The Legacy of French Canadian Immigrants in New England

Day Two

Students use the American Memory collections Search Strategies form to record keywords. Students should come up with their own search terms and should note what worked and what did not. The American Memory collections Notes and Quotes handout can be used by the students for their actual note taking.

• Discuss how to determine key words for searching;
• Look at options for searching the American Memory collections;
• Review note-taking using key words or phrases.

Assign each pair of students two or three topics on which to concentrate their searches. The topics page linked above is designed to serve as a sample to provide suggestions for topics to be researched in the two different collections.

Allow for brainstorming within pairs to insure that all students have a good idea about how to find information relevant to their topics.

Introduce the American Life Histories collection.

Model one interview, such as Henri Lemay, to isolate items pertaining to the topics assigned. This interview was chosen because it is short and because it illustrates that some of the life histories may not provide information on all the topics. This activity can be done online if students are already at computers, or hard copies of the interview can be provided so that students can write on them. Groups can use this activity to begin taking notes for their assignment.