how to write a thesis for leq

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How to Approach the AP U.S. History Long Essay Question

The second part of Section II of the AP US History exam contains three long essay questions—you must respond to one. The long essay question assesses your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytical manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would. This process is called historiography—the skills and strategies historians use to analyze and interpret historical evidence to reach a conclusion. Thus, when writing an effective essay, you must be able to write a strong, clearly developed thesis and supply a substantial amount of relevant evidence to support your thesis and develop a complex argument.

The College Board’s characteristics of a high-scoring long essay question response are listed below. Note that the requirements are very similar to those of the DBQ ; the primary difference is that any requirements related to use of the documents are removed from the scoring requirements for the long essay question.

• Thesis: Make a thesis or claim that responds to the prompt. The thesis or claim must be historically defensible and establish a line of reasoning.
• Context: Provide context relevant to the prompt by describing a broader historical development or process.
• Evidence: Use specific and relevant examples as evidence to support an argument in response to the prompt.
• Historical Skill: Use a historical reasoning skill (causation, comparison, or continuity and change) to develop an argument in response to the prompt.
• Complex Understanding: Demonstrate a complex understanding of an argument that responds to the prompt by using evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify the argument.

AP U.S. History Long Essay Strategy

Consider the following special strategies for the long essay question. Scoring requirements are highlighted in bold.

Step 1: Analyze the Prompt

• Each long essay question will ask you to “evaluate the extent” of some factor in American history. Since you are evaluating, you will need to develop an argument that addresses the prompt. Make sure to read all three prompts carefully. Think of the evidence you could use and the argument you could develop in response to each one, then choose the question you feel most confident about.
• Begin crafting your thesis statement. You must have a thesis that makes a claim and introduces the reasoning of your argument. It is not enough to merely restate the question as your thesis; you must take a position. Don’t be afraid of making a strong claim; just be sure you can provide relevant evidence to support your assertion. Your thesis may also outline the categories of analysis, or the major points, you will use in your essay.
• Part of developing your thesis should be considering how your essay’s argument will demonstrate a complex understanding, perhaps by analyzing multiple variables, by considering both changes and continuities, or by making an insightful connection to another time period.

Step 2: Plan Your Response

• Making a careful plan can help you make sure you address all the scoring requirements.
• Paraphrase your thesis statement. Knowing your claim will make it easier for you to plan an effective argument in your essay. In light of the documents, you must make a claim and/or demonstrate a line of reasoning that responds to the prompt. Avoid statements that are vague or general (“The Vietnam War was very significant”) and make a claim that responds to the prompt, uses both the documents and your historical knowledge, and sets up the rest of your essay (“The Vietnam War impacted Americans’ perceptions of the U.S. role in international politics, the power of the federal government, and the status of young people, influencing legal and social changes in American society”).
• Be sure your thesis or overall plan incorporates a complex understanding . You need to demonstrate that you have more than just a basic understanding of the content, so your thesis or overall essay should address complexity in the historical development—perhaps by including multiple variables, by considering both causes and effects, or by making an insightful connection to another time period. See below for a complete list of ways to demonstrate complex understanding.
• Make a note about how you will provide context for the topic of the prompt. This may fit well in the introduction or first body paragraph.
• List the documents you will use as evidence —remember that you must use six or seven to earn the maximum number of points for using the documents.
• Consider whether the paragraph is a good place to provide additional evidence —you must include one additional historical example.
• Think about when it would be beneficial to explain sourcing , or how a document’s context or situation is relevant to the argument—you must do so for three documents.
• Finally, review your plan and check off each requirement in your test booklet to ensure you addressed all six.

Step 3: Action! Write Your Response

• Nothing is more important in the first paragraph than the clear statement of an analytical thesis. The reader is most interested in seeing a strong thesis as soon as possible.
• Your thesis can be more than just one sentence. With the compound questions often asked by the DBQ, two sentences might be needed to complete the idea.
• Refer to the authors of the documents, not just the document numbers.
• A good idea is to write a concluding paragraph that might extend your original thesis. Think of a way to restate your thesis, adding information from your analysis of the documents.

Step 4: Proofread

• Skim for any glaring errors and, if you have time, check again to make sure your response meets each of the DBQ requirements.

AP Expert Note

Be prepared to demonstrate complex understanding The AP exam asks you to analyze sources and develop arguments in a sophisticated way. Demonstrating your complex understanding of the topic at hand is crucial to your success, and here are some ways you can do so.

• Analyze multiple variables
• Employ a complex historical reasoning skill by explaining both similarities and differences, both continuity and change, both causes and effects, or multiple causes
• Explain relevant connections to other regions or other time periods
• Corroborate perspectives across multiple course themes (such as environment, cultural developments, governance, economic systems, social organization, and technology)
• Qualify an argument using other evidence or views

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AP World History: Modern

How to Write the AP World LEQ

4 min read • Last Updated on July 11, 2024

Eric Beckman

Writing the AP World LEQ

⚡  Watch: AP World History -   🎥  Writing the LEQ

Choosing which long-essay question to write will be one of the last major decisions that students make for AP history this year. If a student understands all of the prompts, they should choose the topic for which they can think of the most  evidence. The reason for focusing on evidence first is simple: Three is greater than two.

As I mentioned on in my May 2nd stream "Breaking Down the LEQ (replay on 🎥  the World History page ) quality paragraph based on evidence can net three points on the LEQ, which will certainly be near and probably be above the average score. A quality introduction, whether in one paragraph or two, can earn two points, one for thesis and one for context. Students should go for all five of these points if time allows, of course. But, I recommend drafting the body paragraph first, even though students will probably start their essay with a thesis and context, if they have time.

Looking at least year’s LEQ (on the last page of  the Free-Response Questions ), differences in evidence points accounted for more than half of the difference in the average scores of questions two (0.9/1.8). Three (1.7/3.0) and four (1.3/2.4). Generating the most evidence possible is a key to maximizing students' LEQ scores. Not only will using two pieces effectively set up a base score of 2-3 on the LEQ, but using more evidence will help a student with contextualization and maybe even complexity. 

The evidence point is usually the easiest to earn for the LEQ, and prepared students can double that point by explaining how their evidence supports an argument related to the prompt. Consider LEQ #2 from last year’s AP World History exam:

⚡  Watch: AP World History - 🎥  Practice on LEQ: Classical Era and  Breaking the Prompt Down

“In the period c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE, different factors led to the emergence and spread of new religions and belief systems, including Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism”

Develop an argument that evaluates how such factors led to the emergence or spread of one or more religions in this time period”

Here, an argument related to the prompt will involve a religion or religions and/or a factor related to them. A student could start by thinking about how religions emerged and spread, and then get specific. In order to function as evidence, facts need to be specific and relevant. For instance, with this question a student might start by identifying a religion and then considering how it emerged or spread. For instance, thinking about Confucianism, a student might remember that it began in China. “China” would not count as evidence, but something more specific, such as the Warring States Period or the Han Dynasty, would. Simply writing “The Han Dynasty in China supported Confucianism” is specific and accurate enough to count as one of the two required pieces of evidence. Next, the student would determine how or why the Han Dynasty did this, perhaps by explaining that Confucianism was an element of cultural unity supported by Han Emperors.

The student would then generate additional examples from the same religion or another. For example, they identify Christianity’s emergence and spread in the Roman Empire. Naming the Roman Empire is probably not specific enough, though it might count as context, but something specific from the Empire, such as Constantine, the Edict of Milan, or Christian martyrs would work. The student could combine these examples and their explanations into one paragraph. If the second piece of evidence is one another factor, such as trade routes, then the student has the basis for two smaller paragraphs.

Such a paragraph or paragraphs would yield a third point if the student demonstrate historical reasoning. This has two parts: showing historical thinking (causation, comparison, or analysis of continuity or change) and providing a reason. With question #2 above this requires  explaining how something, such as empires, caused religions to emerge or spread. Writing “Empires caused religions to spread” is not enough, but “Religions spread within imperial societies, because some empires encouraged people to practice a particular religion in order to unite their society” would earn the point. Christianity in late Imperial Rome and Confucianism in Han would be evidence in support of this argument.

Once a student has drafted examples to be used as evidence and has an idea of how to demonstrate historical reasoning, they can either write it up or, if time allows, first write a thesis and contextualization. For more on thesis and contextualization see Kris Clancy’s excellent session (watch the replay on the   🎥  Skills Page ). Although they might write a thesis at the top of the essay, students can benefit by designing their response from the inside out: evidence first. Moreover, students who are almost out of time after writing their DBQ should consider writing one good body paragraph with evidence and reasoning, and thus earn three valuable points.

⚡  Watch: AP World History -  🎥  Sharpening Your LEQ Skills ,  LEQ Strategies , and  More LEQ Practice

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