How To Write A DBQ…

1. How To Write A DBQ…

2. Read the prompt • Underline the verb in the prompt: evaluate, assess, analyze, establish the validity (truth), etc. • Look carefully at any conjunction in the prompt: i.e. does the prompt ask you to compare and contrast, or does the prompt ask you to compare or contrast.

3. Bring in Outside Knowledge… • Quickly make a list of what you already know--the people, documents, issues, topics, battles, social changes, etc… that you feel are relevant to the prompt.

4. Read all of the documents • Note the source, the author, the point of view, the date, etc. • Highlight/ underline specific parts of the document which help answer the prompt • You want to use all of the documents if possible.

5. Questions to ask yourself about the documents…. • Who wrote this source? • Attribution who is this author/artist, etc.? • Why might he/she be significant? • What is the POV of the author? (more than gender) • How reliable & accurate is the source? • What is the tone or intent of the author? • What are common themes/ groups in these sources?

6. Who wrote this source?Demonstrating POV/Bias… • Attribution: cite the author by name, title, or position, if possible • Why is this person and document selected? • How does it help me answer the question? • Examples: • John Tyler, an English writer, said, “…” • A Dominican monk in Florence described…

7. Who wrote this source?Demonstrating POV/Bias… • Authorial POV: you show awareness that the gender, occupation, class, religion, nationality, political position or ethnic identity of the author could influence his/her views • How does this apply to the question? • Why did the author write what he/she did? • Example: • Balthasar Rusow, a Lutheran pastor, was naturally upset by the celebration of a Saint’s Day, since Lutheran don’t venerate saints.

8. Grouping Documents • Try to group documents into three groups… • Sometimes the prompt gives you the groupings- • Example: “Analyze the religious, political and social reasons for the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.” • Sometimes you have to determine the groupings- • Example: “Analyze the reasonsfor the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.”

9. Grouping Documents • Documents can be grouped in multiple ways… • Think about a pile of children’s shoes: Could group by color Could group by “function”- play vs. party shoes Could group by color & design

10. Grouping documents by author… • Grouping of documents by author: you show an awareness that certain types of authors, simply by their authorship*, will express similar views when you group documents by type of author • Example • As Northern Renaissance humanists, Erasmus, More, and Cervantes all poked fun at the foibles and scandals of late medieval society as well as their own. • *the quality or function of an author

11. How to write a strong thesis statement.

14. How to reference a document in your essay…. • Baldasare Castiglione, in The Handbook of the Courtier, said, “…….” (doc 4) • Erasmus of Rotterdam, a northern Christian humanist, agreed with….. (doc 7) • The 19thC historian, Jacob Burkhardt, felt that ……… (doc 9) • NEVER begin with: In document 3, …..

15. How to “cite” a document • Throughout your essay, you may show that you are referencing a document by identifying its number in parentheses, e.g., (Doc. 1). There are no irrelevant or deliberately misleading documents. -College Board

16. Credits… • Dover-Sherborn High School DBQ “How To” • Ms. Susan Pojer, Horace Greeley HS, Chappaqua, NY • College Board