About History Day

National History Day is designed to help students learn to think like historians, exhibit their work in an authentic environment, and take ownership of their learning.

Quote from Lynne M. O'Hara, Director of Programs, NHD

Need a little help?

Here are a few short videos that cover some of the essential components of a History Day project. They can help you brush up on preparing and refining your project. Enjoy!

Introductory Videos

These short, introductory videos and accompanying worksheets can help you get started with your project. They discuss how and where to find sources, how and why to incorporate historical argument and student voice, and how an annotated bibliography should look and function.

Annotated Bibliography

Worksheet

Primary and Secondary

In-Depth Analysis Videos

1 - Preparing for Primary Source Analysis

3 - Organizing Original Thinking to Answer Research Questions

2 - Writing Notes and Original Thinking

4 - Proving Your Historical Argument and Peer Assesment

About the Theme

The theme changes yearly so students who do NHD every year will not repeat a theme. The themes are intentionally broad to encourage investigation of topics ranging from local to global, and from ancient time to the recent past. Students need to begin their research with secondary sources to gain the broader context, progress to finding primary sources, and then make an argument about the effects of a topic in history.

Theme Narrative Download