Reminder - if there is school tomorrow there will be an Africa Quiz! If not, then Thursday, Essay Friday
With your last official CCOT essay in class, I want you to consider the following things as you prepare/write your essay this week:
- I see A LOT of vagueness in essays, which unfortunately does not prove to me (nor the College Board) that you know what you are talking about. Words like many, very, and several are meaningless. "He made several mistakes on Monday."..."There were many changes..." Neither of those statements say anything significant.
VS. "John Doe made many mistakes on Monday, such as not setting his alarm, forgetting his Chem notebook, and missing the school bus. This lead to John Smith having the worst day of his life"
- You've taken the same vague idea you were working with before ('many' mistakes) and actually listed his mistakes. This would be a GREAT topic sentence, because it sets up the main ideas of your paragraph without giving away your details.
Your evidence will count when you start to discuss specific things that make John's day bad. He stayed up late watching Downton Abbey; he was too busy talking to Jane Doe. Specific names, places, pieces of technology, specific factual information - will all help you out. Try to incorporate your evidence evenly and avoid 'evidence vomit' in your essay (all the evidence, all at once).
Your analysis is the 'because...' statement. Why did a change or continuity happen? "The statistical happiness of Burlington High students increased in 2014 BECAUSE of the new rotating schedule which allowed students to mix up their schedules and create variety on a day to day basis. " That sentence highlights a change (the levels of happiness increasing) and a reason for it (the new rotating schedule). "Burlington sports teams continued to dominate the Middlesex league from 2013 to 2014 BECAUSE no other cities in the league could establish a worthy opponent" (for a continuity).
Global Context - Often left out. What is happening in other places that is similar to what is happening were you are discussing OR what has happened somewhere else (or in many places) that has caused a change to occur. EX/ The decline of the Pax Romana and the fall of Rome RESULTED in a decreased amount of trade on the Silk Road and an increased amount of trade in the Indian Ocean. EX/ The demand for silk and porcelien was still high in western Europe and Africa, so the Indian Ocean trade continued to connect China to other parts of the eastern hemisphere.
How to do well:
- Know the rubric - know what gets you points and keep track of your progress as you write (perhaps write a quick 'thesis - all parts of the question - evidence - analysis - global context' at the top of your paper and cross them off as you go.
- Know the facts - work on remembering key pieces of information about the SPICE categories. Who's a big deal in politics? What kind of government? What is being traded? Where are they trading with? etc. This is your evidence.
- Read the question carefully!! What exactly is it asking you?
- Look at some example CCOT essays online - see what gets you points (and what doesn't).
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