MTEL Middle School Humanities (76) cheat sheet

First-person narration uses I or we; third-person limited restricts knowledge to one character; omniscient narration reports multiple characters' unspoken thoughts.

Dramatic irony gives the audience information a character lacks; verbal irony contrasts stated and intended meaning; situational irony reverses expectation.

A Shakespearean sonnet has 14 iambic-pentameter lines rhymed ABAB CDCD EFEF GG: three quatrains and a couplet.

Metaphor equates two unlike things without like or as; simile compares using like or as; personification assigns human traits to nonhuman things.

A thesis is an arguable, specific, evidence-supportable claim; a topic sentence states one paragraph's controlling idea.

MLA in-text citations normally use author and page, e.g. (Morrison 42); Works Cited entries are alphabetized by author's last name.

Active voice has the subject perform the action; passive voice makes the object the subject and may omit the agent.

Transition words signal relationships: however = contrast; therefore = cause/effect; moreover = addition; meanwhile = time.

A primary source was created during the period by a participant or observer; a secondary source interprets primary evidence after the fact.

The Declaration of Independence was adopted July 4, 1776; the Constitution was drafted in 1787, ratified in 1788, and the Bill of Rights added in 1791.

The Civil War lasted 1861-1865; the Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, 1863, and exempted border slave states.

Reconstruction amendments: 13th abolished slavery (1865); 14th guaranteed citizenship and equal protection (1868); 15th protected voting rights by race (1870).

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s and centered on steam power, factories, urbanization, and railroads.

World War I ran 1914-1918; the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the July Crisis; the United States entered in 1917.

Cold War containment sought to limit Soviet expansion; NATO formed in 1949, the Warsaw Pact in 1955, the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the USSR dissolved in 1991.

BCE dates count backward with no year zero: 500 BCE is earlier than 200 BCE, and 200 BCE is earlier than 200 CE.

Latitude measures distance north or south of the equator from 0° to 90°; longitude measures east or west of the Prime Meridian from 0° to 180°.

Contour lines connect equal elevations; close spacing indicates steep terrain, wide spacing gentle terrain, and hachures indicate a depression.

Divergent boundaries produce seafloor spreading; convergent boundaries produce subduction or mountains; transform boundaries produce fault earthquakes.

U.S. federalism divides power into delegated national powers, reserved state powers, and concurrent powers shared by both.

Separation of powers assigns lawmaking to Congress, enforcement to the president, and interpretation to the courts, with checks and balances among them.

The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments; the First Amendment protects religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

GDP = C + I + G + (X − M); real GDP adjusts nominal GDP for inflation.

Demand slopes downward and supply slopes upward; equilibrium occurs where quantity demanded equals quantity supplied.

Opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative forgone; scarcity requires choice among competing uses of limited resources.

DBQ reasoning: state a claim, group sources by theme, use source evidence, and supply outside knowledge to contextualize each source.

Source analysis identifies author, date, audience, purpose, and point of view, then explains how each shapes the source's reliability or emphasis.

Corroboration compares independent sources; agreement increases confidence, while disagreement requires explaining differences in perspective, purpose, or access.

Correlation means variables vary together; causation means one produces the other; a correlation alone does not establish causation.

Map reading uses title, legend, scale, compass rose, and source note; projection choice determines whether shape, area, distance, or direction is distorted.

Media evaluation checks claim, evidence, source, date, and purpose, and distinguishes fact, opinion, and inference.

Paraphrased ideas still require citation because the idea, not only the exact wording, belongs to the source; common knowledge need not be cited.

An argument's reasoning explains why evidence supports the claim; a counterclaim is addressed rather than ignored.