Possible Questions and Making Sure You Understand How This Works

Notice with Care the Word OR. 1

Notice the Words in Each Question. 1

5 Possible Questions. 2

Requirements for Following the 5 Good Habits for Evidence. 2

Requirements for Length and Language in Your Written Answer. 2

Requirements for Citation for Your Written Answer to the Question. 3

Brain Trick for Quoting and Avoiding Quotation Humiliation. 3

 

 

Notice with Care the Word OR

I am trying to give each of you a very fair chance to be able to prepare ahead and to prepare for only 5 possible questions.

1.      You are to answer the question that Blackboard displays when you click on the Unit 1 Written Exam. It will be 1 of those listed below.

Tip: This means you need to prepare to answer each of the questions, but you only have to prepare to answer 1 of the OR possibilities.
Example: With question 1, you could decide to prepare to answer the question about Hawaii and, if Blackboard displayed that question, you’d answer it.

2.      You are to look at the items connected by OR and you are to answer only 1 of those listed.
Caution: if you answer more than 1 of the OR items, I will grade only the first 1.

 

3.      Notice the words in the question. Example: Some of the questions use the phrase “as it reveals the Gilded Age.” You are not just summarizing some stuff from the book, but trying to show what this time period is like.

 

Notice the Words in Each Question

Notice words in the question such as:

·         in the Gilded Age

Caution: That means you are to talk about the whole period from about 1877 to about 1900.

5 Possible Questions

Blackboard will display 1 of these questions. You must answer the question Blackboard displayed. You must answer only 1 of the 2 or 3 or 4 OR possibilities with each question.

1.      Examine 1 (ONE) of these examples of American imperialism in the Gilded Age: Cuba OR Hawaii OR the Philippines.

2.      Examine 1 (ONE) of these attempts to solve problems in the Gilded Age: the Pendleton Act OR the Populist Party OR the Knights of Labor

3.      Examine 1 (ONE) of these industrial topics as it reveals the Gilded Age: horizontal integration OR vertical integration OR trusts

4.      Discuss 1 (ONE) of these labor events as it reveals the Gilded Age: Pullman Strike OR Homestead Strike OR the Haymarket Riot (also called the Haymarket Affair and the Haymarket Massacre)

5.      Discuss major issues in the Gilded Age that reveal what happens to 1 (ONE) of these groups: black voters in the South OR homesteaders on the Great Plains OR Native Americans OR farmers in the crop-lien system in the South

Requirements for Following the 5 Good Habits for Evidence

You must follow all of the 5 Good Habits for Evidence in Evidence Matters. One half of your grade is for that. See the Rubric in Evidence Requirements.

 

Requirements for Length and Language in Your Written Answer

Length

330 words maximum – Much less is much better.

This is not like buying meat at the store: I don’t grade by the pound but for your reading and planning.

Format

Please if you write something in Word to copy and paste in, do not use italic or fancy fonts or anything but plain text. You radically increase my work and I have yet to see any of that fancy stuff make a better grade.

Punctuation if you quote

I don’t recommend quoting, but, if you do, make sure it is accurate. If you quote, keep it simple by using this Brain Trick (goes to the bottom of this webpage).

General clarity –what you do before you click on the test

Before the test, read and plan carefully, being sure to record the exact page numbers as you work.

Click here for a cheap method to read and plan carefully so you can write usefully.

 

Don’t write your answers ahead. Instead use your time to get good plans for the question Blackboard display for you.

General clarity –what you do before you click Submit

Check you page numbers against your 5Ws chart (the method in the link above).

Read aloud the words in your submission so you can correct

 

Requirements for Citation for Your Written Answer to the Question

Given the questions you will probably only be using the textbook.

What You Want to Cite

Example of How You Would Cite

If the fact is from the textbook, the Essentials edition

If your fact is from page 30 of the textbook, then immediately after your fact you’d write: (Essentials, p. 30)

 

If you want to know why we use a shortened citation form, see Discussion Topic 1-2.

 

Brain Trick for Quoting and Avoiding Quotation Humiliation

Click here for additional tips.

The rules for showing what you have taken out (…) of the author’s words or put in ([ ]) are complex and for most of us they are not worth learning.

 

This brain trick lets you be accurate but avoid learning those rules:

  1. Choose 3 to 6 words to quote and change nothing (not an ing or an ed, not a comma, nothing) between the first and the last word.

  2. Put a before the first word and a after the last word.

  3. Place those words with the “ ”within your sentence.

 

  1. If something sounds awkward about your sentences, then change your own words—the only words you have a right to change.

 

  1. Look at all of the words in the source. Be sure the meaning of the source remains in your quotation.