AP World History: Modern · Exam guide

AP World History Sourcing and Complexity: How to Earn the Last Analysis Points

Sourcing asks you to explain why a document's author, audience, purpose, or situation matters to your argument. Complexity asks you to show the history is not simple. This guide builds both using two nineteenth-century documents from opposite sides of the world.

Sourcing: the four questions

Question	What to ask	Example
Historical situation	What was happening when this was written?	In 1868 Japan's old government had just been overthrown, and leaders feared the fate of China under foreign pressure.
Audience	Who was it written for?	The Charter Oath was issued in the Emperor's name to the nobles and the court, and to the public as a statement of direction.
Purpose	What was the author trying to do?	To reassure supporters and rivals that the new government would reform and strengthen the country.
Point of view	What does this person think or want?	The authors were reforming samurai leaders who wanted to keep power and avoid foreign control, not democrats.

Document 1. Charter Oath, Japan, 1868

Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion.

Issued in the name of the Emperor by leaders of the Meiji Restoration (translations vary slightly).

Does not earn the pointThe Charter Oath was written by the Japanese government, so it shows Japan's government wanted assemblies.

It names the author but gives no reason why the author's situation matters.

Earns the pointBecause the Charter Oath was issued by a small group of leaders who had just taken power and feared foreign domination, its promise of public discussion should be read as a way to win support and show reform, not as a commitment to wide popular rule.

It ties the author's situation and purpose to a specific limit on the claim.

Document 2. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Written for a small group of German exiles and workers' organizations in London on the eve of the revolutions of 1848.

Complexity: five ways to earn it

Qualify: show where an argument is true and where it is not.
Corroborate: show that two sources from different places point to the same trend.
Explain more than one cause or effect and how they interacted.
Connect across regions or periods (the Charter Oath and the demands of earlier European reformers).
Compare a continuity with a change inside the same society.

A complexity sentenceAlthough Japanese leaders borrowed the language of assemblies from Western models, they kept real power in a small elite, much as European monarchies had done while adopting parliaments, which suggests that adopting a political form did not by itself change who ruled.

It connects two regions and qualifies the claim. It must be sustained across the essay.

Common mistakes

Writing "the author is biased" with no link to the argument.
Summarizing the document and calling it sourcing.
Using a complexity sentence at the end that the rest of the essay does not support.
Forgetting to source at least two documents.

Frequently asked questions

How many documents must I source?

At least two documents, and for each you must explain how the point of view, purpose, situation, or audience matters to your argument.

Does complexity need its own paragraph?

No. It is shown through how you handle the evidence across the whole essay.

Is sourcing the same as summarizing a document?

No. Sourcing explains why the author or situation affects what the document can show.

Are these texts public domain?

Yes. The quotations are short and both works are public domain, though translations vary.

Where can I find the official scoring rules?

Exam formats change a little from year to year, so check the current course and exam description on the College Board site before test day.

Keep practicing

The AP World History course has practice prompts for the DBQ, LEQ and short-answer questions, with a writing space that scores your response against the 7-point and 6-point rubrics. These free lessons also build the skills the free-response section tests:

See the AP World History: Modern course Free lessons and lesson list

More AP World History: Modern guides (7)

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Free-response and writing

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AP World History Multiple-Choice Guide: 55 Questions in 55 Minutes

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