Write the Oral History and Publish!
Now you've got all these notes. How do you make them into an oral history about World War II? Here are some tips:

• Listen to the tape of the interview or read over your notes. Think about what you learned from this person and what pictures are created in your head about World War II. Think about the ideas you had about the war and your interviewee prior to the interview. Did they change? Think about the details and information that are most interesting to you. Chances are, they'll be interesting to your readers, too.

• Decide on a good way to organize the oral history. For example:

  • Use chronological order. Begin with the person's earliest memories and experiences in the war and recount them in order through the end of the war.

  • Start with the person's most exciting or dangerous experience from the war. From that beginning, you can explain what came before the event or what happened afterwards.

• Includes lots of detail. Use the person's memories to paint a picture of this era and what it was like for an ordinary person to be part of it.

• When you finish the first draft, give it to a classmate, your teacher, or a family member to review. Or set your first draft aside and read it again in a day or two. At that point you can judge it with a fresher eye.

• Make revisions. Go back to your notes for more details or to double-check dates, names, and places.

• Follow the directions to publish your final draft online in the World War II Memory Book.