Essential Vocabulary
Studying Social Studies can sometimes feel like you are learning a brand new language. Learning this new vocabulary, however, can help increase your comprehension of the subject. Just like knowing how to say “Where’s the bathroom” in any foreign language, here is a list of essential terms that will help you to be successful in Social Studies:
Related to Thinking:
analysis: using your thinking skills to solve the problem, make a decision or a plan
infer: to predict, hypothesize, interpret or draw conclusions
logic: making sense of something
sophisticated: a person who through thinking can make sense of complex issues
relevance: related to the topic
Related to the study of History:
primary source
secondary source
bias
citation
Related to Culture:
culture
civilization
cultural diffusion
cultural traits: language, history, religion, daily life, art, government, economy
dynasty
empire
republic
Related to Chronology:
chronology
sequence
cause/effect
a.d./c.e.
b.c./b.c.e.
Related to Geography:
geography
globe
global grid
meridians of longitude
parallels of latitude
physical characteristics
political characteristics
hemisphere
region
landlocked
Related to Economics:
producer
consumer
opportunity cost
good
service
export
import
supply
demand
Related to reading :
preview
predict
reread
paraphrase
summarize
context clues
supporting details
