1. ACES + C Writing Protocol
Writing like a historian

2. Before you write: Understand the Question

3. Understand the Question
Before you can write anything, you must be clear on what the prompt or question is asking you to do.
There are many types of questions:
To what extent… (What do you know about the topic? How much… is it similar to the before? … is it different from before?)
To what extent did the French Revolution change the make up of French society?
Compare and contrast…. (What do you know about the topic? How are the topics similar? How are they different?)
Compare and contrast the use of religion as a motivation for violence during the Crusades and modern day terrorism.

4. Understand the Question
Explain and analyze… (What do you know about this topic? What was the most important part?)
Explain and analyze the cause of American entry into WWII.
Evaluate the lasting impact… (What do you know about this topic? What effect did this topic have? How did this topic change over time?)
Evaluate the lasting impact of the American West on the “American Dream.”

5. Before you write: Plan your response

6. Plan Your Response
Before writing you should make sure that you understand what the question is asking you to do and plan how you are going to respond.
Planning includes three parts:
List items you should identify in your answer.
What did the question ask you to do?
How many paragraphs will be needed to answer this question?
List facts and examples to support your answer.
This list should include factual evidence as well as quotes from the passages if passages or documents were provided.
Plan your response in outline format to help you organize your thoughts and make sure you don’t leave out any information.

7. Plan Your Response Constructed Response Essay
Constructed response questions are shorter and may only have one or two documents.
This response is usually limited to one to two paragraphs.
Essay questions are longer and involve three or more documents.
This response is always three or more paragraphs.

8. Outline Format
You may have more than one body paragraph depending on what the question is asking you to do.
Introduction
Thesis: ___________________________
Body Paragraph – (Insert Topic One Here)
Hook sentence
Evidence One – __________________________
Evidence Two – __________________________
Evidence Three – __________________________
Conclusion
Restate Thesis: __________________________

9. Writing using A.C.E.S. + C

10. A.C.E.S. + C
After your plan your essay you should write your essay using the following format – A.C.E.S. +C
A nswer the question
C ite evidence/examples to support your answer
E xplain your evidence/examples.
S ummarize your argument
C onventions (spelling, punctuation, grammar)

11. Step One: Answer the Question

12. Step One Answer the Question
Your response should restate and answer the question. The answer creates a clear and convincing argument. Your answer will become your THESIS STATEMENT.
Example: Evaluate the lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans.
Rewritten statement: The lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans was negative because the Native Americans depended on the buffalo for their way of life.

13. Step Two: Cite your evidence

14. Cite your Evidence
You should use facts that you previously know, facts from the passage, or quotes from the passage to support your answer or thesis statement.
For a constructed response you should use three pieces of evidence.
For an essay you should use three pieces of evidence per paragraph.
You should also provide contextual evidence that explains the connections between the evidence and the context of the question.
I.e. If the question asks about the age of enlightenment you may mention the age of exploration to provide connections between the evidence and other related events during the time period.
Example: The lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans was negative because the Native Americans depended on the buffalo for their way of life. When the transcontinental railroad was built white settlers using the railroad would shoot the buffalo for fun. The Native Americans used the buffalo for food, clothing, and tools. Some Native American tribes were nomadic and followed the buffalo.

15. Step Three: Explain the Answer/Evidence

16. Explain the Answer/Evidence
After you cite your evidence, you should explain exactly what that evidence you used means for the reader.
The explanation should offer an evaluation of the evidence that considers objections, limitations, and implications of the evidence.
Example: The lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans was negative because the Native Americans depended on the buffalo for their way of life. When the transcontinental railroad was built white settlers using the railroad would shoot the buffalo for fun. The Native Americans used the buffalo for food, clothing, and tools. Some Native American tribes were nomadic and followed the buffalo. When the buffalo were killed by the white settlers that decreased the number of buffalo available for the Native Americans to use in order to live.

17. Explain the Answer/Evidence
Below are some sentence stems you can use to explain your answer/evidence.
The evidence explains that…
This evidence means…
From this evidence it can be concluded that…

18. Step Four: Summarize your argument

19. Summarize your Argument
Once you have finished writing you should summarize your argument to close out your answer.
Your summary should restate your argument and provide commentary that interprets evidence and connects to the argument.
Example: The lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans was negative because the Native Americans depended on the buffalo for their way of life. When the transcontinental railroad was built white settlers using the railroad would shoot the buffalo for fun. The Native Americans used the buffalo for food, clothing, and tools. Some Native American tribes were nomadic and followed the buffalo. When the buffalo were killed by the white settlers that decreased the number of buffalo available for the Native Americans to use in order to live. In conclusion, the lasting impact of the destruction of the buffalo population on Native Americans was negative because the Native Americans depended on them for their way of life.

20. Step Five: Conventions

21. Conventions
Writing conventions are things such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar that help make a student's essay clear and understandable.
Conventions also include citations.
When you finish writing you should always check your writing for proper conventions (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar) to be sure that it is easy to read and clear.

22. Criteria 1 2 3 4 Answer the Question Cite Evidence Explain Summarize
The question is not restated.
There is no answer or the answer has nothing to do with the question.
There is an attempt to restate or the question is restated partially, but it’s not clear.
The answer is partially correct, incomplete, or student does not formulate a clear argument.
The question is clearly restated.
The question is answered fully and correctly, showing that the writer has attempted to formulate a clear argument.
The question is answered correctly and with sophistication and deep understanding. Argument is clear and convincing.
Cite Evidence
There is no context to support a deeper historical understanding of the topic.
There is no evidence to support the answer.
There is limited contextual information that does little to make connections between the argument and the context.
Only piece of good evidence is provided or multiple pieces of evidence are provided but to not support the answer in each paragraph.
Two or more pieces of evidence are provided, are relevant to the question and support the answer in each paragraph.
There is simplistic or generalized statements about the context of the research question and few connections between the argument and the context.
Two or more pieces of insightful evidence are provided and exceed a basic level of support in each paragraph.
There is significant contextual information that explains the connections between the research question and the larger context.
Explain
No attempts to explain how the evidence answers the question have been made.
The attempts to explain how the evidence answers the question are unclear or insufficient.
The explanation offers a simplistic evaluation of the evidence.
The explanation of the evidence is clear and sufficient.
The explanation offers an evaluation of the evidence that is partially supported by the evidence.
The explanation of the evidence is insightful and sophisticated.
The explanation offers an evaluation of the evidence that considers objections, limitations, and implications.
Summarize
No attempts to summarize the information have been made.
The summary is unclear or insufficient.
The summary does not provide commentary about connections between evidence or offers general commentary.
The summary is clear and sufficient.
The summary provides limited commentary about connections between evidence.
The summary is clear and insightful.
The summary provides commentary that interprets evidence and connects it to the argument.
Conventions
Many grammatical errors exist.
Citations are missing for evidence.
No more than 5 errors exist in grammar, syntax or punctuation.
There are no more than two citations missing.
There are no more than 2 errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalization.
There is no more than one citation missing.
No grammatical errors exist.
No citations are missing.

23. Historical Writers…

24. Historical writers… Historical writers… do not use contractions.
Do NOT: Can’t, Won’t, Don’t, They’re, You’re, We’re…
Do: Can not, Will not, Do not.
Historical writers… are specific.
Do NOT: Thing, That, Very, Really…
DO: Extremely, event, idea, repeatedly.
Historical writers… don’t use passive voice.
Do NOT: “President Roosevelt was approved to get out of his wheel chair.”
Do: “Doctor’s approved President Roosevelt to get out of his wheel chair.”

25. Historical writers…
Historical writers… write about history in the past tense.
Do NOT: “George Washington will cross the Delaware River.”
Do: “George Washington crossed the Delaware river.”
Historical writers… do not use personal pronouns.
Do NOT: “I am going to tell you what this paper is about…”
Do: “The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists…”
Historical writers… do not start sentences with “and”, “but”, “so”, or “because.”
Do NOT: “But the Egyptians…”
Do “In addition, the Egyptians…”