Historical Investigation, Day 4 - Class Recap

A picture that I took on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during Spring Break. I used my dad;s camera (a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which is super nice) and a 15mm fisheye lens to make it look like the world was a city. Fun effect!

Dear class,

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you enjoyed the week off from school. Now there is plenty of work for all of us to get back to! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.
Communication LT 3: I can effectively use the conventions of writing.
Research LT 1: I can develop and refine a research question or topic.
Research LT 3: I can responsibly and accurately cite sources.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman. Selected for today because I was in India over Spring Break, and this song is from Slumdog Millionaire, which is a movie set in India.

AGENDA 3/31/15:

News Brief

Spring Break
Part B Recap

Computer Lab S219

Homework: Read the blog! Part B (2-3 pages of research summary) due next class. Next news brief: Bella.

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News Brief: I had the next brief today, because it was a long Spring Break. Here's the article that I chose to talk about: NYTimes.com - Iran Backs Away From Key Detail in Nuclear Deal. This week is the latest deadline for a diplomatic agreement between Iran and some major powers in the world - especially the United States, when it comes to Iran's nuclear program. Iran says that it is for peaceful energy purposes, while many in the world believe they are trying to make a nuclear bomb. In any case, these are very high stakes negotiations!

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Bella.

Spring Break: I asked the class if there was anything interesting or noteworthy that happened over Spring Break. It is always nice to check in with everyone about what you are up to outside our classroom! As part of this, I showed a few photos from my trip to Dubai, India, and Nepal. It was a lot of travel and I am still gaining my feet back! Still, I love exploring the world and teaching about it, too!

Part B Recap: Before we headed over to the Computer Lab again, I went over the MLA citations guideline and how you should be citing your information that you find as part of your investigation. Here is the paper that I passed out in class: MLA citation guide - 7th edition. Every source that you use for your project should fit into one of those categories on the second page. That is what you are adding to your bibliography (Part E) as you go along.

Finally, for Part B - the Summary of Evidence, here are the two documents you will need to look at as you are researching. Feel free to download and print them out during class, study hall, or after school:

Google Drive: Part B Overview (Requirements)

That document will help you with understanding what Part B is all about.

To help with Part B, here is the second document - a template for filling out as you find good sources of information that relate to your research question:

Google Drive: Part B Template Document

This is a nice and easy way to complete Part B. Remember that you need to have at least four sources (so you could fill out this document four different times, if you wanted) - a maximum of three can be electronic sources. Again, no Wikipedia - the source has to be reliable information.

A GREAT way to find good, reliable information is through a search on Google Scholar, which looks through academic articles (make sure you aren't using a book review as a source, though).

Another way to find good academic sources is through the Westview Library's Power Search option (the second link in the middle). Remember, if you are researching at home, the login information for this is:
username = beaverton
password = oslis

If you want to see what a possible final product looks like (Part B would begin after the first paragraph), here is an example paper:

Google Drive: Example Historical Investigation Paper

I know this is a LOT to take in. Please let me know how I can help better explain what you need to do.

Computer Lab S219: After explaining all of this, we headed over to the Computer Lab to work. Part B is due as a rough draft next class! This means having two to three pages of research summary, like an essay (in paragraph format with citations).