Step 1:    Why did you choose this topic and time period?

Time Period: Vietnam War

Setting: New York

     When I learned American History in 11th grade, we skipped the Vietnam war. Well, not skipped, but ran out of time. My history teacher decided that he'd have to teach us "the rest of" American history from 1950-present backwards starting with Clinton. During lunch.

     So while I'm not really a history buff, I always wanted to know more about this time period. My parents lived through it, and a lot of my friends' dads were in Vietnam. My dad--like the character in this story--was in college at the time. Protests raged. Young men burned their draft cards. I guess I want to think about the turmoil of living during that time. What was it like to live then, to try and plan for your future under the constant threat of war.

Step 2:  How do you plan to research this topic?

     Well there are a couple of things I know I have to find out so that I can make my story accurate and realistic. Why do I need to look these things up? I feel like if we're writing stories about certain time periods, we need to know how people lived. You know?

-I need to know the exact dates of events--when drafts started, names of big battles, protests that might've happened in the area.

-I also need to know details like how much it did it cost to ride a bus?

-A big question I have is what was it like to go to college during this time (what kind of people went to college)? How did people dress? What kind of technology would a college-age person use in their daily life?

     I plan on doing (most of) my research online. I usually start research at Wikipedia.  It gives you a lot of information quickly. I'll use it to look up the draft of Vietnam and how it worked. I know a few good sites--like history.com and pbs.com/history--that could help me figure out the big, historical details (dates of battles, dates of the drafts, timeline of the war, etc.). I think a google search would provide me with information about the history of NYU during Vietnam (what it was like to be a student during that time). I also have some stories my dad's told me. Some of that--though not really "research"--seems just as important.

Step 3:  Organize your research and information.

"The NYU formation of the "Committee to End the War in Vietnam" surfaced in the wake of President Johnson’s decision to begin sustained bombing of North Vietnam in early 1965. In 1967 CEWV and the Voice Party emerged as the principle student activist groups on campus. Both succeeded in attracting left liberal student members primarily interested in student power issues. Both concentrated exclusively on university complicity with the war effort and began to view the war as a product of international capitalism. Both groups took on an anti-imperialist tone" (www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/collections/exhibits/arch/Whoswho/CEWV.html).

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"One of the biggest demonstrations in New York City was to be on the NYU campus on October 14 [1965], but the protest was pushed off campus by administration so as not to disturb classes. Students and teachers, led by the War Resistor's League and the Committee to End the War in Vietnam, marched along West 3rd Street and West Broadway. This was followed two weeks later by a civil rights teach-in covering the Vietnam War and the Watts riot." (Hippie, Barry Miles http://books.google.com/books?id=RWPrAFvARUQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Committee+to+End+the+War+in+Vietnam+nyu&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0)

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(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_lottery_(1969))

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"The Military Selective Service Act requires you to have this STATUS CARD (SSS FORM 7) in your personal possession until you liability for training and service is terminated or until you turn it in upon entering active duty in the armed forces" (www.keller.com/dan/OaklandDraftCard.html)

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"A protester holds up his burning draft card while a crowd gathers around him. Date: 1965 circa 5 years"(www.picturehistory.com/product/id/16896)

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• 25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII.
• Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
• Reservists killed: 5,977
• National Guard: 6,140 served: 101 died.
• Total draftees (1965 - 73): 1,728,344.
• Actually served in Vietnam: 38%
• Marine Corps Draft: 42,633.
• Last man drafted: June 30, 1973. (history-world.org/vietnam_war_statistics.htm)

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"Here is how the lottery would work: One capsule is drawn from the drum containing birth dates January 1 through December 31. One capsule is then drawn from the drum containing the sequence numbers from 1 through 365 (366 if the draft will call men born during a leap year) and the date and number are paired to establish the sequence number for each birth date. This is done in full view of all observers, officials, and the media. For example, if the date of August 4 is drawn first from the "date" drum, and the sequence number of 32 is drawn from the "number's" drum at the same time, then those men turning 20 on August 4 would be ordered for induction processing only after men whose birthdays drew sequence numbers 1 through 31. The drawings continue until all 365 (or 366) birthdays of the year are paired with a sequence number." (www.sss.gov/fslottery.htm).

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www.history.com/video.do?name=militaryhistory&bcpid=1681694250&bclid=1675979668&bctid=1329241546

Step 4:  Tell me about your research process.

So I started by looking up the "draft in Vietnam" on google and it led me to a Wikipedia site. That gave me a useful, general overview of the specific draft I want to reference in my story.

After that, I read through the links at the bottom of the page (Wikipedia gives you links to where the people who edited it found the information). I found a site that explains the lottery in even more detail. There's even a picture of the lottery. I learned how dates of birth were matched up with numbers that determined the order you were called to serve (while I might not use this exactly in my story, I definitely want to at least reference how random and frightening the whole process seemed). I also googled "Vietnam Draft Card" and found an image of an actual "card" with the specific instructions to the person it belongs to. There's also a picture of a man burning his draft card during a protest--my main characters come across a major protest during a pivotal scene in my story.

Once I had information that I wanted about the draft, I moved on to one of my other questions: What was it like at NYU during Vietnam? I googled "NYU during Vietnam." Creative, right? But it actually led me to an interesting website that described the student-led protest group that emerged during the 60s. I read a little bit about them there, and decided I needed to find out more about the group--more about what they actually did. So I quickly googled "Committee to End the War in Vietnam NYU." That search linked me to a googlebook called Hippie by Barry Miles. The book gave me a little more information about the protests.

As I'm revising my story, I'm noticing that I want to include more research than I thought I would. At first, I was thinking that I didn't really need to know all of this stuff to write a good story. And maybe I didn't, but I feel more confident writing about Vietnam now that I know more about it. It's all influencing my writing. The picture of the man burning his draft card definitely inspired me to rewrite one of the scenes in my story. I think the iSearch really helped!