EVALUATION
ASSESSMENT
Essay writing
Higher essay hones your ability at
EVALUATING AND ASSESSING
historical evidence
2 types of essay question
1. Isolated factor question (Evaluation)
e.g. To what extent was Racism the main reason for
changing attitudes towards immigration in the USA
during the 1920’s?
In this question you have to compare the factors in
relation to the question and give evidence to support
your statements in order to come to a balanced
conclusion.
Sometimes they start with a quote but it is the same
question:
‘Simply part of the post-war desire to isolate America
from the outside world.’ How far does this explain
changing attitudes towards immigration in the USA
during the 1920’s?
2. Making a judgement (Assessment)
e.g. How effective were the increased powers of
the federal government, as adopted in the New
Deal, in solving the social and economic
problems of the 1930s?
In this question you have to show you
understand the topic and present evidence on
both sides and come to a balanced conclusion.
How do I tell the difference?
• Unfortunately it is not as simples
as looking at the sentence stem:
– To what extent, How effective etc
You need to understand the question
Looking at the following questions in
your groups, can you tell the
difference?
To what extent was racism the main reason for
changing attitudes towards immigration in the
1920s?
• Intro: Context of 1920s – used the ‘melting pot’,
‘American Dream’ phrase to describe the high influx of
immigrants in two waves. Describes the shift from
‘open door’ to regulation. Identifies other factors than
Racism - establishes a line of argument.
• Main body: Social fears, Political fears, Isolationism
after WWI, Economic fears, Anti-Immigration attitudes
before 1920s already in existence.
• Conclusion: Evaluate if racism was the main reason or
whether any of the other factors are more of a main
reason. Answer the question!
General class feedback:
• Most wrote a better introduction than
conclusion
• Most got their marks mainly from KU
• Few managed to argue effectively
• Structure was very effective in some essays
but clumsy and muddled in others.
How can we improve the introduction?
In the 1920s America was a ‘melting pot’: a multi-ethnic and multinational society due to the high influx of immigrants from around the
world in the 19th and 20th century who sought the ‘American Dream’.
America adopted an ‘Open Door Policy’ which allowed around
35million immigrants between 1850 and 1914 to escape religious and
political persecution and find their fortune in America. By 1921 the
Emergency Immigration Law Act had been passed which used a quota
system to limit immigration from certain countries. This shift was
caused by a number of reasons. Racism was evidently a driving force in
influencing hostile attitudes to immigration but social fears of the
impact they had on society and urban crime rates, economic fears
about the pressure on the job market, political fears that Socialists
would subvert democracy and also the government policy of
isolationism all contributed to changing attitudes. In addition,
xenophobic attitudes to immigration legislation was not new in the
1920s. Racism and prejudice was already prevalent in American
society.
How can we improve our paragraphs?
• ARGUMENT – signpost it in the first sentence. Make a Point and Explain it. Give
an Example. Then link it back to your question (this is your argument)
New immigrants from Eastern Europe in the 1920’s were met with
hostility by the first wave of immigrants who had arrived from Scandanavia,
Germany and Britain in the 1820s. The ‘Old Immigrants’ were instrumental in
forming racist attitudes. They felt that the ‘New’ immigrants were inferior and that
their cultural differences threatened the traditional values of America. Historian M
A Jones, argues that the numbers was not as much a concern as the changing
nature of Immigrants. Pseudo-scientific racism was evident in popular
newspapers, such as Kenneth Roberts in the Saturday Evening Post who urged
stricter Immigration laws against Polish Jews because they were “human
parasites”. He further argued that Immigration had to be restricted as it would
create a race of inferior people like the “good for nothing mongrels of Central
America and South-Eastern Europe”. He clearly showed prejudice towards certain
races and these views were common among intellectuals and ordinary people
living in America to justify stricter Immigration laws in the 1920s. However,
Immigration laws by this point were arguably already racist in principle well before
the 1920s.
The next paragraph would then link back to the
previous paragraph as well as the question.
Stricter Immigration laws based on racist views
were evident as far back as 1884 therefore hostile
attitudes were not new in the 1920s. A more selective
approach was evident through calls to exclude certain
races of Immigrants to California and the west coast of
America and entrance obstacles were put in place. In
1884, the formation of the Immigration Restriction
League campaigned for a ‘Literacy test’ as a way of
sifting out the “lesser breeds” that they claimed were
swamping America…….
THEN LINK TO QUESTION AND ARGUMENT
However, it could be argued that changing
attitudes towards Immigration was less to do with
racism and more to do with social fears. Middle class
Americans feared that competition for jobs was
increased by the influx of largely unskilled and illiterate
immigrants of all races. This consequently affected
living conditions in the cities………
EXAMPLE THEN LINK TO QUESTION AND ARGUMENT
In conclusion, while racism was a major reason for more hostile
attitudes towards Immigration in the 1920s it was by no means the only/most
important factor. On the one hand, racist views of the WASPs were
widespread in society and explicit in newspapers and media. These views
definitely contributed to the calls and acceptance of Stricter Immigration laws
in the 1920s. However/On the other hand racism was already apparent in
society and legislation prior to the 1920s so cannot be the main reason.
Arguably social fears over job competition and rising crime in ghetto areas
where immigrants lived created fear in America that immigration
degenerated society and increased levels of urban poverty. In addition,
political fears of communism was rife after WWI and a very real fear of the
government at this time which instigated their tightening of immigration
laws. Overall, social and political factors were the main reason why attitudes
to Immigration changed in the 1920s as immigrants became associated with
all of the wrongs of society, while racism was evidently a feature of America
before period and certainly helped to justify the need for stricter immigration.
The uncertainty and mistrust of these new immigrants caused the passing of
the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921.
New essay question:
• Due 23rd September 2013
• How far can it be argued that the activities of the
Ku Klux Klan was the most important obstacle to
the achievement of Civil Rights for black people
up to 1941?
Booklet p 20-30