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Heritage Fair Projects - Guide to Sources

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Heritage Fair Projects - Guide to Sources Public Archives and Records Office of PEI P.O. Box 1000, Charlottetown Prince Edward Island C1A 7M4 (902) 368-4290 fax (902) 368-6327 www.gov.pe.ca/cca (Click Public Archives & Records Office) HERITAGE FAIR PROJECTS - GUIDE TO SOURCES GUIDELINES The Heritage Fair is meant to develop and increase awareness and interest in Canadian history. Your project must have a Canadian theme such as history, geography or heritage whether it is local, national or international. Your teacher will also have certain guidelines which you will need to follow. This booklet has been created to facilitate research for Heritage Fair projects. This guide contains research tips, sources of information, and sample topics. RESEARCH TIPS Getting started Identify a topic. This should be something of interest to you. Be as specific as possible, but be prepared to broaden your topic, especially if it is not truly regional. See Sample Topics. Give yourself plenty of time. Research takes time and sometimes you have to start over if there is not enough information available on your topic. Schedule your time to work on the project especially if working with a partner. Make an outline. Your outline is your strategy. Develop a series of questions relating to the information you need to find. Use these questions to organize and plan your research. It is a good idea to list keywords related to your topic (this will help in catalogue and online searches). Make a list of possible sources of information. Use a variety of sources but try to limit Internet and anecdotal sources. Browse general sources such as encyclopedias and handbooks to gather some background information on your topic. Getting to work Be ready to take notes. Only note the information you need in point form. Try to use your own words unless it is a direct quote. Keeping your information on index cards and organized in chronological order can be very helpful. Locate sources. Start close to home and work outward. Talk to those around you and check out the following places: school library, public library, on-line library catalogues such as the Provincial Library (www.library.pe.ca/abbycat/) and UPEI (library.upei.ca/), archives, the Internet. See Where To Find Sources and What You May Find There. Ask for help. Is there somebody at home that can help you use the library or the archives? If not, do not be afraid to ask the librarian for help on how to use the catalogue. Ask specific questions. DO NOT ask for everything they have on a subject. Tell the person helping you what kind of things you are looking for and be prepared to ask, and answer, many questions to get what you need. Become familiar with the terminology used in libraries. Keep track of where you look and terms you use. Keep notes on the source of your information. Note title, author, and the page numbers of the source you took your information from, even if you’re not sure you’ll use it. It can be difficult to reconstruct it later. Make note of where you found the information (including the call number) just in case you need to track it again. If your source is from the Internet, note the URL, date created and last updated and the author’s name if available. Proper citing is very important and there are several styles. Be consistent and discuss your options with your teacher. Talk to the people around you. Live sources can sometimes be better than written ones and are certainly more interesting. Tape these interviews if possible but remember to always ask permission. Any person or organization clearly identifiable in a presentation must have given permission to the presenter. Identify relevant information. Look in the table of contents or the index to see if there is any information in the book which may be useful to you. The title of the book may not seem related to your topic, but there may be a chapter in the book that is. Evaluate your sources carefully. Not all sources are complete or reliable. Having a variety and mix of sources is a good idea so you can pick and choose and recheck your information. This can save you from copying somebody else’s mistake. Here are some tips: Is the information fact or opinion? Is it accurate? Is it biased? Is it current? Does it present only one point of view? WHERE TO FIND SOURCES AND WHAT YOU MAY FIND THERE The following is a brief list outlining where you can find sources and the kinds of sources you may come across there. This list is not complete and you may find other kinds of sources in other places. Do not limit your search to what you see here. Libraries A library contains published books and periodicals that usually can be checked out and replaced if lost or stolen. Browsing is easy and acceptable. The majority of the material found in the library is what is referred to as secondary sources. Most libraries will have: The Island Magazine, published books, pamphlet files on heritage subjects, encyclopedias and other reference books. Archives (provincial and national) An archives provides access to original records that were created and/or accumulated by a person, family, organization, or government institution in the course of its "life" or daily business. The majority of the material found in the archives is what is referred to as primary sources. Browsing is not easy as most of the material is kept in closed stacks and cannot be checked out, so the material must be consulted on the premises. Family genealogies, community histories, older journals and newspapers, photographs, church and cemetery records, business and personal records, older maps and surveys, and census returns are typically held by archives. Interviews An interview is a conversation between a person asking questions and a person from whom he seeks facts or statements. Interviews can be from radio or television, or with friends or relatives with knowledge and experience in your chosen subject. Museums and heritage sites These are places where works of artistic, historical, and scientific value are cared for and exhibited. There are many museums, art galleries and heritage sites on PEI although many are seasonal. Check the Community Museum Association of PEI website for listings. www.isn.net/~cmapei Internet There are many web-sites which may be helpful to you in your research. Do limit your use of the internet. Use a variety of sources for your project. government departments and organizations There may be government departments or organizations responsible or dedicated to your subject. Many may have printed materials for free or nominal distribution. Call ahead. Island Information Services 368-4000 distributes PEI provincial government materials. GLOSSARY OF TERMS Bibliography - A list of books or articles on a subject. Citation - Information for an article including source, title, author, periodical, date, volume, page numbers. Index - A list of items pointing to the location of each item. An index in a book gives the page number of a needed subject. Keywords - Search terms generally found in any searchable field such as subject headings, author or title. Paraphrasing - Putting another person’s ideas into your own words. Plagiarism - Using another person’s ideas or expressions as your own. Primary sources - Materials written or produced at the time the event occurred, often by the party involved. Examples include letters, diaries, photographs, interviews, documents or artifacts, newspaper articles from the time. Quote - Copying exactly as it was written or said, and giving credit to the author. Secondary sources - Material written or reported at some point after an event occurred. Examples include text books, articles, biographies, reference books such as encyclopedias, and secondary sources found on the Internet. URL - The address for a web page. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. EXHIBITION AND COMMUNICATION Heritage Fair projects involve much more than doing research on a topic of interest. It also involves putting the research to work. In this case, the information found will go toward the making of a visual display, oral presentation, and an interview. Display and presentation Display and presentation give each other strength and interest. Both of these qualities are important to any project and the Heritage Fair judges will be looking for them. Here are some tips to keep in mind based on the judges’ expectations: level of research - level of difficulty, evidence of time spent, variety and number of sources used. effective interpretation of theme - self-explanatory, good use of space, attractive originality/creativity - of idea, topic, or concept of presentation/display. impression - personal feelings, well organized and logical interview - knowledge of subject, communication skills, level of enthusiasm, interpretation of project theme. The Interview 1. Be at ease. Your interview is simply your opportunity to tell the judges what you learned by doing your heritage project. 2. Be interested! If you are really interested in your project and research and what you are saying most likely the judges will be interested too. 3. Be prepared. It is a very good idea to prepare for your interview. Ask adults and other students to question you about your project. Write down the questions they ask and be prepared to answer those questions and others like them. 4. Usually the judges will ask you questions you can answer, but if you are asked a difficult question to which you do not know the answer, it is best to say you do not know or are not sure of the answer rather than fake it. 5. Have fun! Interviews are both interesting and fun. By talking to the judges you will probably learn new things.
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