Cambridge International AS Level US History - Key Features and Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards based on the introduction to Cambridge International AS Level US History, covering key textbook features, historical concepts, command words, paper structures, and source analysis terminology.

Key questions

A feature at the start of each chapter that briefly sets out the topics you should understand once you have completed the chapter.

Key concept boxes

Textbook features containing questions that help develop a conceptual understanding of History, enable judgments based on knowledge, and show how different topics are connected.

Key term boxes

Features that highlight important terms in bold where they first appear in the text and provide their definitions.

Key figure boxes

Boxes that highlight important historical figures that need to be remembered and briefly explain what makes them a key figure.

Self-evaluation checklist

A checklist at the end of each chapter covering main points with space to evaluate confidence levels as 'Needs more work', 'Almost there', or 'Ready to move on'.

Cause and consequence

A key historical concept focusing on the circumstances, conditions, and actions leading to major events, as well as their direct or indirect effects, results, and outcomes.

Change and continuity

A key historical concept involving the investigation of how and why things changed over a period, alongside the analysis of how other things remained the same.

Similarity and difference

A key historical concept examining how people can have similar experiences across different periods or adopt contrasting attitudes and outcomes despite similar circumstances.

Significance

A key historical concept regarding the judgments people and historians make about which aspects of the past are more important based on context, values, interests, and concerns.

Historical Sources (Paper 1)

An assessment paper examining Topic 1 (The Gilded Age and Progressive Era) consisting of one source-based question with two parts (a and b).

Outline Study (Paper 2)

An assessment paper examining Topics 2, 3, 4, and 5 containing four essay-based questions where candidates choose two questions and answer both parts (a and b) of each.

Compare (Command word)

A syllabus instruction requiring students to identify and comment on similarities and/or differences.

Explain (Command word)

A syllabus instruction to set out purposes or reasons, make the relationships between things clear, say why and/or how, and support with relevant evidence.

To what extent…? (Command word)

A syllabus prompt requiring students to develop a clear case both for and against a stated view and come to a reasoned conclusion.

Bias

The action of supporting a particular person or thing in an unfair way by allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment.

Explicit bias

Bias that is used in a specific, deliberate manner, such as politicians emphasizing good points about their record and bad points about their opponents.

Implicit bias

Unintended bias that an individual is not aware of having.

Primary source

A source written, spoken, drawn, or photographed at (or very near) the time of an event, or a recollection years later by a direct participant or eyewitness.

Historical context

The customs, beliefs, time, and place in which a source was created.

Hindsight

The ability to look back at an event some time after it has occurred with a fuller appreciation of the facts, implications, and effects.

Provenance

The background of a historical source, including information about who produced it, when, why, and for what audience.