Answering Free Response Questions

Effective answers to essay questions depend in part upon a clear understanding and execution of the meanings of important directive words. These are the words that indicated the way in which the material is to be presented. For example, if students only describe when they are asked to compare, or it they merely list causes when they have been asked to evaluate them, their responses will be less than satisfactory. An essay can only begin to be correct if it answers directly the question that is asked.

Below are a few of the key terms with meaning and applications: 1. Analyze: determine their component parts: examine their nature and relationship. 2. Assess / Evaluate: judge the value or character of something; appraise; evaluate the positive points and the negative ones; give an opinion regarding the value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of. 3. Compare: examine for the purpose of noting similarities and differences. 4. Contrast: examine in order to show dissimilarities or points of differences. 5. Describe: give an account of; tell about; give a word picture of. 6. Discuss: talk over, write about, consider or examine by argument or from various points of view. 7. Explain: make clear or plain; make clear the causes or reasons for; make know in detail; tell the meaning of.

Some samples… The nature and motivation for warfare in Europe has altered many times during the modern era. Describe, compare, and analyze the motivation for the Wars of Louis XIV and Napoleon. Describe and analyze the causes for the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy. The Stuarts have been held at least partially accountable for the decline on monarchial power in Great Britain. Describe and analyze the justification for such position. Using the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the French Revolution of 1789, and the Russian Revolution of 1917, discuss and analyze the nature and scope of the revolutionary tradition in modern Europe.

Historians frequently speak of “Old Imperialism”, that of the period between roughly 1500 and 1750, and “New Imperialism”, of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Compare these ideas, indicating the reasons for changes which might have occurred. Explain the way in which Italian Renaissance Humanism transformed ideas about the individual’s role in society.