The AP European History Free Response Question

1. The AP European History Free Response Question

2. The Rubric • Strong Essays earn a 8-9 • THESIS: Clear, well-developed, answers the prompt and guides the essay throughout • UNDERSTANDING: Demonstrates thorough understanding of complexity of topic • EVIDENCE: Supports thesis with frequent, specific, and relevant evidence/examples/proof • ANALYSIS: Effectively analyzes, interprets, makes inferences of evidence/examples/proof • ERRORS: May contain insignificant and infrequent errors that do not hinder arguments OR no errors entirely • ORGANIZATION: Essay is well-organized (contains introduction, topic sentences, unity of paragraphs, conclusion)

3. The Rubric • Good Essays earn a 5-7 • THESIS: Has a thesis (perhaps superficial/simplistic) which addresses prompt • UNDERSTANDING: Demonstrates general understanding of the topic • EVIDENCE: Supports thesis with evidence/examples/proof, sometimes general or narrative in description • ANALYSIS: Analyzes, interprets, makes inferences of evidence/examples/proof, often general or narrative • ERRORS: May contain minor errors that do not interfere with comprehension • ORGANIZATION: Essay contains most elements of organization

4. The Rubric • Poor Essays earn a 2-4 • THESIS: Limited, confused, or poorly developed thesis which may simply restate the prompt or is weakly organized • UNDERSTANDING: Demonstrates simplistic understanding of the topic • EVIDENCE: Contains limited evidence/examples/proof which is usually general or narrative in description • ANALYSIS: Contains limited or simple analysis, interpretation, inferences of evidence/examples/proof • ERRORS: May contain major historical errors • ORGANIZATION: Essay contains limited elements of organization

5. The Rubric • Awful Essays earn a 0-1 • THESIS: No thesis or a thesis that does not address the topic • UNDERSTANDING: Demonstrates little or no understanding of the topic • EVIDENCE: Contains inappropriate/inaccurate or no evidence/examples/proof • ANALYSIS: Contains no analysis of evidence/examples/proof, or is inappropriate/inaccurate • ERRORS: May contain numerous errors; both major and minor • ORGANIZATION: Essay contains no organization nor structure

6. Structure of the Essay • The essay consists of an introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and preferably a concluding paragraph. • The intro establishes your viewpoint and outlines what your body paragraphs will be about in a thesis statement. • The body paragraphs back up your viewpoint and thesis. • The conclusion wraps up the essay, and answers the question “so what?”

7. Step #1 • Read the question multiple times until you understand what you need to do. Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists • For this presentation we will develop an essay for this prompt and sometimes use other prompts momentarily as examples

8. Directives of the Question • The second step in writing an essay is to see what action the essay prompt is telling you to do. • Failure to pay attention to these directives will result in a lower score. • Analyze: Break a subject down into parts, assess the connections between facts, answer how and why • "Analyze the major social and technological changes that took place in European warfare between 1789 and 1871.“ • Assess/Evaluate: Determine the validity of a statement, analyze positives and negatives, form an opinion • “`Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative.' Evaluate this statement with respect to Luther's responses to the political and social questions of his day.“ • “Assess the extent to which the Protestant Reformation promoted new expectations about social roles in the sixteenth century. Refer to at least two social groups in your response.”

9. Directives • Compare: Analyze two or more things in order to show similarities and differences • “Compare and contrast the attitudes of Martin Luther and John Calvin toward political authority and social order.” • Contrast: Examine two or more things in order to show differences • “Contrast European diplomacy in the periods 1890 to 1914 and 1918 to 1939, respectively. Include in analysis goals, practices, and results.” • Structure of compare/contrast essays • It is important to have your body paragraphs centered on topics • You do not want to separate the two things being compared and write separate paragraphs for each. • In the above example your three paragraph topics are already laid out in the prompt: goals, practices, and results

10. The Layers of a Question • In order to properly answer the essay question you must break the prompt down and see all of its layers. • Sometimes these things seem obvious, but when students are rushed to write an essay they will often forget about part of the question and lose points. • Take the time to underline key phrases and determine what needs to be included into your essay. • “Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists.” • This question asks you to discuss (the same as analyze) • Time period: Renaissance, anything straying from this time period will not be scored • Location: Italy • The writer must identify “Renaissance ideas” and must show how these ideas influenced “Italian art” using specific art pieces and artists

11. Brainstorm • After reading and re-reading the question, identifying the directive, and analyzing all the layers of the question, you must brainstorm. • Think of everything that is related to the topic given. • Try to decide what information is relevant to the question. • Try to think of three subtopics. • Put the relevant information into the subtopics. • Keep your brainstorm organized by creating a T-chart.

12. Brainstorm Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists • Emph on individ.  portray great indiv. in art • Power of humanity/individ. • Rise of Portraiture – Mona Lisa, Ginevra de Benci • Patrons of art put into art • Busts,characters • Michelangelo – David • Raphael – School of Athens • Secular spirit  realistic port. of the world • Massacio – dev. Of perspective, Tribute Money • DaVinci – Vitruvian Man, cadavers • Chiaroscuro, sfumato • Humanism  Art reflecting antiquity • Humanism – increased study of ancient Greek and Roman civilization, rejection of Middle Age thought • Brunelleschi and Donatello visit Rome, inspired • Brunelleschi’s dome • Donatello – David • Botticelli – mythology, Primavera, Birth of Venus Use abbreviations to shorten the time taken on the brainstorm, this example does not use enough abbreviations because I wanted the viewer to understand my notes.

13. The Introduction Paragraph Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists • The introduction paragraph establishes your viewpoint and contains a well-developed thesis. • The first sentence establishes what your essay will be about. • Do not hint at a thesis statement in this sentence, • DO NOT restate the question. • A good first sentence: • The Italian Renaissance created new ideas that most visibly manifested themselves in the arts.

14. The Thesis Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists • The thesis statement follows the first sentence • It is one or two sentences long. • It fully answers the question and establishes your subtopics (body paragraph topics). • WITHOUT A STRONG THESIS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO EARN A GOOD SCORE • Answer the essay prompt that is given to you. Do not bend the prompt to be what you want it to be. • The thesis must fully answer the question • Because there are generally three body paragraphs the thesis should include three topics. • The thesis should answer how and why. • The thesis is general, DO NOT INCLUDE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES • An example of a strong thesis: • Renaissance humanism led to the creation of art that reflected the art of antiquity, and the Renaissance emphasis on the individual led to the rise of art that more accurately portrayed individuals. Furthermore, the Renaissance secular spirit which emphasized life on Earth as opposed to the afterlife led to a greater attempt by artists to realistically portray the world.

15. The Introduction Paragraph • “Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists.” • Good example: The Italian Renaissance created new ideas that most visibly manifested themselves in the arts. Renaissance humanism led to the creation of art that reflected the art of antiquity, and the Renaissance emphasis on the individual led to the rise of art that more accurately portrayed individuals. Furthermore, the Renaissance secular spirit which emphasized life on Earth as opposed to the afterlife led to a greater attempt by artists to realistically portray the world.

16. A Bad Example “Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to specific works and artists.” Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period. These ideas were shown in the art of the day, such as the art of daVinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Why is this a bad example? The first sentence simply restates the question. The thesis does not identify Renaissance ideas. The subtopics named are specific artists, which the question asks to be included somewhere in the essay. However, no correlation is made between the effect of Renaissance ideas on these artists pieces.

17. The Body Paragraphs • The body paragraphs include all of the information that proves your thesis. • Each body paragraph relates to one of the subtopics. • By proving each subtopic, you will prove the thesis. • The first body paragraph relates to the first subtopic, the second body paragraph to the second subtopic and so on and so forth. Keep things in order. • Body paragraphs consist of a topic sentence, sentences with evidence and analysis, and a concluding sentence.

18. General Tips • Do not use the first person (I, me) • Do not use the words “in my opinion” or “I believe” • Instead, simply state your points and prove them

19. The Topic Sentence • The topic sentence is a reintroduction of the subtopic statement. • Do not simply rewrite the subtopic. Reword it instead. • It has one idea and it is one sentence. Do not make this sentence too complicated. • Must completely support the thesis. Subtopic from intro: Renaissance humanism led to the creation of art that reflected the art of antiquity Topic Sentence: Renaissance humanists admired the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, therefore Renaissance artists revived the artistic styles of antiquity.

20. Evidence and Analysis • The body paragraph will include evidence and analysis. • First introduce the information and define it. • Next analyze it to show that it supports the thesis. • Sometimes info and analysis can happen in the same sentence.