AAE - Deconstructing the DBQ (Lesson)

Deconstructing the DBQ.

The Document Based Question in European History has a very prescribed method of writing. It is here that the Collegeboard is testing a mix of what you know along with how well you can "write historically."

So what does it mean to "write historically?" Well, it simply means you can do the work a historian would do. You can read primary and secondary source documents, analyze them, extract information from them, and draw conclusions about the topic at hand and relate it to your studies, thereby bringing in "outside knowledge" to support the documents. Think of it as a mini-research paper for you where someone else has already done the majority of the research.

Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Primary sources are firsthand sources. . .something directly from the person. A diary entry, a painting, a letter, a government report, an original work by an author (not a compilation or a book about another's work), etc Secondary source documents are documents written AFTER the fact. They don't provide a first hand account, instead they analyze historical events, often providing different perspectives. Historian accounts, textbooks, etc. are all considered to be secondary sources.

Your task, then, is to work with that information. To create a comprehensive thesis then support that thesis with evidence gleaned from the given documents. You need to display a greater analysis of the documents by determining the point of view of said documents. . . determine if the information can be accepted at face value or if there is some evidence of bias that may impact what is being said, thus how we interpret it.

What does this mean? Laundry List - A "laundry list" is when you list the docs with no attempt to discuss them. Ex - Doc. 2 is a speech made in Parliament. Doc 6 is a French report on Elizabeth's response to Parliament. . . Lumping Docs - Lumping docs refers to when a student states something along the lines of "In doc 2 and doc 3, they view women as weak." Since there is not an individual statement for each doc, neither count. Attribution - Attribution is the process in which you refer to the documents by author, title or both rather than by number. It is generally frowned upon to refer to a document as - In Document 4 . . ., instead, you want to refer to a document this way - John Aylmer stated in his pamphlet . . . It is certainly acceptable to add the document number in parenthesis after your sentence such as (Doc. 3) - this will help you and your reader keep track of the documents you use while still allowing you to officially refer to the documents via attribution.

The College Bord states: Each document-based question will also always assess the historical thinking skills of argumentation, use of evidence, contextualization, and synthesis. The directions to students will explain the discrete tasks necessary to score well on this question. If you have not already, click here to download a copy of the DBQ rubric. Links to an external site.As noted earlier in the module it is recommended that you have a copy of this available whenever you write a dbq.

 

Using and Understanding the Docs.

There are two points that are associated with the using and understanding of documents. All start with a base assumption that you will use six of the documents.

In order to get this point you must discuss the six documents individually and specifically. This means if you simply laundry list the docs or lump them together in a sentence, you haven't actually discussed them and therefore can not gain this point. So how should you refer to them? At a bare minimum you should refer to the docs by attribution. Four documents, however, will also need to have point of view references. (Note: This is a change from the national exam! In order to the Analysis and Reasoning point, you only need to use three documents. In this course, you will be expected to use four. The reason for this to give you a little bit of added protection. You have to have 3 statements to gain the rubric point. If one falls short and you only wrote 3, you fail to get the point. But if one falls short and you wrote 4 or more, you have another chance to have one counted.)

 

Can you use more than six?

YES!


In fact, I would encourage you to get in the habit of using all of the documents. Using six documents is the baseline. IF you are already working to incorporate documents AND drafting point of view sentences (which you will need to do to get credit for DBQ's within this course), why would you not attempt to incorporate just 1 more document? It's a simple addition to the essay you are already writing and might net you a major payoff.

 

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.