HIS 10/HIS 11Identifications Workshop

IdentificationIndex Card

Historical Significance

Who/What?Where?When?

Context Most Important Point

Start with the Source

Start with the Source

Who

When

Where

Context . . . “What is it?”

Context

A Problem whose Solution is the Identification

A Document or Event that is the Inspiration for the Identification

A Particular Event or Series of Events that

Influenced the Identification

Context . . . “What is it?”

“As late as 1850 Britain led the world in

producing iron, turning out some 2.5 million

tons a year, but only 60,000 of those tons

were steel. Steel was expensive to make

because of the difficulty of removing all the

contaminants contained in iron ore. An

American, William Kelly (1811-1888), solved

this industrial dilemma . . .”

What’s Really “Most Important”?

“ . . . Solved this industria

l dilemma . . . by using a blast o

f

air to ‘decarburize

’ molten iron, converting it to ste

el quickly

and cheaply. The Englishman Sir Henry Bessemer (1

813-1896), . . .

bought out Kelly’s patent and further developed the process that

still bears his name.”

Historical Significance

• How did Things Change as a result of the Identification?

• What was the Effect of the Identification?

Historical Significance

“ . . . Steel became the basic commodity for the construction of railroads, ships,

bridges, skyscrapers, and weapons.

“Modern skyscrapers depend on the cheap production of steel made possible by

The Bessemer converter.”

Keeping an Eye Out for Context & Significance

• Some Identifications Require You to Connect Ideas from Different Paragraphs in a Chapter

From: page 19

From: page 27