SO YOU SAY

YOU W

ANT A

9 Includes a practice

DBQ!

HELP! THE QUESTION HAS TWO PARTS!• Many DBQs have two, three, or four part

questions. It is imperative that you address all the parts.

• Common two part questions: “issues and reactions,” “attitudes and responses,” etc.

• Because you want three body paragraphs, the easiest way to attack a two part question is to have 2 issues and 1 reaction, or 1 attitude and 2 responses or of course issue/reaction X 3.

HELP! I CAN’T THINK OF A THIRD GROUP!• Sometimes the documents seem to lend themselves

nicely into two groups, and it’s hard to find a third.

• It helps to look at the longer documents: these are more likely to have multiple ideas in them than the shorter ones.

• Review the two groups you already have. Is one of them too general? Sometimes a general group can easily be divided into two more focused groups.

• Remember, a “group” only has to have two documents. It’s okay to only use two, as long as you still use a majority of the documents throughout your essay.

• Sometimes a document can fit in two different groups, but again, make sure you have the minimum number of documents before repeating some.

HELP! I DON’T UNDERSTAND POV!• Sometimes, POV will become clearer if you ask yourself

these questions:• WHY did the author write this?• WHAT caused the author to feel that way?• WHAT was going on in the world that could have

triggered these feelings?• WHERE is the author from?Each document provides you with a brief description of

the author. Look for key points like gender, occupation, class, religion, nationality, political alliance and ethnic viewpoints to use in your POV. Guys only cook really nasty poached eggs.

• Try and think like the person writing the document. If you can imagine some of the experiences they would be have had at that time due to certain events or social mindsets, that can be useful in your POV as well.

HELP! I’M ADDICTED TO THE WORD “VERY”!• Extra words such as “very” “things”

“aspects” “a lot” are unnecessary and are examples of poor writing

• Try and eliminate as many of these meaningless words as possible from your DBQ to make it as clear as possible

• For example, “the living conditions of the poor were declining at a very fast rate” versus “the living conditions of the poor were declining at a fast rate.” They mean the same, one is just easier to read

BEFORE ATTEMPTING YOUR FIRST DBQ…READ THIS• A DBQ is just a special type of essay.

• DBQ means “Document Based Question,” which means you are given 9-12 documents with which to support your essay.

• In AP Euro, knowing outside information is helpful but not necessary in any way. All the information you need is right in the documents.

• DBQs are graded on a scale of 1 through 9 Generally a 9=96% /8=92 /7=88 /6=84 /5=80 /4=76/ 3=72/ 2=68/ 1=64/ 0= F (% Discretion)

THE MAIN IDEASEach DBQ requires three basic parts to it.• A THESIS, easily the most important

part of your essay• DOCUMENT SUPPORT, using a majority

of the documents• POINT OF VIEW, analyzing the bias of

the document authors

• ….Let’s check out an example.

CRAFTING YOUR THESIS• Your thesis is the backbone of your essay.

Make it good• Aim for a five paragraph essay (intro

paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion)

• Your thesis should address the three topics from your body paragraphs – the so called X,Y, and Z

• “Analyze the factors that contributed to the instability of the Weimar Republic in the period 1918-1933”

• For a 5 paragraph essay, you’re looking for THREE strong factors for each body paragraph

CHOOSING YOUR GROUPS

Try to devise three groups so that all or almost all the documents fit in at least one group.

THESIS TIME

• Once you have chosen your three groups, writing a thesis is easy. These groups are often called your “X, Y, and Z”

• It’s okay to rephrase the question. Using the word “factors” will help pinpoint your thesis

• TIP: Make your thesis specific. Avoid generalities like “good, bad, mixed, positive, negative, neutral attitudes”

DOCUMENT DATA• When you incorporate a document to support one of your

three groups, you have to cite it, like this:

• John Smith, an English socialist, supported the idea of self government when he wrote “this is where you put the quote from the document.” (Document 7)

• Sometimes teachers prefer to have you circle your document numbers so it is easy to see how many you used.

• At the end of the sentence where you quote the document, use parentheses to indicate which document it was from.

• Make sure to both introduce the document and its author, as well as follow up the quote with an analysis of how it relates to the group.

TOPIC SENTENCES• Topic sentences have been around since second

grade. But the most important purpose they serve in a DBQ is supporting your thesis.

• It’s okay to use the exact same wording from your XYZ as your topic sentence. You might lose sophistication but you will gain clarity and not risk rewording it in a way that changes the focus of the paragraph.

• Remember to keep your topic sentence in mind as you write your paragraphs. You want to choose and analyze documents in a way that will support your topic sentences.

CONCLUSION: IT MEANS YOU’RE ALMOST DONE• Finishing a DBQ is a big accomplishment. You

want to have it end on the right note.

• Make sure to restate your thesis somewhere in your concluding paragraph, just for emphasis.

• The best way to end this paragraph is with a “so what?” statement. You just wrote an entire essay. So what? How does this topic relate to the grand scheme of history or developments that are to come? If you can tie your essay to a bigger topic, then you have successfully ended on a sophisticated note.

SOURCEShttp://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_frq_euro_history.pdfhttp://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_european_history_q1.pdf