Primary Source Reviews
Primary sources make up an important part of the AP exam. Students will be exposed to them throughout the Multiple Choice section of the exam, in one of the Short Answer Questions and in the Document Based Question. The more comfortable that students are in reading and interpreting primary sources, the better prepared they will be for the exam. For this reason, APUSHslides has started to create new review videos that are meant to help students practice analyzing primary sources, and also meant to provide an example on how a certain themes are prevalent throughout each time period. Each video will cover one document, summarize the content, and analyze it based on the criteria in the DBQ rubric.
There is an introduction video which covers how each primary source document will be introduced and analyzed. It includes standard questions students should answer when they are attempting to provide analysis for Historical Situation, Audience, Purpose or Perspective. Having a familiarity with the pattern can help students practice alongside the video by pausing after reading the document and comparing answers with the analysis in the video.
For each historical period there will be eight videos corresponding to each of the historical themes. The list is below for reference:
American National Identity
Work, Exchange, Technology
Geography and the Environment
Migration and Settlement
Politics and Power
America in the World
American and Regional Culture
Social Structures
Stressing the different themes to students in their review is important. If they are unaware of them, they run the risk of focusing too heavily on one (usually Politics and Power) and ignoring entire areas of history. Conversely, knowledge in all eight themes for each period provides a comprehensive understanding of the period and it makes it clear to students that they can trace eight separate strands of historical thinking all the way back to the first historical period.
This section of APUSHslides.com is a work in progress, and it will continue to grow as time goes on. Currently, all of the videos for Period 9 (1980-Present) have been completed. Hopefully when it is finished it will help students review course material thematically AND chronologically.