1. How to LEQ Part I: General Rules Part II: Contextualization
Part III: Thesis
Question & Answers

2. Part I: General rules Negative Aspects
My first mistake was telling you that you were the narrator. You are actually the history teacher telling what you know is true and then giving the reasons why.
Don’t use I, we, me, you, our, ours, mine, my
Don’t be wimpy… I think the Sumerians and Egyptians were both polytheistic.
No questions in the thesis. Ex…How much of a difference do the cultural and economic characteristics have from BCE to 600 BCE?
Don’t try to set things up. It is already understood what you are doing. Ex…This essay will be comparing and contrasting the two civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Question Section: Thesis? Yes or No and why?
In this essay, the cultural and economic structures between Egypt and Shang dynasty will be compared in the time period of BCE to 600 BCE.
Although many things about the Nil River Valley and Huang He River Valley are similar, a lot of things are different too. Aside from being all in the same time period, they have many other similarities.
Egypt and the Shang dynasty early civilizations both had similar lower class structures. The peasants worked with agriculture in their daily lives. In the trading industry, Shang dynasty had trade routes and Egypt mostly traded at the markets. Lastly, people in the Shang dynasty believed in the afterlife while the ancient Egyptians believed that they would live through the trees and plants in nature.

3. Part I: General Rules, page 2
Make sure your information is correct… Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama is not even born until 542 BCE which is after our time.
The religion in China during this period is called Ancestor Veneration. They prayed to their ancestors who then asked for favors from the gods which they called Heaven or Tian. The gods are the Sage Emperors. As well, this persists even today in East Asia.
Please use dark led or press down harder on the paper. I cannot read the light pencil marks. You may use ink if you cannot make the pencil marks darker. There were two I had trouble with. Also, don’t use felt time and write small it bleeds.
The first paragraph is indented. It contains first
the contextualization and with no new indention
then the thesis. Then a new indention and the first
body paragraph.
Avoid phrases such as back in the day or a long
time ago. This should be formal writing so just use
the date or period reference. Ex: From 8000 BCE
to 600 BCE, or In period 1, or the dates given in the prompt.
Please do not set up a value/no value comparison. I think I did say this was okay but I wasn’t thinking straight. Ex…China did not have a formal religion but Sumer did. The reason for this is that you will not have a chance for evidence for China and you must have evidence for both.

4. Part II - Contextualization
A good start. I edited some of them just a bit:
Ex. 1: In the years around 8000 BCE to 600 BCE civilizations began to form around river valleys that could sustain life. Agriculture increased allowing for specialization of jobs and the increase of population. Cultures and social systems began to develop as well as monumental building.
Ex. 2: As the world begins to warm and the [ground] becomes rich and fertile near the rivers, man comes [together] to show true intelligence [through trade, invention, domestication, and agriculture.]
Ex. 3: From 8000 BCE to 600 BCE the earth entered a warming period. The rivers would flood and deposit fertile soil on each side of the river allowing for an increase in agriculture and for civilizations to spring up near the rivers.
What is going on in the world around the time of the prompt. What is happening that is causing what you are talking about? Since you are talking about River Valley Civilizations you could start out with the warming period leading to agriculture, the hunter/gatherers “discovering” agriculture, the independent invention of agriculture in areas around rivers, the flooding rivers and the rich silt being deposited for easy agriculture, the characteristics of a civilization, and/or the increases that come from the new civilizations such as trade, invention, domestication, and population.

5. Part II-Cont’d
With the information you have collected. In your notes spiral, write a contextualization that would best fit the time period we are studying. Please use complete sentences. Remember you are not comparing anything but just laying a foundation for what you will be writing so that the reader says oh okay this is what he/she is going to be talking about in this essay.

6. III – Thesis
Once you have finished the contextualization, then you will write out the thesis which is the road map to the rest of your papers. It contains all of your three or more arguments or claims you have about the comparisons that answers the question given in the prompt. These were the best of the thesis statements.
Ex. 1: China’s social structure happened to be similar Egypt’s social structure but both civilizations differed in their [religion] and [economic development].
Ex. 2: The Nile River Valley and the Huang He River Valley were very technologically advanced for their time. [However,] Egypt worshipped many gods [and goddesses] while China worshipped only male ancestors. Both cultures depended on trade and agriculture to provide for [themselves economically.]
Ex. 3: ….They both believed strongly in religion and had similar cultures. [They] however had different economic systems. Their gender rolls were also very different.
Ex. 4: Egypt and China had many similarities and differences. Egypt and China had very different religions. They had some similarities in their economies and also in their social classes.
Ex. 5: ….These two civilizations were both polytheistic but the Mesopotamians believed the dead turn to dust unlike the Egyptians [who believed in the afterlife.] Also, the Mesopotamians economy was based off trade with others while the economy of Egypt consisted of several different [ways] of profit.
Ex. 6: ….Some similarities [are] that they both were polytheistic and both of their economies were dependent on agriculture and trading. One difference is the way the two civilizations [communicated through written expression.]
Ex. 7: ….They are similar in the way they viewed the world and [how it? works]. While Egypt and China were similar in many ways, they differed in the way human labor was utilized.

7. III - thesis
Take your thesis and reconstruct it or write a new one in your notes spiral that reflects what you have learned today. Remember to write in complete sentences. You should have three arguments containing similarities and differences as well as defined cultural and economic comparisons. Write your newly constructed Introductory Paragraph and turn it in before you leave.