Historical thinking skills · AP U.S. History, AP World History: Modern
Contextualization
Contextualization: Describing the broader historical developments before, during or after a topic that explain why it happened or mattered.
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What it means
Contextualization places a specific event or document in the larger picture. It answers the question: what was going on that makes this topic make sense? Good context is relevant to the prompt and usually comes from just before or around the time frame in question.
On AP history essays, contextualization takes a few sentences that describe a broader development and connect it to the topic. A passing phrase does not earn the point.
Example
For a prompt about the causes of the Progressive movement, context might describe the rapid industrialization, urban growth and concentration of corporate power in the late nineteenth century that reformers were responding to.
On the exam
Contextualization is worth one point on both the DBQ and the LEQ. It must be connected to the prompt, and the evidence used must differ from the evidence-beyond-the-documents point on the DBQ.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- PeriodizationDividing history into periods based on turning points, and evaluating how and why historians choose those boundaries.
- CausationExplaining the causes and effects of historical developments, including their relative importance and short- and long-term consequences.
- SourcingAnalyzing how a document's point of view, purpose, historical situation or audience shapes its content and its usefulness as evidence.