WRITING the AP Essay

1. WRITING the AP Essay

2. Understanding the Prompt • The first thing you need to do is to read the WHOLE prompt, every word of it. This is especially true if the prompt is in two sentences like this one. • How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved. • Having read the whole prompt, circle or underline the VERBS. These words will give you your task. • After finding the verbs, look carefully and mark any CONJUNCTIONS and circle or underline them. For instance: Compare and contrast

3. Commonly used verbs and verb phrases • Analyze • Explain how AND why something occurred. Any question that uses “how” and/or “why” is an analysis question even if the word “analyze” is not in the prompt. • Assess the validity • How true is the statement. The statement doesn’t have to be all true; it can be true in one instance or circumstance and false in another.

4. Verbs cont. • Evaluate • Which factor was most important. You usually need to rank several events or factors and specify which is most and which is least significant. • To what extent • This prompt frequently requires you to specify a cause and effect relationship and then state which causes were more important. • Discuss or Consider • These are frequently used in free response prompts. They should be written as analysis essays.

5. Outline • After you are clear as to your task (analyze, evaluate, etc.) sketch out a quick, informal outline of how you are going to proceed. This is very important to guaranteeing that you cover the whole prompt.

6. Write a clear thesis • a single declaratory sentence that “answers” the prompt with a clearly and simply stated opinion that does not restate the prompt.

7. Example • After reading the whole prompt, marking the verbs and conjunctions, and sketching out how you intend to proceed. . . • Answer the prompt in a simple sentence. • For instance, consider this DBQ prompt: • How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved.

8. Example cont. • What do you think about this prompt? • Were labor unions successful in improving working conditions and the power of working people during this time? • At the end of the period had the lives of working people substantially improved due to organized labor? • What factors caused or stopped improvement from happening? • Let’s say that you think this time period was not a period of labor success. • Write a simple statement that answers the prompt with your opinion. Like this. . . • Although this was a period of intense labor pressure, unions failed to make the lives and status of workers better. • Or. . . • Organized labor unions were unsuccessful because they were not unified in their demands and were associated with radical European political groups.

9. The Introductory Paragraph • Having written your thesis sentence, you are ready to put it into your essay introduction. For most AP U. S. History essays, an introduction “paragraph” need not be particularly long. • The thesis sentence should be the last sentence in your introduction paragraph. • Take a step back from your thesis and write a general sentence that introduces the topic.