Apply the method for the Part III Enduring Issues Essay: identify and define an enduring issue from the documents, then argue its significance and how it has endured, using document evidence and outside knowledge (Social Studies Practices A, B, C).

What this topic is asking

Part III, the Enduring Issues Essay, is the highest-value single task on the Global II exam (worth about 29 percent, scored 0 to 5). This page teaches the method that earns the top score: how to identify and define an enduring issue from a set of five documents, and how to argue that it is significant and has endured, using document evidence and outside knowledge. It draws on Social Studies Practices A, B, and C.

Step 1: identify and define the issue

The common enduring issues to keep ready are: the struggle for power, conflict, inequality, human rights (and their violation), the impact of ideas and beliefs, interconnectedness, innovation and technology, scarcity, and the impact of humans on the environment. Match your choice to what the documents actually show.

Step 2: prove significance and endurance

This is the heart of the essay. For each document you use, explain how it shows the issue, and connect the documents across different time periods to prove the issue recurs. For inequality, you might trace it from the French Revolution (the Third Estate versus the privileged), to the industrial age (workers versus owners), to the civil-rights and anti-apartheid movements, showing the same issue appearing again and again. Then add outside knowledge: facts from your own learning that are not in the documents but support the argument.

Step 3: structure the essay

A strong Enduring Issues Essay has a clear shape:

• Introduction. Name and define the enduring issue, and state that it is significant and has endured.
• Body paragraphs. Trace the issue through the documents and across eras. For each, give specific evidence (from the document and from outside knowledge), and explain how it shows the issue affecting people and continuing or changing over time.
• Conclusion. Restate why the issue is significant and how it has endured.

What the top score requires

To earn a 5, your essay must clearly identify and define the issue from at least three documents, develop a thoughtful, in-depth argument about its significance and endurance, use specific document evidence (from three or more), include relevant outside information, and be well organized. Avoid the traps that earn a 0 or 1: never just copy documents, never refer only vaguely to a theme, and never fail to develop the task.

Try this

Q1. What two things must you do with the enduring issue in your introduction? [Recall]

• Cue. Identify it (name it, drawn from at least three documents) and define it (as a recurring challenge, not a single event).

Q2. Explain what it means to show an enduring issue "has endured". [Short explanation]

• Cue. You show that the issue recurs across different time periods (continuing or changing over time) and that it has affected people or been affected by people, by tracing it through the documents and adding outside knowledge.