Illinois History Fair is an education program that offers students
four different project categories to enter
research projects on state and local history. There are numerous reasons why your students and school will
benefit from researching and writing about Illinois' history. Getting
started is easy. First locate your regional
fair, date, and coordinator. The next step is to consider attending
a teacher workshop. Special
awards for students are presented at both the regional fairs
and the Illinois History Expo. Students may also research history
fair topics for National
History Day in College Park, Maryland.
The student handbook Your Guide to Becoming a History Detective is available for download (pdf) which covers everything you need to know about participating in the Illinois History Fair. |
Table of Contents |
| Topic Selection |
Choosing Your History Expo Topic
|
page 3
|
| Focusing and Defining Your Topic |
page 3 |
| Thesis Statement |
page 4 |
|
Researching Your Topic: Finding and Organizing Information |
Finding Sources
|
page 4 |
| Research Sources: Primary and Secondary |
page 4 |
| Organizing Your New Information |
page 4 |
| Sample Note Card |
page 5 |
| Research Sources |
page 6 |
| Primary and Secondary |
page 6 |
| Locating Sources |
page 7 |
| Sources |
page 8 |
|
Summary Statement & Bibliography |
| Title Page |
page 9 |
| Summary Statement Questions |
page 10 |
| Bibliography |
page 10 |
|
| Now that you have found sources and compiled the relevant information to tell the history as well as to support your thesis statement, you must now make a presentation or write a paper. Some topics are more suited for certain presentations. For example, documentaries and exhibits rely on images to help tell the story. If your topic has few available images, you may decide to compose a research paper. Each Illinois History Expo category has recommended ways to present information. However, it is YOUR project, so let the creative juices flow, work hard, and you will proud of your effort! |
|
| Presentation Categories: |
| Research Paper |
page 13 |
| Exhibits |
page 14 |
| Media Documentary |
page 16 |
| Performances |
page 18 |
| How Illinois History Expo Projects are Evaluated |
page 19 |
|
View the Goals and Standards (pdf) of
the Illinois Learning Standards that are addressed by participation
in the history fairs and Statewide Expo. |
