In our final installment for the AP World essays, today's topic is the Continuity/Change-Over-Time essay. A CCOT is different from a C+C; instead of showing similarities and differences between two subjects, this type of essay will have you show how two or three subjects were similar, but either continued in one way or changed in another. Basically, it's a more sophisticated C+C that requires a lot more thinking. You'll have to not only compare two subjects together, but also show how one society began to change while another remained the same in the same era. Don't worry, though; this time I have examples!
To plan out this essay, you have to look at the question. For our case today, it is this: How did the societies of Europe and Asia, specifically China and India, continue to be the same and change during the Post-Classical era? The question is already setting you up for success here; it's giving you three places (Europe, China, and India) and having you compare and contrast between how their societies grew or stagnated. Historically, Europe and India had many similar systems of government in this era (eras are important!), while China changed vastly and became quite different from the two. By knowing this from studying, you can now craft a decent thesis as well as some context sentences:
"The society of Europe in the Post-Classical Era had many similarities and differences compared to the societies of Asia, specifically in China and India. Europe and China had few shared traits in the way their societies functioned during this time period. India, however, had many policies and systems of government at the same time that they occurred in Europe. While Europe and India continued to have similar governments and economic problems, China changed and developed a strict centralized government and gained social equality in the Post-Classical Era."
Did you see how I used what I already knew about Europe and Asia and wove it into context? This can help set up your claim, and provides info to the testers that you know what you're talking about.
Let's start with the COT part of the essay. I already mentioned first in my thesis that Europe's government, along with India's, continued to have problems while China's government changed and flourished. I can combine the differences with Europe and China and similarities with Europe and India into two paragraphs, effectively making my essay only three paragraphs long.
With Europe and China's differences, I'll need to start with an opening sentence: "The governing system of Europe was much different from the government established in China." I can now go from here to include evidence to such differences. I'll only include one example here, but I recommend yu use as many as you can possibly remember (like 5). Here's the example:
"Europe is described by Bentley as having 'built a decentralized society as they sought to protect their lands and maintain public order during a period of weak central authority and periodic invasions from outside (their continent)'.”
While in the exam you cannot use textbooks to help you with evidence, your sentence should already sort of sound like this. You then follow with a conclusion sentence:
"This shows that Europe was more focused on keeping invaders out and retaining land, and was not able to have a stronger unified government, instead relying on multiple leaders to enforce laws."
You then rebuff with the statement on China, with evidence and conclusion:
"This is not the case in China, which Bentley states was 'brought under centralized rule (by Yang Jian)…the Tang and Song dynasties organized Chinese society so efficiently that China became a center of exceptional agricultural and industrial production.' China was so completely unified and organized that they became a production superpower during the Post-Classical Era, a far cry from the situation in Europe."
This is then followed by reasoning, as you need to also explain why Europe and China were so different even though they were connected by the Silk Road:
"The reason for these different centralized and decentralized governments probably is due to China not being under pressure from invaders during this time period, allowing them to focus more on organizing the state, while Europe was more focused on keeping order during invasions than organizing central rule."
With that, you move on to the next piece of evidence, and so on, until you run out of ideas. You can then conclude the paragraph with a assessment of your claim: "Thus, Europe had a much different governing system compared to that of China’s during this turbulent Post-Classical Era."
The same goes for Europe and India. You'll have an opening sentence ("Europe and India were very similar in the way their governments and history occurred."), a statement for why they are similar/continued they way they did ("Both Europe and India had a significant early Empire fall due to invaders."), evidence, and then a reasoning for why this is. Go through around the same amount of evidence, and then conclude the essay with a reiteration of your claim. You don't need a concluding statement for the whole paper, but you can if you wish.
With that, you're probably wondering why C+C is different from CCOT. Well, they really aren't. The College Board just want you to be able to understand how some societies were very similar at the same time while others were always changing. The set up of the essay is also much different. But if you practice long enough, you'll be able to write a CCOT in no time!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
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