Show that point of view is about interest, not merely opinion
Three steps, the way the exam actually works: work through the lab, write down your own observations, then answer a 8-point free response. What you recorded goes to the grader with your writing, so a conclusion that does not follow from your own evidence will cost you the point — exactly as it would with a real reader.
Predict before you look
- Point of view is not the same as bias, and not the same as opinion. Write a one-sentence definition that mentions the author's STAKE in the outcome.
- A document written to secure funding has a specific pressure on it. Name one thing you would expect such a document to exaggerate before you read any of them.
Nothing to submit here — these are to think through, so the prediction below is an informed one rather than a guess.
Commit to an answer now. It is not graded and being wrong costs nothing — the point is to have something specific to reconcile against once you have the data.
Answer every prediction to unlock the lab. A sentence is enough.
Run the investigation
Predictions first
The procedure and the simulation unlock once you have committed above. Observing before predicting is how a wrong intuition survives a lab intact.
Record what you found
This is your reading of the source, not ours. The grader sees them, so your conclusions have to follow from what you actually recorded.
| Year of the journal entry | |
|---|---|
| Year of the Declaration of Independence | |
| Years between the journal entry and the Declaration(Subtract the earlier year from the later one.) | years |
| A phrase describing what the Taíno possess | |
| A phrase describing what the Taíno lack | |
| Who Columbus is writing for | |
| What Columbus stands to gain from this document | |
| One thing this document reliably proves |
Answer the free response
Using the journal entry you analyzed: (a) Quote one phrase about what the Taíno possess and one about what they lack, and explain what each is doing for Columbus's case to his patrons. (b) Explain, using your recorded audience and stake, why "fine servants" and "with fifty men we could subjugate them all" appear in a document that is nominally a record of observation. (c) A classmate says this source cannot be trusted because Columbus was biased, and proposes setting it aside. Explain why that is the wrong conclusion, and state precisely what the document is strong evidence for. (d) The document was preserved by Bartolomé de las Casas, who elsewhere condemned Spanish treatment of Native peoples. Explain how that transmission affects your use of the source, and what you would want to check.
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