1. Make Your Case An Introduction to Thesis, Claims, and Evidence
Chicago Metro History Education Center
Special thanks to National History Day for the use of material from “A Guide to Historical Research through the National History Day program.” This presentation is made possible by National History Day, Inc., and the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation. The contents of these educational resources were developed under a grant from the Department of Education, with additional support provided by the Fry Foundation. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education or the Fry Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

2. Make Your Case
What does a History Fair student have in common with an attorney in a courtroom?
Like lawyers, History Fair students have a point that they are trying to prove (a thesis) and work to persuade their audience by presenting convincing evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources.

3. Your thesis statement tells the reader or viewer in 1-2 sentences
what your project will
attempt to prove or analyze.
If your students are just beginning to grasp what a thesis statement is, you might focus simply on the 1-2 sentence statement that comprises the thesis. If your students are more advanced, you might begin to introduce a concept like Rael’s “thesis paragraph” idea.
The thesis paragraph (See also the handout entitled “The Three Parts of a History Paper.”): The first paragraph of your paper should be your thesis paragraph. The function of this paragraph is to define the problem your paper addresses, define key words and concepts you will use, and present your argument in summary. The last sentence of this paragraph should be your thesis. Here is an exercise which may help you develop your thesis paragraph. Answer the following questions:
What is the thing that happened?
Why should we be interested in the thing that happened? Explain the significance of exploring this topic. What problems will you help us solve? What insights does your exploration promise?
How and/or why did it happen? This is the thesis.

4. Thesis Statement =
Topic + Theme + Impact

5. A good thesis statement:
Takes a stand by making a point which will be backed up by evidence
Has a narrow and specific focus
Expresses one main idea
Tells the viewer why the subject is historically significant, and often suggests change over time
Is presented as a statement, not a topic or question
Is historical, not a statement about current events
It helps to have students take notes as you discuss these points and use those notes as you do the following activity on the Lizzie Black Kander thesis. This checklist is helpful when students are drafting their own thesis statements as well. You can use it as a guide in peer-to-peer thesis editing exchanges or in providing comments to students on the strengths and weaknesses of their draft theses.

6. If you are using the National History Day theme
“Rights and Responsibilites,”
you should integrate the theme into the
analysis presented in your thesis.
You can use the words of the theme explicitly
or you can express the relationship to
the theme by using different words that
convey the same idea.
This slide is intended for History Fair teachers who are using the National History Day theme.

7. Don’t: Martin Luther was born in 1483. He started the Reformation
Don’t: Martin Luther was born in 1483.  He started the Reformation.  (Fact)
Do: Beginning in 1517, Martin Luther sparked widespread debate against Roman Catholic religious practices, especially the sale of indulgences, corruption, and the emphasis on salvation through good works. When diplomacy with the Papacy failed, Luther’s arguments succeeded in igniting a religious movement, creating a new sect of faith, and later bringing change to the Roman Catholic Church.

8. Don’t: Indians fought over Alcatraz Island
Don’t: Indians fought over Alcatraz Island.  Why do you think they would do that? (Rhetorical)
Do: American Indians under the banner of “Indians of All Tribes” debated with government officials over political and social discrimination.  In protest, the group reclaimed Alcatraz Island in 1969 as Indian land.  Though the group’s primary goals failed to reach fruition through active diplomacy, protestors succeeded in spreading awareness to the American public and consequently ignited the modern American Indian Movement.

9. Don’t: Had the Continental Congress voted against the 3/5 Compromise, America could have avoided a Civil War.  (“What if?” history that cannot be supported with evidence)
Do: When members of the Constitutional Convention started laying the groundwork for a new American government in 1787 debate ensued over slaves and their place in a representative government based on population.  The resulting 3/5 Compromise succeeded in ending the initial conflict, allowing the 13 states to move forward as a unified nation, however, by failing to come to a definitive conclusion over the issue of slavery, Constitutional framers established the United States of America with an unstable base that would continue to cause discontent until it exploded into civil war.

10. Don’t: Adolph Hitler was an evil man that killed a lot of Jews
Don’t: Adolph Hitler was an evil man that killed a lot of Jews. (Opinion)
Do: Following the “Great War,” Adolph Hitler blamed Germany’s downfalls on the country’s Jewish population causing discrimination, violent action, and a mass exodus of European Jewry.  Various parties with social, political, and economic interests, including U. S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, initiated debate over immigration to the Alaskan Territory in 1938.  The failure to reach a diplomatic compromise resulted in an end to negotiations; closing an opportunity for population growth in Alaska and leading to the death of many, such as the Jews of Neustadt, Germany who believed the United States’ last open frontier to be their only remaining hope for refuge.

11. Let’s help this student from Milwaukee
strengthen their thesis statement.*
What’s wrong with this thesis statement?
Immigration to Milwaukee
*Taken from A Guide to Historical Research through the National History Day Program
Using their notes about what constitutes a strong thesis statement, ask the students to help pinpoint problem areas for this student’s thesis. This activity can work as a full-class conversation or in small groups.
This slide is an area of interest, but doesn’t meet any of the criteria of a strong thesis statement. It is a topic beginning, not a thesis.

12. How did Lizzie Black Kander make a difference to Milwaukee’s Jewish immigrant community?
This might make a great start on a historical question, but doesn’t meet any of the criteria of a strong thesis. The ANSWER to this question, however, would definitely provide a good starting point for a preliminary thesis.

13. Lizzie Black Kander and Jewish Immigration to
Milwaukee from
Students may think this is a thesis because it looks like a sentence with a period – however a close look at the criteria of a thesis will point out the fact that it does not take a stand that can be supported with evidence, does not express a main idea, or suggest any kind of historical significance or change. It’s actually not even a complete historical statement!

14. Lizzie Black Kander used her cooking classes
and The Settlement Cookbook to teach
Milwaukee’s Jewish immigrants about
American culture.
We’re getting much closer here. It does take a stand – it would be possible to state an alternate claim (e.g. “Lizzie Black Kander used her cooking classes and The Settlement Cookbook to make money off of poor immigrants.”)
Yet this “thesis” lacks any sort of explanation of why we should care about this subject – an answer to the “So what?” question. What is the historical significance, change over time, or larger problem that this helps us to understand?

15. Through her cooking classes and The Settlement
Cookbook, Lizzie Black Kander introduced
Milwaukee’s Jewish immigrants to American
culture, which helped them assimilate and
learn how to avoid ethnic discrimination.
Now we’re getting somewhere! This thesis may not be perfect, but it expresses one coherent idea, takes a stand that can be supported with evidence, and suggests some kind of larger issue or change over time (assimilation, ethnic discrimination, etc.). A great follow-up here is to ask students to think about what kinds of evidence a student might use to support their point.

16. Judge your own draft thesis statement! Does it…
Take a stand?
Is the topic narrow?
Is the thesis clear and specific?
Can the assertion be backed up by evidence?
Does it express one main idea?
Does it tell the viewer why the subject
is historically significant? Does it answer the “So
what?” question or show change over time?
Is it presented as a statement, not a
topic or question?
Is it historical?

17. If you were creating the Lizzie Black Kander project, what types of primary and secondary sources would you seek out in order to develop and support your thesis? What’s your evidence?
Have students brainstorm individually, in small groups, or through class discussion. Ask them to explain why they think this type of source would help support the thesis.

18. PRIMARY SECONDARY Photographs Maps? Census Letters
Interviews or Oral Histories, Memoirs
Newspapers
Cookbooks
“Rights” organizations or protective associations
Encyclopedias of…
Books and articles about settlements, immigration, Milwaukee, Jewish community, food and cooking, assimilation
Biography
Interview with expert

22. Check these theses
After the 1919 riot the means of enforcing segregation became more accepted, more formal, often more violent, and completely legal.
Pesticides kill thousands of farmworkers and must be stopped.
How did The Jungle make an impact on the foods we eat?
The Juvenile Court system was established to remove children from the adult criminal justice system and help them reform, but over the years it became a source of punishment and imprisonment.
Richard J. Daley died in 1976.
Raise hands or signs yes/no and then why or divide into 5 groups?

23. Title Page Required as the FIRST page in EVERY entry
Must include ONLY the title of your entry, your name(s), and the contest division and category in which you are entered.

24. Process Paper
All categories (besides Process Paper) include this with their entry.
Must be 500 words or lesson how you conducted your research and explain your entry.
Must have 4 sections

25. Process Paper 4 Sections: How you selected your topic
How you conducted your research
How you selected your presentation category (paper, exhibit, website, documentary, presentation) AND created your project
How your project relates to the theme “Rights and Responsibilities”