DBQ Instruction How to write a DBQ

1. DBQ Instruction How to write a DBQ AP United States History

2. The D.B.Q. consists of a statement and a time period: "To what extent did the status of Blacks in America change during the period from 1940-1980?" Sometimes the question includes subtopics: "To what extent did the social, political, and economic status of Blacks in America change during the period from 1940-1980?“ If the question includes subtopics, you must write about those subtopics in your answer.

3. The question may be a statement with which you are asked to agree or disagree: Use the documents and your knowledge of the time period to assess the validity of the statement. "The status of Blacks in America changed radically during the period 1940-1980.” The question calls for an opinion answer, so there is no right or wrong answer. The amount of points you receive depends upon how well you support your answer with the documents and with your knowledge.

4. There are generally nine to twelve documents following the question, all of which date from the time period of the question • You choose which to use, but you should use most of them • Most of the documents are short written excerpts, about 1-3 paragraphs in length • They may be parts of laws, court case rulings, official declarations, presidential addresses, editorials, speeches, books, or personal letters • Usually a D.B.Q. will include at least one or two political cartoons, pictures, charts, graphs, or maps

5. When answering the D.B.Q.: • refer to the documents • include historical details from your own knowledge The graders will look for: • a thoughtful thesis statement • sound historical support • good use of the documents to support your answer

6. Analyzing the Prompt • The objective of prompt analysis is to declare or write a statement of position • This statement is your thesis • The first step of this process is to breakdown and delineate the prompt • Note the time period • Is it a two-part question? • Does the question outline itself with subtopics? • Answer what is specifically asked

7. Common Openings • To what extent • How much, degree, quantity • In what ways/How • Give a number of reasons • Analyze • Separate, breakdown into parts, show relationships • Evaluate • Judge, value, rate, rank, show relationships • Describe/Discuss • Give detail, picture, relationships to other things not shown

8. The Parameters • Identifying Time, Place, and People • Years, era, decade, location, region, sections, urban, rural, foreign, domestic, gender, race. • Discuss Certain Characteristics • Identifying Sides/Positions • Are you asked to take a side? • Identifying Categories or Topics • Social, Political, Economic, etc.

9. Organizing Your Thoughts • Cause and Effect • What produces an event and what are the results or consequences • Pro and Con • List reasons aimed at a conclusion • Positive and Negative • Agreement, denying, refuse, support • Compare and Contrast • Sequence • Categorize

10. Tips For The DBQ • Start with a clearly stated thesis. • Good essays begin with a thesis statement, back it up with supporting evidence from documents and outside knowledge and, if time permits, restate the thesis at the end • Make sure you have additional outside information beyond the documents presented on the exam. • You need to demonstrate an ability to integrate outside knowledge in your document-based essay question as well as your ability to use the documents themselves • Organize your response carefully. • Make an outline before you begin your essay • Know where the documents fit into your essay

11. Tips For The DBQ • Make sure that your thesis matches your own assessment and knowledge. • You should create a clear, simple thesis that can be supported using the documents and other outside information you may know. Take a stand - agree or disagree with the statement • Build an argument. • The best essays are those that marshal the positive arguments in favor of their position but that also refute or answer rival theses. Even if you think a statement is completely true, it is better to confront and negate the evidence that seems to refute it than to ignore the counterevidence completely

12. Tips For The DBQ • Integrate the documents and your analysis. • You do not have to use all of the documents but you must use the majority of them and integrate them well into your essay. Do not merely explain what is stated in the documents, analyze their content. Use the documents as part of an integrated essay in support of your thesis. • Do not quote large portions of the documents. • The reader of the essays are already familiar with the documents. You can quote a short passage or two if necessary to make your point, but don't waste time or space reciting them.

13. Tips For The DBQ • Do take a stand on the question. Draw a definite conclusion from the historical facts and documents. • Do not spend your essay explaining that there are many different points of view and that you cannot draw any definite conclusion about the question. • Make Sure You Use the Documents • Using the documents means to refer to them and not to depend on them. Generally, you should use one more than half the documents. But try to use all of them if you can.

14. Analyzing the Documents P E A K E R C C A S S I O N U D I E N C E U R P O S E I G N I F C A N C E S O A P S

15. Brainstorming • Document inferences, not document information • Outside information triggered by the documents

16. Scoring

17. Scoring Guide: 8-9 • Clear, well developed thesis • Understands the complexity of the question; deals with all parts of the question in depth • Provides effective analysis of the question • Effectively uses substantial number of the documents; supplement analysis and are balanced with outside information • Makes substantial use of relevant outside information; balanced with use of documents • May contain insignificant errors • Well organized and well written

18. Scoring Guide: 5-7 • Clear thesis with limited development • Limited or lack of understanding of complexity; may deal with one part of the question in depth, or in a more general way • Limited analysis; mostly describes • Uses some documents effectively; may only restate information • Supports thesis with outside information • May contain insignificant errors • Clearly organized and written, but not exceptional

19. Scoring Guide: 2-4 • Lacks a thesis, or thesis may be confused or underdeveloped • Ignores complexity; deals with the question or parts of the question in a superficial way • Weak or inappropriate analysis • Poor use of documents; quotes and briefly cites documents; not enough documents used to support analysis • Contains little outside information, and that which is inaccurate or irrelevant • May contain major errors • Weak organization and writing

20. Scoring Guide: 0-1 • No thesis • Simply paraphrases or restates the question • No analysis • No understanding of the documents; almost no use of or inappropriate attempts to use documents • Incompetent, inappropriate responses • Contains many major and minor errors • Disorganized and poorly written

21. Students who received TOP SCORES did the following: • Effectively developed the prompt • Made analytical and thematic use of most documents, offering at least two or three examples of all parts • Brought in significant outside information for the question or parts of the question • Made only minor errors that did not detract from the overall knowledgeability of the essay

22. Students who received GOOD SCORES did the following: • Addressed the question generally or one part of the question in more depth • Used some documents in support of answer; showed some analysis • Brought in some outside information in support of answer • May have had errors that did not detract from the overall essay

23. Students who received LOWER SCORES did the following: • Dealt with the questions in a superficial way • Restated the documents with little interpretation, or demonstrated minimal use of documents • Provided little outside information • Offered no analysis • May have had major errors

24. Students who received THE LOWEST SCORES did the following: • Provided an incompetent, inappropriate response • May have simply paraphrased or restated the question • Showed little understanding of the question

25. Unwritten Rules • Consider regional/gender/ethnic differences • Span the time period • Use as many documents as you can • There is more than one way to earn a certain score • Address each item that is asked