Writing a DBQ

General comments… Do not re-write the question. Just write your answer For questions #1-3, just answer the question that is asked, don’t turn it into a mini essay. The essay is question #4

Question #1 This is an “Understanding” question The number of marks tells how many facts you need If it is worth 2 marks, then you need two facts; 3 marks = three facts

Question #1(a) Do NOT quote from the document—put the answer in your own words. You do need to show that you know what the term means or who the person is… what is the person’s position or actions he took that make him a significant person. This is from your own knowledge. BUT… do NOT add other information not directly related to the term/person asked for… no background info for example.

Question #1(b) Purpose=reason, intention if the document is a cartoon, cite a feature of the cartoon to support your statement

Question #2 Describing the contents of the first source, then writing “then on the other hand” or “however” and then describing the second source is NOT comparing. You need two separate paragraphs… Para 1… Discuss their similarities and compare the sources Para 2… Discuss their differences and contrast the sources

Question #3 Write about each document separately… do not mix them together (in contrast to question #2) Origin… specific; what type of source or book. Don’t just say it is a primary source. What type? Who is the author? What is his job? Purpose… this refers to the entire source, not just the excerpt provided in the DBQ why was the source created? who is the intended audience?

Question #3 Value… WHY is a primary source valuable? Don’t just state the source is valuable because it is a primary source. What can you learn from the source? Type of source can help with this. For example… propaganda has value because you learn what the government wanted people to think about something.

Question #3 Limitation… Don’t say the source COULD be or MAY be or MIGHT HAVE BEEN… either it IS or it IS NOT. Was information falsified? Is there missing information? Is the view of an important group left out? If the document is positive, do you know who opposed the idea or why they opposed the idea from the document? Is the document a personal narrative that does not contain other details?

Question #3 Limitation… if an historian conducts sufficient and thorough research, is that a limitation that the source is secondary rather than primary? (no) Did the historian have access to government archives? If not, that’s a limitation. Think about what makes the source itself limited

Question #3 Unless told otherwise in the document or description with the document, let’s assume the translator was competent at his/her job. Don’t say it might have been mistranslated unless you happen to actually know that there are translation problems. In that case, tell which phrase was mistranslated and what it should actually say Don’t make an assertion that the document is limited… be sure to explain how/why it is limited.

Question #4 Start off by simply answering the question. That is your thesis. What are THREE REASONS for your answer? Organize your answer into categories… just like the body of an essay Then as you write about each of the categories, include information from the sources and your own knowledge. Incorporate them together. You should have approx use of documents & own knowledge is okay. If your essay is based too much on one or the other, it will not score well.

Question #4 Do NOT just run through each of the documents in order A through E. That is a “laundry list” of the sources. That does not show analysis. Using the reasons/categories allows you to group the documents and allows you to comment on importance, cause/effect, compare/contrast, evaluate. Be sure to acknowledge when you use a document (doc A)… (doc D) to show use of documents.