history essay

I need an explanation for this History question to help me study.

Your final will be an essay exam which covers material from the entire semester. The essay is worth 50 points. These questions are designed intentionally to be broad. I want you to interpret the material you’ve studied and come up with a thesis.

I do not have a length requirement, but I do have two other requirements for a passing essay. First, you must have a thesis which you prove. Second, your essay must be comprehensive, covering the entire period from 1500-2016. You do not have to write about everything that we have covered in class. You simply must be sure not to leave out any major time period. The best approach is to break the semester into three portions:

1. Voyages of Exploration to the eve of the American Rev: 1500-1750
2. American Rev to the eve of WWI—1750-1914
3. WWI to the present—1914-2016.

Then use the best three or four examples from each time period to prove your thesis.

I used to give page requirements and students would stop when they got to that page, sometimes in mid-sentence. Focus on accomplishing the goals of proving a thesis and covering the semester comprehensively. Those are the requirements for a C. To get higher than a C avoid what I call the grocery list approach in your essay. Do not just list three or four examples and leave it at that. To get an A or B, you need to put your examples in historical context and add some analysis to show how your examples proves your thesis. For example, if you want to use the French Revolution as an example, you could put it in the context of the Enlightenment, and then you should explicitly tie it to your thesis to show how it contributes to your argument or thesis.

You must turn in your essay through Turnitin on Canvas,. It is due at 11:59 on May 21, 2020. Please submit your essay as a Word or Pdf file. For some reason I have a difficult time opening Google docs or some of the more exotic formats in Canvas. You can write your essay in Google docs and then copy and paste the text into the drop box. I will make and post a video showing you how to submit the essay through Turnitin.

For the exam you will chose one of the following prompts for your essay:

1. Describe the rise of the Western Powers since the 1500s.
2. Chose one of the following nations/cultures: Africa, India, China, Japan, or the Middle East. Describe what that nation or culture was like in 1500 and how much it has changed due to cross cultural exchange since that time.
3. Discuss the roles of racism and nationalism in shaping Modern World History since 1500.