Timeline

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Timeline

Timelines seek to educate about history by using a linear visual display to represent the passing of time. Timeline projects mix research and artistic elements, allowing you to flex both the analytical and creative parts of your brain.

Task 1: Requirements

Make sure you understand what your teacher expects of you. Review all of the information you have about the assignment and verify that you can answer the following questions. If you don’t know, ask your teacher.

When is your timeline due?

Are you required to do your timeline on a particular topic?

Did your teacher provide any guidelines regarding how you conduct your research or how your final timeline should look?

Task 2: Topic

Your goal is to pick a topic that is specific enough to cover in a timeline, but not so limited that you won’t be able to find research sources.

If your teacher didn’t assign one, choose a broad topic that interests you and falls within your assignment guidelines. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, start by think about the historical events your family, culture, or country commemorates with holidays. Example: For your history class, you are required to create a timeline of a major event in world history. You decide to do a timeline of the important events of the American Civil War.

Task 3: Research

1. Do some digging to get a feel for your topic. Skim an encyclopedia article or read a few newspaper articles related to your topic. This will introduce you to the major historical events in your subject.

2. Move beyond your preliminary investigation to find more specific reference sources. Track down library books, periodicals, and Web sites, then read, read, read.

3. As you read, note any information you encounter that supports your objective. Each time you take a note, cite the reference—that is, jot down exactly where you found the information, including the title of the source, its author and publisher, publication date

and place, and a page number. You’ll need this information if you’re required to compose a bibliography. Tip: If your teacher requires you to hand in a bibliography with your timeline, take a few minutes now to determine what information on each source that you’ll need for your bibliography. For example, does your teacher require you to list your source’s publisher and where it was published? Knowing exactly what you need now will save you from the hassle of looking it up later.

Task 4: Design mockup

1. Organize your ideas. Put your topic at the top of a piece of paper, then, working from your research notes, list in chronological order the major historical events you must include in your timeline.

Example: Your topic is the major events of the American Civil War. You plan to include the following events in your timeline:

April, 1861: Fort Sumner attacked, Virginia secedes from the Union

September, 1862: Battle of Antietam, Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

May, 1863: Siege of Vicksburg

July, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg

November, 1864: President Lincoln re-elected, Sherman’s March to the Sea

April, 1865: Surrender at Appomattox

May, 1865: Jefferson Davis captured in Georgia

2. Create a design mockup. Make a rough sketch of your timeline and plan how you’ll convey your key concepts visually. Example: You create a mockup of the American Civil War timeline by first cutting and pasting together newsprint into a long, horizontal rectangle that matches the dimensions of the final timeline. You draw a long horizontal line in the center of your mockup, then divide the newsprint into 7 visual regions from left to right. You decide to use each visual region to represent one of your major historical events. In the center of each visual region, you make a hatch mark on your timeline and pencil in the corresponding date and event title.

Task 5: Bibliography

Some timeline projects require a bibliography—a list of the sources you used in your research. A timeline project bibliography is usually a separate page or pages titled “Bibliography,” “References,” or “Works Cited.”

1. Gather all the source information you jotted down when you were taking notes.

2. Assemble your sources into a single list, alphabetized by author’s last name. Sources that don’t have authors (encyclopedia articles, for example) should be alphabetized by title.

3. Properly format each item in your source list according to an accepted bibliographic style. One common bibliographic style is provided below, but there are many acceptable styles for bibliographies. Be sure to use the format that your teacher specified. Common Bibliographic Style

This bibliographic style follows the MLA Handbooks for Writers of Research Papers, 5th edition, written by Joseph Gibaldi and published in 1999 in New York by the Modern Language Association of America.

Book

Author Last Name, Author First Name. Book Title. Publication Location: Publisher, Publication Year.

Encyclopedia article

“Article Title,” Encyclopedia Name. Edition Year ed.

Newspaper, magazine, or journal article

Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Article Title” Publication Title Publication Date: page numbers.

Book review

Reviewer Last Name, Reviewer First Name. Rev. of Book Title by Book Author First and Last Name. Publication Location: Publisher, Publication Year.

Film, movie

Movie Title. Dir. Director First and Last Name. Studio or Distributor, Movie Release Date.

Internet source

Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Article or Page Title.” Site Name. Institution or organization affiliated with the site. <URL>.

Task 6: Final project

1. Make a list of the materials you’ll need for your timeline (color print outs, pictures from magazines, construction paper, pens, glue, etc.) and gather them in your workspace.

2. Create your timeline using your mockup as a guide. This is your chance to let your creative side take over. You might want to draw on the following rules of thumb about visual presentation, but don’t let convention limit your creativity.

Use contrasting colors to make your display more readable. If you’re using light-colored paper, choose a dark color for your graphics and text.

Draw attention to important information by drawing a border around it or using a different background color.

Give your timeline a professional, polished look by trimming jagged edges, securing loose pieces with glue or double-sided tape, wiping away excess glue, and erasing any pencil guidelines.

Don’t forget to double-check your dates and spelling.

3. Give your timeline a final once-over. When you’re sure it represents your best effort, hand it in!