AP World History is an exciting course to take. You can learn about how civilizations have grown and interacted with one another from the time of 600 B.C.E. to the present day. For your course and AP exam, you will need to write three kinds of essays: document-based, continuity and change-over-time, and comparative. [1] Each has a slightly different format so be aware of the differences.
Steps Edit
Method One of Three:
Writing a Document-Based Essay Edit
Understand the format. The point of this essay is to show that you can see a historical document, whether a ship’s register or a written historical account, and make correct observations from it. You will receive four to ten documents and should demonstrate mastery of the wider context of world history. During the exam, you have fifty minutes to complete this essay. Ten minutes are for reading and looking at the document, forty minutes are for writing. Underline key terms when reading the prompt. This question aims to test your knowledge of the following historical analytical skills:
- Making historical arguments from evidence and practicing historical argumentation
- Chronological reasoning, determining causation, continuity, and change-over-time
- Comparison and contextualization
- Historical interpretation and synthesis [2]
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Group your documents appropriately. You can choose to analyze your documents based on chronology, cultural issues, or any other themes. [3] Picking a theme for analysis will help you create a clearer narrative. Do not try to undertake too much in one essay.
Instead, pick one or two themes that can act as the common threads through the documents.
- Look for commonalities or contrasts in the documents’ tone, authorship, purpose or intent, and dating. [4]
- Draw a table that lists your group headings, e.g. “gender” or “trade pacts.” List the numbers of the documents that fit in each group. For each group, make sure you have minimally two documents. [5]
- Themes might include a particular time period like World War II, technological movements like the Industrial Revolution, or social movements like civil rights.
Create a historical argument. First, read and analyze the documents individually. Use the documents’ contents to create your thesis statement. Decide what you want to prove based on the facts in front of you. See how you can relate the content to its context or to other events in that historical moment. Work to synthesize your findings into a clear, cohesive essay. [6]
- You must use all or all but one of the documents. [7] For this essay, rely on the evidence in front of you first. Then, if you have any examples that will help your point, you can incorporate them into your argument.
- You might be asked what other documents could be beneficial to your grouping or argument. Think about what could make your arguments stronger. Try to mention an additional needed document at the end of every body paragraph. [8]
- For tips on writing an essay, see Write an Essay .
- For advice on developing your thesis statement, see Focus an Essay. Your thesis statement should mention evidence you gathered from the documents. It should clearly and concisely answer the prompt. Do not take on a thesis that you cannot prove in the allotted time. A framework for a thesis could be: “Docs. 1-3 demonstrate how due to the invention of the water mill, landowners with water rights were able to extract income from a basic natural resource. This widened the income gap between landowners and farmers.”
Understand scoring. Your grader will look at several factors when grading your essay. For example, the clarity and strength of your thesis matters. Understanding the documents, supporting your thesis with evidence, and examining the point of view of two documents are also crucial. Grouping your documents into different categories also shows that you can connect the dots between artifacts. Lastly, your explanation of what sources could add to your argument also impacts your score. [9]
- For examples of sample questions and documents for this essay and the other types of essays, see media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-world-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
AP World History is an exciting course to take. You can learn about how civilizations have grown and interacted with one another from the time of 600 B.C.E. to the present day. For your course and AP exam, you will need to write three kinds of essays: document-based, continuity and change-over-time, and comparative. [1] Each has a slightly different format so be aware of the differences.
Steps Edit
Method One of Three:
Writing a Document-Based Essay Edit
Understand the format. The point of this essay is to show that you can see a historical document, whether a ship’s register or a written historical account, and make correct observations from it. You will receive four to ten documents and should demonstrate mastery of the wider context of world history. During the exam, you have fifty minutes to complete this essay. Ten minutes are for reading and looking at the document, forty minutes are for writing. Underline key terms when reading the prompt. This question aims to test your knowledge of the following historical analytical skills:
- Making historical arguments from evidence and practicing historical argumentation
- Chronological reasoning, determining causation, continuity, and change-over-time
- Comparison and contextualization
- Historical interpretation and synthesis [2]
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Group your documents appropriately. You can choose to analyze your documents based on chronology, cultural issues, or any other themes. [3] Picking a theme for analysis will help you create a clearer narrative. Do not try to undertake too much in one essay. Instead, pick one or two themes that can act as the common threads through the documents.
- Look for commonalities or contrasts in the documents’ tone, authorship, purpose or intent, and dating. [4]
- Draw a table that lists your group headings, e.g. “gender” or “trade pacts.” List the numbers of the documents that fit in each group. For each group, make sure you have minimally two documents. [5]
- Themes might include a particular time period like World War II, technological movements like the Industrial Revolution, or social movements like civil rights.
Create a historical argument. First, read and analyze the documents individually. Use the documents’ contents to create your thesis statement. Decide what you want to prove based on the facts in front of you. See how you can relate the content to its context or to other events in that historical moment. Work to synthesize your findings into a clear, cohesive essay. [6]
- You must use all or all but one of the documents. [7] For this essay, rely on the evidence in front of you first. Then, if you have any examples that will help your point, you can incorporate them into your argument.
- You might be asked what other documents could be beneficial to your grouping or argument. Think about what could make your arguments stronger. Try to mention an additional needed document at the end of every body paragraph. [8]
- For tips on writing an essay, see Write an Essay .
- For advice on developing your thesis statement, see Focus an Essay. Your thesis statement should mention evidence you gathered from the documents. It should clearly and concisely answer the prompt. Do not take on a thesis that you cannot prove in the allotted time. A framework for a thesis could be: “Docs. 1-3 demonstrate how due to the invention of the water mill, landowners with water rights were able to extract income from a basic natural resource. This widened the income gap between landowners and farmers.”
Understand scoring. Your grader will look at several factors when grading your essay. For example, the clarity and strength of your thesis matters. Understanding the documents, supporting your thesis with evidence, and examining the point of view of two documents are also crucial. Grouping your documents into different categories also shows that you can connect the dots between artifacts. Lastly, your explanation of what sources could add to your argument also impacts your score. [9]
- For examples of sample questions and documents for this essay and the other types of essays, see media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-world-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
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