4/15: start your research journal and historical timeline

Start your research journal entries and historical timeline for the week. In your research journal, you’ll describe the research work you do each week as well as record any new research ideas, questions, insights, and concerns you develop. I also encourage you to reflect on your research process in relation to guidance provided by Scharg in The Princeton Guide to Historical Research. Does anything about your experience resonate with what he describes or advices? Do some elements feel quite different? Your entries can either be uploaded as a doc or pdf, or as a photo of a handwritten document.

            In your historical timeline, you’ll keep track by date or month of all events and developments related to your topic. For example, if you’re researching the history of abortion reform in Colorado, you’d record events like when a legislative bill was introduced to change the law and when opponents of liberalization held a public rally to oppose the bill. So it’s easy to add entries, I encourage you to build your historical timeline in a document or in one of the timeline tools listed here. Your timelines should describe what happened, when it happened, and include a full reference to where you found the information.

            A single grade (10 points) will be assigned for your research journal and historical timeline at the end of the quarter. With your permission, information from your timeline may be used to develop content for the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History website. If material from your timeline is used, you will be credited unless you prefer to remain anonymous.