Table of Contents
IDENTIFYING CRITICAL WORDS IN A PROMPT 3
DETERMINING WHAT DOCUMENTS MEAN 5
FOCUS ON QUESTION: WHAT IS IT ASKING 7
DETERMINING CREDIBILITY: WHOM DO YOU BELIEVE 8
WHICH QUESTION TO WRITE ABOUT? 11
MAKING INFERENCES FROM DOCUMENTS 14
PUTTING ANSWERS INTO A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER 16
USING DOCUMENTS TO SUPPORT AN ARGUMENT 18
ORGANIZING YOUR ANSWER: WRITING AN OUTLINE 20
DEALING WITH DOCUMENTS THAT CONTRADICT EACH OTHER 22
WRITING A STRONG THESIS STATEMENT 24
ANALYZING CHARTS 26
WRITING A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE THESIS STATEMENT 28
ANALYZING POLITICAL CARTOONS 31
CREATING CATEGORIES TO ANSWER ESSAY QUESTIONS 35
USING DOCUMENTS AND CHARTS TOGETHER 37
SUPPORTING YOUR THESIS 41
USING DOCUMENTS AND CARTOONS TOGETHER 43
DEALING WITH ALL ASPECTS OF THE STATEMENT OR QUESTION 48
ARRANGING SOURCES INTO CATEGORIES 50
WRITING AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH 53
WRITING A PARAGRAPH FROM DISSENTING DOCUMENTS 55
WRITING A CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH 58
ORGANIZING A DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION 60
63
Source: Mike Henry US History Skillbook with Writing Instruction and Practice
IDENTIFYING CRITICAL WORDS IN A PROMPT
One of the most basic skills in essay writing is determining what the question is asking. As a first step, always look for the important components of the prompt. When examining a prompt ask three questions.
- What is the time period of the prompt?
- What am I to do with the prompt?
- What content is appropriate in responding to the prompt?
Every prompt will have these three elements. The time frame will either be stated very clearly or alluded to; a task will be given to perform; and the content area(s) will be apparent.
Below are some common phrases and words that are likely to appear in a free response.
What to do
· Evaluate/assess the validity: This is just a fancy way to ask, “Is this statement accurate or inaccurate about the historical problem.” Weigh the pros and cons of the issues and decide the relative accuracy of the statement.
· Analyze the extent to which: Asks for an argument that divides and separated the events and ideas of a problem in order to weigh whether a statement accurately describes a historical period. It is similar to the process of assessing the validity of a statement.
· Discuss: consider and argue the pros and cons of an issue. Should present all sides of the debated and make some evaluation of the issue.
· Compare: look for similarities between events, causes, persons or ideas.
· Contrast: Look for differences between events, causes, persons or ideas.
Content Areas
These are the most common content areas that essay question ask students to draw from as they support their arguments.
· Political: dealing wit governmental issues, voting, parties, legislative action and partisan affairs
· Diplomatic: dealing with relations between the United States and other countries
· Economic: dealing with financial issues, income, money, business activities, production, and distribution of goods and services
· Social: dealing with people living together and their relationships with other people in recreational, educational and communal settings
· Cultural: dealing with works of art and literature and their expressions of interest, skills, and dispositions of a time period
· Intellectual: dealing with ideas, thoughts, understandings, and reasoning
Practicing Skill
The following statement has been broken into its three components. After reviewing it, discuss the parts to make sure it is understood.
“Although the thirteen American colonies were founded at different times by people with different motives and with different forms of colonial charters and political organizations, the seeds of democracy grew in America. Assess the validity of this statement.”
Time—1607-1734
What to do—decide whether this statement is accurate about colonial development
Content—political activities in the colonial period
Practice
Look at the statement below and fill out the accompanying exercise. It will be discussed in class.
In the seventeenth century, the cultivation of tobacco made a profound impact on the social and economic development of the Chesapeake colonies. Assess the validity of this statement.”
Time Period-- ______
What to do--______
Content—
______
______
DETERMINING WHAT DOCUMENTS MEAN
One of the critical skills necessary for success in this course is the ability to read and understand primary documents. This requires a basic understand of how to analyze a primary source. Eventually primary sources will be combined with other documents to argue a thesis in a document based question (DBQ).
Analyze primary documents in a consistent and systematic manner. Ask the four Ws.
When was it written? (time or setting)
Who wrote it? (authors)
What is it saying? (Limit this to no more than three major ideas—if not the document will be copied)
Where is the message directed? (audience)
Practicing the Skill
My friends, there is one great God and power that has made the world and all things. This great God has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught to love help and do good to one another. Now this great God has been pleased to make me concerned in your parts of the world. the king of the country where I live has given unto me a great province, but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we may always live togther as neighbors and friends…I have great love and regard toward you and I desire to gain your love and friendship by a kind, and peaceable life…
--William Penn to the Delaware Indian Chiefs, 1681
- When: 1681, when Pennsylvania was founded.
- Who: William Penn, proprietor of the colony and a devote Quaker
- What:
A. Good brought the Quakers to Pennsylvania
B. The Quakers wanted to follow the teaching of God
C. Penn wants cooperation and peace with the Native Americans - Where: The audiences are the Delaware Indians and Quaker settlers.
Below are two more primary documents Identify the four Ws for each and discuss as a class.
Document A
We the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield… well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God…
1. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there shall be yearly two General Assemblies or Courts...
4. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no person be chosen Governor above once in two years, and that the Governor be always a member of some approved Congregation…
--Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, January 14, 1639
When-- ______
Who--______
What--______
Where--______
Document B
Now, dear brother, I will obey your command and give you a short description of the part of the world in which I now live. South Carolina is a vast region near the sea. Most of the settled part is flat…South Carolina is filled with fine navigable rivers and great forests of fine timber. The soil in general is fertile. There are few European or American fruits or grains that cannot be grown here…
The people in general are hospitable and honest. The better sort of people are polite and gentle. The poorest sort are the laziest people in the world. Otherwise they would never be poor and wretched in a land as rich as this.
--Eliza Lucas, Journals and Letters, 1742
When-- ______
Who--______
What--______
Where--______
FOCUS ON QUESTION: WHAT IS IT ASKING
Develop a strategy for focusing on specific issues to be addressed when preparing to write an essay. In most cases, free response prompts are questions about a historical era. On accession there will be a quote or statement to be evaluated for its validity. If the statement is a historical problem, quickly jot down a series of questions that breaks the statement into its basic components.
For example:
“The American Revolution was the culmination of unavoidable mistakes and misunderstandings in England and America form 1763 to 1776.”
To address this prompt effectively, first ask—
· Was the Revolution unavoidable?
· What were the major mistakes and misunderstandings?
· Were both sides equally responsible for them?
Posing such questions help focus on the specific terms and/or issues that must be addressed to score high on the essay.
If the prompt is a question, pose clarifying questions that will help structure the answer.
For example:
“How did the American Revolution transform European politics from 1775 to 1783?”
If this were the question to be addressed, might first ask--
· What European countries were involved?
· What interest did each country pursue?
· How did the Revolution impact any existing European rivalries?
· How did the colonies take advantage of these developments?
Practice: Look at the following statement and question and develop a series of clarifying questions about each.
1. British policy from 1763 to 1776 was “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations” designed to establish “an absolute tyranny” over the colonies.
Ask:
a. ______
b. ______
c. ______
d. ______
2. How was the colonial social and economic structure affected by the Revolution’s ideology?
Ask:
a. ______
b. ______
c. ______
DETERMINING CREDIBILITY: WHOM DO YOU BELIEVE
When looking at sources in general and specifically for a DBQ, the credibility of documents must be assessed quickly. That is, which document provides the most accurate information concerning the event or phenomenon? When confronting conflicting pints of view, decide which author left the most reliable account. In other words, weigh the evidence.
Below are some questions that will help assign credibility to a speaker and a source.
1. Is the source a primary source or a secondary one? A primary document is a first hand account of an event. Examples are letters, speeches, court rulings, and newspaper articles. A secondary source is written by someone who acquired the information second-hand and at a later date. He or she was not actually present at the event. The history textbook is an example. Primary sources are usually given greater weight than secondary sources but not always.
2. Was the document produced at the time the event occurred? Some primary sources such as newspaper articles, journals, and diaries are eyewitness accounts but may have been written many years after the fact. Always look for the date of the source.
3. What is known about the writer? Did the author have a vested interest in the event that would color his/her perspective: For example, were they describing a battle in which they participated? Did they own slaves? Did they command the ship that torpedoed the passenger liner? Generally place greater credence in a neutral observer.
4. Was the person in a position to know what happened? Were they actually present at the battlefront or on the bow of the ship? Were they in the Senate when Charles Sumner was actually attacked? Could they give an accurate first hand account?
On a DBQ, look for the date, writer’s agenda, and opportunity immediately. Since the DBQ is composed exclusively of primary sources, it is important to asses these components quickly to establish credibility. For example, both William Lloyd Garrison and George Fitzhugh were first hand observers of slavery, but they held diametrically opposing views and represented totally different constituencies. Also dates are important because their attitudes changed over the antebellum period. All these factors must be considered when deciding which man most accurately described the institution of slavery.
Practice
Below are two sets of documents about the battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, and about the causes of the America Revolution. Read both sets of documents, and select one document from each set that you believe gives the most accurate information about the events. Also, write a short rationale way these documents were selected.
Set 1: Who fired first?
Document A
I, Thomas Fessenden, of Lawful age, testify and Declare, that, being in a Pasture near the meeting house, at said Lexington, on Wednesday last, at about half an hour before sunrise…I saw three Officers, on horseback, advance to the front of said Regulars, when one of them, being within six rods of the said Militia, cried out, "Disperse, you Rebels, immediately," on which he Brandished his sword over his head three times; meanwhile the second Officer, who was about two rods behind him, fired a Pistol, pointed at said Militia, and the Regulars kept huzzaing till he had finished brandishing his sword…
--Thomas Fessenden, a colonial onlooker at Lexington, April 23, 1775
Document B
However the best of my recollection about 4 oClock in the Morning being the 19th of April 5 front Compays [sic] was order to Load which we did, about half an hour after we found that precaution had been necessary,…it was Lexington when we saw one of their Compys [sic] drawn up in regular order Major Pitcairn of the Marines second in command call’d [sic] to them to disperse, but their not seeming willing he desired us to mind our space which we did when they gave us a frie then run off to get behind a wall.
--Ensign Jeremy Lister, British officer, writing in 1832
Best source is ______
______
______
Set 2: What caused the Revolution?
Document C
In the winter of 1774-75 the British government learned that America had become a power keg. Blame for this situation must be attributed in fare larger measure to the inadequacies of George III and British politicians than to the activities of the radical leadership in America….Had the new policy been firmly and steadily pushed in the Stamp Act crisis, it is barely possible that a consistent course of coercion would have been the abandoning of the effort to turn back the colonial clock. An American policy to be based upon recognition of the maturity of the colonies and to their value to the mother country, together with an attitude of goodwill, might have postponed indefinitely the era of American independence…
--John R. Alden, The American Revolution, 1775-1783
(Written in 1954)
Document D
The parliament unquestionably posses a legal authority to regulate the trade of Great Britain, and all her colonies. Such an authority is essential to the relation between a mother country and her colonies…This power is lodged in the parliament; and we are as much dependent on Great Britain, as a perfectly free people can be on another.