1AP US History June Essay Writing We have thousands of times more available information than Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Yet which of us would think ourselves a thousand times more educated or more serviceable to our fellowmen than they? The sublime quality of what these two men gave to us—including the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address—was not attributable to their great resources of information, for their libraries were comparatively small by our standards. Theirs was the wise and inspired use of a limited amount of information. -Quote by Dallin H. Oaks

2 I CAN! Write a well-written, coherent historical long essay for APUSH.

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it in the air. 'Why?' asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. “Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. Look it up.” 3

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear- like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.” 4

Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play. The consequences of poor punctuation are shown in the following example: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” “A woman: without her, man is nothing.” 5

Five Professor Pet Peeves on Writing Pioneer Press, 11/05/2005  Papers that read like greeting cards. Leave cuteness and humor to late night TV. Show your scholarship, not your wittiness.  Papers that aren’t proofread. These are laced with common spelling errors.  Informal writing. Do not use slang or the first person.  No clear thesis. The thesis must be clear and interesting and argue something.  No fluff. A professor is not fooled by students padding essays with bigger fonts and margins. 6

7AP US History June Penmanship (Legibility) Matters.

8AP US History June Essay Writing Tips Great Essays Start with Great Introductions

9  Focusing on the HTS. Each essay will have a targeted HTS, which should shape the arguments and choice of evidence. You must explain how specific historical evidence is linked to the thesis.  Causation. Describe causes AND/OR effects of a historical development and analyze specific examples that illustrate causes AND/OR effects of a historical development. What were the major causes and consequences (effects) of an event? What were the most important causes and effects of an event?

Historical Causation WHY did stuff happen? What was the impact? Think long and short term.

11  Comparison. Describe similarities AND differences among historical developments, providing specific examples AND analyze the reasons for their similarities AND/OR differences OR, DEPENDING ON THE PROMPT, evaluate the relative significance of the historical developments. What were the major similarities and differences between the two events? Are there more similarities or differences and why?

Comparison Identify similarities and differences within a society or between societies—could be chronological, ideological, demographic, geographic, political, economic, social

13  Continuity and change over time. Describe historical continuity AND change over time, and analyze specific examples that illustrate historical continuity AND change over time. What were the major patterns of continuity and change? Was there more continuity or change over the time period?

Continuity and Change Over Time What stayed the same? What changed? Why did it change and how much did it change?

15  Periodization. Analyzes the extent to which the historical development specified in the prompt was different from AND similar to developments that preceded and/or followed, providing specific examples to illustrate the analysis. Evaluate whether an event was a turning point or major marking period in history. Note what it was like before and after that development.

Periodization Why do historians start and end time periods when they do? Turning points!

17  Focusing on synthesis. Besides a target HTS, each long essay will also evaluate the skill of synthesis, which involves organizing relevant historical evidence in a coherent and persuasive argument. There are several ways of getting the synthesis point in the long essay. It can be added in the body paragraphs by 1) extending or modifying the thesis by developing a counter-argument, 2) connecting the topic to another historical period (including the present), geographical area, context, or circumstance, or 3) adding an additional category of analysis beyond that called for in the question.

Synthesis Creating a persuasive understanding of the past and its relevance to the present by thinking across time periods and connecting disparate, relevant ideas, people and events What do these have in common, and what can one learn from them?

19 Be sure to read the handout, “100 Ways to Say, He said” Smith demonstrates… as cited in his article… Smith’s answer… Smith suggests… The author uses… To illustrate this point... Smith emphasizes… Given Smiths sound premise… He exhibits…

100 Ways to Say, He said 1. acknowledged 2. added 3. admitted 4. advised 5. affirmed 6. agreed 7. announced 8. answered 9. argued 10. asserted 11. assured 12. avoided 13. avowed 14. awakened 15. bellowed 16. blurted 17. bragged 18. cautioned 19. challenged 20. claimed 21. conceited 22. conceded 23. concluded 24. confessed 25. Confused continued 27. corrected 28. cried 29. deceived 30. decided 31. declared 32. demanded 33. denied 34. denounced 35. detected 36. disclaimed 37. disclosed 38. divulged 39. emphasized 40. estimated 41. explained 42. expressed 43. forewarned 44. founded 45. gasped 46. growled 47. grunted 48. guessed 49. hinted 50. insisted 51. interjected 52. interrupted 53. joked 54. lied 55. maintained 56. mentioned 57. mumbled 58. murmured 59. objected 60. offered 61. ordered 62. panted 63. pleaded 64. pointed out 65. prayed 66. preached 67. presented 68. proclaimed 69. promised 70. proposed 71. protested 72. quipped 73. ranted 74. recovered 75. related 76. reminded 77. repeated 78. replied 79. reported 80. restated 81. revealed 82. screamed 83. shouted 84. sighed 85. speculated 86. spouted 87. stated 88. stipulated 89. theorized 90. threatened 91. tolerated 92. underestimated 93. uttered 94. volunteered 95. warned 96. whimpered 97. whispered 98. wondered 99. yelled 100. yelped