DBQ Guidelines – Six Helpful Hints from the College Board 1. Read the question -- that is, the prompt -- three times. Remember that in this instance "AP" stands for "address prompt." 2. Identify the task. State in your own words what you are being asked to write. 3. Circle or underline the main words, especially words of direction, such as "analyze," "explain," "compare and contrast," "evaluate," and "to what extent." 4. Briefly list the main events of the historical time period addressed. Use the acronym PIRATES to help you categorize the political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic aspects of the period. This is outside information that may be included in the essay. 5. Read each document, noting the source or the title. Briefly write the main point of each document. If the prompt requires you to take one position or another, group the documents on the basis of those positions. Some documents may be used to support both unity and identity. 6. Use the source or the title when referring to the information in the document. Do NOT use the word "document" in the narrative of your essay. (Writing "Document A says," "Document B says," and so on results in a laundry list of documents instead of an essay.) You may use the word "document" in parentheses as a reference to a specific document at the end of the information you have included from that document. These notes help you organize your use of the documents throughout your essay. Essential note to remember: Students write the essay; documents don't write the essay. FRQ and DBQ Guidelines – Basics The Introductory Paragraph Begin with a well-developed thesis statement that does three things: 1. Directly answers the question 2. Takes a position (interpretation) 3. Establishes organizational categories that can be used as topic sentences – your plan of attack and should usually follow right after your thesis. Also, do not repeat the prompt as your thesis statement. Be more specific, in other words, do not use words like social, political and economic as your organizational categories. That is too vague and doesn’t tell the reader what you are going to prove. It also hurts your planning for your topic sentences when your thesis does not contain specific categories Getting Started / The Prompt / Thesis Read the prompt carefully, then brainstorm whatever historical knowledge you have that is relevant to the question. Make notes or an outline of these facts. If doing a DBQ, you will use the documents later to help stimulate your recall of specific historical facts, just don’t rely on those documents to write your paper, that will be fatal. In some instances the prompt will provide you with the organizational categories so your plan of attack is quite simple to write, for example: To what extent and in what ways did the roles of women change in American society between 1790 and 1860? Respond with reference to TWO of the following areas: Domestic, Economic, Political, Social The pace of change was dramatic between 1790 and 1860. Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase opened up huge new territories for the United States to explore and exploit. Nationalistic fervor following the War of 1812 and Jackson’s removal of the Indians led many Americans to demand internal improvements to facilitate movement to the West. Technological innovations like the Steamboat and canal building enabled vast numbers of newly arrived immigrants and old stock Americans to venture outward into the wild frontier. This is all great context, now you need a transition sentence to link this context to your thesis – try it. Women’s roles changed dramatically during the 19th Century due in large part to the industrial revolution and the growing awareness of the abolitionist movement. Poor working conditions in factories spurred some women into the realm of political reforms while the continued debate over slavery led others into the social reform movement known as abolitionism. 1
When you write your thesis and plan of attack, give yourself room at the top of the page to fill in the rest of your Intro later. After you finish your essay, go back and complete your Introductory paragraph – try and fit the thesis inside of the historical context of the question. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________.
The Body of the Essay Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that does three things: 1. Directly addresses the question 2. Introduces a particular category 3. Takes a position on that category The topic sentence should always give you something to prove in the paragraph. When you do not have a position to argue, you will tend to merely list or describe factual information, losing focus on the specific question you were asked. Each paragraph should contain four components: 1. Topic sentence (components listed above) 2. Relevant specific factual information (as much as the student can bring to bear) 3. Interpretative commentary (analysis) that states how and/or why the factual information that supports the thesis (this should occur throughout the paragraph) 4. Clincher sentence (ties the entire paragraph directly back to the thesis) or a transition statement (creates a logical link between paragraphs) Students should fully develop their ideas by making direct connections between the factual information and their thesis throughout the paragraph, not simply in its last sentence. The number of paragraphs should be dictated by the question and the organizational categories. Essays do not always have to be five paragraphs long. End with a conclusion that does two things: 1. Synthesizes (integrates, fuses) the topic sentences of each paragraph in a way that speaks back to the prompt and reminds the reader what you were able to prove. 2. Directly answers the question (a reiteration of the thesis statement in different words) More Info on Thesis Statements A thesis statement in APUSH is the position a student is going to take, the argument that is going to be made. It is therefore the answer to the question being asked. As such, the thesis statement is not a fact; it is an informed interpretation of the facts. Neither is the thesis statement just an opinion. Rather the thesis is the reasoned judgment of the student. Most APUSH questions allow for a range of possible answers. In other words, a continuum exists and students can generally feel free to choose a response along that continuum. However, students should avoid crafting an extreme response at either end of the continuum. Most questions require a response that is not black or white but instead some shade of gray. That does not mean, however, that students should attempt to respond in the middle of the continuum. Such an attempt usually results in a failure to articulate a clear position. Students should also beware of the fallacy of “positive response bias.” Unfortunately, many students are inclined to answer a question in the affirmative. Students always need to carefully weigh all of the historical evidence and then craft a response that best articulates their understanding of the historical record. In other words, students should not feel free to argue any side simply because they can reasonably support it. Instead, they should feel compelled to support the side with the most evidence behind it.
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Also, do not repeat the prompt as your thesis statement. Be more specific, in other words, do not use words like social, political and economic as your organizational categories. That is too vague and doesn’t tell the reader what you are going to prove. Examples of thesis statements: Bad: George Washington set many important precedents as president. This is a fact not a position. Good: The precedents that Washington set as America’s first president greatly benefited the American political system. This is a clear position that can be supported or opposed. Weak: The Revolutionary War brought about change in American society. This is technically a position but it is vague and not really debatable. Strong: The Revolutionary War ushered in a slew of wide-ranging and permanent social changes in American society. This is a clear, strong, and debatable thesis. Sample Prompt: Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. In light of your knowledge of the following documents and your knowledge of the 1820’s and 1830’s, to what extent do you agree with the Jacksonians’ view of themselves? (1990 DBQ) Types of Thesis Statements: 1. Direct: This a straightforward statement that clearly and directly answers the question. To a remarkable degree Jacksonian democrats succeeded in implementing their vision of American society. 2. Compound: Use this approach when trying to prove two main points. Use the word “and.” Jacksonian democrats successfully portrayed themselves as guardians of American ideals and did indeed achieve a remarkable degree of success in protecting those ideals. 3. Split: This approach splits the thesis into several categories. In essence it combines the thesis statement with the plan of attack/themes of the essay. This works best when the prompt itself provides the essay categories. To a large extent Jacksonian democrats were not effective guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. 4. Complex-Direct: This type of thesis statement acknowledges that contrary evidence exists and addresses the complexity inherent in most essays prompts. A well executed complex thesis offers students the best opportunity to earn a high score. Key words such as “although” are helpful in constructing this type of thesis. Although Jacksonian Democrats truly believed that they were the guardians of American ideals, their actions betrayed other priorities and rarely lived up to either their rhetoric or intentions. 5. Complex-Split: This approach splits the thesis into several categories, acknowledges that contrary evidence exists and tackles the complexity inherent in most APUSH essays.
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Even though Jacksonian Democrats failed in their self-appointed roles as the guardians of the United States Constitution and individual liberty, they achieved great success in strengthening political democracy and the equality of economic opportunity. OR Although Jacksonian Democrats occasionally failed to successfully guard the United States Constitution, individual liberty, political democracy and equality of economic opportunity, overall their policies were quite effective in that regard. Essay Body / Paragraphs / Structure The body of the essay uses facts and details and your interpretation of these facts and details to make your argument as written in your thesis statement. The first sentence of every paragraph should be a topical sentence, in other words, a general statement that the rest of that paragraph is going to relate to. Conclusion Every essay should have a conclusion. The conclusion needs to be in agreement with the introductory paragraph. Your conclusion should not however be a summary of what you already said, it should instead put a cap on the end of your arguments in such a way as to finalize your thoughts using general statements. It should include a statement near the end which relates directly back to the original question/prompt, and is an answer to that original question. An excellent way to prepare to write your conclusion is to go back and reread your introductory and topic sentences. Another thing to remember is do not introduce new evidence into your conclusion that helps support your thesis argument. Citing Documents in a DBQ Use the source or the title when referring to the information in the document. Do NOT use the word "document" in the narrative of your essay. (Writing "Document A says," "Document B says," and so on results in a laundry list of documents instead of an essay.) You may use the word "document" in parentheses as a reference to a specific document at the end of the information you have included from that document. These notes help you organize your use of the documents throughout your essay. Essential note to remember: Students write the essay; documents don't write the essay. In other words, use the information from the documents and incorporate that into what you are trying to say.
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