8/7/2019 BC Core 2 Midterm Review Sheet

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BC Core 08108: Midterm Review

So the best way to prepare for this test is to read over your class notes, and look at the maps and

documents in your textbook and on my powerpoints.

The whole exam will be marked out of 100. Divide your time accordingly.

Section 1: Map/Cartoon Questions x 2 (@ 15)

There will be two map or cartoon questions. A "fill-in-the-map question will ask you to fill in

certain labels and/or information on the map and then annotate the map to describe the phenomena

you have labelled, and give detail about the exchanges/trajectories that the map shows. Details

might include names, dates, and additional information about the people/goods/biological

exchanges involved, etc. Make sure you can label the countries, and regions, the bodies of water,

and also, if asked, sketch the direction of trading exchanges and areas of conflict Make sure you

have looked at the maps in yourMaking of the Westtext and those that were shown on powerpoints.

A map or cartoon analysis question will ask you to give a brief analysis of the major messages

given by the map/cartoon and quickly identify the themes/tensions it illustrates about the time of itscreation, and the point of view (if any) it represents. Check out the map of the British Empire on the

Empires powerpoint, or the Punch cartoon to practice those.

Section 2: Sight Analysis of a Primary Source (40)

The exam will contain an excerpt up to a page long from a primary source. Use the guidelines

and rubric posted under blackboard to remind yourselves of how to approach a primary source. I

will expect you to analyze the source, comment on its strengths and weakness as evidence for 'what

actually happened' in the past. I will then expect you to offer a critical explanation of the text

describing what it can tell us about the culture within which it was produced and/or the culture it

describes. This 'exegesis' should include very brief quotations to support your conclusions. For

example: "In line two the author describes the local women as being "of short stature and ugly"

which indicates that Europeans and Indians had very different standards of beauty at this time. Itmay also reveal a difference in average height between European women and Indian women

although this is hard to tell as the description is shaped by the author's preference for European

8/7/2019 BC Core 2 Midterm Review Sheet

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body shapes and features. Furthermore it suggests that the crew had not encountered many non-

European women before as they found these women surprising and worth commenting on. Finally

the attention given to describing and observing these women as well as other aspects of the Indian

culture on display in Calicut, suggests that explorers were curious and interested in the new cultures

they encountered, as well as being interested in trade and suggests that they were also aiming to

please and instruct potential readers of their travel narrative who would want to hear about 'exotic'

women as well as wind patterns and trading opportunities"

So you can see, in this example, from a Vasco da Gama Voyage logbook (written by his crew

member) I have tried to show what the quotation can actually tell us the Europeans and Indians

had different standards of beauty. I have indicated where it might not be reliable (ugly) but

suggested other information about the time and place and larger social trends we can deduce from

(limited exchanges between Europe and India, European curiosity, the rise in popularity of travel

narratives and a new literary public eager for accounts of foreign travels).

You should be able to extract similar types of information from the source I provide, and use your

background reading to put the piece in context, judge its usefulness as historical evidence, and

expand upon the insights offered by the source.

Section 3: Short Answers x 2 (ea @ 15)

You will have to answer

You should be able to write two to five sentences to answer a short question on terms and topics we

have discussed in our class discussions. You should be able to identify key or associated dates to

within a decade. You should be able to offer an opinion in answer to the question, and give evidence

to back up your opinion. The best prep for this is reading back over your discussion notes and

thinking of how people offered a thoughtful and evidence based answer to some of the questions we

explored, and how you would do the same succinctly, in a semi-formal written format.