A.P. U.S. History

Summer Reading Assignment

Academic Year 2009 – 2010

 

            Welcome to Advanced Placement United States History for the 2009 – 2010 academic year!  APUSH, like any introductory college history course, is designed to prepare you for intermediate and advanced college courses in history, and, as such, will involve a considerable amount of reading, writing, primary and secondary source analysis, critical thinking, and original historical interpretation.  In order to get you ready for the interpretive component of the class (and to stave off any intellectual flabbiness that might set in over the summer), you will read selected chapters from Howard Zinn's  A People's History of the United States and Larry Schweikart's and Michael Allen's A Patriot's History of the United States and compose an essay comparing and contrasting their respective narratives of American colonial history.

 

            The rubric for this assignment is on the other side of this paper.   You are not required to compose a bibliography because the task is to read and analyze only the Zinn and Schweikart texts without consulting other sources.  However, you will need to use quotes from each text to support your thesis and related arguments, so, at the end of a quote, please cite the author's last name and page number in parentheses.  Finally, please consult the following web handout created by the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill for tips on composing a successful compare/contrast essay:

 

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/comparison_contrast.html

 

            If you have any questions regarding this assignment or APUSH in general, please drop by room 319 to chat before the end of the school year or contact me at lo’brien@belchertown.org over the summer. 

 

            Enjoy the summer vacation!

 

            Mr. O’Brien

 

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