Long Essay Question (LEQ)

In previous resources, you practiced how to think about, write a thesis, and write topic sentences in support of a historical argument in response to an essay prompt. Now it's time to put all of that practice together into a full essay.

So far, these essay prompts have asked you to consider continuity and changes over time, explain causes, and draw comparisons; here we will focus on a prompt that deals primarily with effects. Although this may seem like a totally new historical reasoning process, it isn't. You may find it helpful to think of causation as a coin with two sides: on the one side, causes, and on the other, effects. Let's take a look at a prompt that focuses on a time and place in history you have recently researched:

Explain the effects of economics in shaping the development of the societies of South Carolina and the English Caribbean in the period from 1660 to 1754.

Step 1: Break down the prompt and pre-write your response.

As with any other prompt, you should start by thinking broadly about what you know about the topic - in this case, about the societies in South Carolina and the British West Indies between 1660 and 1754. don't forget that you are also being asked to make an argument that analyzes a specific aspect of those societies: the economics that shaped their development. You can apply any of the prewriting strategies from previous modules (units) to organize your thoughts.

Step 2: Write a thesis statement.

Next, generate a working thesis that fully answers the prompt. As you do so, you can use your prewriting to guide your argument. Your essay should be a presentation of both your content knowledge and historical reasoning skills. To make sure you are showcasing both, choose thesis claims - in this case, about economic effects - that you can defend with evidence. The following is an example of a strong thesis:

The profitability of sugar as a cash crop for the English Caribbean colonies and the Carolinas shaped these societies by creating a large, enslaved population, a small upper class of wealthy landholders, and a class of poor whites who were forced to the margins of colonial society.

Step 3: Use your thesis claims to write topic sentences for each body paragraph, then use evidence to build a paragraph to support each topic sentence.

Now that you have a thesis, it's time to plan your essay. Just as your practiced, one way to do this is to write all of the topic sentences for your body paragraphs up front. Once you have written your topic sentences, it's time to assemble your evidence. Historians use historical facts, analyzed in light of their arguments, to prove the topic sentences of their body paragraphs, which in turn, form their theses.

Let's say one of your topic sentences is:

After the fall of tobacco prices in the 1630s, planters in Barbados turned to the production of sugar cane, which European consumers consumed in vast quantities.

This topic sentence helps you answer the prompt by establishing both an economic cause ("the profitability of sugar") and an effect ("large enslaved labor force"). Now you're ready to prove this with historical evidence. Remember to use ACE here. The claim in the topic sentence of the paragraph is your answer. You now need to cite the evidence ou pulled together in your prewriting in order to support that claim. And finally, the most important part of the paragraph is the explanation of how your evidence supports your claim. Connecting your evidence to your claim in the body paragraph of an essay often requires a more detailed explanation than responses to Short-Answer Questions, as you can see in the following example:

The production of sugar in the English Caribbean and the Carolinas required a large labor force, which led them to become oppressive slavery-based economies [claim with evidence of cause]. By the 1660s, enslaved Africans, who had already been a part of the transatlantic economy for over a generation, provided a convenient labor force for sugar production in Barbados [evidence of effect]. Charleston, in the Carolinas, served as a port of entry for many of these enslaved Africans, and the colony itself began to produce sugar, and later rice, as an easily consumable good for enslaved populations in the English colonies [evidence of effect]. By the late seventeenth century, slavery English societies in the Caribbean and the Carolinas, where enslaved African outnumbered white colonists, and legal systems were formed to make slavery permanent in order to sustain the colonies’ profitability [explanation of effect].

Example Outline Response

You may wish to use the following outline to guide your response.

I. Introduction

A. Pre-contextualization

B. Thesis statement presenting three claims (1 alternative perspective, 2 lines of reasoning to support your argument/position

II. Claim 1 body paragraph (cover alternative perspective here or body paragraph 3)

A. Topic sentence presenting claim 1

B. Cite evidence of claim 1

C. Explain how evidence supports claim 1

>>repeat B & C as needed

III. Claim 2 body paragraph

A. Topic sentence presenting claim 2

B. Cite evidence of claim 2

C. Explain how evidence supports claim 2

>>repeat B & C as needed

IV. Claim 3 body paragraph

A. Topic sentence presenting claim 3

B. Cite evidence of claim 3

C. Explain how evidence supports claim 3

>>repeat B & C as needed

V. Conclusion

A. Revisit thesis

B. Post-contextualization

Next components of focus:

Introduction: including Pre-Contextualization

Conclusion: including Post-Contextualization

The "complexity" point on the rubric rewards essays which develop complex arguments which is essential for analytical writing. There are a number of ways that essays can demonstrate complexity. If an essay follows the writing program emphasized in this course, that would be one way of attempting to achieve complexity. In fact, it is not just one way, but attempts to achieve complexity in four different ways! Complexity is difficult to earn, so attempting to achieve this task in multiple ways will go a long way to helping you develop stronger analytical essays and at least potentially receive this rubric point.

Complexity Rubric

• • • Explaining nuance of an issue by analyzing multiple variables

    • Explaining both similarity and difference, or explaining both continuity and change, or explaining multiple causes, or explaining both cause and effect

    • Explaining relevant and insightful connections within and across periods

    • Confirming the validity of an argument by corroborating multiple perspectives across themes

    • Qualifying or modifying an argument by considering diverse or alternative views or evidence

Complexity can be achieved FOUR different ways by using this writing program:

• establishing a complex argument by following the THESIS FORMULA. The developed "X" statement potentially hits the bullet #2 and/or #5

• establishing a complex argument by organizing the information around the APUSH course theme. This corroborates multiple perspectives across different themes. This potentially hits bullet # 4

• establish a complex argument by developing a conclusion which continues the effect of the essay argument (this can also assist with contextualization). This potentially hits bullet #2

• establish a complex argument by juxtaposing two documents (or in the case of the LEQ, bringing in two opposing pieces of evidence and reconciling them) in the same paragraph. This potentially hits bullet #1

Point Conversions

DBQs and LEQs rubric scores are converted to grades for your course grades. The converted rubric score + level of completion of the prompt analysis sheet for the prompt are combined for your final "grade" on the assessment. The conversion chart is organized to show you a correlation to AP exam student performance means. Example: those who consistently score DBQ-6-7 or LEQ 5-6 are on track to earn a 5; score DBQ-4-5 or LEQ-4 are on track for a 4, etc. NOTE: The DBQ is only one of four factors of the full AP exam and is not a guarantee of a final composite score; the LEQ is only one of four factors of the full AP exam and is not a guarantee of a final composite score.

LEQ Rubric to Points

• 6 = 100 - 90 | 5 = 89 - 80

• 4 = 79 - 70

• 3 = 69 - 60

• 2 = 59 - 50 | 1 = 49 - 40 | 0 = 39 - 0

• No submission = 0 but points may be earned for submitting the Prompt Analysis