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While most of the criteria for the National History Day project is the same no matter which category you choose, there are a few differences.
In general, all projects need to:
- Address the theme
- Include a thesis statement
- Contain accurate historical information
- Address historical context and impact on history
- Be supported by significant primary and secondary research that represents a variety of source types and perspectives.
The official similarities from the NHD Rule Book are below, and the differences are found in the specific category links.
Please wait to choose a category until the category presentations at the beginning of January. The research that you find will help you determine which category is the best fit for you and for your topic.
General Rubric
Guidelines for all categories:
(from the National History Day Rulebook)
A. General Rules For All Categories
- Rule 1: Annual Theme
- Your entry must relate clearly to the annual theme and explain your topic’s significance in history.
- Rule 2: Contest Participation
- You may participate in the research, preparation, and presentation of only one entry each year. You may share research only with up to four other students who are fellow participants in your group entry. You may not create a common pool of research from which several entries are created.
- Rule 3: Individual or Group Entries
- A paper, individual exhibit, individual performance, individual web site, or individual documentary must be the work of only one student. A group exhibit, group performance, group web site, or group documentary must be the work of 2 to 5 students. All students in a group entry must be involved in the research and interpretation of the group’s topic.
- Rule 4: Development Requirements
- Entries submitted for competition must be original and have been researched and developed in the current contest year. Revising or reusing an entry from a previous year—whether it is yours or another student’s—will result in disqualification. The year begins each June, following the national contest.
- Rule 5: Construction of Entry
- You are responsible for the research, design, and creation of your entry. You may receive help and advice from teachers and parents on the mechanical aspects of creating your entry.
- You may have help typing your paper and other written materials.
- You may seek guidance from your teachers as you research and analyze your material, but your conclusions must be your own.
- You may have photographs and slides commercially developed.
- You may have reasonable help cutting out your exhibit backboard or performance props (e.g., a parent uses a cutting tool to cut the board that you designed).
Written Material
Your entry must include the following written material in the order presented below:
- A title page as described below;
- A process paper as described below;
- An annotated bibliography as described below.
Title Page
A title page is required as the first page of written material in every category. At the school level, the title page must include ONLY the title of your entry, category in which you are entered, your name(s), house(s), and word count. At other levels of competition, house information is no longer necessary. It should be replaced by the division.
Process Paper
All categories must include a process paper at the school level. At other levels of competition, the process paper is no longer necessary for the historical paper category. It must describe in 500 or fewer words how you conducted your research and created your entry. It should include 4 sections that explain:
- how you chose your topic;
- how you conducted your research;
- how you selected your category and created your project;
- how your project relates to the NHD theme.
Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography should include only those sources that contributed to the development of your entry. Sources of visual and audio materials and oral interviews must be included. Bundle photos or other materials from the same collection in a single citation. The annotations must explain how you used the source and how it helped you understand your topic. The annotated bibliography is not included in the word count.
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What is a Documentary?
A documentary should reflect your ability to use audiovisual equipment to communicate your topic’s significance, much as professional documentarians do. The documentary category will help you develop skills in using photographs, film, video, audiotapes, computers, and graphic presentations. Your presentation should include primary materials and also must be an original production. To produce a documentary you must have access to equipment and be able to operate it.
Documentary Rubric
Documentary Rules from the National History Day Rulebook
- Rule D1: Time Requirements
- Documentaries may not exceed 10 minutes in length. You will be allowed an additional 5 minutes to set up and 5 minutes to remove equipment.
- Timing will begin when the first visual image of the presentation appears and/or the first sound is heard. Audio and visual leads will be counted in the time limit. Timing will end when the last visual image or sound of the presentation concludes (including credits).
- Rule D2: Introduction
- You must announce only the title of your presentation and names of participants.
- Comments prior to or during the presentation, including live narration, are prohibited.
- Rule D3: Student Involvement
- You are responsible for running all equipment.
- Rule D4: Student Production
- All entries must be student-produced. You must operate all equipment. You must provide the narration, voice-over, and dramatization. Only those students listed as entrants may participate in the production. Only entrants and the subjects of their interviews (participants in an historical event or experts) may appear on camera.
- Rule D5: Entry Production
- Your entry must be an original production. You may use professional photographs, film, slides, recorded music, etc., within your presentation. However, you must integrate such items into your presentation and give proper credit at the end of your presentation (per Rule D6) as well as in your annotated bibliography. You must operate all editing equipment used in the production of your presentation. Using material created by others specifically for use in your entry violates this rule.
- Rule D6: Credits
- At the conclusion of the documentary, you must provide a list of acknowledgments and credits for all sources. These credits should be brief—not full bibliographic citations and not annotated. All sources (music, images, film/media clips, interviews, books, web sites) used in the making of the documentary should be properly cited in the annotated bibliography. The list of credits counts toward the 10-minute time limit and should be readable by viewers.
- Rule D7: Displays
- Stand alone displays are prohibited.
- Rule D8: Computer Entries
- You must be able to run the program within the 10-minute time limit. Interactive computer programs and web pages in which the audience or judges are asked to participate are not acceptable; judges are not permitted to operate any equipment.
- Students must provide and be able to run their own computers, software, and other equipment. Internet access will not be available.
What is an Exhibit?
An exhibit is a visual representation of your research and interpretation of your topic’s significance in history, much like a small museum exhibit. The analysis and interpretation of your topic must be clear and evident to the viewer. Labels and captions should be used creatively with visual images and objects to enhance the message of your exhibit.
Helpful Handouts
Exhibit Rules
from the National History Day Rule Book
- Rule B1: Size Requirements
- The overall size of your exhibit when displayed for judging must be no larger than 40 inches wide, 30 inches deep, and 6 feet high. Measurementof the exhibit does not include the table on which it rests; however, it would include any stand that you create and any table drapes. Circular or rotating exhibits or those meant to be viewed from all sides must be no more than 30 inches in diameter.
- Rule B2: Media Devices
- Media devices (e.g., DVD players, projectors, video monitors, computers) used in an exhibit must not run for more than a total of 3 minutes and are subject to the 500-word limit (Rule B3). Viewers and judges must be able to control media devices. Any media devices must fit within the size limits of the exhibit. Any media devices used should be integral to the exhibit - not a method to bypass the prohibition against live student involvement.
- Rule B3: Word Limit
- A 500-word limit applies to all text created by the student that appears on, or as part of, an exhibit entry. This includes the text you write for titles, subtitles, captions, graphs,, timelines, media devices (e.g. video, slides, computer files), or supplemental materials (e.g., photos, albums, scrapbooks, etc.) where you use your own words. Brief citations crediting the sources of illustrations or quotations included on the exhibit do not count toward the 500-word limit.
What is an Historical Paper?
A paper is the traditional form of presenting historical research. Various types of creative writing (for example, fictional diaries, poems, etc.) are permitted, but must conform to all general and category rules. Your paper should be grammatically correct and well written.
Historical Paper Rubric
Historical Rules
from the National History Day Rule Book
- Rule A1: Length Requirements
- The text of historical papers must be no less than 1,500 and no more than 2,500 words in length. Each word or number in the text of the paper counts as one word. The 2,500-word limit does not apply to notes, annotated bibliography, illustration captions, and supplemental/appendix material. Appendix material must be referred to in the text of the paper. Extensive supplemental materials are inappropriate. Use of appendices should be very limited and may include photographs, maps, charts, and graphs, but no other supplemental materials.
- NOTE: Oral history transcripts, correspondence between you and experts, questionnaires, and other primary or secondary materials used as sources for your paper should be cited in your bibliography but not included as attachments to your paper.
- Rule A2: Citations
- Citations—footnotes, endnotes, or internal documentation—are required. Citations are used to credit the sources of specific ideas as well as direct quotations. Refer to Part II, Rule 17, for citation styles. Please note that an extensively annotated footnote should not be used to get around the word limit.
- Rule A3: Preparation Requirements
- Papers must be typed, computer printed, or legibly handwritten in ink on plain, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper with 1-inch margins on all sides.
- Pages must be numbered consecutively and double-spaced with writing on one side and with no more than 12 characters per inch or no less than 10-point type.
- Papers must be stapled in the top left corner and should not be enclosed in a cover or binder. The title page should have no illustrations.
- Rule A4: Number of Copies
- Four copies of the paper must be submitted prior to the contest, via the appropriate registration process, by the deadline established for the contest. Winning papers sometimes are published by contest officials; you must be prepared to give permission for such publication. You must bring a copy of your paper to the contest for your use.
What is a Performance?
A performance is a dramatic portrayal of your topic’s significance in history and must be original in production. It should be scripted based on research of your chosen topic and should have dramatic appeal, but not at the expense of historical information.
Performance Rubric
Performance Rules
from the National History Day Rule Book
- Rule C1: Time Requirements
- Performances may not exceed 10 minutes in length. Timing starts at the beginning of the performance following the announcement of the title and student name(s). Any other introductory remarks will be considered part of the performance and will be counted as part of the overall time. You will be allowed an additional 5 minutes to set up and 5 minutes to remove any props needed for your performance.
- Rule C2: Performance Introduction
- The title of your entry and the names of the participants must be the first and only announcements prior to the start of the performance.
- Rule C3: Media Devices
- Use of slides, tape recorders, computers, or other media within your performance is permitted. You must provide and run all equipment and carry out any special lighting or sound effects.
- Rule C4: Script
- The script for the performance should not be included with the written material presented to the judges.
- Rule C5: Costumes
- You may have a costume produced for you, but the design, choice of fabrics, etc., must be your own. Or, you may rent a costume. Remember: simple is best.
What is a Historical Website?
A historical website is a collection of web pages, interconnected with hyperlinks, that presents primary and secondary sources, interactive multimedia, and historical analysis. Your website should be an accumulation of research and argument that incorporates textual and non-textual (photographs, maps, music, etc.) description, interpretation, and multimedia sources to engage and inform viewers about your chosen historical topic.
Website Rules
from the National History Day Rule Book
- Rule E3: Navigation
- One page of the web site must serve as the “home page.” The home page must include the names of participants, entry title, division, and the main menu that directs viewers to the various sections of the site. All pages must be interconnected with hypertext links. Automatic redirects are not permitted.
- Rule E4: Multimedia
- Each multimedia clip may not last more than 45 seconds. You may record quotes and primary source materials for dramatic effect, but you may not narrate your own compositions or other explanatory material. All multimedia must be stored within the site; you may not use embedded material hosted elsewhere (e.g., YouTube, Google Video). There is no limit to the number of multimedia clips you may use but you must respect the file size limit. If you use any form of multimedia that requires a specific software to view (e.g., Flash, QuickTime, Real Player), you must provide on the same page a link to an Internet site where the software is available as a free, secure, and legal download. Judges will make every effort to view all multimedia content, but files that cannot be viewed cannot be evaluated as part of the entry.
- Rule E5: Required Written Materials
- The annotated bibliography and process paper must be included as an integrated part of the web site. They should be included in the navigational structure. They do NOT count toward the 1,200-word limit. Refer to Part II, Rules 15–17, for citation and style information.
- Rule E6: Stable Content
- The content and appearance of a page cannot change when the page is refreshed in the browser. Random text or image generators are not allowed.
- Rule E7: Viewing Files
- The pages that comprise the site must be viewable in a recent version of a standard web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari). You are responsible for ensuring that your entry is viewable in multiple web browsers. Entries may not link to live or external sites, except to direct viewers to software plug-ins, per Rule E4.
- Rule E8: Submitting Entry for Judging
- You must submit the URL for the site in advance by the established deadline, after which you will be blocked from editing your site to allow for judging.
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