Transformation to Steel: How the Bessemer Process Sparked the Industrial Revolution
Process Paper
Why we chose our topic:
We chose our topic, the Bessemer process, because we had seen the TV show, America the Story of Us, and in it they talked about how much influence steel and the Bessemer process had on America around the turn of the 20th century. When we heard that the theme this year was turning points in history, we remembered about the show, and wanted to do our topic on steel. Our other option was the Concorde, but we decided that the Bessemer process would have more information to research, and relates more to the Turning Point in History theme this year.
How we conducted our research:
When we started our research we found our information by trying to find secondary sources first in articles on the Internet and in books, like biographies, of the important people related to the Bessemer process. When we went to the University of Washington on a class field trip, we found plenty of primary sources that we could check out and use for our website. We found primary sources like autobiographies by Henry Bessemer and Andrew Carnegie, two very important people to our topic. Those two sources gave us great quotes and needed information. We also found some biographies of key people, historical accounts of that time period, as well as some other books and old newspaper articles. We also found a great website that gave us lots of newspapers from the Industrial Revolution. We tried to work together every Tuesday for at least two hours each week at each others houses. Also we worked at home for at least 10-15 minutes every day, whether it was annotating or working on the website. We cited all of our sources on Noodle Tools.
Category and Construction of Website:
Our first option was to do an exhibit, since it seemed easiest. But after some consideration we changed our minds. We chose to do a website because neither one of us knew how to build a website, and that would be a helpful skill to know in the future. So we decided to do a website. Since neither of us knew how to build a website we went to to the National History Day website and got started there.
Relations to Theme:
"Turning Points in History" is a very wide topic, and many things relate to it. Our project relates to the theme of “Turning Points in History” because the Bessemer process is a turning point in history. The Bessemer process permitted steel to be made cheaply and fast, which is a very major turning point in history. Before the Bessemer process, it took ten to fifteen days to make forty to fifty pounds. With the Bessemer process, we found steel could be made in ten to fifteen minutes, and make about five tons.
We chose our topic, the Bessemer process, because we had seen the TV show, America the Story of Us, and in it they talked about how much influence steel and the Bessemer process had on America around the turn of the 20th century. When we heard that the theme this year was turning points in history, we remembered about the show, and wanted to do our topic on steel. Our other option was the Concorde, but we decided that the Bessemer process would have more information to research, and relates more to the Turning Point in History theme this year.
How we conducted our research:
When we started our research we found our information by trying to find secondary sources first in articles on the Internet and in books, like biographies, of the important people related to the Bessemer process. When we went to the University of Washington on a class field trip, we found plenty of primary sources that we could check out and use for our website. We found primary sources like autobiographies by Henry Bessemer and Andrew Carnegie, two very important people to our topic. Those two sources gave us great quotes and needed information. We also found some biographies of key people, historical accounts of that time period, as well as some other books and old newspaper articles. We also found a great website that gave us lots of newspapers from the Industrial Revolution. We tried to work together every Tuesday for at least two hours each week at each others houses. Also we worked at home for at least 10-15 minutes every day, whether it was annotating or working on the website. We cited all of our sources on Noodle Tools.
Category and Construction of Website:
Our first option was to do an exhibit, since it seemed easiest. But after some consideration we changed our minds. We chose to do a website because neither one of us knew how to build a website, and that would be a helpful skill to know in the future. So we decided to do a website. Since neither of us knew how to build a website we went to to the National History Day website and got started there.
Relations to Theme:
"Turning Points in History" is a very wide topic, and many things relate to it. Our project relates to the theme of “Turning Points in History” because the Bessemer process is a turning point in history. The Bessemer process permitted steel to be made cheaply and fast, which is a very major turning point in history. Before the Bessemer process, it took ten to fifteen days to make forty to fifty pounds. With the Bessemer process, we found steel could be made in ten to fifteen minutes, and make about five tons.