30 Clio: An Alternative to Traditional Research Papers (External)
This resource comes from www.theclio.com. They provide a wide array of Instructional Guides that make it very easy to incorporate into the classroom, in the place of a traditional research paper. The resources include sixteen MS Word documents including detailed guidelines for students, a suggested schedule of assignments over the course of a semester, a rubric for evaluation and many others.
From their webpage:
About Clio
Clio is an educational website and mobile application that guides the public to thousands of historical and cultural sites throughout the United States. Built by scholars for public benefit, each entry includes a concise summary and useful information about a historical site, museum, monument, landmark, or other site of cultural or historical significance. In addition, “time capsule” entries allow users to learn about historical events that occurred around them. Each entry offers turn-by-turn directions as well as links to relevant books, articles, videos, primary sources, and credible websites.
Clio offers a compelling intellectual challenge as professional historians work with local history experts to create and vet entries in an open digital environment. Ambitious in scope, Clio allows scholars and their students to publish humanities scholarship using an innovative digital format that will instantly reach a broad audience in ways that cannot be replicated by traditional forms of publishing. We believe that there is something powerful that occurs when our sense of the past connects with our sense of place. We hope that you will use Clio to connect with the history and culture that surrounds you.
What is Clio?
Developing Assignments with Clio
Clio assignments can be tailored to your course topics, themes, and objectives, so that you and your students can make the most of using Clio in the classroom. This guide provides ways to approach and develop assignments, including creating new entries, editing and expanding existing entries, creating Clio tours, and related assignments
| CREATE A NEW ENTRY
1. Students develop an entry for a historic place or event that is not already in Clio. 2. Invites students to envision a new contribution to Clio’s growing database. 3. Allows students develop an entry from the ground up by engaging in processes of research, outlining, writing, and publishing. 4. Students will be credited in Clio as the author of this entry. |
EDIT AND EXPAND AN EXISTING ENTRY
1. Students find an entry that needs improvement, such a stronger and richer narrative and more images, sources, links. 2. Challenges students to work with existing material while engaging in the processes of research, outlining, writing, and publishing. 3. Allows students to see a “before and after.” 4. Students will be credited as the editor of this entry. |
Looking to theme your class’s Clio entries? Here are some suggested themes:
Nearby History – Students create or edit entries related to history in their town or region. These entries encourage use of local archives and primary source research.
Historical Places – Students create entries on places of historical or cultural significance. The National Register of Historic Places and lists of historic markers are great places to start.
Historical Events – Students expand their knowledge of a historical event by creating or editing a Time Capsule entry. Teachers can assign the class a specific era or series of events, such as a war or social movement, to unite the entries under a common theme.
Historical Figures – Students select a figure from history and create or edit an entry of a place, marker, monument, or event closely associated with this figure.
Local Institutions – Students explore the history and missions of local museums, galleries, libraries, and other cultural institutions. This can be a great way to forge community partnerships.
CREATE A CLIO TOUR
With Clio tours, students work together to create a walking tour or heritage trail centered around a place, historical topic, or theme. Start by identifying and creating a list of places that should be included in the tour. Some of these sites might already be in Clio, and you can always edit and improve individual Clio entries in addition to creating new entries for sites that were not in Clio.