Out of the Dark Ages:

Process Paper

Faizan Tariq, Fazila Tariq, Basra Bashir

Group Website
Senior Division

After short-listing a couple of topics for this years National History Day
project, we chose to research on Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he was one of the
greatest presidents of all time as he got America out of the Great Depression
through his able leadership and left a legacy behind after his death.
As a part of our initial research, we visited the Estelle and Melvin Gelman
Library in late October where we was able to study the original documents, watch
videos, examine photographs of the events, and gain primary sources. We also read
a lot of online encyclopedia entries. These helped us get a synopsis of the topic, on
which to base our exhaustive research. We also went on quite a few online
databases. The Library of Congress database was the most useful source for
gathering primary sources. Then we started compiling all our sources together to
get started on the website.
We chose to make a website as it allows the usage of a wide range of
multimedia and looks much more attractive and tempting and it also provided an
intensified level of interactivity as compared to the other presentation categories. It
was also the perfect way to present many viewpoints and primary sources. To create
the website, we gathered all our primary sources, quotations, video clips, songs,
and a ton of images. We then created an outlook of the website based on all the
sources we had. After creating the outlook, we uploaded all my sources. We tried to
make the website user-friendly by inserting buttons to take the reader to the next
and previous page. We also had to embed videos and documents on the website.
After a lot of editing and hard work, we completed our project.
Our topic relates to this years theme, Leadership and Legacy in History, as
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the greatest president of all times. He guided

America through its greatest domestic crisis. His presidencywhich spanned twelve
yearswas unparalleled, not only in length but in scope. FDR took office with the
country mired in a horrible and debilitating economic depression that not only
sapped its material wealth and spiritual strength, but also cast a pall over its future.
(Word Count: 370)