Document-Based Question Essays (Dbqs)

DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION ESSAYS (DBQS)

Document based questions are essay questions that require the writer to interpret a set of documents, analyze them, and synthesize them into a coherent essay. All of the AP history exams have one document- based question. The focus of a document-based question is not knowledge of the content, it is the skill involved in using the documents—one is given the general historical background below the prompt. The skills can be taught, and when practiced, will allow the writer to deal effectively with any document- based question regardless of prior knowledge of its content.

Generally, the following procedure is followed:

1. The question is read and the COMMAND TERMS are identified. The reader notes what they are supposed to be looking for in each document. 2. Each document is annotated (or “tagged”) for the elements the question asks for in 3-5 words alongside the document. 3. The documents are sorted into groups, either according to the question or according to another organizing principle, by likeness. 4. Based on the groupings, the thesis is composed. 5. The evidentiary paragraphs are written and the documents are cited therein. Point of view is addressed for each document along with explanation of the impact of the point of view on the document itself. Additional documents that would aid in the analysis are requested and justified.

STEP ONE -- Read and understand the question

Step one in learning how to write a DBQ involves interpreting the COMMAND TERMS involved. COMMAND TERMS tell the writer what to do with the data (documents). Following are some of the principal command terms:

ANALYZE: determine their component parts; examine their nature and relationship

EVALUATE/ASSESS Judge the value or character of something; appraise; evaluate the positive points and the negative ones; give an opinion regarding the value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of

COMPARE Examine for the purpose of noting similarities and differences

CONTRAST Examine for the purpose of noting dissimilarities or points of difference

DESCRIBE Give an account of; tell about; give a word picture of

DISCUSS Talk over; write about; consider or examine by argument or from various points of view; debate; present the different sides of

EXPLAIN Make clear or plain; make clear the causes or reasons for; make known in detail; tell the meaning of

Examine the examples of DBQ prompts below and circle the command term/s in each: 1. Based on the following documents, discuss the opportunities and barriers that nationalist movements posed concerning women's rights. 2. Analyze the pressures on Great Britain's Liberal government during the Sudan crisis (1884 -- 1885), and explain why the government acted as it did. 3. Analyze and compare the major points of view concerning suffrage and the ways in which individual commentators believed woman suffrage would affect the political and social order.

Note that some questions have more than one command term, in which case one must follow both.

STEP 2 -- Annotating the documents (DOCUMENT ANALYSIS)

Once it is understood what must be found in each document and what must be done with what is found, identify this element in each document. Make notes next to the documents directly in the test booklet unless instructed to do otherwise. Keep your notes very brief – 5-6 words. Circle words in the actual document itself that indicate point of view.

A few tips for reading the documents:

1. The order in which the documents appear is often helpful. Documents often appear in chronological order, which can help you organize your essay. Otherwise, note the date of each document – this may come in handy for grouping later. 2. Pay attention to inconsistencies among the documents. Multiple perspectives are represented by the documents -- often it is your task to sort out the major viewpoints. 3. Identify the author or source. Use the mnemonic S.T.R.I.N.G.E.

S -- Social Class

T -- Trade

R -- Religion

I -- Ideology

N -- Nationality

G -- Gender

E -- Economic Status

Keep an eye out for hints as to the social status, trade, etc. of each author and note it when you cite them, e.g. the German prefix "von" indicates nobility. A document by Erick von Hart is the writing of a nobleman.

While you will never be able to determine all of S.T.R.I.N.G.E. for each document (or want to given time constraints), usually at least one of these factors can be identified and tied into the point of view analysis later.

STEP 3 -- Sorting the Documents (SYNTHESIS)

After having “tagged” all of the documents, you will begin to see similarities and differences between them. These similarities and differences will allow you to group the documents. Grouping is usually done in a chart as part of the pre-writing process. An appropriate chart for the question above may appear as follows:

Major Features: Documents Language 1, 4, 8, 10

Patriotism 2, 4, 5

Wealth 7,8,6

Religion 13, 12

Tensions Documents

Political Tensions 2, 4, 5,

Economic Tensions 3, 4, 5, 8, 6, 7

Social Tensions 7, 10, 12, 13

Note that sometimes a document can give data for more than one category, as in the case of document#4 showing both economic and political tensions. You may use a document in more than one paragraph.

You may also have noticed that the first and second chart have documents in common -- often the “tensions” are influenced by the “major features” themselves. Always look for connections between different parts of the question -- they very often line up in some way.

Some possible ways to group documents: The most important thing to keep in mind when grouping is whether the question gives one direction or not. Never impose one of the following grouping techniques if the question provides a paradigm. Nevertheless, the following can sometimes be used to group documents:

A. Geography: Note the origin (location) of each document, e.g. North Africa. One could group all of the documents from North Africa in one paragraph, etc.

B. Chronology: Note the dates of the documents. This is particularly important if they are responding to a major event or phenomena, e.g. the French Revolution. Sometimes the documents can be grouped in a before-during-after format. Sometimes you will be provided with a timeline, map, or chart that provides dates and can be used to organize your groups.

C. By author (S.T.R.I.N.G.E.): Sometimes one can group documents based on commonalities among authors, i.e. social class. One could, for instance, group all of the responses of nobles together, all the responses of bourgeoisie together, etc.

STEP 4 -- Write your thesis

A thesis must answer the question and provide a broad "blueprint" of how the evidence will be presented (i.e. should be analytical). Since you have already grouped the documents at this point, you are in a position to formulate a workable thesis.

Do not write out a full introductory paragraph – only a thesis. If you are stumped on your thesis, skip five lines of your essay, write your evidentiary paragraphs, then “reverse engineer” your thesis at the end of writing.

STEP 5 -- Write your evidentiary paragraphs Now you must write the body of your essay. Provide the following for each evidentiary paragraph:

1. A TOPIC SENTENCE that identifies what the "group" of documents you are writing about is. Do not cite specific documents here, and do not list them off (e.g." Documents 10, 11, 12, and 13 address economic issues…").

2. Indication of how the author of the document responded to whatever the question is addressing (e.g. political, economic, or social tensions between Walloons and Flemings). Do not paraphrase the entire document – only the part that matters to your argument. You must indicate how the document impacts the question (and by extension your thesis).

3. Treatment of the author’s point of view or perspective. What about the author, purpose of the document, or audience influenced what was said, written, etc.? DO NOT USE THE TERM “BIAS”.

4. Analysis of how the point of view impacted the document. Explain how the author’s point of view specifically influenced what they said, wrote, etc.

5. Request for an additional document that would help you understand the other documents in the group better. This document must be:

a. Not already present. Do not duplicate a perspective.

b. Relevant. Do not ask for a document from a perspective that wouldn’t add anything to your information on the issue. The opinion of Bobo the Clown might be interesting, but probably has no relevance to most DBQs.

c. Possible. Do not ask for an impossible document. This means that you cannot request a chart showing all shipping of every country from 1450 – 1750. How would this document have ever been produced? Good extra document requests ask for a specific type of person whose opinion is not represented, e.g. a Catholic Priest.

d. Justifiable: You must also explain why the extra document you are requesting would clarify the issue. If you fail to do so the extra document will not count.

Each document must be treated in all of the following ways:

1. Attribution: you must identify who the author is.

2. Paraphrase: you must explain the author’s viewpoint on the matter at hand.

3. Citation. You must give the document number in the following format (Doc. 1).

4. Point of view: you must identify the author’s perspective. Again, this is based on who they are, what they hope to accomplish with the document, and who their audience is.

5. Impact of point of view: why does the information about the author, purpose, and audience you have identified affect the document?

The following example shows each part of a document usage: According to a French diplomatic observer writing in 1890, Walloons by nature anti-clerical (Doc. 1) A part of the French Revolutionary diplomatic core, this observer would likely favor the anti-royalist Walloons. His association of Walloons with anti-Catholicism could be influenced by his desire to depict the Catholic Church as hated by many Europeans.

Note the following elements in this example:

1. The lead in: "According to … 2. Attribution: The author or source of the document. 3. Application: This should not be a lengthy quotation. It can be a paraphrase, but should be focused (i.e. don’t paraphrase the whole document – just the part that matters) 4. The citation -- (Doc. 1). This clearly indicates which document you are using. 5. Point of view: You must do this for every document. 6. Significance of point of view. How does the pov impact the tone or content of the document?

Conclusion: Do not write a conclusion. Go on to the next essay immediately, or propose more additional documents at the bottom of your essay.

Assessment

DBQs are graded on a nine-point scale. Seven points are considered “core” meaning they demonstrate basic competence. Two points are “expanded core” and display excellence. YOU MUST RECEIVE ALL SEVEN CORE POINTS TO GET ANY OF THE EXPANED CORE POINTS. The rubric used to score DBQs on the AP World History exam is below. Note that each DBQ also has a more finely-defined “Operational Rubric” that may differ slightly from the one below (usually in the requirements, e.g. number of POV treatments):

Analysis of the Rubric by point: 1. Acceptable thesis: Your thesis must a. answer the question, not just re-state it, and b. blueprint the broad categories of evidence you are going to present. In other words, it should be analytical. Your thesis needn't be superior to get this point -- merely adequate. 2. Understands the basic meaning of documents cited in the essay: You must read the documents accurately and not misinterpret them. Pay attention for use of irony, sarcasm, etc. Do not exaggerate what is said. Do not inject your own bias into the interpretation. 3. Supports thesis with appropriate evidence from all or all but one document: You must use evidence (in this case paraphrasing the relevant part) from all or all but one document. It is not sufficient to just mention a document without any context; this is why we group them into paragraphs and use topic sentences to make part of our argument. 4. Analyzes point of view in at least two or three documents: Get this out of the way right away in your first paragraph, then keep going for every document if possible. Remember, you must explain how the POV would impact the document (it isn’t enough just to identify things about the author). 5. Analyses documents by grouping them in one, two, or three ways, depending on the question: Hopefully the prompt will give you at least one way to group the documents. If you are not given specific ways to group, use mnemonics to set up groupings where practical. Mnemonics to consider include:

P.E.R.S.I.A. (Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Ideological, Artistic)

S.T.R.I.N.G.E. (Social Class, Trade, Religion, Ideology, Nationality, Gender, Economic Status)

Also consider grouping by the geographic origin of each document or chronologically – but make sure your topic sentences respond to the prompt.

6. Identifies one type of appropriate additional document: You need to identify a document that is NOT included that should be. You do not have to necessarily use a specific author, but should give their perspective, e.g. the perspective of a freed slave would be useful. Voter registration records, census reports, and other government charts and table make good additional documents in many cases. 7. Expanded core items: Expanded core items are at the discretion of the grader -- some of them are clear cut, e.g. "Uses all documents", while others are more loosely defined "Uses documents persuasively as evidence". Always cover all of you core points before attempting to earn expanded core points. A good strategy is to stick with the clear-cut expanded core points:

 Uses all documents  Analyzes bias or point of view in most or all documents  Identifies more than one type of appropriate additional document

Notes on testing strategy

1. Try to do point of view for four documents. Some of you POV analyses might not count (because you may misinterpret them or not be able to explain their impact), so it is better to have more get through.

2. Try for multiple extra documents. If you have time at the end of your essays, add in as many as you can on the DBQ. Make sure you explain why they would be useful to your analysis.