American Studies

World War II Slideshow Creation Assignment

Summary of Assignment:

For this project, students will be creating a Google Slides presentation on a World War II topic. Each student will work individually and will have the ability to choose a topic that is interesting to them (see list). On the last day, you will share your presentation with others in a small group format. You are not required to give a presentation in front of the whole class. You will need to follow these steps:

  1. Select a topic
  2. Do research on the topic where you identify at least three good sources. One source must be a primary source.
  3. Create a slideshow that communicates important content about your topic. This part of the slideshow will be at least eight slides and will include visuals.
  4. Add two slides at the end of the slideshow
  • a bibliography in MLA format
  • a matrix where you evaluate your three best sources

Grading: This project will assess Historical Knowledge and Historical Thinking. The Historical Knowledge grade will be based on the information and content in the slideshow. Historical Thinking will assess your bibliography and the evaluation of your sources.

Plagiarism: It is essential that students do not plagiarize. The Google Slides presentation needs to be in your own words. Copying and pasting information from your sources into your slide show is prohibited. The words you type should come from your understanding of the content. You should not simply re-type a source and only change a few words and pretend it is your own work. A good suggestion to help with this is to make sure you are not looking at the source while you are composing your slide.

Primary Sources: At least one of the sources used by the student must be a primary source. In the study of history, a primary source is an artifact, a document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, a recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under study. Primary sources are first-hand accounts of a topic while secondary sources are any account of something that is not a primary source. Published research, newspaper articles, and other media are typical secondary sources.

Specific Criteria for Slideshow:

Part 1: Historical Knowledge - 15 points

All of the following criteria are included for the Historical Knowledge grade.

  • A title slide that includes a visual.
  • At least eightslidesafter the title slide that provide key information on your topic. These slides should attempt to do all of the following:
  • Explain why you chose your topic.
  • Explain why your topic is important.
  • Be descriptive and include relevant details that demonstrate a depth of understanding about your topic.
  • Write information about your topic in a way that reflects understanding. Don’t use words and terminology that you don’t understand. Instead, use language that communicates the information clearly.
  • Strive to have a presentation that is educational and teaches something valuable.
  • Utilize a variety of visuals (including things like photos, maps, graphs, political cartoons, etc…) that enhance the slideshow.
  • Organize your presentation in a logical order.
  • Design each slide so it is visually appealing. Bullets, rather than paragraphs, are recommended. Each slide should be full without being too crammed or crowded.

Part 2: Historical Thinking – 15 points

The Historical Thinking grade will combine two factors: 1) A bibliography that properly cites sources in MLA format. You must include at least one primary source. 2) You need to complete one slide in which you will analyze the quality of your sources. (This slide is a matrix which is posted to the American Studies website. You need to go there, copy it, paste it in to your slideshow, and then fill it out.)This slide requires that your include –

  • a ranking of usefulness
  • a thorough explanation of why a source was useful
  • detailed and thoughtful commentary about a source in terms of
  • reliability
  • bias
  • perspective

Evaluating Research Sources Worksheet

Using Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is a very useful tool that can assist you in learning about your topic. It might be a good place to begin your research, but it may not be usedas one of your three academic sources. Although you cannot use Wikipedia as a source, it can be very useful in helping you locate quality sources. At the end of every Wikipedia article is a list of sources used to write the article. These sources are linked so that you can click on them. These “clickable” links might be excellent sources to use.

MLA Citation Maker: Use a citation maker to properly cite your sources in MLA format. The website below is one example that would be appropriate to use.

Strategies to Evaluate Sources:

  • Look for About Us, FAQs, or Author Profile on website. These help you to find out about the organization that produced the source. These are usually available on the home page of the organization that produced the source. If not, you should google the organization to find out about it.
  • Is the website trying to sell something? Are there many advertisements? If so, the main purpose of the site might be to make money rather than to serve as an academic source.
  • Are there typos? Does the site contain broken links? Is there a date of when the site was updated? Does it appear old? These could be signs the information is not up to date or not maintained well and decreases its reliability.
  • Is the information in the source accurate and detailed? Is there any information that seems far-fetched, shocking, or extraordinary? If so, were you able to fact-check and verify that these things were true are on other reliable sites?
  • Does the website cite their sources or tell you where they got their information? If not, you should question its reliability.

Types of Website Domains: What does it tell you?

.com =Commercial site. The information provided by commercial interests is generally going to shed a positive light on the product it promotes. While this information might not necessarily be false, you might be getting only part of the picture. Remember, there's a monetary incentive behind every commercial site in providing you with information.

.edu =Educational institution. Sites using this domain name are schools ranging from kindergarten to higher education. If you take a look at your school's URL you'll notice that it ends with the domain .edu. Information from sites within this domain must be examined very carefully. If it is from a department or research center at an educational institution, it can generally be taken as credible.

.gov =Government. If you come across a site with this domain, then you're viewing a federal government site. All branches of the United States federal government use this domain. Information such as Census statistics, Congressional hearings, and Supreme Court rulings would be included in sites with this domain. The information is considered to be from a credible source.

.org =Traditionally a non-profit organization. Organizations such as the American Red Cross or PBS (Public Broadcasting System) use this domain suffix. Generally, the information in these types of sites is credible and unbiased, but there are examples of organizations that strongly advocate specific points of view over others, such as the National Right to Life Committee and Planned Parenthood. You want to give this domain scrutiny.

.mil =Military. This domain suffix is used by the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States.

.net =Network. You might find any kind of site under this domain suffix. It acts as a catch-all for sites that don't fit into any of the preceding domain suffixes. Information from these sites should be given careful scrutiny.

Practice Source:
Source Information:
  • Title of Source: ______
  • Organization: ______
  • Author (if applicable) ______

Evaluating Origin and Purpose: / Credibility Rating (circle) / Justification of Rating
Questions to ask:
  • Is the organization that produced the information reliable?
  • Is the author credible? Are they experienced and educated on the topic?
  • Is the source biased? Does it only give one point of view?
  • What is the purpose of the source?
  • Does the organization that produced the source have an agenda?
/ Excellent
Pretty Good
Not Reliable
Evaluating the Content / Credibility Rating (circle) / Justification of Rating
Questions to ask:
  • Is the source accurate?
  • Is it detailed?
  • Is it useful to you for this particular project? Why or why not?
  • Is it written at an appropriate level for a high school student?
/ Excellent
Pretty Good
Not Reliable