Historical Writing

Historical Writing

D.B.Q. – Document Based Question. This is an essay that utilizes documents that have been provided for you to assist in answering an essay prompt.

S.A.Q. : Short Answer Question

L.E.Q:  Long Essay Question

S.H.E – Specific Historical Examples

P.O.V. – Point of View: WHY did a person, or group, think or say something?

P.O.V.  Analysis -  Point of View and additional discussion of who would agree or disagree with ideas found in a particular document.

C.A.P – Context, Audience, Purpose.

Chronological Reasoning:  This means that that you understand when events happened and how one may have influenced the other.

Causation:  This refers to what may have caused something to happen.

Affect vs. Effect :  Affect = means to “influence.” So, for example, I may say that the heat affected my throwing ability at the game.

affect: example:  “The score of the game was affected by the weather.”

Most of the time, you'll want affect as a verb meaning to influence something and effect for the something that was influenced. The difference between affect and effect is so slippery that people have started using "impact" as a verb instead.

Effect  example: “The Effect of Persistent Sleepiness.”

Effect is mostly commonly used as a noun meaning the result or impact of something, an outcome. If there's "a/an/the" in front of it, it's an effect. The second sentence is from a story about the outcome of long-term sleeping trouble,

H.I.P.P. =  Historical Context / Intended Audience / Purpose / Point of View

Less vs. Fewer :  

 If you can count it easily, then it is fewer.  For example:

“There are fewer people present today.”

 “There are fewer days in this season.”

If you cannot easily count it, then it “less.” For Example:
  There was less water in the tub.

 There was less room in the stadium; therefore, there were fewer people.

An appositive

The APPOSITIVE

is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. The appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these appositive examples, all of which rename insect:

--The insect, a large, hairy-legged cockroach that has spied my bowl of oatmeal, is crawling across the kitchen table.

--Joseph Stalin, the Communist dictator of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953, was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own countrymen.

The COLON  ( : )

-- The colon is used to introduce a list of items.

Example : The bookstore specializes in three subjects: art, architecture, and graphic design.

The semicolon  ( ; )

-- Punctuation mark that separates complete sentences.

Call me tomorrow; you can give me an answer then.

SOAPPS TONE:  EXERCISE ONE: ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTS

Historians recommend that students analyze documents through the use of acronyms. An acronym of analysis is SOAPPS. - TONE

This stands for Subject (S), Occasion (O), Audience (A), Purpose (P), Point of View (P), and Speaker (S). and TONE.

Typically historical primary sources will identify the author, the date, and the occasion for the comments. These introductory facts are followed by the document itself. After reading any document, you should be able to summarize the questions asked below in one line. If you cannot, you probably did not understand the document.

1.            SUBJECT

When reading a document, determine the subject. Answer these questions – what is it about and why is the document important or significant?

2.            OCCASION

The occasion of the document involves its time frame and the historical context behind the document. Answer such questions – when in time the document was created, what was the specific event, what is happening in history, and where did it geographically originated.

3.            AUDIENCE

All documents have an intended audience, which you must identify. Speakers say or write different things to different audiences. Analysis of audience partially answers the question of point of view and perspective.

4.            PURPOSE

Critical to the analysis of a document is understanding the purpose behind the document. Purpose or motivation answers the question as to why the speaker said or wrote what (s)he did. What goal did the speaker want to achieve?

5.            POINT OF VIEW or PERSPECTIVE

The second “P” is point of view or bias that colors or influences a person’s outlook. All documents and primary source materials contain point of views. In order to interpret documents, students must learn to recognize the speaker’s perspective or bias. When point of view is harmful, it is called a prejudice.

6.            SPEAKER

When students analyze a document, the process begins with an attribution, or who wrote or spoke the words. Analyze the speaker’s gender, social background, economic status, political persuasion, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and race. Who the speaker is affects his or her reliability. Also, what is the tone of the speaker? Is it important?

7.            TONE

Consider the SHOCK AND AWE approach.  Is the speaker or message:

S – Sad or wistful?                          

H – Haughty or condescending or insensitive?                      

O – Obsessed or fanatical or just committed?                                     

C – Cruel or antagonistic or ruthless?                                                    

K – Knowledgeable or arrogant or uncertain?                                                                                                 

A  – Amused or tolerant or unsympathetic?

N – Negative or defensive or judgmental?

D – Deferential or respectful?

A – Annoyed or outraged or disgusted?

W – Worried or panic stricken?

E – Excited or guilty or ashamed?

After analyzing the document, what inference or generalization about the civilization and culture can you make (if you have not read about the culture, this could be a predication)? Additionally, what conclusion can you reach about the importance or significance of this document to world history? Justify your answers.

PERSIA :

Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, Area

Political

‣ Structure‣ War‣ Treaties‣ Courts / Laws‣ Leaders‣ Popular participation‣ Loyalty to leader

Economic

‣ State control on trade/industry‣ Agriculture/Industry importance ‣ Labor systems

‣ Levels of Technology‣ Levels of International Trade‣ Gender and Slaves ‣ Money System

Religion

‣ Importance on societal interaction ‣ Holy Books‣ Beliefs/Teachings ‣ Conversion – role of missionaries

‣ Sin/Salvation ‣ Deities

Social

‣ Family order – patriarchal, matriarchal‣ Gender Relations – role of women, children‣ Social Classes

‣ Slavery‣ Entertainment ‣ Life Styles

Intellectual/Arts

‣ Art and Music‣ Writing/Literature ‣ Philosophy‣ Math/Science‣ Education‣ Inventions

Area/Geography

‣ Location‣ Physical‣ Movement‣ Human/Environment

SPRITE

SPRITE is an acronym that guides you in organizing ideas and information that is needed in answering essay questions in history. SPRITE is divided into 6 categories that are seen as factors within any event studied throughout history.  Here is what SPRITE stands for:

S – Social   P – Political   R – Religious   I – Intellectual   T – Technology  E – Economic

Social*

This category covers anything that directly affects people. When a population and/or a large group of people are affected by an event, it is most likely a social factor.

Political*

This category covers anything that is related to the actions of the government or impacts the government. The actions of rulers, leaders, or governments with each other or against each other would be included in this category. These actions can range from protecting or expanding borders, restructuring of the government system, revolutions, and acts of war.

Religious

This category is self explanatory. Anything that is a result of religious theology or anything that has impacted religion or was impacted by religion belongs in this category.

Intellectual

This category covers anything related to a society’s culture: ideas, education, and art. New ways of thinking that aren’t related to religion would be included here as well.

Technology

Any advancement in science, medicine, or weaponry that changes the way a society lives or an army fights would go in this category. Anytime a country progresses as a result of new inventions means that technology is the result.

Economic*

This category covers any information related to the spending or accumulation of money. Any form of taxes, loans, purchases or any other actions related to the exchanging of money or items of value would be included here.