A timeline provides a visual representation of events, helping you better understand a historical event, story, or process. In a timeline, you can include a variety of topics, making it a very common academic resource. Luckily, it is very easy to do, since you only need to research a topic, create the project and organize the events.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Research the topic
Step 1. Gather information on the topic
As you read and gather information, start taking notes on possible events that you can include. You will need to provide a full story on the subject, so be sure to use multiple sources.
- Do your research online, go to the library to check out books, or visit a museum.
- Use various websites, books, articles, and even a documentary. Try to use at least three different fonts.
Step 2. Make a list of events to include
You should include the important events for the topic, but you also need to include some interesting ones that are relevant. While the timeline should keep the focus, you need to make it fun for the viewer and show that you understand the topic. It includes the following events:
- personal details (births, deaths and other important dates)
- historical events that have impacted the topic of chronology
- important events that have shaped the theme
Step 3. Use the timeline to tell a story
Although it is in a different format, a timeline, like a story, should flow perfectly and be engaging and interesting to read. The reader must be eager to know the next event, as if reading an exciting book!
Part 2 of 3: Create a Structure
Step 1. Look at sample timelines
To get an idea of what timelines typically look like, do an internet search for "timeline." Review several of the results so that you have a good idea of how to proceed with the project.
Step 2. Draw the timeline
First make a sketch using a pencil and then go over it with a ballpoint pen or black marker. Then label it with the project title and cutoff years.
- If you are going to draw it by hand, use a ruler.
- If you are creating a digital one, choose a template.
Step 3. Choose a start and end point
You need to set limits for the timeline as it will allow you to explore the topic. Consequently, the chronology begins and ends with enough space to encompass all events.
- Present smaller events to create a larger narrative.
- You don't have to start with someone's birth or end with their death.
- Keep the subject in mind and narrow it down to choose the correct start and end point.
Step 4. Determine how you will present the events
There are many ways to display events according to your preferences. You will have to create an entry for each of them and make it fit into the timeline.
- Includes less than 20 events.
- Write them down.
- Print the events and paste them on the timeline.
- Draw or use pictures.
- If you are using a digital method, create a slide.
Step 5. Select the time increments
Depending on the period of time you work with, you could choose increments in decades, years, months or even days. Determine the appropriateness for the topic and the number of events you include. Evenly spaces the appropriate number of lines spaced perpendicular to the main timeline between the start and end dates.
These time increments are not the years of the events, but rather are evenly spaced increments, such as five, ten, or twenty years. For example, you can mark the years 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 even though the events occurred in 1923, 1928, 1938, and 1943
Step 6. Put the most important dates on the timeline
Mark in the entire chronology the points where you will include the events that occurred. Draw a line perpendicular to the main chronology to indicate the years in which each event occurred, and write a brief description of each one.
Organize the dates sequentially. Events should be listed in chronological order, not in order of importance or interest. For example, those that occurred over the course of a year must begin in January and end in December
Part 3 of 3: Fill your timeline
Step 1. Give the project a title
Pick an interesting title that tells the viewer what the timeline is about. Make sure the title covers everything you have included in the project rather than just the topic. For example, do not put the title "NASA", but rather choose one that says "NASA: the journey to the Moon." Here are some titles you can include:
- "Life and moments of Nelson Mandela"
- "How I Met Your Mother: A Recent Story"
- "Main events that led to the start of the First World War"
- "The vast forests of the Peruvian jungle"
- "NASA: to the Moon and beyond"
- "A day in the life of a praying mantis"
Step 2. Include details and important information about each event
For each entry, write a brief explanation about what happened, including details such as the people involved, the impact of the event, and related figures (for example, the number of people killed in a war). Include details to help you tell the general narrative of the timeline.
Step 3. Write clearly and concisely
Your words should be easy to read, so try to write clearly. You can type the entries on the computer, cut them and paste them into the timeline. Use as few words as possible to explain events in such a way as to avoid taking up too much space.
If you are creating a digital timeline, write the entries on a computer
Step 4. Add images
You can add visual interest to your timeline by including some pictures along with the events. Search for images online, copy them from books, or use your creative side and draw them yourself.
Advice
- If necessary, alternate where you write the events. Write one on the line and the next below it.
- Try to write as little as possible.
- Make sure to cite your sources appropriately.
- Before starting to make the chronology, plan what you will include in it, since it is extremely difficult to erase an error or add an event that you have forgotten.