DBQ D ocument B ased Q uestion

Preview the DBQ 1.Read the Historical Context section. It gives a basic introduction to the DBQ. 2.Read the Task section. It states the questions that must be answered. 3.Number the Questions that must be answered in the essay. 4.Circle the number of Documents needed to be included in the essay.

Steps to Writing a DBQ 1.Scaffolding Questions (Documents) 2.Outline 3.Essay

Parts of the D.B.Q. Essay Question - This is the actual question that must be answered in essay format by using the documents and outside information. It contains separate smaller tasks that make it easier to answer. Scaffolding questions - These are questions related to the documents. Answering them helps students understand the primary sources related to the essay question. Every document will have at least one scaffolding question. Outline- This is the general framework for organizing the essay.

Scaffolding Questions All scaffolding questions must be answered first in order to help give insight into the essay question Carefully look at each scaffolding question. If it is some sort of text, read it carefully more than once.

Tips on Creating an Outline 1.The outline is a blueprint for you essay. 2.The outline should be a short description. Do not add too many details. 3. Follow standard outline form.

How to Organize Your Outline/Essay In your outline/essay, each task question gets its own body paragraph. (Min of 2) In your outline, each new paragraph has a new Roman Numeral. In your outline/essay, you should combine documents that have similar themes into one body paragraph. In your outline/essay, each body paragraph gets its own topic sentence to introduce the main idea of the paragraph. Every document should come with TOD!

Essay Writing in Social Studies All social studies essays have a minimum of four paragraphs. Most have more. These include an introduction, a body (made up of two or more paragraphs), and a conclusion.

Never use first person –First person can be recognized by the words I, me, myself and mine. –Be careful! There is also first person plural. –This can be recognized by the words us, we, our, and ours. –For example the phrase “I am going to write about …” must never appear in any essay Never use second person either –Second person can be recognized by the words you, your and yours. –For example the phrase “You will read about…” must never appear in any essay. Always write in third person unless your teacher tells you to do otherwise –Third person can be recognized by the words he, she, him, her, his, hers, they, them, their, theirs and it. –Example: “He believed that the North needed to enter the war in order to keep the Union together.” –Using a person’s name is also writing in third person.

Also keep in mind that the final product of a D.B.Q. is a formal essay and so there should be no abbreviations. While it is fine to write “The U.S. Constitution…” It is not acceptable to use ‘text messaging’ types of spelling or shortened versions of other words. Examples: w/o (without), b/c (because). Although two or more documents should be discussed in a paragraph (as indicated in the outline), never discuss more than one document in a sentence.

The Essay Question Look at the tasks of the essay question. Determine how many parts it has. This will indicate how many paragraphs should be in the body of your essay. If the question requires three tasks, it is likely that there will be at least three paragraphs in the body.

If the essay question were the following: Explain some of the hardships that were faced by the settlers moving westward in the 1840’s. Be sure to include: Conditions related to the wagontrains Climate related difficulties Encounters with the American Indians It is likely that there will be three paragraphs in the body of the essay.

The Statement of Theme At this point it will be necessary to write a statement of theme. A statement of theme is a compound sentence that takes in all the major ideas of the essay. It appears anywhere in the first paragraph. Make sure that the statement of theme incorporates the concepts contained in the essay question. What appears in your introduction can be explored in the rest of the essay.

Using the example from the earlier slide a statement of theme might look like this: People moving west on the frontier in the 1840’s experienced many challenges that included difficulties with the wagons, weather, and the American Indians.

A sample outline might also look like this: I.Introduction A. Paraphrase historical context B. Task I C. Task II II.Body A.Task I- Topic Sentence\ 1. Example (outside information) 2. Document Support (if available) 3. Example (outside information) 4. Document Support (if available) B. Task II- Topic Sentence 1. Example (outside information) 2. Document Support (if available) 3. Example (outside information) 4. Document Support (if available) III. Conclusion A. Restate the main ideas of the essay B. General statement

The following rubric is based on the rating scales of New York State which are used to assess the eighth grade exam. Although each teacher uses their own scale, the concepts are the same. Individual teachers will let their classes know what scale they will use to grade.

Rubric Points 5 Analyzes the documents accurately and provides insightful interpretations. Gives a complete answer to the essay question. Organizes the essay into standard essay format. Uses details from the documents to support concepts. Uses accurate information not contained in the documents to support concepts (outside information). Uses complete sentences. 4 Analyzes documents accurately and interprets to a lesser degree. Gives a complete answer to the essay question. Organizes the essay into standard essay format. Uses details from the documents to support concepts. May fail to use outside sources to support concepts. Uses complete sentences following all English rules.

3 Analyzes documents accurately. May make small mistakes in interpretation. Answers the essay question relatively completely. Organizes the essay into standard essay format. Uses some details from the documents to support concepts. Uses no outside information to support concepts. Makes some small spelling and /or grammar mistakes. 2 Some analysis of documents but no attempt at interpretation. May contain factual errors. Attempts to answer the essay question but falls short of a complete answer. Fails to use standard essay format. Uses few or no details from the documents to support the argument. Makes mistakes in grammar and spelling.

1 Somewhat off topic when answering the essay. Ignores rules of English usage. Gives no details from the document. 0 The answer is unrelated to the topic Gives no answer.