NAME_______________________                                      AP American

Summer Assignment                                                      Mr. Horton

 

       Directions: As part of your course in Advanced Placement American History, you will be required to write an AP style DBQ essay question. To facilitate your completion of this project, you should complete the following:

 

       A) Select a historical time period or topic that your questions will be focused on. The

              topics are completely up to you, as long as they are approved by your

              teacher. Some possible topics:

                      The New Deal Era

                      The 1850’s

                      Womens Rights Movement in the 20th Century

                      Foreign Policy During the Cold War

                      Immigration History

 

Students can find a voluminous list of pre-approved books on Mr. Horton's website: www.mrhorton.cjb.net.

 

       B) Find a historical work that covers the topic or period that you are going to cover.

              Your book MUST be approved by your teacher. You can contact the

              instructor via e-mail at shortong@adelphia.net or at the summer

                school office for the duration of summer school. You are strongly

                encouraged to browse at local bookstores and libraries to find

                suitable titles for your project. When requesting teacher 

                approval on a work, you should include the following 

                information:

 

                      TITLE

                      AUTHOR

                      PUBLISHER

                      COPYRIGHT DATE

                      NUMBER OF PAGES

 

              Books should be selected and approved by July 29th, 2004. If you choose a book from the pre-approved list, please e-mail the instructor with your choice.

 

       C) READ the book in its entirety. This includes any introductions,

            forewords, and postscripts. (this will help in the next part of the

            assignment).

 

       D) Write a 3 to 5 page review of the work. A review is NOT a report. Your

                paper should comment on the following questions in a cohesive

                manner:

             

              Is the work biased in anyway? How?

              How is the subject treated? What seems to be the author’s goal?

              Is it well researched and documented? Comment on footnotes/endnotes

                    and the bibliography that are included in the book.

              Comment on the style of the writing. Is it easy or difficult to read

                    and understand?

              What do you believe is the intended audience of this work? Is

                    it intended for academics, the general public?

              What are the strongest parts of the book?

              What are the critical weaknesses of the book?

              Would you recommend it to others or not? Why or why not?

 

NOTICE: A paper that simply reports the story of the work will not be graded, but will be  returned  to the student to be rewritten and resubmitted. DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT YOUR INSTRUCTOR TO CLARIFY ANY DETAILS OF THIS ASSIGNMENT. Sample(s) have been provided for you.

 

Be sure to check the website: www.schoolnotes.com/14221/shortong.html for updates!!! 

 

 

 

Papers are due the first week of class. None will be accepted late.