PROCESS PAPER

When we started this project we chose a topic that would fit into the "Breaking Barriers in History" theme. It took us a couple of days to decide what we wanted our project to be about. Some ideas we considered were the Berlin Wall and Mae Jemison, the first black woman to become an astronaut. However, we remembered an article that we read in sixth grade that stuck with us concerning the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. In the end, we chose the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the workplace safety barriers that it broke, changing America for the better. 

After we chose our topic, we started researching the fire and the effects it had on America and factory workplace safety. We added all information and resources to a Google slide and started building sources. A lot of our research came from Cornell University. We found lots of primary sources and secondary sources using Cornell. We hit the jackpot when we found transcripts of interviews from survivors of the fire.  We read through hours of interviews, learning so many things about the fire. After we had enough information we came up with our title. 

We also had to decide what type of project we wanted to do.  We were debating between an exhibit or a website. In the end, we decided on a website because it was more of a challenge and neither of us had ever done anything like that. It was fun to try something new and to challenge ourselves to put together our project and present it in a website. We began by watching the tutorial videos on how to build a website and started to play with the website builder that was provided. At first, we looked at Weebly and a few other website builders, but we decided to use NHDwebcentral. We put our information into paragraphs depending on what barriers the Triangle fire broke. We decided that the recognition of labor unions, the enactment of child labor laws, and the safety reforms that changed America were the topics we wanted cover in our website. 

Finally, we had enough information to write our thesis. When we finished our thesis and supporting paragraphs, we scoured the internet to find more primary and secondary sources. We began to put all our information onto our website and focused on making it a very clean and nice layout. We gathered lots of our pictures and added them on to the website for visual effect. 

Overall, we learned so many important lessons on researching, citing sources correctly, adding captions to our pictures, writing an annotated bibliography, and working together as a team to create a finished product.  This process was challenging, but we both felt like we equally contributed to the project, and we feel proud of the outcome. We were glad to have this opportunity to learn to be historians, and to appreciate all those who came before us to make our lives better today.  ​​​​​​​