1. Progressivism DBQ: Planning Day
Bell-Ringer:
Imagine you are in a teacher’s shoes, grading an essay like the Western Movie Project. As the grader what 2-3 things would you be looking for in a great body paragraph?

2. Topic Sentence: Poor, OK, Great?
Example Thesis: True Grit is not an accurate portrayal of the American West because it contains an excessive amount of violence, depicts women in an incorrect fashion and falsely portrays cowboys as heroes.
Topic Sentence(s): At the beginning of the movie, John Wayne walks into a saloon and draws his gun. He plans on killing a handful of customers.

3. Integration of Evidence: Poor, OK, Great?
An example of an excessive amount of violence from True Grit occurs in the middle of the movie when John Wayne goes on a shooting rampage of the town and manages to kill a brigade of 20 armed men by himself. Without a doubt, this level of violence surpasses the actual amount of violence that occurred in the history of the American West.

4. Elaboration: Poor, OK, Great?
We know that the American west was not a violent place, so the movie is false.
In reality, the American west was less violent than our society nowadays. Bank robberies were infrequent and strict restrictions were placed on gun possession.
In reality, the American west was less violent than our society nowadays. In his 1994 study on post Civil War violence, Professor Jachimiec gathered statistics to show that only eight bank robberies occurred over a 50 year period. According to Jachimiec, this was largely because western towns prohibited the conceal-and-carry of firearms.