2026 Shanghai Winter Vacation High School Camp

Class Description

The TCR History Camp Winter Vacation session is an intensive workshop in historical research and writing for secondary students. During the 2-week session, experienced instructors will coach students to compose a first draft of a historical research paper on a topic of their choice. Each student prepares for the workshop in advance by

• Choosing a topic

• Procuring (either buying or borrowing) at least 3-5 books on that topic (many if not all of which the student should read before the start of "camp"), an

• Arranging for online access to other primary and secondary sources on digital databases (e.g., JSTOR, eLibrary, Gale, EBSCO, Congressional Quarterly, etc.).

Instructors work one-on-one with students, coaching them through the research and writing process: formulating productive research questions; finding and making discerning use of primary and secondary sources; taking accurate notes; analyzing evidence, formulating a provisional narrative and testing it with more research; marshaling evidence to support one's position or narrative; puzzling together a narrative structure for one's essay; documenting evidence with University of Chicago-style source citations; writing and rewriting.

Each weekday morning begins with a group meeting(class) of all students and instructors devoted to instruction on methods required for the historian's craft. Students spend the better part of each day and the middle weekend exercising those methods in their research and writing. Each student has a daily one-on-one conference with an instructor.

Venue: Chicago Building, No. 41 Hengshan Rd, Xuhui District, Shanghai