Key AP Skills

1. Key AP Skills Applying Critical Thinking to History

2. Historical Essays • This is an important skill. Essays are part of your unassisted grade. • 2 types you will use • Document Based Questions • Free Response • The DBQ is a free response essay with historical documents used to support your thesis • Both types require an introduction, body, and conclusion

3. Outlines • To structure essays • Traditional type • Venn Diagram • Best for compare/contrast questions • Spoke or Wheel Diagram • Your essay will receive a zero if you do not include an outline • Once you learn to rapidly construct outlines, your essays will improve without sacrificing writing time

5. P.E.R.S.I.A. • Political • Economic • Religious • Social • Intellectual • Artistic A method to group information in essays & define the number of paragraphs

6. S.O.A.P.S. • Subject • Occasion • Audience • Purpose • Speaker

7. Drawing Inferences • Historical documents often reveal more than the info stated in the item itself • Historians can draw inferences from them • Read into the document to see what it suggests about the author, the social environment, or the “big picture”

8. Thesis Statements • Always in the introductory paragraph • A good intro paragraph will introduce the concepts in the thesis statement before presenting it • The thesis is your answer to the question posed in the prompt • It MUST be thorough and directly respond to the prompt • A thesis could concede that there are arguments contrary to your own • Think of the thesis as the opening argument of a lawyer in a court of law • The body will present the evidence • The conclusion will summarize the case presented

9. Your thesis must make a judgment TAKE A STAND!

10. Be prepared to provide support for both sides of an argument AGREE (YES) DISAGREE (BUT) Here you write evidence in support Here you write contradictory evidence

11. Dialectical Journal • Active Reading of Text • Divide Paper into two vertical columns • Text/Response • Record important points in “Text” • Record questions, comments, ideas in “Response (Questions)” • Used to clarify material • Helpful for writing assignments

12. Dialectical Journal Text Response / Questions • Chapter 5 • The Stamp Act was an internal tax on the consumption of goods. • Colonists boycotted items requiring stamps • Parliament gave in and revoked the Stamp Act but issued the Declaratory Act. • American colonists were angry because internal taxes were usually imposed by the colonists themselves. • Why didn’t colonists think that Parliament had the right to tax consumption? • Why did Parliament revoke the Stamp Act? • Boycotts cost English producers too much money • D.A. meant to emphasize Parliament’s right to govern colonies

13. Dialectical Journals • Dialectical journals of your textbook are STRONGLY recommended for this course • You should make full use of your D.J. in class by asking the questions that arise from it • Although this might seem like extra work, this active reading of your text will greatly assist you in retaining the material • Because this takes time, you will need to plan your schedule wisely and accomplish tasks over a broad period • Don’t try to do it the night before a quiz or test. It takes time! • You may use your text notes for most quizzes. Text notes will not be as beneficial with some quizzes such as timeline or presidents assessments. Such assessments are mastered with memorization and logic.

14. Vocabulary • Mastering the vocabulary related to each chapter and unit is vital. • Each chapter has a list of key terms • Your teacher may supply vocabulary lists during a unit of study • Your understanding should be thorough and recognize the significance of the term to our study.

15. Course Notebook • Large 3-ring binder recommended • 5 tabbed sections • Notes (class notes, text notes, handouts) • Essays (tutorials, completed writing exercises and essays including DBQs & FRQs) • Primary Source Documents and exercises • Chapter worksheets, assignments, vocabulary • Other assignments

16. Any Questions?