Writing the perfect DBQ

What you need to do: THESIS: create and discuss a perfect thesis Must be analytical, and NOT just a repeat of the question DOCUMENTS: Use all documents to prove your thesis correct POV: Notice, and show bias of sources (4+ documents) CONTEXTUALIZATION: show how this topic fits into a larger picture Must be several sentences OUTSIDE EVIDENCE: Introduce some “outside information” which was not found in documents, and be sure to analyze and explain how it fits into discussion – also, should be several sentences

Writing the perfect thesis: Write a thesis for this question: Discuss the roles of women in the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century.

What you need to do: Be sure to answer the question, not anything else It should hint of the groups you be making It should be active, not passive. Hint: avoid the word “was.” Create and argument which can be refuted, and go about planning on proving that argument Plant to create a chart BEFORE reading the documents

Rate these thesis statements The 1500s saw a great change in the role of women in religious conflicts. The role of women in the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century was important, and led to a lot of changes. The role of women in the on-going struggles with religion in the 1500s was vital, which can be proven using primary sources. Women played an active role in the religious debates of the 16th century, both as supporters of a break with Rome and as defenders of the Catholic Church. Women became political leaders throughout the 1500s, the most important were the Tudor Queens Mary and Elizabeth, and would be followed by Catherine Great of Russia and of Maria Theresa of Austria. BAD! REASON: JUST RESTATES THE QUESTION BAD! IT’S PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING IT’S STILL PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING, JUST REVERSED BAD! THIS ONE IS EXTRA SPECIAL GOOD. YOU SHOULD LIKE IT BEST! REALLY BAD! LIKE… STINKY BAD! IT DOESN’T EVEN TRY TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

What is POV? Good POV always has TWO elements: Ways to show POV: Show that the source has some bias, AND Show HOW his words in THIS article are showing that bias Ways to show POV: Position in society – show how who he is in society effects what he has to say in this document Tone – show this by referring back to where tone was shown, AND that his tone effected his words Reliability – describe if his reliability is in question, or that he IS reliable, based on who he is, AND how he shows it Show that different docs have different purposes by describing what the purpose is, AND how his words show that purpose (ex: speeches are meant to persuade)

Hint for POV Use the word “naturally” to show why he said what he said Example: “naturally” because of who he is… or “naturally” he’d say ____ because he is a ______

What it means to analyze Show you know what the intention of the document is, in relation to the question DO NOT QUOTE Show you’re using the document to prove your thesis

What it means to group docs Goal is to have three docs in a paragraph That way, you can mess one up, and still have two good ones Start each paragraph with an explanation as to why you grouped those docs together. A sentence or two is fine. Don’t dwell on this. You don’t really get points for doing this, it just shows deeper analysis. If you have four docs in a paragraph, split, and make two separate paragraphs

Final clean-up Put numbers of docs in outside margin Label POV in same margin where you attempted POV Verify you used all of the docs (cite by name of source) Verify you attempted POV and groupings more than three times (more is better!) Showing super deep analysis of docs and question