LEQ Advice: Attempt every point- this includes contextualization and complex understanding. Your thesis must reply directly to the prompt, using the language of the prompt. Be deliberate- make an argument! Include plenty of specific examples. Each body paragraph needs to have several specific examples- at least 2-3. It is not enough to simply identify a specific example and move on- you need to explain these examples. More than that, you need to consistently tie your analysis of specific examples to earn two points for evidence. To demonstrate proper application of the targeted skill, you must explain. For instance, if it s a comparison prompt- fully explain the similarities and differences. If it s a CCOT prompt, you need to explain what stayed the same, and what changed. If it s a Causation prompt, you must explain each cause fully. Make sure to explain, elaborate, and analyze. It is not enough to just state something- you must elaborate on your ideas. Looking for some help with the LEQ? Let s take an example from the last LEQ. Here was Prompt 2 from the first LEQ: Identify and explain causes of imperial decline and collapse in the period 600 BCE-600 CE. Let s take this part by part: Remember, with the LEQ, you should plan to have 5 paragraphs. The first paragraph needs to be your introduction. Instead of jumping right into your thesis (I know you re excited to make an argument in response to the prompt, but you need to set it up first)- start with contextualization.
1. Contextualization - this is the BIG PICTURE. It s like the Star Wars crawl sequence before each Star Wars movie- it informs the audience of what happened previously that is relevant when examining this current prompt. If your essay (your response to the prompt) is a tree, then contextualization is a forestit s the big picture. It should really answer the following question: How did we get here? It should explain the back story - what led to the topic of the prompt that you re focusing on. Your contextualization must be lengthy. 1-2 sentences will not receive this point. You have to fully explain relevant background info in depth. However, you don t want to spend too much time on contextualization- it will take away from time you have to work on the rest of the essay! Let s see what would and would not receive the point for contextualization for our prompt: INSUFFICIENT- Empires follow a life cycle- they are created, expand, and eventually die. All empires follow this process. SUFFICIENT- The first civilizations arose near river valleys in China, the Indus River Valley, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. These civilizations laid the foundations for all later civilizations, including centralized government, a standing army, long-distance trade, and a system of laws. Later, during the classical era, new civilizations such as Greece and Rome in Europe and Persia, India, and China in Asia became even stronger, more sophisticated civilizations. Their armies were successful in expanding the territories, and several methods of consolidation were put in place, such as road networks, standardized currency, and more comprehensive legal codes. So, you see what it takes to earn the point for contextualization- you really need to go back and explain the things that happened to get us to this point. Further, you MUST explain at length! Again, 1-2 sentences, perhaps even 3, will not get this point. It must be in-depth.
After the contextualization, you ll want to put in some kind of transition sentence before you write your thesis. Here s an example for this prompt: Despite reaching such heights of power, these classical empires eventually encountered several problems that proved to be overwhelming, leading to their decline and ultimate collapse. This sets up your thesis. 2. Thesis - This is the driving force of your paper-it is your argument. It is your response to the topic of the prompt. Your thesis must be clearly stated using the language of the prompt. You should also clearly identify 3 things that you can say in response to the prompt. For example: INSUFFICIENT THESIS: The decline and collapse of empires was caused by political, economic, and social factors. This is too vague. It also doesn t use the language of the prompt. Here s a better thesis: SUFFICIENT THESIS: The decline and collapse of empires in the period from 600 BCE-600 CE was caused primarily by overexpansion, rebellions, and foreign invasions. Notice, this last thesis directly responded to the prompt with the language of the prompt. It also clearly identified 3 things that can be elaborated on in the body paragraphs. Each of these things (overexpansion, rebellions, and foreign invasions) will be addressed separately in the essay- one per body paragraph. For instance, since overexpansion was the first topic mentioned, it should be the subject of the first body paragraph, etc.
Each body paragraph must do the following things: 1. Identify what the paragraph is focused on- which part of the argument is being explained- with a topic sentence. 2. Show proper application of the targeted skill- here, we need to explain the identified cause. 3. Provide specific examples that illustrate the identified cause. 4. Tie the analysis of specific examples back to the argument (thesis) throughout. Here s what this looks like for the first body paragraph about overexpansion. One major cause of imperial decline and collapse in the classical period was the overexpansion of territory. With expansion came additional wealth and glory, but classical empires had expanded so vastly that eventually they became difficult to administer, manage, and defend. This strained the empires because they would have to increase the size of their militaries to defend more extensive frontiers, raise taxes, and possibly overwork the labor force to build or extend infrastructure. Rome provides a good example of how overexpansion can eventually cause imperial decline. After Rome had expanded to its greatest extent, it had difficulty supply its legions with Roman soldiers. For this reason, foreign mercenaries were hired, and these soldiers had little to no loyalty to Rome, leading to a less disciplined military. Further, as Rome expanded into places like Gaul and Britain, it had to defend its borders against Germanic tribes trying to venture further into Roman lands. This constant defensive struggle would take its toll on the Roman Empire, both in terms of exhausted soldiers and in the form of higher taxes. Another example of overexpansion contributing to imperial decline was the Hellenistic Empire of Alexander the Great. Alexander was more concerned with conquest than with consolidation and management, so he did not leave a well-integrated empire to his successors after his death. With a massive empire and no clear plan in place to continue it, the empire quickly broke apart into different parts. These regions of Alexander s Empire would eventually succumb to outside forces, such as the Romans in Greece and Egypt and the Mauryan Empire in India. Clearly, it proved difficult for both Rome and the Hellenistic Empire to maintain continuity with such a huge empire to maintain. This burden of administration would eventually contribute to their demise.
Notice, in this example body paragraph, there is a topic sentence identifying which part of the argument this paragraph is addressing; there are plenty of specific examples, each of which is explained in sufficient detail; finally, the specific examples are tied back to the argument. This pattern should be repeated for body paragraphs 2 and 3. CONCLUSION- Yes, the conclusion must wrap up the argument (thesis), but it should also do something else with the argument- apply it in a new way. This is the point for complex understanding. You re given several options as far as how to do this. I will illustrate what this could look like in 3 different ways: 1. Synthesis - make a connection to a similar event, occurring at a different period of time. Essentially this is Same in kind, different in time. This connection must be explained- prove the connection! Just as Rome and Alexander s Empire overexpanded their boundaries, the Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries would experience a similar fate. After Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes and he and his successors took over a massive empire in Asia, the empire itself wouldn t last past the year 1480. This was primarily because, as Rome and the Hellenistic Empire experienced, it was incredibly difficult to administer such a huge territory, especially when faced with peasant revolts, famine, and disease.
2. Another viewpoint - Add another perspective to your analysis that had not been incorporated before. For instance, you could add another cause to your analysis. In addition to the analysis of the topic that has already been established, it can be said that another cause of imperial decline and collapse in the period 600 BCE-600 CE was leadership issues. Unfit or overly strict leaders sometimes contributed to the collapse of their empires. For instance, emperors such as Nero in the Roman Empire did not successfully address the clear issues that Rome was experiencing, and did little to aid in times of crisis. In China, even though Qin Shihuang-di had expanded and consolidated the Chinese state, his harsh, tyrannical rule ultimately led to rebellion among the peasants. 3. A counter-argument: You can modify your argument with something that could be said to kind of establish a limit on what you re trying to say. It could be seen as a counter-point. Even though rapid expansion did lead to problems, it also was a source of wealth and glory for the empires that did it. Had such massive expansion not happened, then the classical empires may not be regarded as being so powerful and glorious as they frequently are seen today. Expansion led to the accumulation of more resources, such as minerals and agricultural land, which helped the economy and brought more wealth to the empire. Hopefully this helps! I will post more (hopefully) helpful writing tips and strategies as we proceed throughout the year. Good luck on the LEQ!