ESSAY WRITING:
Essay writing is going to be very important to be successful in college and in this course. The following will help you to write an essay that is well-organized, thorough and thoughtful.
How to Write An “A” AP US History Essay
Exam
by Dr. Sarah Loeb, revised
8/27/08
Introduction
1.
Purpose of each essay: Persuasive argument. You want to convince the reader that your
answer is correct. Do so by using
analytical reasoning supported by factual evidence.
2.
Goal: a literate, organized essay, that begins with
a thesis that announces the outline of your answer and then supports that
thesis with several paragraphs of reasoning and factual evidence.
3.
Write in essay format:
a. Write in complete
sentences, avoiding sentence fragments, run-ons, and bulleted lists.
b. Organize related thoughts in paragraphs. One giant paragraph will
cost analysis points.
c. Use standard
English; avoid informal language, slang, and profanity.
d. Do not
use first person (avoid “I,” “my,” “we,” “our,” etc.) unless the question
calls for it.
e. Do not attempt to use the 5 paragraph
English essay format!
f. Essays
must be written in black or dark blue ink.
g. Do not write a rough draft of anything except
the thesis. You do not have time.
h. Crossing out words or sentences is fine. Do not waste time with white out.
Graders
understand that the essay is a rough
draft!
i. Write legibly in fairly large sized letters;
most graders have older eyes.
4.
The average grader spends 2 minutes grading each essay. Your goal is to distinguish your essay from
the mass of mediocre and failing essays in the first paragraph! If your essay is disorganized, illiterate,
and hard to read, hides the thesis sentence, or mashes the answers to the
different parts of the question into one giant paragraph, it will earn a low
score.
I. Step
One: Read and Diagram the Question
Carefully
A. Start by reading the question most
carefully. Diagram it to make sure you notice all of its parts.
B Examine the VERB in the question. It
tells you what you MUST do. Do it!
1 If
the verb says to “compare,” you must
make several direct comparisons.
a.
Do not simply discuss one item and then discuss the others. Link them.
b.
Make it very plain to the grader that you are comparing by using words
that compare:
both, each, neither/nor, either/or, also, and, likewise, yet, is
comparable to, is different
from, on the other hand,
despite, is similar to, however, etc.
c.
Compare really means “compare and contrast;” explain how (and why) alike and different.
d. Compare all items the question
asks you to compare, ideally in separate paragraphs.
2. If
the verb says to “evaluate” the relative
importance of four causes of the Civil War, you must
clearly state a ranking of the causes in your thesis and then support your
ranking with facts
and reasoning throughout your essay. If asked to evaluate to what extent the U.S. foreign policy
during the post WW I period was
isolationist, explain whether it was isolationist or not, and give
specific examples of how (and why)
it was isolationist and how it was not.
3. If
the question asks you to assess the
validity of a statement, you must explain to what extent the
statement is true and to what extent
it is false. Give specific examples of
each!
C. Carefully
observe NUMBERS in the question.
1.
If the question asks you to compare two of the following four issues,
select two issues to write on.
2.
You will not earn extra points for writing on three or four; the grader
will only grade the first two.
D. Observe
the GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES given in the question, if any.
1. If
the question asks you to discuss the South, do not spend much time on the North
or West!
2. If
the question asks you to compare the colonies of Chesapeake
with those of New England, don’t
waste time on New York
and Pennsylvania. Write about Virginia
and Maryland
vs.
Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut!
E. Firmly
center your answer in the TIME FRAME
given in the question. Examples:
1. If
the question is on Federalist presidents, write about Washington and John
Adams, not
Thomas Jefferson.
2. If
the question asks about transportation between 1815 and the Civil War, don’t
write about
cars and airplanes. Instead, write about canals, steamships,
roads, clipper ships, and railroads!
3. It
is fine to briefly go a bit
earlier than the time frame to
explain causes and later to explain
effects, but center your answer in the time period asked for by the question!
4.
Moral: YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST LEARN BASIC, KEY DATES, TERMS, AND TIME
PERIODS
(ERAS)! Look up words like “antebellum” if you don’t
know their meaning. Do not
believe the AP web site when it
tells you that you do not have to know dates. That is a lie!
F. USE
THE CATEGORIES given in the question, if any are given.
1. Do not ignore the categories if some
are given in the question and invent your own!
a.
Part of what you are being tested on is do you know what the different
categories mean.
b. Examples include: social,
economic, political, cultural, religious, ideological/intellectual,
technological, geographical, fine
arts, etc.
c.
Using the categories properly (by correctly sorting factual examples in
to each category)
earns the writer analysis points.
2. ANSWER THE QUESTION ASKED; USE
CATEGORIES GIVEN IN THE QUESTION!
Read
the question carefully, noting exactly
what is being asked. If asked about the
political and
economic effects of Puritanism,
don’t write on its effects on religion instead.
It isn’t relevant and
shows you did not read and
understand the question. However, you
will explain parts of what the
religion is in order to show exactly
how the religion influenced politics and economic life.
3. IF NO CATEGORIES ARE GIVEN AND IF
THE QUESTION LENDS ITSELF TO
CATEGORIES,
you may select your own categories to use in your answer.
a.
An example of an essay question that lends itself to the student
selecting categories is
“Compare the colonies of Chesapeake and New England during the period before 1700.”
b.
Use some of the categories from SPRITES, SPEC, PERSIA,
SPERM, SPIRE, etc. or invent
some that accurately describe how you are planning to organize your
essay. For example, in
the preceding question, you might wish to compare relations with Natives
and demography.
4 ALWAYS ANNOUNCE THE CATEGORIES IN THE
THESIS;
THEN
WRITE A PARAGRAPH ABOUT EACH CATEGORY.
a. Make
it clear in the first words of each paragraph which category is being
discussed.
b.
If a factual example can be used in two categories, use that example at
the end of one paragraph as
a transition to the second category in the next paragraph. (Example:
“Although the Declaration of
Independence
is a prime example of Enlightenment ideology, it also lists specific complaints
the
American colonists had against Britain’s mercantilist economic
policies.”
5. Not
all questions lend themselves to SPRITES, PERSIA, etc types of categories and
analysis.
a.
An example is “How did independence from Great Britain change gender and
race relations in
the U.S.? Confine your answer to the period 1750 to
1789.” The question requires the student
to analyze how two areas, race and gender, were changed by the
Revolution.
b.
Tailor your categories and analysis to the specific question!
G. TAKE A STAND WHEN ASKED. When
the question asks you to take a stand, do
so in your thesis.
1.
This may be difficult for some students who come from cultures where it
is considered rude to
voice an opinion. If this describes you, you must learn to
state an opinion when called to do so!
2. It usually does not matter what opinion you
take; what matters is how well you support
your
opinions with facts and reasoning!
3.
It is great to show you are aware of at least two sides to the answer by
using an “Although”
thesis sentence and including some examples that do not support the main
premise in your essay.
4.
While it is best to be consistent through the essay, it is OK to change
your mind and modify your
thesis part way through your essay
or at the conclusion if new ideas and supporting (or contrary)
facts suddenly appear in your
brain.
II.
Step 2: Plan Your Essay by
Creating A Roadmap Outline of Your Answer
A. PLAN your essay by doing a BRIEF OUTLINE of your answer.
1. DO NOT,
under any circumstances, SKIP MAKING
THIS OUTLINE!
a. The outline makes sure you answer all parts
of the question.
b. It keeps you from straying outside the
boundaries of the question.
c. Limit the outline to 100 words or less.
B. How to make the roadmap of your answer:
1. First,
jot down all parts of the question that you will have to address to answer all the question.
a. Note the verb, time period, geographic
limitations, any given categories, and other parts.
b. Put this information in a chart form.
2. An
example will demonstrate how to create a chart for an essay question: “How did
independence from Great
Britain change gender and race relations in the U.S.?
Confine your answer to the period
1750 to 1789.” Here is one way the chart
could be made:
HOW CHANGED (or not changed!)
|
|
Gender
|
Race Relations
|
|
1750 – 1775/1783
|
|
|
|
Post Rev (1783 to 1789)
|
|
|
3. Brainstorm
ideas by jotting down examples
and arguments very briefly that
might fit gender
&
race relations of the time period desired.
Don’t be too critical; just get the ideas down fast.
Gender Race
Relations
Patriarchy
Native
Americans –Proclamation 1763
Abigail
Adams “Don’t forget the ladies” Slaves
& freemen in all colonies 1775
No
Voting rights < or>; NJ exception Restrictions
on slavery > Rev in Pa, NY
property
rights/Eng common law Blacks
both sides in Rev War;
Ideal
of Republican Mother NW
Ordinance bans slavery
Women
serve Cont’l Army; Molly Pitcher Constitution:
3/5s Clause; OKs ban on
Daughters
of Liberty,
boycotts & Tea Act slave
trade in 20 yrs
Declaration
omits race but ideal = equality
4. Now edit
your brainstorming. Cross out any
ideas outside the boundary of the question.
Arrange
the items into the proper pre and post Revolutionary War parts of your
chart. Then mark
each
idea as to whether it represents a change
(C)
or no change. (NC)
|
|
Gender
|
Race Relations
|
|
1750 – 1775/1783
|
Patriarchy
No formal
voting/political rts
Daughters of Liberty
Led eco
boycotts re Tea Act
Women serve
Cont’l army;
Molly Pitcher
Abigail Adams
“Don’t forget the ladies”
|
Native Ams –Proclamation 1763
Slaves,Freedmen in all colonies
1775
Blacks both
sides in Rev War
Crispus Atticus
Declaration
omits race but ideal = equality
|
|
Post Rev
(1783 to 1789)
|
Patriarchy
still NC
Ideal of
Republican Mother, need ed. C
No Voting rts;
NJ exception NC
property rights
NC
Ignored Abigail’s plea in new gov’tNC
|
Native Ams No
settlement limits C
Restrict
slavery in Pa, NY; C
NW Ordinance bans slavery C
Constitution:
3/5s Clause NC
OKs ban slave
trade in 20yrs C
|
5.
It is best to write about the same
amount on each part of an essay.
Sometimes you will know more
about one side of a question, so your answer
will be lopsided. BE SURE to include ALL PARTS
OF THE QUESTION IN YOUR ANSWER!
6.
If the question gives no
categories, then you must create a structure and some way of organizing
your essay. After you list your
brainstormed issues for your answer, examine your list. Determine how to best group related ideas
under no more than 3 to 5 topics. Use
these topics in your chart, in your thesis, and discuss each topic in a
separate paragraph of your essay.
III. Step 3:
Write Thesis Sentence or Paragraph
The
second most frequent cause of failing is an absent or poor thesis sentence.
A. An essay without an acceptable thesis
sentence(s) will earn a score of 0.
Yes, a ZERO!
A thesis that merely restates the question
will result in a score of 0 for the essay!
B. ALWAYS WRITE YOUR THESIS IN THE FRIST
SENTENCE(s) of the first paragraph,
so the grader will not miss it. If AP graders don’t immediately spot a
thesis, they tend to score the
exam
0 and move on to the next essay.
C. The
thesis sentence(s) should be a ROAD MAP of your ANSWER to the question, NOT A
RESTATEMENT OF THE QUESTION!
1. Do not waste your and your grader’s time by
rephrasing the question. Start with your
answer.
2. Graders grade only one question, at the rate
of 200 essays a day. They know the
question!
D. The
thesis tells the reader what your argument will be.
E. A good thesis shows that the writer is going
to answer all parts of the question within the
boundaries (including time period, geography,
etc) of the question.
1.
MAKE YOUR THESIS BASED ON YOUR OUTLINE CHART!
2.
Incorporate any categories given in the question into your thesis
3. If the question has no categories, you need to
create a structure for your essay in your thesis.
4. Take
a stand (give an opinion) in the thesis if the question asks you to.
5. Write
a rough draft of the thesis, and then, if needed, revise it to make it
literate.
6. The
thesis can be one sentence long or an entire paragraph.
7. The thesis MUST show the organization of
your essay and
COVER ALL PARTS of the question asked.
8. Add
some outside (not found in the question) information and analysis to your
thesis
so you
instantly to alert the grader that you have a high scoring essay!
9. In theory, the thesis can be anywhere in the
essay, but in practice, put it first!
F.
Examples of theses.
1.
“Slavery was the principal cause of the U.S. Civil War. Assess the validity of
this statement.”
a. A simple (and low scoring) thesis: “The Civil War had many causes.”
b. A better (but mediocre) thesis: “Slavery was
the principal cause of the Civil War.”
c. A high
scoring thesis is complex and shows
some analysis will be done by giving
a roadmap to
the coming answer: “Although slavery was a significant factor
in the coming of the Civil War, the
primary causes were the political, economic,
and moral implications of the extension of slavery to
the territories.”
2.
“How did independence from Great Britain
change gender and race relations in the U.S.?
Confine your answer to the period 1750 to
1789.”
a.
Low scoring thesis: “Independence changed
gender and race relations.”
b.
Mediocre thesis: “Independence changed
gender and race relations somewhat.”
c.
High scoring thesis: “ The
American Revolution was premised on radical ideals of
equality. Although independence
brought little change to gender relations, it did bring
somewhat greater change to some aspects of racial relations. It brought small, although real,
gains to blacks in the North, but
little improvements for accommodating Native Americans and
blacks in the South. Aside from a
new role as Republican mothers, women generally remained
legally and socially embedded in traditional patriarchy.”
G. Argue
at least two sides/aspects. Each
thesis should set up you up to argue more than one side of the argument and to
support the other side in at least one paragraph of each essay. An essay that begins “Although…,” is an ideal way to do this. See examples F1c and F2c above.
H.
Do not waste your and the
grader’s time with a fluffy introductory paragraph.
1. An
essay that begins “Since the dawn of the time” or with other irrelevant, mushy phrases
immediately
induces such thoughts as “this kid knows nothing, so she/he is making stuff up.”
2. Start with your thesis sentence(s), with at
most an introductory phrase that adds analysis and/or
outside
facts.
IV. Step
4: Support Your Thesis with Facts
A. #1 and biggest reason why essays fail is lack
of facts, according to AP graders.
B. It is extremely important to show you know
facts immediately, starting with your thesis.
Creating
an outline chart of the question will ensure you do so.
C. Show
More than One Side.
1. In your “although” paragraph, or throughout
the essay, mention facts that DO NOT support you
thesis.
Showing exceptions demonstrates analysis and critical thinking!
2. Since your average AP essay question has many
possible “correct” answers, by looking at the
question
from many sides, you will spot more issues that should be covered.
D.
Generally, put your best, most factually supported ideas in your second
and third paragraphs, so you
will
get them written down before you run out of time and before your AP grader runs
out of interest.
E. AVOID:
(Graders see and think “poor score”)
1. REPEATING YOURSELF,
2. WORDINESS
(stretching out a few facts with lots of meaningless padding words.), and
3. MUSH! Do not write too many vague generalities
unsupported by specific, factual examples.
4. Short and sweet is far better than any of the
above. Graders dislike B.S. immensely.
F.
AVOID TELLING NARRAVITES!
1. Sometimes my students know so many facts,
that they just recite a story of what happened.
2. In telling the narrative, they may totally
forget to answer the question! (They forget to do what the
question
verb tells them to do.)
3. Avoid
including irrelevant (to answering the question) facts
Sometimes
students waste time by including lots of facts that do not advance their
argument. .
V. DBQ
ESSAYS (Document – Based Questions)
A. Importance learning to write an excellent DBQ
essay:
1. All students write on the same DBQ; there is
no choice of which DBQ question to write on.
2. On the national exam, the DBQ essay counts
for 45% of the total essay exam score.
3. 45 minutes is the recommended writing time
for the DBQ, after the planning time.
B. ANSWER
THE DBQ question by making a short outline BEFORE you read the documents!
1. Plan
your answer before reading the documents!
2. First,
create a chart of the question and a mini outline of your answer.
3. THEN
read the documents, plugging the docs into your outline where they fit.
4. Modify your outline chart with the new ideas
you get from reading the documents.
C. In writing DBQ essays, you must
1. INCLUDE
OUTSIDE INFORMATION, facts not in the documents, but related to them;
2. USE
MOST OF THE DOCUMENTS by correctly citing them as EVIDENCE
supporting your argument or
showing the contrary side or exceptions to
your main argument.
D. To pass a DBQ, you must use over half the
documents.
To earn a top score, you must use almost all of the documents.
1. It is safer to pack lots of documentary
evidence in your first few paragraphs rather than
saving them for your last
paragraphs, as you may run out of time.
2. After you use the first document as evidence
in your DBQ, cite it [Document B]; after
your first document reference
you can cite it in shorter form [Doc C] or [C].
F.
If the author of a document has a specific point of view that you
know about, include that in your
analysis,
along with other relevant outside information about the author or
document. Examples:
1. Since Frederick Douglass was an escaped
former slave, his accounts of slavery are based on first
hand
experience and are convincing arguments against slavery.
2. Harriet Beecher Stowe never visited a slave
state; nevertheless, her accounts of the evils of slavery
in
Uncle Tom’s Cabin were emotionally compelling.
F. AVOID
at all costs:
1. wasting the grader’s and your time restating
the documents or extensively quoting them.
The
grader has read the docs and assumes you learned to read by 6th
grade.
2 using the documents you do not understand or
have time to read. Just skip those.
3. Above all else, do not answer the question by
telling what each document says!
4. Spending too much time on one document.
Other Information
A. Writing
1. In theory, you are not graded on grammar or
spelling.
2. In practice, if you write in one giant
paragraph of run-on sentences and disjointed sentence
fragments,
the grader will likely assume your knowledge of history is as bad as your
writing.
3. You want to appear literate and educated so
the grader will wake up and rejoice that at last they
potentially
have a high scoring essay to read!
4. Spelling must be good enough so the grader
understands what or who you are talking about.
B.
About wars:
1. AP does not get deeply into the battles of
wars, aside from the turning point battle(s).
2. You must
have a firm grasp of the causes and effects of wars, terms of
peace treaties, and
dates
the major wars were fought, as major
wars define key turning points and eras.
3. Wars commonly tested on essays include (in
order) the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish
American
War, World Wars I & II, War of 1812, and the French and Indian War.
4. Other wars have been parts of essays,
including the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the
undeclared
trade war of early 1800’s.
General Information
A. What graders look for in essays, in order:
#1 Thesis statement
#2 Facts; outside information in DBQ
#3 Analysis
Did you show you understood the
question? Did you group your facts in
categories?
Did you make reasonable, logical
arguments? Did you make linkages? Show
cause & effect?
#4 Synthesis
Did you put your facts & reasoning
together and make reasonable inferences and
conclusions?
B.
Length of good essays varies
widely. Top scoring one page essays are
possible, but the good free
response
essays average 2 ½ pages and DBQs, about 4 pages (8 ½ by 11 inch pages).
C. Don’t sweat the small stuff! Small slips won’t cost much, if anything. But
do not write about the wrong time period or confuse Lincoln with George Washington, the Civil War
with the Revolutionary War, or Bacon’s Rebellion with Shay’s Rebellion, or the
Missouri Compromise with the Compromise of 1850. You will receive major deductions for major
mistakes.
D. WRITE ALL THREE ESSAYS. If you know nothing, at least write a thesis
sentence & 1st
paragraph! You will earn points for the thesis. Then if you can come up with a few facts and
thoughts you will earn additional points, and perhaps even pass the essay. Do not
give up! Fight for points!
E. SHOW ANALYSIS BY USING CATEGORIES, CAUSE
& EFFECT, AND MAKE CONNECTIONS!
How AP Exams Are Scored (according to a highly experienced AP grader)
I
Multiple Choice = 50% of grade 80 questions in 55 minutes
II.
Essay Exams = 50% of grade
1
mandatory (no choice) DBQ (planning time + 45 minutes)
(DBQ
counts for 45% of essay exam total
score) and
2
free response (35 minutes each), 1 from pre-Reconstruction era and 1 later
Students
choice one of two questions to write on each free response;
Each
free response essay is worth 27 1/2 % of essay exam total;
I.
MC: ( ____number correct) -1/4 (
________ no. wrong) X 1.25 = _____________
II.
Q1 _________ X 4.5 =
______________ (essays are given a
score of 0 to 9 points, 9 is tops)
Q2
_________ X 2.75 = ______________
Q3
_________ X 2.75 = ______________
TOTAL
= ______________
114 - 180 = 5 around 9% in Sept of 2003 earned 5’s
92 - 113 = 4 around
17%
76 - 91 = 3 around 24%
42 - 73 = 2 50.2% passed in 2003
nationwide
0 - 41 = 1 (Each
year the cut-off scores are readjusted a little)
Multiple
choice questions are in order of increasing difficulty. The last 20 are hardest. Take your time on 1st 60
questions; do not make careless mistakes on them. Questions are in groups of around 10 to 15
questions in roughly chronological order, from earliest to latest. In theory, the first group of questions is
the easiest, the 2nd group is somewhat harder, and so on until the
last group is (in theory) composed of the hardest questions. Earning a 3 requires answering about 60%
correctly. Each year number of the
points needed for the scores is recalibrated.
The small penalty
for a wrong answer on the multiple choice exam: its effect means DO NOT BUBBLE IN RANDOM ANSWERS TO UNREAD QUESTIONS OR TO QUESTIONS
YOU ARE UTTERLY CLUELESS ABOUT.
However, MAKE EDUCATED GUESSES. Guess whenever you can rule out at least ONE of the answers!
Past experience has shown that to
pass the AP exam, a student must spend 9 or more hours each week outside of
class preparing for the course. The rule
of thumb in college courses is that students should spend 3 hours outside of
class preparing for each hour in class.
Note that college students are assumed to have had in high school
courses in US
history, government, and economics as background preparation.
Essential Exam
Taking Tips -- the last days
1. Taking the AP US
exam is an endurance test, so get plenty of sleep and eat a good breakfast.
2. Bring several
sharp No. 2 pencils and several black ink pens for writing essays.
3. Number each essay
answer document with the CORRECT number of essay; write essays on
separate sheets
of paper, as each essay is each graded by a different team of graders.
4. Always do mini outlines of
essays in the 15 minute mandatory planning period; refer to these outlines
while writing the essays so you will answer all parts of the question, stay on
topic and not wander off in your excitement or fatigue.
