Part III: Document Based Question (DBQ)
What is a DBQ? A DBQ is basically a mini-research paper where someone else has provided the research for you. Your
job is to answer the prompt by analyzing the documents and using them as evidence to support your answer.
How do I start? Read the prompt and decide what you are trying to do. Then read the documents and try to interpret
how each one relates to the prompt. The next step is to look for documents with similar ideas that you could group
together to form an argument. Remember that you can use the same document in more than one grouping of
documents. Finally, you will write an essay with a clear thesis that answers the prompt.
What should my first sentence or two look like? Start your essay by setting the stage. Where and when are we in
history? What is happening? You do not need a traditional hook like in an English essay. Just set the stage.
What should my thesis look like? Your thesis should answer the prompt and provide the key ideas you will use to
organize your essay. Each prompt is unique therefore there is no simple formula for writing a thesis. In general a good
AP thesis has at least three key ideas that then become the topics of body paragraphs in the essay.
How do I ‘use’ the documents? You can paraphrase the documents or use short quotes from the documents to support
your thesis. You should refer to documents by citing the author’s name or the title of the document or the document
label.
Example:
According to Pope Paul III the Indians wanted to become Catholic. OR
In a 1537 papal decree it was argued that Indians wanted to be Catholic. OR
In document 3 the author claimed the Indians desired to learn about Catholicism.
Do I need to use all the documents? No. You need to use at least 6 of the 7 documents. However, it is a good goal to
try and use all 7 documents to form a stronger overall argument.
Can I include ideas that are not in the documents but that help me answer the prompt? Yes, but be careful. A DBQ
essay is based on the documents so you must use the documents. Ideas not in the documents should only be used to
reinforce or supplement an argument that is based on the documents.
How long should the essay be? DBQs tend to be 2-3 pages when handwritten and single spaced. Try not to worry
about length, instead focus on making a clear argument and supporting your argument with evidence from the
documents.
How many paragraphs do I need? Usually DBQs end up being five paragraphs, but that is not always true. You need an
introduction with a thesis, as many body paragraphs as you have key ideas/document groupings, and then a concluding
paragraph.
How do I finish? You should have a brief concluding paragraph that summarizes your key ideas and restates your thesis.
What if I don’t understand the documents? Look up words you don’t understand. Look at the source line and see if
that helps you understand the author’s point of view. Finally, remember that you don’t have to use all the documents.
Hopefully you understand at least 6 of the 7 documents.
But it is summertime, what if I can’t do homework because it is summertime? Hey, you signed up for this class, we
didn’t force you to take AP Euro. Now quit asking questions and go try to do your DBQ. Good Luck!
DBQ PROMPT: Analyze the values and purposes of Renaissance education and the extent to which these
values and purposes were transformed over time.
Document 1
Source: Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Italian humanist who later became pope, On the Education of Free Men,
1450.
So far we have touched upon studies (grammar, rhetoric, geometry, music) by which we may attain
enlightenment of the mind. However, we have not yet directly considered how we may most surely distinguish
the true and the just from the base and degrading. Need I then impress upon you the importance of the study of
Philosophy and of Letters…our guide to the true meaning of the past, to a right estimate of the present, to a
sound forecast of the future. Where Letters cease, darkness covers the land; and a Prince who cannot read the
lessons of history is a helpless prey of flattery and intrigue.
Document 2
Source: Painting by unknown artist of Massamiliano Sforza,
son of the Duke of Milan, attending lessons circa 1500.
Document 3
Source: Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author, The Book of the Courtier, 1528.
The courtier should be passably learned in the humanities, in the Latin poets, orators, and historians, and should
also be practiced in writing verse and prose, especially in our own vernacular. In this way he will never want
for pleasant entertainment with the ladies, who are usually fond of such things and even if his writings should
not merit great praise, at least he will be capable of judging the writing of others.
Document 4
Source: Desiderius Erasmus, northern humanist and theologian, On the Art of Learning, 1511.
When once the simpler rules of composition, in prose and verse, and the commoner figures of speech have been
mastered, the whole stress of teaching must be laid upon a close yet wide study of the greater writers. The
student devotes his attention to the content of the literatures of ancient Greece and Rome because with slight
qualifications the whole of attainable knowledge lies therein.
Document 5
Source: From the School of Ordinances of Wurttemberg, Germany, 1559.
At least twice a year, each pastor should admonish his parishioners that they be diligent in sending their
children to school, not only for learning the liberal arts, but also the fear of God, virtue, and discipline.
Otherwise, permanent harm must result, as children grow up without fear and knowledge of God, without
discipline, learning nothing about what is needed for their salvation, nor what is useful to them in worldly life.
Document 6
Source: John Brinsley, English schoolmaster, A Consolation for our Grammar Schools, 1622.
It is notorious that, in most of our common schools, the scholars at fifteen or sixteen years of age have little
sense of the meaning and true use of learning, but can only write Latin no one of judgment will want to read.
When they go to the universities, they waste their friends’ money and their own precious time. Afterwards,
they return home again, almost as crude as when they went.
Document 7
Source: Letter to the Parlement of Dijon concerning the reopening of a French Jesuit school, mid-seventeenth
century.
In general, it can be said that schools are useful in a civilized society, but having too many of them is always a
bad thing. The study of literature is appropriate only to a small minority of men. Such study weakens the body
and inspires contempt for all other occupations. More farmers are needed than magistrates, more soldiers than
priests, more merchants than philosophers, more hard-working bodies than dreamy and contemplative spirits.
**DBQ Extra Credit**
A) Outside Information Part of an AP Euro DBQ is to bring outside information into your essay that compliments
and adds to the information from the documents. Usually students come up with their own outside information
but to help you out we will provide an example for you. Your job is to explain in a brief paragraph how the
image below could be used to add to your DBQ.
Outside Information
B) Document’s Point of View, Audience, Purpose or Context Another part of an AP European History DBQ is to
evaluate the source of some of the documents. The source can be evaluated by focusing on the author’s point
of view, the intended audience, the purpose of the document, or the context surrounding the document. These
are challenging tasks for AP students and usually require lots of practice. **Hint: When trying to evaluate the
source you should focus on the source line rather than the document itself.** Select three of the documents
that you used in your essay and explain the significance of either the author’s point of view, the intended
audience, the purpose of the document, or the context surrounding the document. Each explanation should be
about two sentences. If you feel that you already included this information in your DBQ essay you can underline
or highlight where you did this and label it as POV, Audience, Purpose, or Context.
C) Synthesis Another challenging part of an AP European History DBQ is called synthesis. To demonstrate
synthesis students usually compare or contrast their thesis with historic events that took place in a different
time or location. To help you with this we will provide the time (early 21st century) and location (USA/Edmonds
School District/LHS) for you to compare or contrast. In a brief paragraph explain how what you wrote about
Renaissance education compares to or contrasts with early 21st century American public education.