If you were asked to write a report on window blinds, the amount and type of information you might find would be more a function of time and access to resources than of any genuine interest on your part. On the other hand, when purchasing new window blinds for a family room questions about durability, price, ease of cleaning, and so forth require answers. Even though your research might be more difficult and every piece of information you find won't be useful, you have a direction and know when you have successfully researched the topic.

In a similar manner, if you ask children to research their state's history, it will be difficult for them to know which facts or events they should study and when they have found the information they need. They will be doing the research as a project or assignment, not from their own desire to know more. However, if the student researcher identifies a person in his or her family and sets out to find out how that person may fit into historical events in the state's past, the young researcher will have a connection to the research and a focus.

Some educators may see a conflict between effective teaching about the process of research and the result of research, that is, specific content knowledge. There are ways, however, to combine the two. For example, in teaching about the Civil War, instead of assigning a paper about the general topic "the Civil War," ask students specifically to research the history of their town's Civil War memorial statue, then fit that research into the context of the Civil War in general.

Some students may want to look at various historical periods by studying what was going on in their town or city during that time. Some may want to study historical events by studying how those events affected the lives of a relative or other person. Others might be interested in the history of their own neighborhoods, a park, or a baseball field.

As educators, we can help shape their interests and provide some models to encourage their interests. Writing about a favorite local place, such as a park, would certainly include a description of the place in several seasons. But research adds substance to such writing by inserting the history of that place into the larger framework of the town's history. How did that piece of land come to be what it is? What was that place 100 years ago? Creating a time line of a specific location could help connect local history to larger pictures of our country's or the world's history.

School libraries are great sources for general information on an era, but most don't have the resources or the archival space to keep local history files. For research that begins with a local topic, the public library is often the repository for local newspapers and first-person accounts (such as self-published journals) by area residents. A student who wants to write about a grandmother's childhood might go to the library and read newspapers (on microfiche or vertical files) from the grandmother's time.

Interviews with anyone who might have firsthand information about a topic provide children with a direct link to primary research. The key to success in such interviews is preparing for them by approaching the interviewee with a list of questions based on preliminary research. Student researchers, especially, need to be prepared, as their life's experience may not lead them to the natural follow-up questions that a seasoned researcher would be able to generate on the spot.

When face-to-face interviews are not possible, students can do what writers do--interview by U.S. mail or e-mail. Written interviews offer good opportunities for developing letter-writing skills because they shouldn't take place without a preliminary letter introducing oneself and describing the research project. (Teachers and librarians can remind students that responding to such requests is a kindness, a favor, on the part of the prospective interviewee, not an obligation.) Letters of introduction should contain a description of the project, a request for information, and a self-addressed postcard, so the interviewee can easily respond. A follow-up letter from the student will contain the interview questions. Students should allow ample time for the respondent to answer and enclose a stamped, addressed envelope to make answering as convenient as possible. E-mail requests for information should be courteous and allow the respondent plenty of time to reply.

Local events can yield good information for some research projects. A visit to a local history center or historical site yields information and stimulates students' interest. In our own area many celebrations and sites lend themselves to information gathering: an annual Civil War Days event, Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, the Grant Wood Festival, a restored pioneer village, and a presidential library. Trips to such places or events can become important occasions for research if students are prepared, if they have a focused topic and have done enough preliminary research to let them formulate authentic questions.

For certain topics, local cemeteries can be excellent sources of information. We might see rows of stones where a number of children may have died within months of each other in the 19th century. Other stones show us that a man may have married several times and lead to questions about what might have caused so many female deaths. One cemetery, which contains graves of a number of men who died during the 1960s, might yield names of soldiers who served and died in the Vietnam War. Students could be encouraged to follow such a visit with interviews with local residents about that era. Such interviews would provide good information for students and give families an opportunity to honor their loved ones by sharing stories of the deceased's sacrifices with another generation.

We have two goals in doing research projects with students: learning about a particular topic and learning how to learn about any topic. Beginning in our own backyards makes accomplishing these goals possible and fun. And, just as important, it reminds students that their own lives and their own neighborhoods are important, interesting, and inherently historical.

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By Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Sharron L. McElmeel

Jacqueline Briggs Martin (<www.jacquelinebriggsmartin.com>) is the author of Snowflake Bentley (Houghton Mifflin, 1998) and The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish (Houghton Mifflin, 2001). Sharron L. McElmeel (<www.mcelmeel.com>) is the author of ABCs of an Author/Illustrator Visit and Research Strategies for Moving Beyond Reporting (both from Linworth Publishing), and a frequent contributor to Library Talk.