Argumentative thesis|American History
You can visit the Writing Tutors for help with grammar and editing your paper, but you
must go specifically for the purpose of formulating a Thesis Statement, an answer to the
paper’s prompt. The Thesis Statement is the heart and soul of your paper. Without a
strong, argumentative thesis, your paper falls apart.
Rubric:
Below Average
Student reiterates or summarizes evidence rather than making an argument
Average
Student makes an argument, stacking adequate pieces of evidence to support their
thesis
Proficient
Student makes an argument, illustrating the ways in which their selected evidence
supports their thesis, suggesting historical interpretation
Advanced
Student makes a strong argument based in one of the historical thinking skills
and utilizes multiple pieces of strong evidence to support their thesis
Historical Thinking Skills:
Significance Cause and Consequence
Change and Continuity Periodization
Contextualization Comparison
Primary Source Analysis:
The prompt for all Primary Source Analysis papers is “Why is this source significant?
What makes it important?” While you will contextualize the source, the main purpose of
the paper is to demonstrate its significance by deconstructing, or pulling apart, various
quotes and ideas.
Unit 1:
To what extent did Europeans conquer America and its Indigenous Peoples?
Unit 2:
In what ways did Europeans, Africans, and Indigenous peoples create a New
World?
Unit 3:
How transformative was the Revolutionary Era?
Unit 4:
What was the American experience during the 19th century?
Unit 5:
To what extent are the Civil War and the Constitutional Amendments a triumph of
freedom and democracy?
Final Paper:
What theme best defines the first half of American history?
