CHANGE OVER TIME ESSAY
A Quick Review
(or how your dinner table changes)
Time Frame
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40 Minutes
7-10 Minutes for planning
30 Minutes for writing
Don’t spend planning time writing your
thesis
Overview
• The change over time essay asks students to
access how larger global issues and themes
such as gender, trade, technology, and
environment have changed
• You will not only have to identify areas of
change, but also areas of continuity across
chronological periods, and will have to
compare two or more chronological periods
• You will not have a choice for the essay
• Students should be able to choose between
different geographic regions to answer the
question
Thesis
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What’s for dinner?
What’s your paper about?
Your thesis is like the menu
It tells us what is being
served (what your paper
is about)
Thesis
• Students should make sure that their
thesis mentions
– global issues
– time periods (make sure these are the
time periods that the prompt suggests)
• Remember: the middle time period is your call
– ALL OF THESE MUST BE addressed or
implied in the prompt
Body Paragraphs
• Organization is critical in this essay
• The body paragraphs are based on
chronological periods.
– There should be one paragraph for
each time period—in these paragraphs
the students should be addressing
the changes taking place in each
time period.
Body Paragraphs
• First paragraph--“set up” the time
period and discuss the themes that you
will be tracing over time
• Think of this as setting the table.
Body Paragraphs
• Think of these as showing how the
table changes as the food
is delivered
• Second paragraph—“set up” the time
period and discuss how the themes
have changed since the first
time period
• Third paragraph—“set up” the time
period and discuss how the themes
have changed since the middle
time period.
• Students must address all parts of
the prompts although not thoroughly
or evenly.
• Within the time periods, coverage does
not have to be even or thorough
• Students must simply discuss the
issue, but the coverage should
include any significant trends
and developments
• substantiate the thesis with appropriate
historical evidence
– It is not sufficient to make a statement without
use of proof and evidence
– Students should use evidence, which is clear and
detailed
– Appropriate vocabulary, persons, events, and
individual states are critical
– do not leave out significant cultures, civilizations, or
empires within the time or geographical region
• For instance in an essay on change over time in the Middle
East from 1450 – 1914, it is a significant error to forget the
Ottoman Empire
• use the historical context effectively to show
change and continuity
• address the topic across all relative
chronological periods, and show changes
and continuities
– For example, if asked to discuss change over
time between 1450 and 2000, there should be
separate paragraphs for 1450 – 1750, 1750 –
1914, and 1914 to the present
• Do not leave out a time period
– Even if you have to mention it only cursorily, don’t
skip a period
Provide a
menu
Thesis
Date
Date
Date
Changes
Set
the
Table
Conclusion
Continuity
Conclusion
• The last paragraph discusses the
continuities that appear in all three
time periods as well as offering
a conclusion to the essay
by putting the entire essay
into the global context of
the time period given.
Prompt
• Analyze the cultural and political
changes and continuities in ONE of the
following civilizations during the last
centuries of the classical era:
• Chinese, 100 CE to 600 CE
• Roman, 100 CE to 600 CE
• Indian, 300 CE to 600 CE