The Spartan DBQ Writing Tips
Essay is: Your thesis + 3 reasons (see the board categories) + conclusion. The documents can assist you with PROVING your thesis.
In your essay do NOT use signal phrases like: ‘Document 1 shows…’ ‘Document 4 proves..’ ‘As seen in Document 5…’ In your essay DO USE signal phrases like: ‘Words spoken by the Spartan warrior Xenophon suggest…’ ‘The Roman historian Plutarch writes that…’
Some DBQ Basic Stuff 1. You must answer the DBQ in your writing: Education in Sparta: Did the Strengths Outweigh the Weaknesses? 2. Re-write question in your own words. 3. Summarize the introduction document (yesterday). 4. This is your thesis. 5. Write OBJECTIVELY! No 1st or 2nd person (I, me, I think that, them, etc) 6. Examine each document. 7. ID the main idea of each document (see categories on the board…). 8. Ask yourself: What info in the document would support this main idea? And, what info in the document would SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT?! Do not simply summarize the documents individually….answer the DBQ question!!!