The westward expansion of the United States increased the size of the nation by millions of acres. As the boundaries of the country came to reach the Pacific Ocean, new landscapes, geological formations and natural features granted an exciting variety to America. The U.S. government would create hundreds of national parks from these vast regions. As of 2021, there are 423 parks spanning over 84 million acres.
In this assignment, you will explore one of these national parks. In doing so, you will practice using the fundamental skills of a historian: researching to find information and then synthesizing the information. You will also present your research into clear, well-written prose. The central piece of the historian’s craft is to gather and explain knowledge, so let’s try it out.
Step 1: Background Reading
- Read this article from the National Park Service – “Origin of the National Park Idea”
- Read this article from the Library of Congress – “Brief History of the National Parks”
Step 2: Choose a National Park. Select a national park in the United States that you would like to know more about. It should be in the region you consider “the West.”
Step 3: Research Your Park. Gather information about your park. You can use government websites, books, articles, other reputable websites or other legitimate sources. Keep track of your sources and cite them using Chicago or MLA style. You may want to use a program such as Zotero, Citation Machine, or another citation engine to help you track and cite your sources.
Step 4: Create a Brochure, Flyer, or Advertisement. Create an informational brochure or advertisement about your park. It can be created as a Word Document, Google Document, PowerPoint presentation, Google Slides presentation or via another platform, such as Canva, Venngage, Adobe Spark, or Visme.
Your brochure/advertisement should include the following sections, and each section should be written in paragraph form:
- Description: where is it and what is it?
- How did it come to be designated as an official national park?
- Why is this park important?
- What can you do there?
- Tell us some fun facts about the park.
- Works Cited
Your brochure/advertisement should include at least three visuals and at least one map. These could be an image from the web, or graphic or hand-drawn art of your own making. As with sources used in the written portion of your brochure, be sure to give credit for anything not your own.
Rubric
| Criteria | Developing | Satisfactory | Excellent | Points |
| Informational Sections | Sections include paragraphs on insufficient detail and length. They are three sentences or less, and contain several grammar and spelling mistakes. | Sections includes a full- paragraph with more than three complete sentences. Most of the writing is clear, with only few mistakes. | Sections include well-written paragraphs with more than five complete sentences. Paragraphs include topic sentence, relevant information, and conclusion statement. There are few if any grammar or spelling mistakes. | __/14 |
| Sources | Sources are not fully cited (or at all). Research lacks depth. More sources needed. | Sources are cited. Less than three sources consulted. Brochure could have benefited from additional source or two to add detail. | All sources are cited. It is clear at least three sources related to the national park are used. | __/3 |
| Visuals | Relevant visuals are lacking. Map not included. | Most sections have a relevant visual. There is a map in the brochure. | Every section includes a relevant visual. There is at least one map in the presentation. | __/3 |
| Total | __/20 |