What a Good Passage Identification looks like: These will be roughly 3-5 paragraph answers. A proper identification will include the name of the author and the title of the work. It will also locate the work in space, using one or more of the map terms, and in time using one or more of the dates from the list below. A good passage identification will discuss the work's importance for its own civilization, using at least one of the terms from the list below. You should also discuss the work's impact on later civilizations that draw upon it. Finally, you should compare the passage to other works and civilizations that we have discussed in this class.

You will need to use three dates, three terms, and three geographic terms in your essay.

Taking the Passage Identification Section

1) The first thing to do when faced with a selection of passages to identify is to pick the ones that you can most easily identify. Do these first! Then move to the harder ones.

2) Always write in complete sentences and paragraphs! Your identifications should be coherent and read like a short essay.

3) The first paragraph should identify the passage in simplest terms: which work is it from? Who wrote it? Which civilization does it belong to? Can you identify them more specifically within that civilization?

4) The second paragraph should describe the ideas that the passage contains. Simply, what does it say and how does it fit in with the rest of the work of which it is a part?

5) Depending on how long the second paragraph is, you will want to include in it an interpretation of the passage. What does the passage mean to the person writing it and his audience? Why are the ideas it contains important to that civilization? How does it compare to other ideas in that same civilization? If your second paragraph is long, you will want to put this in a separate paragraph.

6) The third paragraph should put the passage in a larger context. How does it compare to other works we have read and to ideas from other civilizations? How is it similar or different? How is it influenced by other groups? How does it influence other writings?

7) Be as specific as possible throughout these identifications! Names, dates, geographic terms, and specific examples all help to show that you know what you are talking about