Be sure to review the documents BEFORE writing your thesis. Analyze and come up with a summary and categories for your documents first. Do not write a thesis and then try to make the documents fit into it—but the other way around.
Your thesis previews what is to come in the body paragraphs. Remember, the thesis should not just restate the prompt, but respond to the prompt with a claim that you can back up from the documents and other evidence throughout history. You will earn a point for a thesis that consists of one or more sentences that take a position on the extent to which railroads affected the process of empire-building. It must also indicate some reason for taking that position.
Which of the following would be acceptable as a thesis statement for your essay?
“Although railroad construction in Asia and African greatly facilitated the development of European colonial empires, it also aided in the emergence of nationalist movements against European rule.”
This is an acceptable thesis because it responds to the prompt with an evaluative claim that establishes a line of reasoning.
“The construction of railroads greatly affected European imperialism in Afro-Eurasia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.”
This is not an acceptable thesis because it merely repeats the wording of the prompt with a minor qualification, which does not amount to indicating a line of reasoning.
“The construction of railroads had a limited impact on empire-building in Afro-Eurasia because the development of advanced military weaponry and European control over maritime trade were more significant.”
This is an acceptable thesis because it responds to the prompt with an evaluative claim that establishes a line of reasoning.
“The construction of railroads in Afro-Eurasia helped European imperialism because it allowed Europeans to increase their political power in Asia and Africa.”
This is an acceptable thesis because it responds to the prompt with a minimally acceptable claim that establishes a line of reasoning.
“Railroads came to Asia and Africa too late to save the European colonial empires there from collapsing.”
This is not an acceptable thesis because it is not a historically defensible claim.
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