AP Historical

Thinking Skills
Effective Fall 2015
 I. Historical Thinking Skills

I. Historical Thinking Skills

The AP history courses seek to apprentice students to the practice of history by
explicitly stressing the development of historical thinking skills while learning
historical content. Students best develop historical thinking skills by investigating
the past in ways that reflect the discipline of history, most particularly through the
exploration and interpretation of a rich array of primary sources and secondary texts
and through the regular development of historical argumentation in writing.

This section presents the historical thinking skills that students should develop
in all AP history courses. The nine historical thinking skills are grouped into four
categories: Analyzing Sources and Evidence, Making Historical Connections,
Chronological Reasoning, and Creating and Supporting a Historical Argument.
The first table describes how each skill demonstrates historical thinking from
the perspective of a history practitioner. The second table lists the proficiency
expectations for each of the nine historical thinking skills. Every AP Exam question
will assess one or more of the skill-based proficiency expectations as well as one
or more of the thematic learning objectives.

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 Historical Thinking Skill Categories

Analyzing Historical Making Historical Chronological Creating and Supporting

Sources and Evidence Connections Reasoning a Historical Argument
Primary Sources Secondary Sources

Historical Thinking Skill Descriptions

Analyzing Interpretation Comparison Causation Argumentation

Evidence: Content Historical thinking Historical thinking involves Historical thinking involves Historical thinking
and Sourcing involves the ability the ability to identify, the ability to identify, involves the ability to
Historical thinking to describe, analyze, compare, and evaluate analyze, and evaluate create an argument and
involves the ability and evaluate multiple perspectives on the relationships among support it using relevant
to describe, select, the different a given historical event in historical causes and historical evidence.
and evaluate ways historians order to draw conclusions effects, distinguishing
relevant evidence interpret the past. about that event. between those that are Creating a historical
about the past This includes long term and proximate. argument includes defining
from diverse understanding It also involves the ability Historical thinking also and framing a question
sources (including the various types to describe, compare, and involves the ability to about the past and then
written documents, of questions evaluate multiple historical distinguish between formulating a claim or
works of art, historians ask, as developments within causation and correlation, argument about that
archaeological well as considering one society, one or more and an awareness of question, often in the form
artifacts, oral how the particular developments across or contingency, the way that of a thesis. A persuasive
traditions, and circumstances between different societies, historical events result historical argument requires
other primary and contexts in and in various chronological from a complex variety of a precise and defensible
sources) and draw which individual and geographical contexts. factors that come together thesis or claim, supported
conclusions about historians work and in unpredictable ways and by rigorous analysis of
Contextualization relevant and diverse
their relevance write shape their often have unanticipated
Historical thinking involves historical evidence. The
to different interpretations of consequences.
the ability to connect argument and evidence
historical issues. past events and
historical events and Patterns of Continuity used should be framed
historical evidence.
A historical analysis processes to specific and Change over Time around the application of a
of sources focuses circumstances of time Historical thinking involves specific historical thinking
on the interplay and place as well as the ability to recognize, skill (e.g., comparison,
between the content broader regional, national, analyze, and evaluate the causation, patterns of
of a source and or global processes. dynamics of historical continuity and change over
the authorship, continuity and change time, or periodization).
Synthesis
point of view, over periods of time of
purpose, audience, Historical thinking involves Furthermore, historical
varying length, as well as thinking involves the
and format or the ability to develop
the ability to relate these ability to examine multiple
medium of that understanding of the past
patterns to larger historical pieces of evidence in
source, assessing by making meaningful
processes or themes. concert with each other,
the usefulness, and persuasive historical
reliability, and and/or cross-disciplinary Periodization noting contradictions,
limitations of the connections between corroborations, and other
Historical thinking relationships among
source as historical a given historical issue involves the ability to
evidence. and other historical sources to develop and
describe, analyze, and support an argument.
contexts, periods, evaluate different ways
themes, or disciplines. that historians divide
history into discrete
and definable periods.
Historians construct and
debate different, sometimes
competing models of
periodization; the choice of
specific turning points or
starting and ending dates
might accord a higher value
to one narrative, region,
or group than to another.

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 Historical Thinking Skill Proficiency Expectations
Analyzing Historical Making Historical
Sources and Evidence Connections
Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Proficient students should be able to..
Analyzing Interpretation Comparison
Evidence: Content B1Analyze a C1Compare diverse
and Sourcing historians argument, perspectives represented
A1Explain explain how the in primary and secondary
the relevance argument has sources in order to draw
of the authors been supported conclusions about one or
point of view, through the more historical events.
authors purpose, analysis of relevant
audience, format historical evidence, C2Compare different
or medium, and/or and evaluate historical individuals,
historical context the arguments events, developments, and/
as well as the effectiveness. or processes, analyzing
interaction among both similarities and
these features, B2Analyze differences in order to draw
to demonstrate diverse historical historically valid conclusions.
understanding of interpretations. Comparisons can be made
across different time periods,
the significance of
a primary source. across different geographical
locations, and between
A2Evaluate different historical events
the usefulness, or developments within
reliability, and/ the same time period and/
or limitations of a or geographical location.
primary source in
Contextualization
answering particular
C3Situate historical events,
historical questions.
developments, or processes
within the broader regional,
national, or global context in
which they occurred in order
to draw conclusions about
their relative significance.
Synthesis
C4Make connections
between a given
historical issue and
related developments
in a different historical
context, geographical
area, period, or era,
including the present.
C5Make connections
between different course
themes and/or approaches
to history (such as political,
economic, social, cultural,
or intellectual) for a
given historical issue.
C6Use insights from
a different discipline or
field of inquiry (such as
economics, government,
and politics, art history,
anthropology) to better
understand a given historical
issue. (Note: For European
and World History only).
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Chronological
Reasoning
Causation
D1Explain long and /or
short-term causes and/or
effects of an historical event,
development, or process.
D2Evaluate the relative
significance of different
causes and/or effects
on historical events or
processes, distinguishing
between causation
and correlation and
showing an awareness of
historical contingency.
Patterns of Continuity
and Change Over Time
D3Identify patterns
of continuity and
change over time and
explain the significance
of such patterns.
D4Explain how
patterns of continuity
and change over time
relate to larger historical
processes or themes.
Periodization
D5Explain ways historical
events and processes can
be organized into discrete,
different, and definable
historical periods
D6Evaluate whether a
particular event or date
could or could not be a
turning point between
different, definable historical
periods, when considered
in terms of particular
historical evidence.
D7Analyze different
and/or competing models
of periodization.
Creating and Supporting
a Historical Argument
Argumentation
E1Articulate a defensible
claim about the past in
the form of a clear and
compelling thesis that
evaluates the relative
importance of multiple
factors and recognizes
disparate, diverse, or
contradictory evidence
or perspectives.
E2Develop and support
a historical argument,
including in a written essay,
through a close analysis
of relevant and diverse
historical evidence, framing
the argument and evidence
around the application of a
specific historical thinking
skill (e.g., comparison,
causation, patterns of
continuity and change over
time, or periodization).
E3Evaluate evidence to
explain its relevance to a
claim or thesis, providing
clear and consistent links
between the evidence
and the argument.
E4Relate diverse historical
evidence in a cohesive way
to illustrate contradiction,
corroboration, qualification,
and other types of
historical relationships in
developing an argument.