How to Create an Exhibit
An exhibit is a visual representation of your research and interpretation of your topic’s significance in history. The analysis and interpretation of your topic must be clear and evident to the viewer. Labels and captions should be used creatively with visual images and objects to enhance the message of your exhibit.
Do I want to Choose an Exhibit?
1. Do I enjoy creating things with my hands?
2. Do I have room to keep an exhibit once I create it?
3. Do I have a way to transport my project to a contest?
4. Can I tell my story primarily through pictures and artifacts instead of words?
2. Do I have room to keep an exhibit once I create it?
3. Do I have a way to transport my project to a contest?
4. Can I tell my story primarily through pictures and artifacts instead of words?
How is an Exhibit Different from Other Categories?
The exhibit category is three dimensional and is displayed on a physical structure. Exhibits use color, images, documents, objects, graphics, and design, as well as words, to tell your story. Exhibits can be interactive experiences by asking viewers to play music, look at a video, or open a door or window to see more documents or photos.
Getting Started:
- Research the topic first. Do your secondary research first. Reading secondary resources will help you understand your subject more completely, point you to primary sources, and assist you in selecting the important points you want to investigate and the key questions you want to ask.
- Select items to put on the exhibit. You won’t be able to use all the materials you find while doing your research. As you think about what to put on the exhibit, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does the item fit in with the NHD theme and the theme of your exhibit?
- Does the item advance the story you are trying to tell?
- Is the document you are thinking of displaying too long or too wordy? Is it easy to read and understand? Will it take up too much space on your exhibit?
- Is the item visually interesting?
- What images best tell your story?
- Do you want to include artifacts in your exhibit?
- Will your exhibit contain audiovisual materials?
- Prepare the script. Writing your titles, text, and labels is often referred to as writing the script. Like all good writing, your exhibit script needs to be grammatically correct, use good sentence structure, make wise word choices, and contain no spelling errors. You should expect to write several drafts. Exhibit labels are brief, so they need to be clear and concise.
Exhibit Elements:
- Your analysis must be clear and evident to the viewer in the exhibit itself. Do not rely on supplemental
- material or media devices to deliver your message as judges may not have time to view them.
- Your argument must be supported with, but not overwhelmed by, visual and textual evidence.
- Your exhibit must conform to all general and category rules.
- Your exhibit must not include takeaway items for judges or others.
SIZE REQUIREMENTS:
- The overall size of your exhibit when displayed for judging must be no larger than 40 inches wide,
- 30 inches deep, and 72 inches high.
- Circular or rotating exhibits or those meant to be viewed from all sides must be no more than 30 inches in
- diameter or diagonal. See Figure 6 (p. 32) for illustration.
- Measurement of the exhibit does not include the table on which it rests.
- Measurement does include any base that you create, any table drapes that you provide, and supplemental
- materials placed on the table.
Word Limit:
- A 500-word limit applies to all words that you write. Each word or number counts as one word.
- The following words DO count:
- Text that you write, including titles, subtitles, captions, graphs, timelines, media devices, or supplemental materials (e.g., photo albums, scrapbooks)
- Words in the following DO NOT count:
- Primary or secondary materials or quotes included on your exhibit or in media or supplemental materials
- Source credits
- Rely on your own analysis, primary sources, and visuals to tell your story. Use caution when deciding on the length and quantity of quotes, primary or secondary.
- Extensive supplemental material is inappropriate. Oral history transcripts, correspondence between you and interview subjects, questionnaires, and other primary or secondary material used as sources for your exhibit should be cited in your bibliography, but not attached to your bibliography or exhibit.
Media Devices:
- If used, media devices or electronics in an exhibit must not run for more than a total of two minutes and must not loop continuously.
- Any media devices must not include dramatic or narrative student involvement.
- Judges must be able to control media devices by using clearly visible and accessible on/of and volume controls.
- Media devices must ft within the size and word limits of the exhibit.
- Anything that links externally, such as QR codes, is prohibited.
CREDITING SOURCES:
- All quotes and visual sources (e.g., photographs, paintings, charts, graphs) must be credited on the exhibit and cited in the annotated bibliography.
- Source credits do not count toward the word total.
- See nhd.org/annotated-bibliography for more information and an example of a source credit.
The Process Paper:
A process paper is a description of how you conducted your research, developed your topic idea, and created your entry. The process paper must also explain the relationship of your topic to the contest theme.
Exhibit Examples:
Female Flyers: The Conflict and Compromise of The Women Air Force Service Pilots in WWII
Theme: 2018 Conflict & Compromise World War II History Prize Senior Group Exhibit Annabel Spayde and Emma Page |
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