How to Respond to Identification Questions
American Studies
You will encounter identification questions in three basic formats: the identification; the paired identification; and the quotation identification.
I. The Identification
An identification is one well-focused paragraph, structured to present specific selected information relevant to the subject at hand. The ID is an important skill, because it trains you to seek out key points of information essential to any inquiry. An ID is composed of five basic parts: The who/what, when, where, did what, and so what/significance.
It is important to remember the following:
- On tests, identifications are written in complete sentences.
- The “who/what” “when”, and “where” can usually be condensed into one sentence.
- The “did what” generally takes two to three sentences, and the “so what” generally takes two to three sentences as well.
1. Who/What?
This question can be answered with another noun that tells the reader what the person’s occupation was, what kind of “thing” it was, or tells us what kind of idea it was. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader. The cotton gin was a machine. Avoid using a noun already in the name of the ID. Poor example: “The Sadler Committee was a committee.” Better example: “The Sadler Committee was an investigative panel.”
2. When?
Be specific. Dates are important because they help us establish how the ID fits into the sequence of events under discussion. If the ID is a process, trend, movement or set of beliefs and had an ongoing impact, (e.g. feminism or industrialization) the “when” could be as large as a century. If the ID is about a person, then the most relevant “when” would be connected to the significance of that person’s actions. Example: “Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776.”
3. Where?
Choose a location that is most relevant to the significance of the ID. You may use the names of towns, states, regions, places of government, nations, or the world, depending on the ID. Example: “Martin Luther King, Jr. uses the nonviolent resistance in Birmingham in 1963 as an illustration of the causes, motives, and challenges of the Civil Rights movement across the South.”
4. Did What?
Include the explanation of the idea or philosophy, the achievements or important actions f a person, or parts of the story relevant to its significance. For example, it is not necessary to know that William Bradford was an orphan who joined the Separatists at age 16. He was a Puritan leader, so we want to know about his experience in Plymouth.
5. So What?
This part of the ID tells us why, with hindsight, this person, idea, or event is significant. It should include the short and long-term consequences of the ID. Here are some clues to discovering historical significance: Ask yourself whether the ID . . .
- Was first, last , most, best, worst
- Was part of a larger process/trend
- Lays the groundwork/foundation
- Foreshadows the future
- Marks the end/beginning of an era
- Represents a watershed/is a radical or sudden departure from past practice
- Triggers a reaction/serves as a catalyst
- Is an example of
- Is a legacy of
- Sets a precedent for
EXAMPLE:The Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man, a 1789 proclamation of the French National Assembly in Paris, stated that all Frenchmen had the right to liberty, property, and freedom from political oppression. It also enumerated other rights like freedom of speech and religion and equality of all men before the law. The Declaration of the Rights of Man became the ideological foundation of the French Revolution. It also remains the foundation of French human rights today and serves as a model for other nations around the world.
II. The Paired Identification
The paired identification consists of a response clearly demonstrating the relationship between a pair of items which are somehow historically linked. There is no one way in which the link appears. It could be two people fighting for the same cause. It could be two events leading to the same results, or two events which happened in the same place.
In format, paired IDs consist of one single ID (“who/what”, “where”, “when”, “did what”) then a sentence or two offering a transitional phrase called the LINK which describes the correct relationship between the IDs, and then the other ID (“who/what”, where”, “when”, “did what”).
The LINK may be:
Causal:one caused the other(Agricultural Revolution : Industrial Revolution)
Temporal:sequential in time(Declaration of Independence : Constitution)
Similar:one is like the other(Hitler : Mussolini)
Differentone is different from the other(Hitler : Gandhi)
The last sentences are a combined “so what”/link which establishes the SIGNIFICANCE of the relationship between the pair. This part of the paired ID explains why the relationship between these people or events or ideas is significant.
EXAMPLE: French and Indian War : Sugar Act
The French and Indian War, fought by the British against the French from 1754 to 1763 was the North American theater of a global conflict known as the Seven Years’ War. A coalition of the British army and American colonists defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City. At the Peace of Paris in 1763, the French surrendered Canada to Britain which then became the dominant power in North America. But saddled with war debt, the British Parliament, following the lead of Prime Minister George Grenville, looked to its American colonies as a source of revenue. The result was the Sugar Act, which placed a tax on foreign molasses imported into the colonies and created new British courts to punish tax evaders. The American colonists saw the Sugar Act as a violation of the principle of “no taxation without representation” and the rights of Englishmen promoted by the writings of John Locke. The response to the Sugar Act was the first in a series of protests which, along with other British attempts at taxing the American colonies, would eventually lead to the American Revolution.
III. The Quotation Identification
The quotation identification is one well-developed paragraph which asks the reader to identify and analyze significant quotations or passages. The Quotation ID consists of the following:
1. The author and the title of the work (one sentence)
2. The speaker (when appropriate) and the context in which the quotation appears.
3. An analysis of the quotation. The analysis will ask you to think in terms of the following:
- How the writer expresses the idea, considering aspects like diction, figurative language, tone. . .
- Who the audience is and how the writer reaches that audience.
- What the quotation reveals about the speaker
- How the quotation illustrates a key theme or idea prevalent in the entire work, or how it is representative of the times in which it was written.
When writing a quotation identification, avoid simply restating the quotation in your own words. We are looking for your insight and analysis, not your ability to rephrase.
EXAMPLE: “But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him”
William Bradford writes of the “lusty seaman” in his history of Plymouth titled Of Plymouth Plantation. As the Pilgrims face many trials on the voyage on the Mayflower, this sailor taunts them, saying many will not survive the voyage and he will take full advantage of their poor condition. The irony of the sailor’s premature and “desperate” death is not lost on Bradford. Bradford’s interpretation of the sailor’s death offers a clear example of the Puritans’ belief in God’s providence. The sailor’s death is not only an example of God’s justice enacted upon the unrighteous, but also his mercy as He shows his chosen people that He is with them on the voyage to the promised land. Throughout the text, we see such examples of Bradford’s absolute faith in God’s direct intervention in the fate of these early Puritans.