Transcript The Prompt - WordPress.com

AP World History
• Student: “How long
should the essay
be?”
• Susan Firestone:
• (10 grade English Teacher),
th
“Like a mini-skirt,
long enough to cover
the subject, but
short enough to be
interesting!”
APWH Essays
• Document Based Question
(DBQ)
• Compare and Contrast
• Change and Continuity over
Time (CCOT)
DBQ: Step One:
Analyzing The Prompt
• All AP essays are written in
response to an essay “prompt.”
This is what you commonly call the
“question.”
• Understanding what this prompt
asked you to do is the first
important skill you need to acquire.
• The first thing you need to do is to read the
WHOLE prompt, every word of it. This is
especially true if the prompt is in two
sentences and/or you are given a choice
about what to write about:
– Analyze the cultural and political
changes and continuities in TWO of the
following civilizations during the last
centuries of the classical era
• Chinese (100 CE to 600 CE)
• Roman (100 CE to 600 CE)
• Indian (300 CE to 600 CE)
• The first mistake students make is in
reading and answering only one part
of the prompt.
Step One…Analyzing the Info.
• What is the question/prompt asking
for?
• Are there any terms or words that you
do not understand?
• DBQ’s often provide a historical
background and that information
SHOULD be used
Analyzing the Documents
• PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE write on the
documents—circle, underline, etc. Do a
SOAPS chart!
• S: SPEAKER—voice which writes the piece
• O: OCCASION—What? How? What was going on for
someone to write this piece? In other words, the context
• A: AUDIENCE—readers to whom this piece is
directed. Can be a group of people
• P: PURPOSE--what was so important that this
article/piece/document had to be written?
• S: SUBJECT—what is the document about?
Always keep the prompt in mind!!!
DBQ Step Two: Organizing the
Info
• It may be helpful to develop a
chart/table or some kind of jot
list/organizing strategy. Some things
are the same (“universals”) for all
DBQ’s:
– Document Number
– Major point of the document
– Point of view
Step Two…..Organizing/Grouping
• Documents must be grouped into at
least Three Groups….can be grouped by:
– Region
– “who’s talking”
– Rich/poor
– Technology
– Agriculture
– Cultural
– Thematic
– Chronological
– Etc.
……Grouping
• Documents must be in 3 groups or
categories
• Minimum of TWO docs per group, but
THREE is recommended
• One document may be used in more than
one grouping, but NOT in three groups
Step Three….(POV) Point of View
• For each group of documents, you must
provide a POV for at least one of the
documents.
• POV is about the writer/source of the
document, NOT what the document states
itself. POV is influenced by two elements:
1. Historical Context:
age or time period of the event;
cultural setting
2. Frame of Reference:
personal background of the
author (could be age, education, beliefs, interests, values, etc.)
An Example of POV
• “Jonathan Sampson, a native
American, appears to dislike Anglo
Americans because his family was
murdered during the Black Kettle
uprising, yet his information has been
verified by eye witness accounts both
native and soldiers, thus making him a
credible source. (doc. 7)
An Example of POV
• ”Miguel Montez’s tone seems angry and
resentful, because his ancestor’s land
was taken by American soldiers during
the
Mexican American War. He offers no
evidence for his claims, thus his point of
view is questionable. (doc.5)”
Step Four…..Additional
Document(s)
• For each of your three groups, identify
and explain one type of additional
document that could be used AND
why/how
Writing Tips…
• Avoid sentences that begin “Doc.#___
says…..”
• The reader/teacher already knows the
information in the document
• Your job is to interpret the information
AND to make an argument or draw a
conclusion
• Use ALL documents!
Organizing and Grouping
Document Numbers
Topic
POV
1,5,6
Gender Relations
“
“
2,3,4
Religious Requirements
“
“
3,5,7,8
Forced Labor
“
“
How to Write a Thesis…
• For a thesis in the DBQ, include the date and time and talk
about the components of the question. For example:
Prompt: Using the documents, analyze African actions and
reactions in response to the European Scramble for Africa.
However, suspicious of them [Europeans], the
Africans rejected the proposal, which led to their
future resistances and fear against the Europeans
and eventually their enslavement during the period
of the Scramble for Africa.
Also…
• After the thesis statement (somewhere
in the opening paragraph), identify a
document that should have been
included, but was not.
• Use CLEAR language
• “An additional document that would help
prove the _________, would
be_________, because__________.
Thesis…..
• Around the dawn of the first millennium,
the Han and Roman attitudes towards
technology were both self glorifying;
however, the Han Empire in China placed
more value on technology and
enhancements than did the Romans, as
evidenced by the constant concern on the
part of the Han and the occasional
indifference on the part of the Romans.
CCOT
Analyze changes and continuities in longdistance migrations in the period from
1700 to 1900. Be sure to include specific
examples from at least TWO different
world regions.
Compare and Contrast
Analyze similarities and differences in the rise of
TWO of the following empires.
• A West African Sudanic empire (Mali OR
Ghana OR Songhay)
• The Aztec Empire
• The Mongol Empire