INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Advance Placement World History, or APWH as I will refer to it throughout the year. I am incredibly excited about the upcoming year, and I want to take this opportunity to provide an overview of the journey we will embark upon for the next 12 months.

I will be very honest with you: this is going to be the hardest class you have taken at YES Prep. In part, this is because of the nature of the course. Think about it for a minute – World History. This course will force you to think in a scope you have never been forced to think before. Not only will we learn 12,000 years of history over the course of the next year, but we will focus on every region of the world throughout those 12,000 years. As such, we will focus less on the minute details and more on the thematic developments that help to explain why human history has progressed as it has, and we will compare the patterns of history in different regions of the world to determine whether those developments are universal or are unique to particular cultures and environments.

In part, this course is so demanding because AP World History is often the first AP-level (AKA: college-level) class that is taken at YES Prep and the first AP-level Social Studies class taken across the country. In effect, then, students taking APWH are asked to make the leap from a high school freshman-level social studies course to a 100-level college history course. As such, the expectations for students are much higher, especially the amount of work that students are expected to complete outside of class.

So why do I love teaching APWH so much? In large part, this is because I get to watch as students demonstrate incredible academic and personal growth. Throughout the year, you will learn to push yourself harder than you imagined; you will learn to think analytically and at a pace you didn’t think possible; you will improve as a writer; and you will learn to hold yourselves and each other accountable to a completely new level of excellence. Seeing students unlock their potential is a privilege I am incredibly thankful for.

Additionally, because of the effort that students put forth outside of class, we are able to engage in more collaborative, meaningful, and interesting activities in class. In other words, we work hard, but we have a good time doing it.

OVERVIEW OF THE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT As alluded to above, due to the nature of this course, we don’t have time in class to cover all the material that will be tested on the AP exam in May. However, not all of the material is emphasized equally. Here is a breakdown of the Units (organized around historical time periods) and the percentage of the test based on the content in those units:

Unit I: Foundations (Beginnings to 600 BCE) – 5% of the test Unit II: Classical (600 BCE to 600 CE) – 15% of the test Unit III: Post-Classical (600 CE to 1450 CE) – 20% of the test

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Unit IV: Early Modern (1450 to 1750 CE) – 20% of the test Unit V: Modern (1750 to c. 1910) – 20% of the test Unit VI: 20th Century (c. 1910 to present) – 20% of the test

In order to free up time at the end of the year for us to adequately review for the AP test, your summer assignment focuses on the content in the Foundations period. I am expecting that when you come in on Day 1 , you have a solid conceptual understanding of early historical developments as well as a clear grasp of the vocabulary required for you to articulately demonstrate this understanding. This saves us roughly 10 days worth of class time which we can use to build the thinking / writing skills that truly differentiate between students who are successful in this course and students who struggle.

Because of the wealth of materials you’ll have access to, I am expecting not only that the assignments are completed at their appointed times, but that they are completed in a manner which reflects your comprehension of the material. “I didn’t complete the assignment because I didn’t understand the material” might work when you’re being asked to do something new and have no support along the way, but that’s not the case here . APWORLDIPEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND

A description of the summer assignments is included in the following pages and can also be found in the course website. The due dates are as follows:

Summer Assignment #1: Key Concept Analysis – July 10th (submitted online)

Summer Assignment #2: DBQ Overview & Practice – July 24th (submitted online)

Email your assignments to Mr. Hayes on the dates above @ Kellen.hayes@yesprep.org

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Summer Assignment #1: Key Concept Analysis

Period 1 Key Concept PacketKey Concept 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth

Use the information from Strayer Chp. 1 (First Peoples) to complete the study guide for KC 1.1. You may also use the following resources to aid you in this process:

http://www.freeman-pedia.com/foundations-to-600-bce/ http://apworldipedia.com/index.php?

title=Key_Concept_1.1_Big_Geography_and_the_Peopling_of_the_Earth

I. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migrated from their origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures to new climate regions.

A. What diverse and sophisticated tools were developed by humans to adapt to their new environments? Use fire as one example

Tool Name Purpose

Fire

_______

B. People lived in small groups that structured social, economic, and political activity. Provide examples of how early small groups organized themselves

Political Organization

Social Organization

Examples of cultural exchange

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Example of economic exchange

Map out early human migration on the map below using lines and arrows. Make sure to star the point where migrations originate.

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Key Concept 1.2 The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural SocietiesUse information in Strayer Chapter 2 to complete the Study Guide for KC 1.2. You may also use the following resources to aid you in this process:

http://www.freeman-pedia.com/foundations-to-600-bce/ http://apworldipedia.com/index.php?

title=Key_Concept_1.2_The_Neolithic_Revolution_and_Early_Agricultural_Societies

I. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the development of more complex economic and social systems.

A. Label the following early permanent agricultural settlements on the map:

Mesopotamia, Nile River Valley (RV), Indus RV, Yellow RV, Mesoamerica

B. From the settlements listed above, identify locally available plants and animals that were domesticated

Plants AnimalsMesopotamia

Nile River Valley

Indus River Valley

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Yellow River Valley

Mesoamerica

C. Define pastoralism: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What impact did overgrazing have on Afro-Eurasian lands? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

D. Throughout this period, agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create the water control systems needed for crop production.

Identify and explain at least one way that agricultural communities cooperated to clear land: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Identify TWO examples of water control systems needed for crop production: ____________, ____________

Explain why these methods were necessary and how they aided in the production of a food surplus: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Explain how crop production affected the genetic diversity of the plant / animal world: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies.

B. Explain how pastoralism and agriculture led to the following:

Abundant Food Supplies

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Labor Specialization- examples: Artisans and

Warriors

Development of Elites (political and religious)

C. Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation. Identify THREE technological innovations and explain their impact on the above categories:

D. Explain how pastoralism and the establishment of agrarian societies contributed to the development of patriarchal forms of social organization.

Pastoralist

Agrarian

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Key Concept 1.3 The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies

Read Strayer chapter 2 to answer the questions below. You may also use the following sources to aid you in this process:

http://www.freeman-pedia.com/foundations-to-600-bce/ http://apworldipedia.com/index.php?

title=Key_Concept_1.3_The_Development_and_Interaction_of_Early_Agricultural,_Pastoral_and_Urban_Societies

A. The first states emerged within core civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley.

A. States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas.

How are states different (think more complex) than the first agricultural societies? How are they similar?

Different Similar

For the civilizations listed below, explain how their rulers claimed divine connections (religious) to justify their power

Egyptian Civilization- Ch. 2

China (Xia and Shang)-Ch. 3

Mesopotamia (Sumer)- Ch. 4

Rulers of states used the state’s power to mobilize surplus labor over large areas. This included the use of slave labor as a means of completing major projects. Select TWO civilizations from Chapters 2-4 and explain how slavery was used as a means to mobilize surplus labor and resources.

Civilization Name Ways that slaves were used as sources of surplus labor

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Rulers of states also utilized their newly-formed professional militaries to assert their power over a wide region. Select TWO civilizations from Chapters 2-4 and explain how rulers organized and deployed their military to create powerful new states.

Civilization Name Military Organization & Deployment

B. Geography is an important factor in explaining the rise and fall of different civilizations. As states grew and competed for more land and resources, the more favorably-situated had greater access to resources, produced more surplus food, and experienced growing populations, enabling them to undertake territorial expansion and conquer surrounding states.

Using the Hittites as an example, explain how geographic location made them favorably situated in relation to each of the categories listed below:

Access to natural resources

Food surpluses

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Population growth

Territorial expansion

C. Due to their nomadic nature, throughout history pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new weapons and modes of transportation (they were the ones that spread these new technologies) that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.

Identify and explain TWO examples of how pastoralists transformed warfare against agrarian civilizations through new weapons and modes of transportation:

Weapons

Modes of transportation

II. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language, literature, religion, myths, and monumental art.

1) Complete the grid below to detail examples of monumental architecture and urban planning.

Identify/Label

What civilization created it?

Approximately when was it created?

What purpose does it serve?

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Identify/Label

What civilization created it?

Approximately when was it created?

What purpose does it serve?

Identify/Label

What civilization created it?

Approximately when was it created?

What Purpose does it serve?

2) Systems of record keeping arose and spread and greatly aided state governments in keeping track of population numbers, tax records, grain production, etc. Complete the grid below detailing examples of early systems of record-keeping:

Type of Writing System

What civilization created it?

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Identify a unique characteristic of the writing system

Type of Writing System

What civilization created it?

Identify a unique characteristic of the writing system

3) States developed legal codes that reflected existing hierarchies and facilitated the rule of governments over people. The Code of Hammurabi produced in the Babylonian Empire, is the first known written code of laws. Using this as an example, answer the questions below:

How did codes of law help state governments rule over their people? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What can you tell about the Babylonian social structure from the Code of Hammurabi? How did the laws reinforce the existing social / gender hierarchy? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) New religious beliefs developed in this period that continued to have a strong influence on later periods. Complete the grid below to identify characteristics of these belief systems:

Vedic Religions Hebrew monotheism (Judaism)Poly or Monotheistic?

Relative location of origin?

Approx. founding?

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Religious texts?

Key Figures / Prophets?

Major Beliefs?

5) Trade expanded throughout this period from local to regional to interregional with civilizations exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology. Select one of the trade routes listed below and complete the grid that follows:

Trade between Mesopotamia and Egypt; Trade between Egypt and Nubia; OR Trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

Trade Route: Goods, Ideas, and/or Technology Sent Goods, Ideas, and/or Technology Received

Map the diffusion of goods below:

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6) Social hierarchies, including patriarchy, intensified as states expanded. Choose ONE state from the chapters you read and explain how hierarchy and patriarchy were affected by the expansion of that state:

Civilization: Hierarchy Patriarchy

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

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Ultimately, you will be tested on the degree to which you can take your knowledge of history and use it to answer thematic and conceptual questions. Since this is an AP class, it’s not actually enough to just give a factually accurate answer. Instead, your answer needs to demonstrate a mastery of specific historical vocabulary and conceptual clarity, and as such you must use specific evidence (think vocab terms) to support your reasoning.

One of the best ways to begin to practice this is with Short Answer Questions (SAQs). On the AP Test, you will be given four sets of SAQs, and each set has three parts to it (a, b, c). You only have 50 minutes to respond to all 12 sub-questions, so obviously your ability to communicate your understanding clearly and concisely is vitally important. Being able to use specific vocabulary is a HUGE help in this effort. Take the following as an example:

Question: Explain how human groups adapted to their environments during the period 8,000 BCE to 600 BCE.

Answer #1 : The environment has a huge effect on the way in which people live. Some environments are better for farming while others aren’t. Because of this, some groups of people in different parts of the world became farmers while other people had to move around to find food or to hunt or raise animals.

Answer #2 : Because of the lack of available water for irrigation or fertile soil in the steppe, people living in the region turned to pastoralism as a way to survive. They raised livestock and lived nomadic lifestyles, traveling with the seasons to find available grazing land for their herds. For example, most of the peoples of Central Asia traditionally lived nomadic, pastoral lifestyles.

Both responses are factually accurate, but Answer #1 is devoid of specific terminology and it’s unclear whether or not this student understands the cause / effect relationship between environmental constraints and the type of society that develops in the region. In contrast, Answer #2 begins by explaining that cause / effect relationship and then names several terms to help exemplify this connection (pastoralism, nomadic, herds, Central Asia). On the AP test, Answer #2 would definitely earn credit while Answer #1 likely would not.

With this in mind, use the information from Chapters 1-4 to answer the following SAQs. You must type your responses and email them to me by July 10th. Each response should be between 2-4 sentences long and include specific evidence to demonstrate / support your argument.

1) Explain how early humans used tools and technologies to establish communities.

2) Explain one advantage of a hunting / foraging lifestyle over an agricultural lifestyle.

3) Explain one advantage of an agricultural lifestyle over a hunting / foraging lifestyle.

4) Identify and explain one factor behind the diffusion of technologies between early centers of civilization.

5) Explain one way in which new technologies contributed to the development and / or expansion of states in the period c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE.

6) Identify and explain one way that the development of agriculture transformed labor systems.

7) Identify and explain one way that the development of agriculture transformed social hierarchies.

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8) Explain one way that rulers of early states consolidated power over their territory.

9) Explain the relationship between religion and governance in early agricultural societies.

10) Identify and explain one way in which the structure of government changed over time in the period 8000 BCE to 600 BCE.

11) Identify and explain the relationship between trade and cities during the period circa 8000 BCE to 600 BCE.

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Summer Assignment #2: DBQ Overview and Practice

The AP Test itself is one of the most exhausting assessments you’re going to take throughout your high school career. The entire test takes about 3 ½ hours and is broken into two sections, as outlined below:

Question Type (# of questions) Time Allotted Weight

Sect

ion

I

Part A:Multiple Choice (55 questions) 55 minutes 40%

Part B: SAQs (3 questions)40 minutes 20%

Sect

ion

II

Part A: Document Based Question [DBQ] (1 question) 60 minutes 25%

Part B: Long Essay Question (1 question, chosen from a pair) 40 minutes 15%

As you can see, the DBQ is one of the most important parts of the test, accounting for 25% of your overall score. Additionally, since the DBQ is only scored out of 7 possible points, each additional point that you earn on the DBQ makes a large difference in your final curved AP score (1 DBQ point is worth the equivalent of roughly 4 additional MC questions correct). Because of this, the DBQ is often the part of the test where students can truly distance themselves from the crowd.

What is the DBQ?

The DBQ is an essay where you are presented with a variety of historical documents (7 of them in total) that are intended to show the complexity of a particular historical issue. At its core, the DBQ asks you to develop a thesis that responds to the question prompt and support that thesis with evidence from both the documents and your knowledge of world history. It gets a little more complicated for some of the more difficult points, but we’ll dive into that throughout the year. For now, here are the points we’ll be worrying about:

Thesis : Present an argument that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question. The thesis must be either in the intro or the conclusion.

Use of Documents : Utilize the content from at least 6 of the documents to support the thesis or a relevant argument to earn 2 points. Using at least 3 documents earns you 1 point.

Outside Evidence : Provide an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument made in the thesis.

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The documents used in the DBQ typically come from a variety of sources. For example, a DBQ asking you to analyze trading practices before and after the Age of Exploration might include a map of trade routes, a letter from a merchant to his ruler, or some codified laws regarding particular trade agreements. Your job is to work through the documents to determine how they relate to each other and how the content in them can be used as evidence to support a historical argument. Keep in mind the type of document you’re analyzing because different types of sources can reveal different pieces of information. More on that later…

What are the steps I need to take to write an effective DBQ?

Glad you asked!

STEP 1: PROCESS THE QUESTION

You cannot begin to think about the documents until you know what you are being asked to do. After all, how can you use documents to support an argument when you don’t even know the topic of the argument? To begin, then, read the question carefully. Underline, circle, or otherwise annotate the important stuff (time period, culture, location, etc.) and circle what you are supposed to analyze and what actions you need to take (for example, compare and contrast, explain change over time, and so on). You should also write down any outside information about the topic that immediately comes to mind (remember, you have to include outside evidence to earn one of the points).

Look at the following example of a DBQ:

Question 1: Using the documents and your knowledge of world history, compare and contrast the attitudes toward women found in various cultures from about 1800 BCE until the early 200s CE.

Based on the question, what do you know the documents are about? (Attitudes towards women in different cultures and various time periods)

What are you being asked to do? (Look for similarities and differences in these attitudes. You should also pay attention to any changes in attitude over time that you notice in the documents)

STEP 2: BUILD A FRAMEWORK

Once you’ve gotten a handle on the question, use it to create a framework for processing the documents you are about to read. You are going to be rushed when you take the AP test, and in this environment, it’s easy for us to make mistakes. Thus, even though your brain knows that it’s supposed to look for similarities and differences when it sees the words “compare and contrast,” you make your job a lot easier by creating a chart that you can use to jot down information as you are processing through the documents. For the prompt above, your chart could look something like the following:

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Similarities in attitudes towards women Differences in attitudes towards women

Or, you could break the prompt down even further and create several charts to help you process. For example:

Attitudes towards women in society 1 Attitudes towards women in society 2

STEP 3: WORK THE DOCUMENTS

Notice I didn’t say “read the documents.” Reading is too passive a word for what you need to do. As you read each document, summarize and analyze it in light of your framework (what the prompt is asking you to do). Below you will find a chart detailing the types of information you want to pull from the document and some questions you can ask yourself to help get at this information. Note that you will never have time to ask yourself all these questions, but the more that you practice, the more these thought processes become second nature.

Source feature

Underlying Questions Why are the questions significant for analysis?

Content

What point(s) is the author trying to make?

What does the document NOT say? In other words, does it selectively include and/or exclude some information? Why might this be the case?

How much of the content of this document is usable by a historian?

What other documents might offer alternatives to the author’s point of view?

Documents of every type are incomplete. They may consist merely of the best information available at a given time and place. They may be limited by the time or resources available to the creator. Valid interpretation can only be based on an awareness of precisely what a document says and what it does not say.

Authorship Who wrote the document, and what is his or her relationship to the historical event being addressed?

What was the author’s position in society? How might this affect what is or is not included?

The author of every document is a unique individual with a unique point of view. The author’s relationship to an event (such as the amount of time that has passed between the event itself and when the author is writing the document) affects his or her understanding of that event. Even an author

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Do we know anything about this person beyond what is provided in the source that might affect the reliability of the document?

who seeks to write an objective and truthful account of an event will be limited by his or her ability to understand what happened, to accurately remember the event, and to determine what was significant about the event and what can be left out of the account. To make generalizations about the past, we must first understand who the author of any given document was. If we do not know who the author was, we must make an educated guess.

Author’s purpose / Audience

What was the author trying to accomplish in creating the document?

Why was the document created at this particular time in history?

How does its purpose affect its reliability or usefulness?

Who was the document created for?

How might the audience have affected the content of the source and its reliability?

When an author creates a source – whether it is a diary entry, a political treaty, or a painting — he or she has a purpose in mind: to record the events of the day, to end a war, or to paint an image that a patron would wantto purchase. This purpose might involve convincing another person, controlling the actions of many people, or serving as a reminder to oneself. As time goes by, the purpose of the document may affect whether or not it is preserved. Documents deemed unimportant (a child’s diary) or controversial (a record of collaboration during World War II) often do not survive. Understanding purpose helps historians understand historical processes, as each document not only tells us about the past but is also the resultof an action taken by one or more people in the past.

Additionally, every document is created with an audience in mind. When creating a document, authors make decisions based on what they think the audience already knows and what they want the audience to know and believe. In doing so, the author might leave certain information out, emphasize some points rather than others, or adopt a specific tone or point of view. For example, an artist painting a king might depict him as he wants to be seen rather than how he actually appeared.

Format / medium

What is the format of the source: archaeological finding, text, image, newspaper article, political cartoon, government propaganda, journal entry, etc.?

How does the source’s format affect the way in which a historian might interpret the information within it?

When an author wishes to communicate something, he or she must decide what format to use. For example, if the author is trying to change a government policy, he/she might write an editorial in the local newspaper, might write to a local elected official, publish a political cartoon, etc. Obviously, each of these possible types of sources has the same end goal (change the

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policy in question), but they go about this in very different ways. An editorial is designed to get members of the public on board with your ideas and thus might appeal more to emotion. A letter to an elected official might appeal more to facts and logic or it might appeal to the official’s self-interest (the desire to get re-elected, for example). And a cartoon will likely take a satirical approach, using humor or shock to get a response. Furthermore, the type of source affects the potential reliability of the information. The author of a journal, for example, has little incentive to lie in their account since there’s little expectation that anyone else might read it. However, they might not be an expert on the topic, and they might not have done much research to corroborate their views.

Now that you have an idea of the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself as you’re analyzing the documents, let’s put this into practice in reference to the prompt we specified above. Note that I won’t go through every question outlined above. Instead, I’ll choose the questions which I think are most relevant to the document being analyzed. When you analyze documents on your own, you will need to do the same.

Question 1: Using the documents and your knowledge of world history, compare and contrast the attitudes toward women found in various cultures from about 1800 BCE until the early 200s CE.

Document 1Source: Hebrew Bible, Torah, primarily written in the seventh century BCE but based on ancient religious code

When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she had been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

Content: 1) What point(s) does the author make?

The author suggests that it is improper for a man to divorce his wife and then remarry her if she had been with another man in the meantime. He argues that this would be

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dishonorable and offensive to God.

Author’s Purpose: 2) What was the author trying to accomplish in writing this document?

The author was attempting to lay out a set of moral guidelines for the Hebrew people to follow.

Format / Medium: 3) What type of source is this? How might this affect the way that the people reading this

document at the time might have interpreted what is being said? This document is a set of moral and legal codes that all Hebrew people were expected to follow. Because of this, the document would have been taken very seriously, and its prescriptions likely would have been followed very closely

4) How does the type of source affect how historians might interpret the document? Because this document is a religious and legal text (the Jewish people followed religious law), it reveals a great deal about the norms and values in that society. It is the ultimate source on how one should live.

Putting it all together: 5) What does this document reveal about attitudes towards women?

In Hebrew society, there is an emphasis placed on the concept of female purity. A woman who has remarried after divorce has been “defiled,” so she cannot be taken back by her first husband. Notice also that men controlled the terms of divorce and remarriage in this society.

Let’s see how this compares to the second document.

Document 2Source: The Code of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE

If a man’s wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her husband offers her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he takes another wife, she shall remain as a servant in her husband’s house.

If a woman quarrels with her husband, and says: “You are not congenial to me,” the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is not fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father’s house.

Content: 1) What point(s) does the author make?

The author states that a woman convicted of mistreating and disrespecting her

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husband may be pardoned and released by her husband, but he may also decide to keep her as a servant. He also states that if the husband neglects his wife, she may take him to court, gain back her dowry, and return to her father.

Authorship: 2) What was the author’s position in society?

While we don’t know who exactly is writing the document, we do know that Hammurabi, the king of Babylon, is the one who ordered its creation.

Author’s Purpose: 3) What was the author trying to accomplish in creating the document?

Hammurabi ordered the creation of this code to create a clear set of rules that would be enforced consistently throughout his empire. He wanted to be perceived as a fair and just ruler in order to increase his control over his territory.

Format / Medium: 4) What is the format of the source?

The source is a set of laws published by the government of Babylon, an empire in the Fertile Crescent.

5) How does the type of source affect how historians might interpret the document? Rulers put laws in place because they’re responding to real issues that people are facing. The fact that the laws go into detail on the topic of divorce suggests that marriage / divorce were consistent issues that came up in Babylonian society. Additionally, since laws are often tied to morality, they reveal much about the way in which women were viewed in society.

Putting it all together: 6) What does this document reveal about attitudes towards women?

While women are still subordinate to male authority, they have a few more rights than they did in Hebrew society. For example, if she proves that her husband is a jerk who ignores her all the time, she gets to go home with her dowry, guilt-free. Additionally, notice that the decision is placed less in the hands of the individual husband and more in the hands of the government, helping support women’s rights. However, it’s important to note that the wife doesn’t get to go off on her own after divorcing her husband; she returns to the control of her father, suggesting that women remained under the supervision of a man.

STEP 4: PLAN OUT YOUR ARGUMENT

Once you’ve worked the documents, fill in your framework with what you’ve read. For example, using the two documents above, my chart might end up looking like this:

Similarities in attitudes towards women Differences in attitudes towards womenBoth documents – women are subservient to men; legal codification of patriarchal values

Doc 1 – men in control, emphasis on female purity

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Doc 2 – laws restrict the power of the husband to control his wife

Note that in an actual DBQ, you would have analyzed 7 documents, so the chart would be more filled out.

STEP 5: OUTSIDE EVIDENCE

Look back at the chart in step 3 under the “Content” section. Notice that it asks you to consider what information is NOT included in the documents. In the DBQ, College Board is providing you with 7 documents that all reveal information relating to the prompt. In this case, all the documents reveal aspects of the way in which women were viewed in society. However, no set of 7 documents can cover EVERYTHING related to the topic, and there are plenty of other examples to either support or contradict the information provided in the documents. It is your job to pull in outside information (examples you remember from class or your textbook) that are relevant to the prompt, using these as evidence to support the argument you’re making.

For example, in this example, you read about the foundational ideas of Hinduism in the Bentley textbook while completing Part I of the Summer Assignment. Hindu society was extremely patriarchal, claiming that only men could achieve moksha (release from the cycle of reincarnation). Additionally, women in Hindu society were largely confined to the household, it being improper for them to venture into public without the supervision of a man. This could be pulled in to support the argument that women in ancient societies were subservient to men.

Note: To earn this point, you only need to successfully utilize 1 piece of outside evidence in support of your argument. However, you must be very careful to FULLY explain how this outside information relates to the prompt. Without a specific connection to the prompt, you will not earn credit for this point. See the example below for a guide on how you can do this:

In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. For example, according to the Hebrew Bible, men could divorce their wives with few restrictions, and if a woman was perceived as being impure, she was considered defiled and therefore couldn’t remarry (Doc 1). These patriarchal values were embedded into Hindu culture as well. While men were capable of achieving moksha, women were seen as impure and thus had to reincarnate as a man before being released from reincarnation.

Notice that I didn’t just randomly drop in this outside information. Instead, I spoke of it in the same way as I spoke of the information in Doc 1, using it to address the prompt.

STEP 6: ORGANIZE YOUR ESSAY 24

So far you’ve processed the question, built a framework, worked the documents to fill in that framework, and determined what types of outside evidence would be useful in your analysis and why. Now it’s time to organize your documents so that you can construct a cohesive argument, using the documents in connection with one another. This last step will serve as the outline for your essay. Use the chart below to organize your essay:

Paragraph #1 Paragraph #2 Paragraph #3Topic sentence: Write out the parts of your argument as topic sentences for different body paragraphs

Documents used as evidence to support / qualify topic sentence

Outside evidence used to support / qualify topic sentence

STEP 7: WRITE YOUR THESIS

Your DBQ thesis states the historical argument you are making in response to the prompt. Your thesis must be based on the evidence found in the documents, although you are welcome to extend your argument with outside information as well. In the case of the prompt we’ve been exploring, your thesis will describe at least one similarity and at least one difference in the attitudes towards women in ancient societies.

Here are a couple characteristics of all successful thesis arguments:

The thesis must be stated clearly in either the introduction or the conclusion. You cannot gain credit for thesis anywhere else in the essay.

The thesis must address the FULL question. For example, if the prompt asks you to analyze causes of a particular event, you must describe AT LEAST 2 valid causes (you could explore more than two). If the prompt asks you to compare and contrast, you must include at least 1 valid similarity AND 1 valid difference.

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The thesis clearly articulates the components of your argument, essentially summarizing the arguments you will be making in each body paragraph. In other words, after reading your thesis, the reader should know what each paragraph throughout the essay will be covering. Remember, the topic of these paragraphs must directly address the prompt.

In contrast, here are a few of the most common mistakes that students make that prevent them from earning credit for the thesis:

The first mistake is that students do not spend adequate time on Step 1 (breaking down the prompt), and they end up writing an essay that is effectively answering a different question than the one which was asked. These essays typically end up earning 0 points

The most common mistake is that students’ arguments are too vague, leaving the reader unclear on what the rest of the essay is going to be exploring. Take the following example responding to the prompt on attitudes towards women:

o In ancient societies, men and women were not seen or treated the same, although in some societies women were treated a little bit more equally.

While this response isn’t technically wrong, it is so broad that it could mean any number of different things. Based on this claim, it’s possible that in most ancient societies women were viewed as superior to men (this would fit the claim because it means that men and women were not treated the same). Your argument must be historically defensible and sufficiently specific.

Lastly, some students fail to make an argument altogether and instead just summarize what they found in each document. The readers are intimately familiar with the documents and can determine how they apply to the prompt themselves. They want to know whether or not YOU can take these documents and combine them into a cohesive argument.

With these thoughts in mind, if you’ve gone through the first 6 steps effectively, your thesis should essentially write itself. After all, you’ve already planned out your different arguments in Step 6, and your job now is to simply combine these into a single statement. Your thesis would end up looking something like this:

In most societies from 1800 BCE into the 200s CE, women were placed in a role of servitude and were viewed as subservient to men and subject to male authority. However, in some societies women were given legal protection which, although limited in scope, protected women from the whims of their husbands.

STEP 8: WRITE YOUR ESSAY

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Once you’ve written your thesis, the hardest part is out of the way. Now all that is left to do is to follow the outline you established in Step 6 to write your body paragraphs. Below is a list of characteristics that successful body paragraphs have:

Start with a clear topic sentence that summarizes the argument you are making in that paragraph. Your purpose is writing the essay is chiefly to respond to the prompt, so each paragraph should be focused on that end goal. Writing a clear topic sentence helps the reader understand where you’re going which in turn makes it easier for you to use evidence from the documents to support your argument.

Avoid excessive quotations and instead embed your evidence into your argument. Quoting just shows the reader that you know how to transfer words from one page to another. To earn credit, you would still have to explain the connection between the quote and the argument you’re making. This means you’ll end up having to write extra sentences, and since this is a timed essay, it puts you in a position where you will struggle to finish in the allotted time. Read the examples below to see the difference:

o Example 1: In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. For example, according to the Hebrew Bible, men could divorce their wives with few restrictions, and if a woman was perceived as being impure, she was considered defiled and therefore couldn’t remarry (Doc 1).

o Example 2: In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. In Doc 1 it says if a husband writes his wife “a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, …and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, …if the latter husband dies, …the former husband…may not take her again to be his wife, after she had been defiled.” This shows that men had virtually all the power in the relationship, including the right to divorce, whereas the woman was shamed for remarrying.

Both of these examples would earn credit for evidence, but notice that the first example took 4½ lines whereas the 2nd example took almost 7 lines. Multiply this by 7 documents, and you could save yourself around 15 lines of writing (probably around 10 minutes) just by embedding your evidence rather than quoting.

Use transition language to show the way in which one document either corroborates (supports), contradicts, or qualifies the information shown in another document. In other words, specifically show how the documents relate to one another. This is what makes you eligible for the Complexity point that we will discuss later this year. Let’s see a couple examples below to explore this in more detail:

o Example 1: In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. For example, according to the Hebrew Bible, men could divorce their

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wives with few restrictions, and if a woman was perceived as being impure, she was considered defiled and therefore couldn’t remarry (Doc 1). However, this wasn’t the case in all ancient societies, with some offering women limited rights and legal protections that freed them from some of the authority of their husbands. This can be seen in ancient Babylon where the law granted women the right to divorce neglectful husbands and return with their dowry to their father’s household (Doc 2). While the woman still had to return to the authority of a male, she at least had the right to speak up for her own marriage rights, and the government acted on her behalf.

In this example, the evidence from Doc 2 is being used to qualify the argument being made. Yes, patriarchal values persisted in most ancient societies, but the evidence from the Code of Hammurabi suggests that some societies offered limited protections to women. It was still patriarchal, but less so that Hebrew society. This example would be eligible for both Evidence and help build complexity.

o Example 2: In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. In the Hebrew Bible, men could divorce their wives with few restrictions, and if a woman was perceived as being impure, she was considered defiled and therefore couldn’t remarry (Doc 1). According to the Code of Hammurabi, a man whose wife neglected him or acted out against his household could chose to either divorce her and keep her dowry or maintain her as a servant in his house (Doc 2).

Notice that Docs 1 and 2 are being discussed in isolation. The evidence in both is being used to support the argument made in the topic sentence, but the writer does nothing to show how the two documents relate to one another. This example would be eligible for Evidence but would not get you closer to constructing a complex argument.

If you have any outside evidence that adds depth to your argument, include it in the same way that you would evidence from one of the documents. (see Step 5 above for a reminder on how to do this)

Close your paragraph by bringing everything back together and summarizing the argument you’re making. This helps to drive your point home before moving on to your next argument.

Putting everything together, your body paragraph should look something like this:

In almost all ancient societies, women were viewed as subservient to men, and these patriarchal views were embedded into the legal and religious framework. For example, according to the Hebrew Bible, men could divorce their wives with few restrictions, and if a woman was perceived as being impure, she was considered defiled and therefore couldn’t remarry (Doc 1). These patriarchal values were embedded into Hindu culture as well. While men were capable of achieving moksha, women were seen as impure and thus had to reincarnate as a man before being released from reincarnation. However, this wasn’t the case

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in all ancient societies, with some offering women limited rights and legal protections that freed them from some of the authority of their husbands. This can be seen in ancient Babylon where the law granted women the right to divorce neglectful husbands and return with their dowry to their father’s household (Doc 2). While the woman still had to return to the authority of a male, she at least had the right to speak up for her own marriage rights, and the government acted on her behalf. In all of these cases, patriarchal values were codified, placing women under the authority of a man, but as rulers like Hammurabi began to consolidate their power, they placed legal authority in the hands of the central government rather than the hands of the husband himself.

Now You Try! Given the advice outlined above, write a full DBQ essay using the documents below and your knowledge of the Foundational era of World History. You must type your response and email it to me by July 24 th . As you prepare you essay, be sure to follow the steps outlined below:

1) Process the question2) Build a framework3) Work the documents 4) Plan your argument5) Build in outside evidence 6) Organize your essay7) Write your thesis 8) Write your full essay

Prompt: Using the documents and your knowledge of world history, analyze the various ways in which leaders of early civilizations established order and consolidated power.

Document 1Source: The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep, c. 2200 BCE, Egypt

If you desire to excite respect within the house you enter, for example the house of a superior, a friend, or any person of consideration, in short everywhere where you enter, keep yourself from making advances to a woman, for there is nothing good in so doing. There is no prudence in taking part in it, and thousands of men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment, brief as a dream, while they gain death, so as to know it…

If you desire that your conduct should be good and preserved from all evil, keep yourself from every attack of bad humor. It is a fatal malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any existence for him who gives way to it. For it introduces discord between fathers and mothers, as well as

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between brothers and sisters…

Document 2Source: The “Classic of History,” a collection of Chinese history & legend, dating from 2357 to 631 BCE

Oh! the former king began with careful attention to the bonds that hold men together… He extensively sought out wise men, who should be helpful to you, his descendant and heir. He [warned], 'If you dare … to despise sage words, to resist the loyal and upright, to put far from you the aged and virtuous, and to seek the company of ... youths, -- that is called the fashion of disorder. Now if a high noble or officer be addicted to one of these three fashions with their ten evil ways, his family will surely come to ruin; if the prince of a country be so addicted, his state will surely come to ruin. The minister who does not try to correct such vices in the sovereign shall be punished with branding.'...

Document 3Source: The Code of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE

3. If a man, in a case pending judgment, has uttered threats against the witnesses, or has not justified the word that he has spoken, if that case be a capital suit, that man shall be put to death.

 4. If he has offered corn or money to the witnesses, he shall himself bear the sentence of that case.

 8. If a man has stolen ox or sheep or ass or pig or ship, whether from the temple or the palace, he shall pay thirtyfold. If he be a poor man, he shall render tenfold. If the thief has nought to pay, he shall be put to death.

196: If a [noble] man put out the eye of another [noble] man, his eye shall be put out.

198: If he put out the eye of a [commoner], or break the bone of a [commoner], he shall pay one gold mina.

199: If he put out the eye of a man’s slave…he shall pay one-half of its value.

Document 4

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Document 5Source: The Holy Bible, 2 Chronicles 36

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.  But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.  He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,

who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials…

He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors

Document 6Source: A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor, 2013

Background information: [The object below is] a label that was once attached to a pair of shoes… This little ivory plaque is a name tag for an Egyptian pharaoh, made to accompany him as he set off to the afterlife…

On the…label…is an image of the owner of the sandals, dressed in a royal headdress with a mace in one hand and a whip in the other. King Den stands in combat, authoritatively smiting an enemy who

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cowers at his feet…

Document 7Source: The Epic of Gilgamesh, ca. 2700 BCE – 2500 BCE

Enlil of the mountain, the father of the gods, had decreed the destiny of Gilgamesh. So Gilgamesh dreamed and Enkidu said, “The meaning of the dream is this. The father of the gods has given you kingship, such is your destiny; everlasting life is not your destiny. Because of this do not be sad at heart, do not be grieved or oppressed. He has given you power to bind and to loose, to be the darkness and the light of mankind. He has given you unexampled supremacy over the people, victory in battle from which no fugitive returns, in forays and assaults from which there is no going back. But do not abuse this power, deal justly with your servants in the palace, deal justly before Shamash.

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