Thesis Writing - The Comparative Essay Page 2

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A strong analytical thesis will serve as a “road map” for the remainder of your
essay and show the reader that you are on target with answering the question.
The Prompt
Each AP World History Essay exam will have a prompt, or question, that you will
write on. An example of a prompt would be this:
Compare the economic, social, and political characteristics of ancient
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt.
The first thing to remember is that when it says “compare,” what the prompt really
means is for you to both “compare” and “contrast.” AP exam readers will expect
you to know this! You will need to note both similarities and differences.
The Thesis
The first sentence of your thesis should be a restatement of the prompt.
Before you begin writing, you should first underline important information in the
prompt. In the sample above, you would want to underline the words social,
political, economic, ancient, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. You will then use those
words to create the first sentence of your thesis. Here is how that might look:
“Two ancient civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt, created complex societies
with distinct social, political, and economic characteristics.”
The second sentence of your thesis should address both a similarity and a
difference. You will simply list them in the thesis. Do not analyze them. Save
them for analysis later in your paper. Here is how your second sentence might
look:
“One similarity is that both civilizations developed strong economies based on
trade with other cultures. One difference is that the Mesopotamians traded with
people across the Indian Ocean in South Asia, while the Egyptians traded with
their neighbors to the south in Nubia.”
The third and final sentence of your thesis should be the transition into
your essay. It is here that you will help your reader get from your introduction
into the bulk of what you have to say. Here is how your third sentence might
look:
““The historical evidence would indicate that the two civilizations of Mesopotamia
and Egypt had some subtle differences, but were, for the most part, nearly
identical.”

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