The Document-Based Question

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The Document-Based Question
DBQ
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What Is It?

• An essay that requires you to interpret primary
  source documents to be able to answer a
  questions.
• Documents might include the following

Newspaper articles/editorials Letters/diaries Spee
ches Legislation Political cartoons Charts and
graphs
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What Are the Documents for?

• To discuss events and ideas with which you are
  familiar.
• To support or refute the essay questions
• Focus around the essay topic

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I Have the Question, Now What Do I Do? Getting
Started

• Read Historical Background. Very useful for
  introductory paragraph.
• Read the question THREE times
• Identify the historical period being discussed
• Do NOT move on until you fully understand it

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Identify the Task

• Identify the task by circling the main words
• For example assess the validity, compare and
  contrast, evaluate relative importance, analyze
  the significance, etc.
• Ask yourself WHAT DO I HAVE TO PROVE

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Gather Outside Information

• Make a list (outline) of outside information
• List all relevant issues, historical terms,
  names, and events
• Take 2 or 3 minutes
• Decide what you can and cannot use

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Reading the Documents

• When you first look at a document, ask yourself
  the following questions
• WHO is the author of this document?
• WHAT audience is the document written for?
• WHEN was this document written what time period
  in history does it fit with?
• WHERE is the document from a newspaper,
  textbook, diary, etc.? Is it a primary or
  secondary source?
• WHY is this document important what is the
  purpose of the document what does it tell us?
• HOW is the document important?
• You may not be able to answer all of these
  questions for every document, but the more
  information you can gather before answering the
  document based questions, the easier they will be
  able to answer.

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Reading the Documents Cont.

• Underline any key words or phrases that you may
  use later.
• In the margin take notes about the documents
• Pay attention for Inconsistencies
• Not all documents agree
• Present different view points
• Recognize inconsistencies
• Answer the scaffolding questions for each
  document in COMPLETE SENTENCES

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Thesis Development

• Read question one more time
• Develop an argument you can prove- YOUR
  THESIS!!!!!
• Make sure your thesis addresses all pertinent
  aspects of the question

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What is a THESIS?

• A thesis is a statement that reflects what you
  have concluded about the topic of your paper,
  based on a critical analysis and interpretation
  of the source materials (documents) you have
  examined.
• The thesis, is the HEART of your paper. It
  presents what you have concluded about the topic
  under discussion, and provides the focal point
  for the rest of the essay.

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If Then
Your thesis statement does no more than repeat the topic you are writing about It is NOT a thesis
Your thesis statement poses a question without proposing an answer It is NOT a thesis
Your thesis statement merely states a fact or series of facts It is NOT a thesis
Your thesis statement simply reflects a personal belief or perference It is NOT a thesis
Your thesis statement proposes an answer to the question AND Declares a conclusion with which a reader might disagree, and which can be supported by evidence from the sources It IS an effective thesis
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Getting Started Cont.

• Reread the task
• Use this to organize your essay.
• Decide what documents you will use and where you
  will you use them
• The documents you use need to support your thesis
• You need to use at MINIMUM 1 more than half the
  total documents
• Choose your outside information and where you
  will you use it
• It must support your thesis
• Organize plan of attack by creating an outline of
  both the documents and your essay.

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Getting Started Cont.

• Your essay will follow the standard writing
  formula
• Introductory Paragraph with a thesis
• Opening sentence
• Rephrase question
• Your thesis
• Introduce your arguments
• Body
• At least 2 full length paragraphs
• Typically a paragraph for each part of the task
• You need to use the majority of the documents to
  backup your argument
• The more you use, the better your essay if they
  are used correctly
• Conclusion

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Write Your Essay

• Get to the point
• Back thesis up with facts, solid evidence not
  fluff
• opening statement with your opinion, restate the
  question and 3 arguments
• Make sure you are addressing the question
• Refer back to the question several times
• Dont quote documentS ANALYZE AND INTERPRET IT

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Key Points to Remember

• Start with outside information first and write it
  down then read documents then construct a
  thesis
• Use as many documents as you can as long as they
  fit your thesis
• Dont explain documents that is not your task!
  Use documents to reinforce your main points and
  outside information
• Dont rewrite large portions of documents. Try
  to limit quotations to 1 sentence or less
• Reference authors you are citing (i.e. In the
  letter by Abraham Lincoln)
• Cite every document used (Doc. A), (Doc. F)

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CAPTAIN ESSAY

• This will help you write an essay.
• It will LITERALLY give you a guide to write a DBQ
  sentence for sentence.
• That means you should probably USE IT!

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Paragraph 1- Introduction

• Sentence 1- HOOK THE READER- interesting opening
  sentence about the topic. Make it a personal
  statement.
• Sentence 2- Topic background information IYOW-
  take from historical background
• Sentence 35?- Introduce task 1,2,3,4 etc- no
  details, no I am statements. SIMPLY restate the
  task
• Sentence 6- Thesis- YOUR opinion about the topic

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Paragraphs 2-4- Answer Task 1,2,3 etc..

• Sentence 1- Introduce Task 1- NO I statements.
  Basically same as intro sent. 3
• Sentence 2- 1st answer to task 1- use general
  knowledge fact
• Sentence 3- Prove Answer- use one of the
  documents for PROOF! Remember to cite the
  document (doc 3).
• Sentence 4- Outside information- use OI from
  class.
• Sentence 5- 2nd answer to task 1- use general
  knowledge fact.
• Sentence 6- Prove answer- use one of the
  documents for proof. Remember to cite.
• Sentence 7- Outside information
• Sentence 8- Segue- Lead into the next paragraph.
  Tie each task together.

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Paragraph 5- Conclusion

• Sentence 1- Re-state Thesis- DEFINENLTY USE
  different words.
• Sentence 2- Introduce Task 1, reword from intro
  sentence 3.
• Sentence 3- Best answer from paragraph 2.
• Sentence 4- Intro task 2, reword from intro
  sentence 4.
• Sentence 5- Best answer from paragraph 3.
• Sentence 6- Introduce task 3, reword from intro
  sentence 5.
• Sentence 7- Best answer from paragraph 4.
• Re-word thesis again. REMEMBER TIE UP your
  conclusion so the rest of the essay wont spill
  over.