ORELA Social Science NT303 cheat sheet

History: chronological reasoning requires distinguishing primary sources (created contemporaneously by participants or eyewitnesses) from secondary sources (later interpretation or synthesis by non-witnesses); both can be reliable but answer different questions.

U.S. History turning points: 1776 Declaration of Independence; 1787 Constitution with separation of powers, federalism, and checks and balances; 1861-1865 Civil War and the 13th-15th Amendments (abolition, citizenship/equal protection, voting rights).

World History sequence: river-valley civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Yellow River) → classical empires (Greece, Rome, Han, Maurya) → post-classical trade and belief systems (Islam, Buddhism, Silk Roads) → Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment → industrial and political revolutions → world wars → decolonization.

Geography: five themes are location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region; absolute location uses latitude/longitude coordinates, relative location uses direction and distance from other places.

Geography: climate is long-term average atmospheric conditions; weather is short-term; the Coriolis effect deflects moving air and water right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern Hemisphere.

Civics: the U.S. Constitution separates national power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches; federalism divides power between national and state governments; the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments) limits government power over individuals.

Economics: scarcity forces choices, and opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative forgone; demand curves slope downward, supply curves slope upward, and equilibrium price clears the market.

Economics: GDP measures final goods and services produced within a country in a period; inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level; central banks use interest rates and reserve requirements to influence money supply.

Behavioral science: in research design, correlation does not establish causation; random assignment supports causal claims, random sampling supports generalizability, and the independent variable is manipulated while the dependent variable is measured.

History: chronological reasoning requires distinguishing primary sources (created contemporaneously by participants or eyewitnesses) from secondary sources (later interpretation or synthesis by non-witnesses); both can be reliable but answer different questions.

U.S. History turning points: 1776 Declaration of Independence; 1787 Constitution with separation of powers, federalism, and checks and balances; 1861-1865 Civil War and the 13th-15th Amendments (abolition, citizenship/equal protection, voting rights).

World History sequence: river-valley civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Yellow River) → classical empires (Greece, Rome, Han, Maurya) → post-classical trade and belief systems (Islam, Buddhism, Silk Roads) → Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment → industrial and political revolutions → world wars → decolonization.

Geography: five themes are location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region; absolute location uses latitude/longitude coordinates, relative location uses direction and distance from other places.

Geography: climate is long-term average atmospheric conditions; weather is short-term; the Coriolis effect deflects moving air and water right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern Hemisphere.

Civics: the U.S. Constitution separates national power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches; federalism divides power between national and state governments; the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments) limits government power over individuals.

Economics: scarcity forces choices, and opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative forgone; demand curves slope downward, supply curves slope upward, and equilibrium price clears the market.

Economics: GDP measures final goods and services produced within a country in a period; inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level; central banks use interest rates and reserve requirements to influence money supply.

Behavioral science: in research design, correlation does not establish causation; random assignment supports causal claims, random sampling supports generalizability, and the independent variable is manipulated while the dependent variable is measured.