History Basics

Note Taking Strategies:

• “Cornell” notes: A reflective process

1/3rd page 2/3rd page

WHERE YOU TAKE NOTES

WHERE YOU REVIEW AND REFLECT ON

NOTES

Summary of notes

Outline Notes

(My personal fave)

Doodle Notes!

If you’re creative like that!

The most IMPORTANT thing about your notes???

That you can read them easily(Avoid complete sentences)

That they make sense to YOU

LoL, but no…

Note Taking Strategies:• In this column, you will…Note important vocab, write high-level questions, make connections to other things you’ve learned

1/3rd page 2/3rd page

WHERE YOU REVIEW AND REFLECT ON

NOTES

Summary of notes

SPICE Themes• The five AP World History themes serve as unifying

threads through which students can examine broader themes throughout each period. Themes also help to facilitate comparisons and aid students in understanding information as components of a broader framework.

Students can use the acronym - SPICE - to help them remember the five areas of analysis: Social; Political; Interactions between humans and the environment; Cultural; Economic.

Theme 1: Social

• Development and transformation of social structures• Gender roles, family and kinship, race/ethnicity, social classes• Relationships among human beings. All human societies

develop ways of grouping their members, as well as norms that govern interactions between individuals and social groups

• Social stratification based on kinship systems, ethnic associations, and hierarchies of gender , race, wealth, and class

• World History requires analysis of the processes through which social categories, roles and practices were created, maintained and transformed

Theme 2: Political• State-building, expansion and conflict• Political structures, forms of governance, Empires,

Nations/nationalism, Revolts/revolutions• Refers to the processes by which hierarchical systems of rule

have been constructed and maintained and to the conflicts generated through those processes

• Theme encourages the comparative study of different state forms (kingdoms, empires, nation-states) across time and space, and the interaction among them

Theme 3: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment

• Demography, disease, migration, patterns of settlement, technology

• Fundamental theme for world history• Environment shaped human societies, but, increasingly,

human societies also affected the environment• During prehistory, humans interacted with the

environment as hunters, fishers, and foragers• As the Neolithic revolution began, humans exploited their environments either as farmers of pastoralists

• Environmental factors such as rainfall patterns, climate and vegetation shaped the methods and exploitation used in different regions

Theme 3: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment (cont)

• Exploitation of the environment intensified as populations grew

• As people flocked into cities or established trade networks, new diseases emerged and spread

• In recent centuries, human effects on the environment – and the ability to master and exploit it – increased with the development of more sophisticated technologies, the exploitation of new energy sources and a rapid increase in human population

Theme 4: Cultural• Cultural Development and interaction of cultures• Religions, belief systems, philosophies, ideologies,

science/technology, arts and architecture• Explores the origins, uses, dissemination, and adaptation of

ideas, beliefs, and knowledge within and between societies• When people of different societies interact, the often share

components of the cultures, deliberately or not. The process of adopting or adapting new belief and knowledge systems are complex and often lead to historically novel cultural blends

Theme 5: Economic• Creation, expansions and interactions of economic systems• Agriculture, Pastoral production, Trade and commerce, Labor

systems, Industrialization, Capitalism/Socialism • Surveys the diverse patterns and systems that human

societies have developed as they exploit their environments to produce, distribute, and consume desired goods and services across time and space

Theme 5: Economic (cont)• It stresses major transitions in human economic activity• The development of various labor systems associated with

these economic systems and the ideologies, values, and institutions (such as capitalism and socialism) that sustained them.

• Calls attention to patterns of trade and commerce between various societies, with particular attention to the relationship between regional and global networks of communication and exchange, and their effects on economic growth and decline

What is History?

• “History is the lie commonly agreed upon” – Voltaire

• “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” – George Orwell

• How do we view history?

What is History?

• History is as much about questions as it is about answers

The Past vs. History• Though not all historians would agree with

this distinction, it is useful for our sake to acknowledge the difference between the past and history

The Past

• Everything that happened in the past -- the events, the people who lived, the thoughts they had

History

• History is what is “left” of the past and its interpretations

• It exists in:– Artifacts– Written accounts (history books/articles)– Memory– The ‘left-overs’ of the past

LITERARY NON-LITERARY

Evidence A historian’s best friend!

ARTIFACTS• Pottery• Architecture• Bodies/Mummies• Ruins

DOCUMENTS• Literature• Journals/Letters• Newspapers• Gov. Records

Historiography

• Historiography is the writing of history.

• It is what historians do.• Historians vary widely in

what they feel is significant and important about the past.

Job #1 – Finding the Facts

• What are facts?• Which facts are

important?• Are facts enough to

explain the past?

The historian investigates facts and selects relevant ones.

Job #2 – Identifying Bias

• Bias is the slant one puts on things. (All about PERSPECTIVE)– It can be deliberate or unintentional.– All writing contains bias.

• Identify it by looking at who is speaking and what kind of language they are using

• Every age contains its own biases.

Bias

• Because historians have culture, they are going to be biased no matter what

• The times we live in “write” history: our experiences, media, values, norms, all shape and, to some extent, determine our interpretations

Job #3 – Throwing out the garbage, Identifying Important and Answerable Questions.

• Sources must be selected critically.– Primary and secondary sources must be consulted.

• Value judgments are made.• Conclusions must be based on the weight of

evidence.• Variations in interpretations should be understood

and accepted.

Types of Sources

• Primary Sources were produced at the time an event occurred and are directly connected to the events. Examples are:– Photographs– Memos– Dispatches– Cartoons– Newspaper articles– Art works– Literary works

Grigori Rasputin

Types of Sources• Secondary sources are

sources produced after the fact – looking back on the events with the benefit of hindsight. They offer an analysis or restatement of primary source material. Examples include:– Textbooks.– Books about art or literature– Movies– Documentaries

Job #4 – Presenting an Account

• Historians share their work and present it for criticism.

• Books and essays are the chief written forms.

• Accounts are narrative or analytical.

Revisionist History

• A “reinterpretation” of history• A change from the “traditional” way of viewing

historical events

Example: THE DARK AGESThe Middle Ages were often called the “Dark Ages” because it was believed that people/societies lacked culture, education, artistic expression, etc. This belief is being challenged by many historians today! So that’s why we call it the Middle Ages instead

Historical Theories

• Historical theories are a way of viewing history – certain patterns or “rules” that have shaped the way history unfolded lead historians to form these theories or conclusions

Example: ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISMEnvironmental Determinism is the idea that environment/geography (physical landforms, climate, location) has influenced the way societies developed economically and culturally, with the most successful societies being located in temperate climates

Be aware…

• History is biased• History is incomplete (selectivity)• History is constantly being reinterpreted

(Revisionist History)