Opinions of 11th grade students regarding the usage of academic history journals in high school history classes

The purpose of this research is to determine the views of students regarding the usage ofacademic history journals in History of Revolution and Kemalism class? sub unit of Turkish Foreign Policy in Atatürk Era. Participants of the research are 11/B class students in 2010-2011 academic year of Gazi Çiftliği High School in Yenimahalle-Ankara. Thoughts of 35 students were anaized in the research.Qualitative method was used in the study. 5 weeks of study was conducted during the whole unit. Different essays extracted from 3 different edition of an Journal of Research Center of Ataturk assigned by the teacher related with the curriculum were distributed and implemantation was affected with the direct participation of the researcher. Data gained as a result of participants? views can be classifed as judgmental data.Judgmental data is subjective and requires commentary. According to Findings of the research; students declare that history journals contribute to critical thinking skills, reading habits and learning incidents and facts that are not covered in the text books. In addition to that students state that they want to keep on reading history journals and implemantation phase was joyful.Some students said that it was the first time they read a history journal and it was very funny. Majority stated that they would prefer reading journals to text boks. Key Words: History Journals, History Class, Revolution History, Critical Thinking, Qualitative Thinking