Documenting United States History

putting it all together 23

Although you may feel strongly that religion, for example, had the most influ­

ence in shaping contact between European and native peoples, the prompt asks

you to identify economic, religious, and political factors. Your answer therefore

needs to address all three of these factors and not just religious ones.

Note also how the question asks you to use “the documents above and your

knowledge of the historical period.” This means that your answer needs to draw

on evidence beyond the documents to be complete. Knowledge of the historical

period may come from your understanding of the textbook, classroom lectures,

and any outside books and sources that you have read that pertain to this period.

If you do not include “your knowledge of the historical period,” your answer will

be incomplete.

You also need to identify the key words within each prompt that carry signifi­

cant weight so that you can be certain to address each word in your essay. Here

is a simple brainstorming activity to help you make sure that you always under­

stand a prompt completely.

1. Draw a box around “earliest contacts between Europeans and native peoples
   in the Western Hemisphere.” This is your topic.


2. Underline the word “analyze.” This is your task.


3. Circle “economics,” “religion,” and “politics.” These are the categories of your
   essay.

For the prompt above, your annotations may look like this:

Using the documents above and your knowledge of the historical period,

analyze the extent to which economics, religion, and politics shaped the

earliest contacts between European and native peoples in the Western

Hemisphere.

steP 2 Generate a working thesis

A thesis statement is your response to the prompt. It is usually no more than two

sentences. Your thesis statement includes your main argument in response to a

prompt.

Review the prompt’s topic, and create a list of important information that

comes to mind, such as the following:

1. The Spanish brought diseases to the Aztecs.


2. The Aztecs had gold that the Spanish wanted.


3. The Spanish wanted to convert the Native Americans to Christianity.


4. There were many different kinds of Native American cultures.

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