The thesis must address at least two factors with some degree of specificity (beyond general categories) that relate to the prompt. The thesis must suggest a minimal level of analysis drawn from the context of the documents.
2. Discusses a majority of the documents individually and specifically.
The student must use more than half of the documents — even if used incorrectly — by reference to anything in the box. To get credit for this point, documents cannot be referenced collectively (e.g., “Documents 2, 3 and 6 suggest”) unless the student goes on to discuss them individually.
3. Demonstrates understanding of the basic meaning of a majority of the documents (may misinterpret no more than one).
The student must use a majority of the documents correctly and may not significantly misinterpret more than one document. A major misinterpretation is an incorrect analysis or one that leads to an inaccurate grouping or a false conclusion. The student cannot earn this point if credit was not awarded for point 2 (discusses a majority of the documents).
4. Supports the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents.
The student must use a majority of his documents correctly, and the documents used in the body Evaluating the reliability of the source:
“The resolution from the German Social Democratic Party Congress is probably a biased source since as socialists they would naturally condemn a capitalist agenda (doc. 9).”
“Merlin is a governor general of a colony so his pro-imperialist point of view is not surprising since his job was dependent upon the success of French imperialism.”
Recognizing that different kinds of documents serve different purposes:
“Since Benjamin Disraeli was delivering a speech to the House of Commons, he probably chose his words carefully to persuade members to support his political agenda (doc. 2).”
“Lord Rosebery was writing a letter to a newspaper, which was clearly a public forum; therefore, this document could