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Feb 11, 2019 · Here are the crucial ideas that students need to grasp about the argumentative structure of History essays: An essay’s hypothesis must be a 'genuine argument'. The topic sentences of each body paragraph must be drawn from the hypothesis. Each body paragraph needs to be supported by good evidence.
Examples of useful annotation include: asking questions and answering them while reading; summarizing passages; considering an author’s point of view; analyzing word choices; and making connections between a document and when it was written.
If you are unsure of what a good historical argument looks like, find examples. Your professor might offer models of previous students’ work.
May 1, 2004 · To write effective history and history essays, in fact to write successfully in any area, you should begin your essay with the “thesis” or argument you want to prove with concrete examples that support your thesis.
- Conventional Practices in Using Primary Sources
- Using First- Second- and Third-Order Primary Sources
- Selecting The First-/And Second-Order Documents
- An Example of The First- Second- and Third-Order Approach
- The Importance of Asking Questions
- Editing First-Order and Second-Order Documents
- Assessing Historical Knowledge, Understanding, and Dispositions
- Conclusion
- Notes
In observing student teachers and classroom teachers, we have found that most history teachers use primary sources—particularly textual sources and images—in one of two ways. Teachers use a single source approach or a multiple source approach. Some teachers intersperse a single primary source within a historical topic, often to validate to students...
We define the First-Order document (hereafter, 1st-order) as the teacher’s essential primary source. This 1st-order document must be one that is so essential to the teacher that the teacher regards it as one he or she cannot live without. This core document must be located at the epicenter of the teacher’s instruction. And the teacher must lead a d...
Something more must be said about the selection of a 1st-order document. There are two key criteria: its historical value and its potential contribution to students’ historical knowledge and thinking. As teachers determine a document’s historical value, they should consider at least two essential qualities. First and most importantly, does the sour...
We offer as an example the use of 1st-/2nd-/and 3rd-order documents in an investigation of the period of the Cold War. Teachers can readily access primary sources on the Cold War period through the Internet. The “Cold War International History Project” (http://cwihp.si.edu/default.htm) provides a wide range of both documents and links to other rela...
When teachers discuss with their students a 1st-order document such as the “Long Telegram” they cannot simply give students the document with the instructions to read it and answer some questions. Intellectual enjoyment and engagement are the products of a co-investigation involving both teachers and students. History, after all, is to a great exte...
The 1st-/2nd-/and 3rd-order documents named above are examples we have used in our classrooms for a United States history survey course in both schools and universities and for a university course on American diplomatic history. We adjust the length of the textual documents depending on the nature of the course. In the American diplomatic history c...
The concepts of historical knowledge, understanding, and dispositions are inextricably linked, and teachers will want to assess their students’ development in both the cognitive and affective domains. As students relate their document to their teacher’s 1st-order document, the content of both will become more meaningful to them. Teachers can assess...
We recognize the need for further research to determine the impact this 1st-/2nd-/and 3rd-order systematic approach can have on history teaching. Even though teachers and students are not confounded by the use of such terminology as primary sources and secondary sources, the inclusion of our terminology (1st-/2nd-/and 3rd-order documents) does at f...
1.� Joan W. Musbach, “Using Primary Sources in the Secondary Classroom,” OAH Magazine of History (Fall 2001): 30–32. 2.� M. Anne Britt, Charles A. Perfetti, Julie A. Van Dyke, and Gareth Gabrys, “The Sourcer’s Apprentice: A Tool for Document-Supported History Instruction,” Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Pers...
Have students complete Activity 1 and Activity 2. In these activities they will make several choices among alternative thesis statements, all of which respond to the lesson's DBQ. If they have read the introductory essay and studied the sources, these activities will not take much time to complete.
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Some begin with the introduction and write the paper to its conclusion. Others write several formal paragraphs for each theme, assemble the paper, and then write the introduction and conclusion. Whatever system you use, all history papers require an introduction, body, and conclusion.
