Social StudiesEnglish Language Arts9-12+
Thesis Writing Practice for AP World History Unit 1
By James P.
A set of 10 thesis development prompts for AP World History: Modern students covering Unit 1, The Global Tapestry (c. 1200 to c. 1450). Students draft one- to two-sentence theses that include a defensible claim and a roadmap, practicing comparison and causation skills across Song China, the Abbasid Caliphate, and other regions of the period.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use as a 30 to 45 minute warm-up or exit ticket after students have studied Unit 1 content, or assign it as homework before a DBQ or LEQ workshop.
- Discussion question: What separates a claim that merely describes two societies from one that makes an argument a reasonable person could contest?
- Scaffold for struggling writers: Provide a sentence frame such as "Although [X] and [Y] shared [similarity], [X] relied more heavily on [difference], which reveals..." and have students fill in the blanks before writing independently.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to write a counterargument sentence for each thesis and explain how their roadmap would address it.
- Allow about 3 minutes per prompt for drafting, plus 10 minutes for peer review of two or three theses.
Social StudiesEnglish Language Arts9-12+
Thesis Writing Practice for AP World History Unit 1
By James P.
A set of 10 thesis development prompts for AP World History: Modern students covering Unit 1, The Global Tapestry (c. 1200 to c. 1450). Students draft one- to two-sentence theses that include a defensible claim and a roadmap, practicing comparison and causation skills across Song China, the Abbasid Caliphate, and other regions of the period.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use as a 30 to 45 minute warm-up or exit ticket after students have studied Unit 1 content, or assign it as homework before a DBQ or LEQ workshop.
- Discussion question: What separates a claim that merely describes two societies from one that makes an argument a reasonable person could contest?
- Scaffold for struggling writers: Provide a sentence frame such as "Although [X] and [Y] shared [similarity], [X] relied more heavily on [difference], which reveals..." and have students fill in the blanks before writing independently.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to write a counterargument sentence for each thesis and explain how their roadmap would address it.
- Allow about 3 minutes per prompt for drafting, plus 10 minutes for peer review of two or three theses.