Writing a Document-Based Question (DBQ) Essay

1. Writing a Document-Based Question (DBQ) Essay

2. “DBQ” stands for “Document Based Question” a type of essay uses support from primary source evidence

3. The DBQ must… • provide an appropriate, explicitly stated thesis that addresses all parts of the question and does not simply restate the question. 2) discuss a majority of the documents individually and specifically. 3) demonstrate an understanding of a majority of the documents. 4) support the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents. 5) analyze the documents by explicitly grouping them in at least three appropriate groups (preferably more) with at least two documents used to support each grouping – these groupings must be logical and appropriate. 6) take into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ point of view.

4. You are learning to… • understand bias • identify point of view • think like an historian • write with a clear purpose Now – Let’s practice

6. Document 1 Answer The diagram clearly shows goods buried with the deceased, so people from Neolithic times probably practiced a belief in the after-life.

8. Document 2 Answer • The mural shows a man with the head of a bird. He, along with Isis, are probably gods which would most likely classify Egypt’s religion as polytheistic.

9. DO NOT DIRECTLY QUOTE FROM THE DOCUMENT. STATE THE IDEAS IN YOUR OWN WORDS. • This shows comprehension.

10. Document 3 Answer • God commands the Israelites to stop being polytheistic and to honor only one God according to the quotation.

11. lion horse

12. Document 4 Answer This relief shows King Ashurbanipal high up on his horse killing the lion with his bare hands practically. This makes him a great warrior and proves that he was picked by the gods to rule.

13. Sample Essay Topic 4

14. APPARTS…or how to analyze a document Author Place and Time Prior Knowledge Audience Reason The Main Idea Significance

15. Let’s Practice… APPARTS

16. Document 1: The Fifteenth AmendmentSection 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

17. Document 3: Sharecropping maps"Sharecropping was very distinctive to the South after the Civil War until the 1940s. As late as 1936, about 60 percent of plantations were organized into sharecropper units."--Ingolf Vogeler

18. Group APPARTS • TOGETHER - Analyze your source using APPARTS • Use the large chart paper to record your responses • Attach your source to the chart paper when you have completed your group analysis • Write each group member’s name in the upper right hand corner of the chart paper

19. YOUR final DBQ… Reconstruction was a successful program in which the social, economic, and political problems of the United States were resolved. Assess the validity of this statement. Now – Restate this “question” in your own words.

20. In other words: Was Reconstruction successful in solving the nation’s social, economic, and political problems?

21. A Final Key Point for Today… When you answer a DBQ… MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE “QUESTION” THAT WAS ASKED.