chocolate-chip chooky Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 @Farrar Maybe you can help here, please? 🌻 My daughter (an AL 12yr old) has done plenty of information report style essays. I'm confident she's proficient in things like finding suitable sources, paraphrasing, referencing, writing introductions and conclusions, transitioning between paragraphs, academic vocab etc. She's ready for more - either persuasive or comparative or ... something? It's time for her to consider her stance, her thesis. At the moment she's studying Ancient China and has been researching things like The Great Wall, The Terracotta Army, Buddhism, The Silk Road, Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, Confucius etc etc. Can you help me brainstorm a suitable topic for a persuasive or comparative essay that is based on Ancient China studies? I don't know why I'm finding this so hard. I think it's because I want to stretch her, but still present her with a task that is achievable with effort. Any ideas would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Off the top of my head... Was the Great Wall an effective means of security in ancient China? What were the primary ways that women gained influence in ancient China? Compare and contrast the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism in ancient China. Compare and contrast two dynasties (you could make this more specific - compare and contrast the attitudes toward the rest of the world or toward the arts or whatever) "Ancient China" comprises an incredibly long stretch of history with multiple dynasties ruling over different geographic areas. What core practices or beliefs made each of these dynasties "Chinese"? In general, my opinion is that before kids can write history (or any academic area) thesis-based essays, they should do a few things first... 1. Be proficient at summarizing (I think there are different paths to be able to do this). 2. Know how to write a thesis paper in general - and it's easiest to start with something much easier than an academic topic, like arguing for a political or social argument that they believe in or comparing two movies or books they already know a great deal about. 3. Try answering those sorts of questions in short answer form. Also, I don't know what she read already... it's best to do a question like this first with material that's very contained. Like, if she just read a basic history text, it probably has enough information for that first question - you can see who invaded when and what invasions were curtailed and which dynasties invested in building up the Wall. And from there you can build a three point argument. Others might need more research. That's too much for a first paper like this. It's one reason that DBQ's work well to teach this sort of skill (speaking of which, Columbia has some great ancient China docs and DBQ's that build these skills) - because they're very contained. I hope that's helpful! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Farrar, you're a gem. Thank you! Summarising is exactly what she's been working on recently, so I'm glad we've been on the right track. My daughter's learning style isn't exactly linear. She kind of works best when she jumps straight in the deep end and learns as she goes.  I'll ask her for her preference regarding if she'd like to try a gentler thesis paper first. My guess is that she'll prefer to go straight into the history one. The resources she's using at the moment include the comics you and others suggested in a previous thread (thank you 🌻), plus library books that are a mix of general overview-ish Ancient China, and books that are more specific, such as a whole book just about The Great Wall. Can you please clarify what DBQ means? We had started learning about the features and format of persuasive essays, but maybe I should look for more general 'thesis' resources first. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 DBQ = document based questions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 (edited) Yes, DBQ's are Document Based Questions. Usually primary sources. Used heavily in schools and for AP exams. This is the excellent China resource ones - more short answer than essay questions: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm I'd say let her try it if she wants to - though adding that I don't think this is a skill most 12 yos need to necessarily get to - I don't think writing thesis papers about academic topics is something most kids are ready for quite yet, though obviously YMMV. Very personal topics are easier to write about for one of my kids - academic ones are way easier for my other. Edited January 8, 2019 by Farrar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 So, this is a little political, but I like the idea of looking at the past and making connections for today.   These are sort of a lot of questions for an essay...but could be used to pre-write with a focus on one of them. "The ancient Chinese built The Great Wall for protection.  Today, in America, some including our president want to make a wall along our borders.   How are the reasons for building a wall today similar or different than the reasons the Ancient Chinese built the Great Wall? What were the costs to the people of China and do you think they were worth it?  Do you think border walls are a good idea today?"  2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 22 hours ago, Farrar said: Yes, DBQ's are Document Based Questions. Usually primary sources. Used heavily in schools and for AP exams. This is the excellent China resource ones - more short answer than essay questions: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm I'd say let her try it if she wants to - though adding that I don't think this is a skill most 12 yos need to necessarily get to - I don't think writing thesis papers about academic topics is something most kids are ready for quite yet, though obviously YMMV. Very personal topics are easier to write about for one of my kids - academic ones are way easier for my other. Thank you! What a fabulous resource. This is much appreciated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 2 hours ago, goldenecho said: So, this is a little political, but I like the idea of looking at the past and making connections for today.   These are sort of a lot of questions for an essay...but could be used to pre-write with a focus on one of them. "The ancient Chinese built The Great Wall for protection.  Today, in America, some including our president want to make a wall along our borders.   How are the reasons for building a wall today similar or different than the reasons the Ancient Chinese built the Great Wall? What were the costs to the people of China and do you think they were worth it?  Do you think border walls are a good idea today?"  That would be such an interesting topic. I'm not sure how we'd source info regarding the proposed US/Mexico wall...the only things I've seen have been in the media. I'll have to have a bit of a dig and see if I can find some reputable sources. Thanks for the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said: That would be such an interesting topic. I'm not sure how we'd source info regarding the proposed US/Mexico wall...the only things I've seen have been in the media. I'll have to have a bit of a dig and see if I can find some reputable sources. Thanks for the idea.  I use this when wading through media (it's not perfect but I do like their methodology for placing these sources)...if I find something with a source that leans strongly one way or another I try to balance it by reading a source that leans in the other direction.  https://www.adfontesmedia.com/ Another thing you can do is try to work back from "mainstream media" to the reports and documents that they source, which are sometimes linked in articles.      1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) So, for me, a topic like that is great... but not one that I would personally assign for a formal essay, at least not to a student just starting out. I think it's perfect for a sort of nebulous response paper though. There was a thread about these on the high school or the college board I think - about how students have to do a lot more of them in humanities and social science classes in college now - just quick "my impressions and thoughts about this" type papers. ETA: And the reason it would be too much is that it's already hard to bring together a bunch of new history. Adding in current events is making it exponentially harder to focus on the writing and structure of a paper. I have a critique of that media chart, but generally... yeah, it's not terrible. And you have to trust "the media" - pick a few sources you trust and use them as your sources. I mean, a good newspaper is a good source for students wanting to learn about an issue. Edited January 9, 2019 by Farrar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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