In this final vocab activity of the unit, as with all the final vocab activities in each unit, you will engage in a deeper exploration of the unit’s vocabulary. You’ll move beyond simply defining words to applying them in this activity, and by doing so, you’ll solidify your understanding and use of the words in context.

In this activity, you’re going to create a live concept map using Unit 1’s vocabulary. In case you haven’t heard of a concept map, it’s typically a diagram that shows the relationships among concepts, with the concepts drawn in circles or boxes. Lines are used to connect the related concepts. In this activity, either string or hand holding will function as the connecting lines.

Your teacher will either give you a vocab card or assign a word and have you make your own card. Then, you’ll take a few minutes to go around the room, making connections to other students’ words. Connections can be made in a number of different ways: You can think about synonyms, antonyms, word families, and even connections to similar ideas. Each time you make a connection, explain what it is to the other student, and then write the word on the back of your vocab card. Every few minutes, your teacher will ask you to explain your current connection. You will start to notice some patterns!

Comparison is a key process that historians use to help them better understand the past. While comparing and contrasting is something that you’ve likely engaged in prior to this course, in this activity you’re introduced to a systematic way of conducting historical comparison. The ultimate goal is for you to be able to describe and explain the relevant similarities and differences between specific historical developments and processes, and to be able to explain the relative historical significance of similarities and differences between the topics of study. In addition, you’ll learn to use the Comparison Tool (which you’ll see an example of in this activity’s worksheet) to conduct and generate historical comparisons.

Reading
You’ll conduct historical comparison both as part of reading historical accounts and as part of generating your own historical interpretations. This comparison activity also has you look at two points of time and place (temporal and spatial scale). Try to use the language of spatial scale when describing your comparisons (for example: local, regional, national, and global).

Although comparing and contrasting may sound simple, it actually gets really complicated when what you’re comparing is multidimensional, as is the case with historical topics. Because comparison is harder than it looks, your teacher will show you a tool you can use to conduct historical comparisons using the frames you learned about earlier in this lesson.

First, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Comparison – Life in 1750 and Today worksheet. Review the questions associated with each of the frames. The questions in the left-hand column of the worksheet have been selected because they are most relevant to this particular comparison. As this is the first comparison activity of the course, you’ll complete this one together as a class. Your teacher will guide you through the process of using these questions to fill in the top few rows of the worksheet.

Before you read the synopsis about life in 1750, decide which period you’d rather live in—1750 or today. Be sure to explain your choice.

Next, read the synopsis of life in 1750. This is a general story of what life was like in the mid-eighteenth century, so the specifics would change depending on geographic location, ethnicity, age, gender, and social class. Your teacher may also have you read one or more of the region-specific paragraphs for what life was like in 1750.

Then, as a class, fill out the first part of the worksheet using the synopsis for 1750. Next, do the same thing to complete the sections for life today, using your own knowledge of today to fill out those columns. Remember that community focuses on how people organize into groups, usually with shared values or beliefs as well as being inhabitants of the same region or nation. Production and distribution refers to how people make goods and get them into the hands of other people. For example, do they make goods at home or in a factory? Do they travel to markets to sell these goods or do they trade with neighbors? Networks refers to how people connect with others, sometimes through work-related connections or through trade or, in the twenty-first century, via social media and the Internet. Once you have filled out the Today section with the class, discuss the following questions:

• How are these stories similar?
• How are they different?
• What’s important about those similarities and differences?

Now that you’ve learned more about life in 1750 versus today, would you change the answer you gave at the start of this activity about which period you’d rather live in? Be prepared to share your reasoning with the class.

Once everyone has completed the rows relating to the frames, you’ll review the answers together, and then work in small groups to identify similarities and differences between life in 1750 and today, and you’ll then add them to the similarities and differences sections of the Comparison Tool.

Finally, you’ll come back together as a class to share the similarities and differences your group came up with.

Don’t worry—if your teacher chooses to have you do this activity extension, they’ll walk you through the definition of a thesis statement and show you how to create a thesis statement that answers a comparison prompt.

In this first unit of the course, you’re introduced to a variety of eighteenth-century empires. In this activity, you’ll analyze various characteristics that made each of these empires a success. By doing so, you’ll begin to understand the ways in which certain empires were successful as well as the qualities that might have led to their failure. In addition, you’ll be able to use these skills to analyze modern governments and possibilities for future collapses.

Comparison, causation, claim testing
In this activity, you’ll have to compare different empires and decide which elements of each empire were the best, and in doing so will get to create your own Frankenstein-type empire. In addition, you’ll have to use causation skills to decide if the combination of elements you’ve chosen will lead to the empire declining or falling. Finally, claim testing will be required as you determine how to create the best type of empire using evidence and logic.

At this point in the course, you’ve read a number of articles about eighteenth-century empires. Now, you’ll take what you’ve learned, categorize that information, and then use it to create a new, Frankenstein-style empire using the best or most successful qualities from each of the categories you’ve assessed.

First, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Empire Building worksheet and each of the articles listed above. Then, you’ll work in small groups of three or four on one of the following categories your teacher will assign your group: political structure, economic systems, military strength, social hierarchy, and main weakness. Each member of your group will then review the article set to pull out information about each empire for your group’s assigned category and fill in appropriate row of the worksheet table.

Once each group has completed the worksheet for their assigned category, your teacher will put you into new groups. Your new group will have an expert in each of the different categories (remember, you’re now the expert for the category you were assigned in the last part of this activity). Then, each category expert will share their information with the rest of the group and together you’ll complete all the rows of the chart.

Next, you’ll work together to decide which elements to include in your new, Frankenstein-style empire. Your goal is to create the best, most successful, or most indestructible empire, but you can only use the “best” parts of the historical empires for three of the categories. The other two categories must be constructed based on what your group decides are the second or third best. Your group will now have at least one weakness. The trick is to pick the weakness or weaknesses you can most easily defend when you present their empire to the class. You will have to justify your selections with evidence from the articles you read earlier. Now, use butcher paper or your computer to create your group’s Frankenstein empire. Your Frankenstein should include an image and a name to represent your newly created empire with labels and descriptions for each of the categories, explaining your choices for why these selections make the “best” empire.

Next, each group will present their Frankenstein empire to the class. As each group presents, take brief notes on any weaknesses you see in each empire. Then you’ll have a class discussion about the similarities between all of the Frankenstein empires. Think about why most groups included these elements in their empires. Finally, you’ll individually answer the following prompt at the end of the worksheet:

What is the most important quality that made these empires successful and what was the most significant weakness that led to the collapse of empires?

Make sure you use evidence from the activity in your answers. Your teacher will collect these answers to assess how well you understood the success and failure of empires in this unit.

The Ottoman Empire of 1750 stretched across parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Although predominantly Muslim, this empire contained many different religious and ethnic communities. The Muslim, Turkic rulers managed this society through a hierarchical system, but they also granted communities some self-governance. The Ottoman Empire both competed with, and was connected to, neighbors like the Safavid Empire and European states. Its rulers were so successful that the empire lasted almost 800 years, but it faced new challenges in the eighteenth century.

This article is one of several that each introduce a society in the year 1750. You can use these articles for two purposes. Individually, they help you to understand the government, values, and economies of a particular community or set of communities in 1750. Together, they can give you an idea of how parts of the world were connected to each other, and also how they were each unique. In this case, you will look at the Ottoman Empire, a vast and complex state and the largest Muslim-ruled community in 1750.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Looking at the map, what do you notice about the location of the Ottoman Empire?
2. In addition to their political and military roles, what religious role did the Ottoman Sultans claim, and who were their officials and representatives?
3. Like other empires, the Ottoman Empire had many provinces and lots of different religious and ethnic communities. How did it rule all of these groups?
4. According to the article, what kinds of relationships did the Ottoman state and people have with others outside the Empire?
5. What big global changes challenged the Ottoman State in 1750?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence in this article, what aspects of the Ottoman Empire in 1750 seem unique, and what aspects seem to be part of a wider global pattern?
2. If you could ask the author for one more piece of information about the Ottoman Empire—that isn’t included in this article—what would it be?

The Mughals were a Muslim dynasty who, in the sixteenth century, built an empire stretching over a huge region of South and Central Asia. Their population produced a lot of the world’s most desired goods, including much of its cloth. They dominated the region partly through a vast army and a loyal nobility, and partly through a policy of religious tolerance. But declining tolerance, continuing wars, and a changing global economy created challenges in the eighteenth century.

This article is one of several that each introduce a society in the year 1750. You can use these articles for two purposes. Individually, they help you to understand the government, values, and economies of a particular community or set of communities in 1750. Together, they give you an idea of how parts of the world were connected to each other, and how they were each unique. In this case, you will look at the Mughal Empire, one of the main engines of the global trading economy in the eighteenth century.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Looking at the map, what do you notice about the changing shape and size of the Mughal Empire in the years leading up to 1750?
2. What groups or classes of people were the most important supporters of Mughal rule?
3. Like other empires, the Mughal Empire had lots of different communities. How did it successfully rule all of these groups until the mid-eighteenth century?
4. According to the article, what was the role of the Mughal Empire in the global economy?
5. What internal challenges did the Mughal emperors face in 1750?
6. What external challenges did the Mughal emperors face in 1750?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence in this article, what aspects of the Mughal Empire in 1750 seem unique or distinctive, and what aspects seem to be part of a wider global pattern?
2. If you could ask the author for one more piece of information about the Mughal Empire—that isn’t included in this article—what would it be?

Technically, eighteenth century Japan was ruled by an emperor. In reality, a dynasty of Shoguns (warlords) governed a pretty hierarchical society, though they did respond to the needs of peasants. Though they had extensive relations with their neighbors in Korea and China, the Tokugawa shoguns worried about foreign influences. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they tried to restrict European trade and influence in Japan. In this way, they kept a high standard of living and a stable society throughout this period.

This article is one of several that each introduce a society in the year 1750. You can use these articles for two purposes. Individually, they help you to understand the government, values, and economies of a particular community or set of communities in 1750. Together, they give you an idea of how parts of the world were connected to each other and how they were each unique. In this case, you will look at Japan under the rule of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Looking at the map, what do you notice about internal trade in Japan, and what does it tell you about the geography of the country?
2. What groups or classes of people were the most important supporters of Tokugawa rule, according to the article?
3. Unlike empires, Japan was mainly ethnically and religiously homogeneous (one community identity) in 1750, but it had lots of different classes. How did the Shoguns keep order in this situation?
4. According to the article, what were Tokugawa attitudes towards global trade and foreign ideas?
5. According to the author, how successful were the Tokugawa shoguns, and how should we measure that success?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence in this article, what aspects of Japan in 1750 seem unique or distinctive, and what aspects seem to be part of a wider global pattern?
2. If you could ask the author for one more piece of information about Japan under the Tokugawa shoguns—that isn’t included in this article—what would it be?

Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast region, many times the size of Europe. Although geographically somewhat isolated, by 1750 it was connected to North Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. There were many different types of societies and governments in this region. It was home to many religions, with Islam the most widespread. Many states were quite egalitarian and power was often broadly shared, but there were also several centralized states. By 1750, the Atlantic slave trade was threatening societies in many regions, leaving them in anarchy or at the mercy of warlords.

This article is one of several that each introduce a society in the year 1750. You can use these articles for two purposes. Individually, they help you to understand the government, values, and economies of a particular community or set of communities in 1750. Together, they give you an idea of how parts of the world were connected to each other and how they were each unique. In this case, you will look at societies in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a large and diverse region connected to many other parts of the world.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. According to the author, what are the things that make it hard to study sub-Saharan Africa as a region, and why might we do so anyway?
2. What kinds of government systems existed in sub-Saharan Africa c. 1750, according to the author?
3. What sorts of communities and identities were important in sub-Saharan Africa at this time?
4. According to the article, what were some ways in which sub-African societies participated in production and trade in this period?
5. According to the author, what was the biggest threat to African societies in this era, and how was it changing them?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence in this article, what aspects of sub-Saharan African societies in 1750 seem unique or distinctive, and what aspects seem to be part of a wider global pattern?
2. If you could ask the author for one more piece of information about sub-Saharan Africa in 1750 – that isn’t included in this article – what would it to be?

In 1750, much of the Americas was under the rule of one European empire or another. In some regions, European settlers sat atop the economic pyramid. Many indigenous Americans worked for them. Enslaved Africans also produced many of the goods being sent back to Europe for profit. All of this worked through a hierarchical, race-based system. But beneath the surface, there was a lot of rule-breaking and resistance. People had relationships and children across the official lines of race. Enslaved people resisted and escaped colonial control, and indigenous people created their own states.

This article is one of several that each introduce a society in the year 1750. You can use these articles for two purposes. Individually, they help you to understand the government, values, and economies of a particular community or set of communities in 1750. Together, they give you an idea of how parts of the world were connected to each other, and also how they were each unique. In this case, you will look at societies in the Americas, including many that were under the control of European empires.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Look at the map of colonies in the Americas, which were many times the size of the countries (Spain, Britain, etc.) that controlled them. What does the caption below the image imply about these territories?
2. Like other empires, the European empires in the Americas had diverse populations, including many enslaved people. How did they try to control these populations?
3. What were the roles of the Americas in the global economy in this period?
4. According to the article, what were indigenous American people doing in this period?
5. According to the author, how did enslaved and subordinated people react to being ruled by European empires?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence in this article, what aspects of American societies in 1750 seem unique or distinctive, and what aspects seem to be part of a wider global pattern?
2. If you could ask the author for one more piece of information about the Americas in 1750—that isn’t included in this article—what would it be?

This article explores the societies of Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea) and the Pacific around the middle of the eighteenth century. The author begins by looking at the way in which world history textbooks have traditionally ignored this region, and then surveys the history of people in motion and the societies they created. Most of the article then explores these societies through the frames of communities, networks, and production and distribution. The article concludes by setting up encounters between Pacific societies and Europeans.

This article introduces Pacific and Oceania societies through a similar framework as other articles in the course by looking at regions of the world around 1750. Together, these articles should help you to understand broader connections within and between regions and also to compare and contrast societies in this period.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How did most world history textbooks published before 1999 treat this region?
2. Where did the indigenous people who settled the Pacific islands come from, and what technologies made possible the settlement of this region?
3. How were Maori societies of New Zealand governed around 1750?
4. What happened, politically, in Hawaii between about 1795 and 1810?
5. What, according to the author, was the most important aspect of gender roles in this region?
6. How do we know that these societies, which stretched across the Pacific, were connected to each other in networks of trade?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on the evidence presented in the article, how would you characterize this region through the networks frame? How would you characterize it through the communities frame?

The Omani Empire was not a typical empire. It was not something you could easily see on the map. It didn’t have an army or typical bureaucracy. In the corner of Arabia, on the Indian Ocean coast, the Omani rulers looked away from the land and outward to the sea, ultimately controlling many important sea lanes. This so-called empire was a loose web of ports connected through trade relations. Over time, it became a powerful economic, political, and cultural force that reshaped the Indian Ocean world, from Oman to Zanzibar and beyond.

In this video, you’ll learn about the formation, history, and legacy of the Omani Empire. The Omani Empire is an interesting case study for world history, as it wasn’t a typical empire. This will make it useful for comparing to other Afro-Eurasian empires or empires in the Americas like the Comanche Empire. The example of Oman highlights the importance of Indian Ocean trade for political power, which will help you test claims about how we organize the regions we use in world history.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. What makes the Omani Empire different from other Islamic empires?
2. What areas did the Omani Empire cover at its peak?
3. How did the Omani Empire come to be an empire?
4. What are two key differences between the Omani Empire and most other Empires?
5. How did the Omani Empire change East Africa in the long term?
6. What lasting impact did the Omani Empire have on Oman today?
7. According to Kamala Russell, what makes the Omani Empire interesting from the perspective of global history?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Do you think the Omani Empire was actually an empire? Why or why not?

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful when responding to DBQs.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.2.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

The world in 1750 was on the cusp of some massive upheavals. In 1750, the world was largely made up of empires and kingdoms. In this source collection, readers will view these political communities from multiple perspectives, getting a snapshot of how different governments structured the lives of people around the global just before and after mid-century. These sources will give readers some insight into how communities were organized, how large and dynamic they were, and who was included and excluded. Readers will encounter spirited sentiments about what counts as homeland and country and who belongs—often from a point of view long before some places were ever formal nations.

The primary and secondary source excerpts in this collection will help you compare how communities separated by vast distances shared characteristics. You will also begin to understand how governments controlled their subjects and recognize why some people would soon call for change. In addition, you’ll work on your sourcing skills using the Quick-Sourcing Tool.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Guangzhou was an important center for global trade. Qing Shih entered this city as one of hundreds of thousands of poor workers. She rose to become a leader of the pirates who grew to take advantage of this rising trade and the increasing weakness of the Qing Dynasty that ruled China. She helped build a vast pirate confederacy that threatened the Chinese state, and eventually negotiated a wealthy retirement.

This biography of Qing Shih is the first of the biographies you will encounter in this course. Each one of these graphic biographies forms the smallest scale of evidence you will use to respond to unit questions. For example, this unit focuses on the ways humans and societies in 1750 were connected by a shared, global experience, and in what ways there were distinct regional and local experiences. It also features China as a central node for thinking about these issues of connection and experience. Qing Shih’s biography may help you support or modify your response to this question.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How and why did Qing Shih get to Guangzhou?
2. What was Guangzhou like in 1775, according to the author?
3. How did Qing Shih become a pirate queen?
4. How did Qing Shih strengthen the pirate confederacy? What policies did she pursue?
5. The artist shows Qing Shih at the edge or towards the back of panels at the beginning of the biography, but by the end she is in the middle and front of each panel. What message is she giving through this placement?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. It’s early in the course, but you’ve already learned a little about China, and you’ve been introduced to the three frames. Thinking about the communities frame, does Qing Shih’s story support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about China in this unit? In other words, does it confirm what you know about communities in China (support)? Does it deepen what you already know (extend)? Or does it provide evidence that goes against what you’ve been told (challenge)?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

Make sure you have the UP Notebook worksheets that you partially filled out earlier in the unit.

This is a continuation of the UP Notebook activity that you started in this unit. As part of WHP, you are asked to revisit the Unit Problems in order to maintain a connection to the core themes of the course. Because this is the second time you’re working with this unit’s problems, you are asked to explain how your understanding of the unit’s core concepts has changed over the unit. Make sure you use evidence from this unit and sound reasoning in your answers.

Fill out the second table on your partially completed worksheet from earlier in the unit. Be prepared to talk about your ideas with your class.

DBQ Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which globalization since the Second World War has benefited everyone.

DBQ 0 is the baseline writing assessment for the course. Your teacher will use it to provide you with an understanding of your ability to use a range of texts to construct an evidence-based, well-structured explanation or argument. Although you should do the best you can, don’t worry about your score on this assignment. You will retake this same DBQ later in the course, which will give you an opportunity to see your growth.

You’re going to use today’s class period to take the baseline assessment for the course. Your teacher may score your essay, but this won’t be a grade that “counts”—it’s just to give you an idea of where you are in your writing right now. However, it’s really important to take this essay seriously for a few reasons. First, it will help your teacher decide what to focus on teaching this year in order to help you become a better writer. Second, since it’s early in the course and you’ll be working on writing a lot, at the end of the year you’ll most likely see a big improvement in your scores, which is always satisfying. Chances are you won’t get a very high score on this first essay and that’s OK—it’s really challenging!

Take out the DBQ and follow the directions. You also might want to look through the WHP Writing Rubric so you have a clear sense of the goals you are trying to meet.