Modern World History 2nd Quarter Project: A Document Based Essay
What was the most important consequence of the Printing Press?
For your quarter project you will work independently to analyze a series of documents and write a five
paragraph essay that answers the question: What was the most important consequence of the Printing
Press?
This project will help you develop your document analysis skills and your writing skills. There are four
steps in this project; each one is meant to help guide you in the document analysis and writing process.
Each step will also be graded for both completion and accuracy.
Step 1:
You will read and annotate (underline, highlight, and make notes on) your set of documents as you
answer a series of Document Comprehension Questions that check your understanding of the
information in each document. These questions, along with the rest of this project, are an individual
assignment, and therefore should be completed independently.
Step 2:
You will analyze the documents more deeply by categorizing them according to different themes and
pulling out the main idea(s) of each document.
Step 3:
You will create an outline for your essay that includes the framework of your argument and the main
points you will use to support it. You will show your ability to apply the information found in the
documents to the project question. Good effort on this step will make writing your final essay much
easier!
Step 4:
You will put all the pieces together and write a five (5) paragraph essay that includes an introduction,
three (3) body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your body paragraphs will contain references to a variety
of the documents you studied for this project as well as additional information learned during Unit 3.
More information about the format and expectations for the paper will be provided as the project
progresses.
Important Dates:
December 3: Document Comprehension Questions Due (30 points)
December 11: Document Analysis Sheets Due (30 points)
December 19: Essay Outline Due (40 points)
January 8: Final Essay Due in class and to turnitin.com (100 points)
After the Document Comprehension and Analysis Sheets are due, there will be several opportunities to
work on the essay outline and paper in class. However, it is expected that students will use time
outside of class to finish this project successfully. I strongly suggest students use the time provided in
Generals Period to work on this project and to seek additional help if needed.