my process paper
Why I chose this topic
Henry Ford was always a name that I was familiar with, but I have never known the story behind his car brand, Ford (which was a favorite brand of mine). As I began looking over the topics to choose from for my project, one stood out to me-Henry Ford. I have always been interested in the story behind his brand. Another thing that had me interested in his story was the character from the Disney movie Cars™. This character was Lizzie-Model T. Old cars have also always interested me, especially when I see how much cars have changed from the early 20th century to today. This Model T was the car that started it all and made it possible for everyone to own automobiles, so surely the work of Henry Ford was a most important turning point in history.
How I conducted my research
To start, I went to the library at school, where I went on the Internet. I found several helpful websites (such as online museums) to cite. Most of my research was done online, but I did find a couple of books that included the story of Ford’s life, assembly line, and Model T. I also researched some primary sources, which included Henry Ford’s autobiography. The more I researched Ford’s work, the more I realized how great of an impact he had on history.
How I created my exhibit
My exhibit is a website. I first laid out my ideas on Microsoft Publisher, which allows you to create offline websites. Since Publisher doesn’t allow any multimedia besides pictures to be inserted on the site, I used it as a “draft”. I designed the pages and added webs and bullets on each page to lay out my ideas. Next, I launched a new website on the free site host, which NHD recommends for website projects, Weebly. I took my ideas on the offline site and rewrote them in paragraph form on Weebly. I also added several multimedia on the site, including pictures and a video.
How my project relates to the NHD theme:
My project relates to the NHD theme in several ways. My topic is about a person, Henry Ford. However Henry Ford is tied to an event- creating the Model T and making automobiles available to the public, which all started as an idea by Henry Ford. It is also a major turning point in history. If Henry Ford had not created the Model T-also making automobiles available to the public- then most likely, we would not have the transportations we use today!
(445 words)
Henry Ford was always a name that I was familiar with, but I have never known the story behind his car brand, Ford (which was a favorite brand of mine). As I began looking over the topics to choose from for my project, one stood out to me-Henry Ford. I have always been interested in the story behind his brand. Another thing that had me interested in his story was the character from the Disney movie Cars™. This character was Lizzie-Model T. Old cars have also always interested me, especially when I see how much cars have changed from the early 20th century to today. This Model T was the car that started it all and made it possible for everyone to own automobiles, so surely the work of Henry Ford was a most important turning point in history.
How I conducted my research
To start, I went to the library at school, where I went on the Internet. I found several helpful websites (such as online museums) to cite. Most of my research was done online, but I did find a couple of books that included the story of Ford’s life, assembly line, and Model T. I also researched some primary sources, which included Henry Ford’s autobiography. The more I researched Ford’s work, the more I realized how great of an impact he had on history.
How I created my exhibit
My exhibit is a website. I first laid out my ideas on Microsoft Publisher, which allows you to create offline websites. Since Publisher doesn’t allow any multimedia besides pictures to be inserted on the site, I used it as a “draft”. I designed the pages and added webs and bullets on each page to lay out my ideas. Next, I launched a new website on the free site host, which NHD recommends for website projects, Weebly. I took my ideas on the offline site and rewrote them in paragraph form on Weebly. I also added several multimedia on the site, including pictures and a video.
How my project relates to the NHD theme:
My project relates to the NHD theme in several ways. My topic is about a person, Henry Ford. However Henry Ford is tied to an event- creating the Model T and making automobiles available to the public, which all started as an idea by Henry Ford. It is also a major turning point in history. If Henry Ford had not created the Model T-also making automobiles available to the public- then most likely, we would not have the transportations we use today!
(445 words)