Edith Cowan:

An Underdog in History

Kathleen Salanger & Christine Laskowski

Senior Division
Group Website

Kathleen Salanger & Christine Laskowski

Senior Group Website
NHD 2015
Process Paper
In order to choose our topic, we first research important world leaders or famous people
who made a large impact. We found a few including Edgar Allan Poe and William Shakespeare.
After going back and forth on which one we would research, we chose Edith Cowan. We used
Wikipedia to get a general idea of who she was. The reasoning for us choosing Edith Cowan as
our research topic was because of the large impact she made on her community. Also, being the
first person in the Australian Parliament, it was clear that she was a strong leader. Furthermore,
Edith was chosen by us because she was such a large part of her community.
After our topic was decided on, our research began. We spent many AP Global classes in
the library computer lab. Also, research was done on our own at home. During our time spent in
the library, we used our librarys databases along with Google Advanced Search. Some of the
websites and databases we used are Salem History, Edith Cowan Universitys website, and
Australian Geographic. Before we started the bulk of our research, we learned some research
strategies. These strategies include making sure a website is reliable, learning how to properly
use Google Advanced search, how to make notecards on Noodletools, and how to properly cite a
website or database in our research papers, and soon to be websites.
In order to select our presentation looked at the pros and cons of each individual category.
We decided on the website because we knew we had strong and creative skills when it came to
creating it. In order to create our presentation, we focused on all aspects of our historical figure,
including broad and specific information and contributions of our character. We have organized

our information into strong categories that give the viewer great knowledge about our figure. We
hope that by choosing the website we will be able to exemplify all of the amazing things Edith
Cowan has accomplished.
Edith Cowan properly fits the theme of this years National History Day theme of
leadership and legacy. Edith Cowan was a strong leader due to her knowledge about the issues
involving society at that time and her connection with the people. She has left quite a legacy after
her death. There has been a memorial named after her in her honor and the University of ECU
(Edith Cowan University) was also named after her in order to display what great impact and
legacy she has left. As you will see demonstrated in our project, Edith Cowan very well
completes the National History Day theme of leadership and legacy.