How to Do A DBQ for A.P. U.S. History
The following is a guide, with initials E. S. P., meant to ease the time-constraints of the
test by giving you three categories in which to channel your knowledge for writing any
US History DBQ.
You might use E.S.P. right after you read the DBQ prompt, you could use ESP when
reading the documents, and you will use E.S.P. when writing your final essay.
E.S.P.
Economic, Social, Political.
Economic: Money, trade, the economy, as well as foreign policy having to do with
these economic items.
Examples: Currency problems of the 13 states under the Articles of
Confederation, the various bank notes in our early republic, or back to the
problems surrounding the Currency Act in the 1700’s. Navigation Acts,
Britain’s blockade of U.S. goods to Europe in the early 1800’s during its
war with France, Jefferson’s Embargo Act, the treason of New England
during the War of 1812. The recessions and depressions of the early
1800’s, the government’s use of the Bank of the U.S., taxation tyranny that
caused Shay’s Rebellion, tyranny by the state as evidenced in debtor’s
prisons. The economic angles on slavery in the South, North, and West.
Tariffs and how they hurt the South and helped the North, as well as tariff
issues in other time-periods. Transportation issues and changes that
developed economies, such as the Erie Canal, railroads, and more.
Social: Religion, ethnic groups, art, social strata (economic categories of citizens),
traditions (traditional views in the psyche of the people of the given time-period),
geography, others.
Examples: Religious groups like Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, their beliefs about
things like slavery, government, women, etc, as well as the area of the colonies
they settled, and why. What the geography and climate had to do with an
area’s development and the trends that evolved from the given area (like the
rocky, cooler northern colonies). What women did in everyday life up North to
sustain the family and the intellects of the children, as compared with what
women did (or did not do) in the South, and why. How old-world prejudices
against Irish and Blacks carried to the new world for generations. The New
World and then the (first) West being settled by the third and fifth sons.
Agrarian interests in the South and the Ohio Valley. The rise of Abolitionist
societies over time, and why. The excuse that was Manifest Destiny and the
wars that ensued. Spreading news and views with newspapers, committees of
correspondence, engravings, paintings, political cartoons.
Political: Party politics, party platforms, the social contract (politicians acting in line
with voters to keep their jobs), Presidential coat-tails, election issues, geographic
political lines, social political lines, the politically disenfranchised, and more.
Examples: Parties like Jeffersonians and the Federalists (Hamiltonians), and their
arguments about federal funding of transportation and the Bank of the United
States, and much more. Jacksonian Democracy and the death of the
Federalist Party, and how the early Democratic Republicans became
“Democrats.” The diverse groups in the Whigs and why they came together,
the rise of the 1850’s Republican Party and their true platform. Of the parties
throughout time, which relate to Jeffersonians and which to Hamilton and the
Federalists? States Rights. Scandals, corruption, and why, and result of
nearing one-party rule. And, tying these in with the previous two categories
of Economic & Social, with the passage and dismantling of the Bank of the
U.S., the South’s change on this matter over time, the embargoes, etc. The
rise of the “judicial review” by the Supreme Court, key decisions, precedent,
and the rare (if eventual) changes in precedent.
1. Reading the questions and identifying the task it asks you to do.
Read the question 2-3 times.
Circle or underline the main words, especially words of direction, such as "analyze,"
"explain," "compare and contrast," "evaluate," and "to what extent."
Stick with the type of task the DBQ has asked you to do. (Writing a historical review using
the documents will gain you nothing. You were asked to “analyze” or “compare,” etc.)
Note the time-period that the DBQ prompt is asking you to discuss (and don’t stray from
that time-period in the next steps.)
2. E.S.P. & What you know of the time-period.
(Do not start reading the documents yet.)
In your scratch-paper section, divide out three areas for E.S.P.: Economic, Social,
Political. (For descriptions of these three categories, see page 1.)
Before reading the documents, pull from your memory what you already know of the
time-period as it relates to the prompt’s subject matter. Bullet-out very brief reminders of
your knowledge in each of the areas of your E.S.P. scratch section.
3. Reading the Documents
. . . & summarizing what you know of each.
Read each document, noting the source type, author, time-period or the title.
Briefly write the main point of each document (either in a list or on the document itself.)
For example, note if what you are reading is a campaign speech (which is meant for a
particular crowd, possibly for a momentary purpose), or if it is a letter that comments on
Thomas Pain’s famous call to action, or if it is from a private diary by someone close to
Lincoln (where there are perhaps few public motives). This is not to say that one type is
more valuable to your essay than another. You may choose to focus on the public
persona of a historical figure, as it is that which the public knew, and which caused
certain actions to happen. You may bring the more “private” correspondence into your
essay as a point of contrast. So, at this point, you simply need to note the type and
purpose of the document.
Understand the author’s point of view: His place in the events about which he writes, in
the time period of the prompt, his relation to famous figures, famous literature referred to
in the document, trends of the time-period, etc. Make a quick note if you have
something revealing about the point of view or the general history, be it irony, the
author’s profession, what the document reminds you of, etc.
4. SORT the documents.
If the prompt requires you to take one position or another, group the documents on the
basis of those positions. For example, in a DBQ that asked students to evaluate colonial
identity AND unity, eight documents were given, lettered A through H. Students should
have noted that documents A, C, E, and G are about unity, whereas documents B, D, F,
and H deal with identity. And, there are times when some documents may be used to
support both sides; for example, both unity and identity.
✴ If, however, there are only five documents, use four of them, or all five documents.
5. Write your thesis statement.
(The first sentence of your essay. --One easy sentence.)
Looking at your sorted documents, looking at your initial E.S.P. info (which concerned
mainly the era of the prompt), looking at your summary points on the documents, and
looking at the action the prompt asked you to do, write your thesis statement which
you intend to prove with your knowledge and documents.
This will be the first sentence of your essay.
This first sentence clearly states your position.
6. E.S.P. your Favored Documents.
Identify which documents that you hope to use to help prove your theses statement.
Put the main point of these documents and/or key highlights of said documents into the
correct place of your E.S.P. scratch outline.
You now know what your are going to use and say in your essay: An introduction which
has your Thesis Statement, three central paragraphs that are E. S. & P., and a
conclusion. Basically, the five-paragraph essay.
7. Plan to acknowledge the opposite side of your Thesis.
Plan to include information from a document (or two) that is against your thesis, simply
for the purpose of “taking it down.” (This brings a higher score for your essay.)
(However, in a DBQ with 8-9 documents, I would not recommend using more than two.
Otherwise your essay faces a low score for becoming too much of a “review of the documents.”
The test-scorers are trained to look for and grade down such “reviews.”)
This will be done at one or two points in the body of your essay, making this endeavor
10% or less of your total written draft.
Put the opposite item (or two) in the correct area of your E.S.P. notes, and mark it as
“opposing view” somehow.
8. Assign numbers and letters to your E.S.P. scratch outline.
Which will be #1 in your E.S.P.? Will “S” --Society-- be the best thing to write first? Will it
be the economy? Or will the economic argument be last to drive the point home?
Decide and mark.
Letter off your scratched notes under each section of E. S. & P. so that you do not have
to figure this out as you write the draft, instead of realizing after you’d written several
sentences that you should have brought another item in first...
This completes your outline.
9. Write your second sentence, clarifying your thesis and essay plan.
This second sentence will define a key word or two (like Jacksonian democracy) and will
include the categories you numbered in your E.S.P. sections. (Make sure you write the
categories in your thesis in the same order you are going to talk about them in your
essay.)
10. Write the body of your essay: 3 Paragraphs. (...and then a conclusion)
Write the three sections/paragraphs of your essay, noting your own knowledge from the
time-period, subject matter, and the points derived from the documents that you chose to
use. Your E.S.P. is your outline, already organized as per the previous sections, above.
See the “do’s & don’ts” on the next pages, especially how NOT to point to a provided
document.
You do remember how to write a correct paragraph, right? (Topic sentence, etc...)
Write your concluding paragraph.
Cleverly includes an example or two from the body to boost a restatement of your
thesis. (This is always a pain, but...)
Do’s & Don’ts of Writing Your DBQ
Noting the provided documents in your writing:
Citing the documents the right way is important.
Use the source or the title (such as the name of the author) when referring
to the information in the document. Do NOT use the word "document" in
the narrative of your essay. (Writing "Document A says," "Document B
says," and so on results in a laundry list of documents instead of an essay.)
You may use the word "document" in parentheses as a reference to a
specific document at the end of the information you have included from that
document.
For example, if Document G was a political cartoon showing citizens
criticizing the League of Nations, you would say something like:
Popular opinion in the United States for the League of Nations was
consistently very low (Doc G).
DO NOT write: "As seen in Document G," simply put the Document in
parentheses at the end.
Use only SMALL quotes (at most 10-15 words).
Don't quote a four line sentence, use bits and pieces of it. Whatever fits in
the flow of your essay.
Overall Rule: Students write the essay; documents don't write the essay.
How many documents to use in formulating your essay:
If your DBQ has eight or nine documents, you need to use, at a minimum,
one more than half of the documents. Two more than half is preferable.
If your DBQ has only five or six documents, then use all or all but one.
✴ If you aren't confident in your ability to use a document correctly then leave it alone
entirely. You are better off not using a document than using it incorrectly.
Be careful how you use a document that contradicts your thesis.
As noted in the previous numbered directions, you do want to acknowledge the other side
of an argument, but when using a document to do this, be sure to let the reader know that
is your intent. Otherwise you may be graded down for a perceived misunderstanding of
the material.
Use a balanced amount of documents in each paragraph.
Cut the Fluff:
Keep the thesis paragraph to just two sentences!
(See #5 & #9 in the previous how-to section.)
In DBQ's you shouldn't try to overwhelm your essay with tons of adjectives and
irrelevant information. That's called fluff. You shouldn't have a lot of fluff in your DBQ.
It doesn't need to sound fancy; it should be clear, concise, and to the point. Besides,
you really won't have time.
Don't use words like "probably" or "maybe"; makes you sound like you don't know
what you're talking about.
Answer the question; do exactly what the prompt asks.
(See #1 in the previous how-to section.)
Do NOT do a review of the documents in some fashion. If a grader realizes that is
what your essay boils down to, you will receive a zero or a one (out of nine).
Balance your essay:
Keep each of the body paragraphs balanced. Do not have one super paragraph and
two lesser ones. You're shooting for consistency.
Use A LOT of outside information that is not given in the documents.
(I mean a lot!)
With all the previous guidelines about documents and how to use them, it gets
lost on students that a majority of the essay writing is not to be directly from the
documents. The DBQ is a Q that is B on the D. The documents act as a
prompt to trigger analysis and knowledge of the subject matter, the time-period,
sociology, people, points of view, etc.
The documents act as a prompt to trigger analysis and knowledge
of the subject matter, the time-period, sociology, people, points of
view, etc.
Preparation:
Have you been studying information (people, parties, social trends, presidents etc)
on the timeline?
Have you been studying, practicing, and testing yourself with either of the APUSH
review books. The Best Test Preparation For AP United States History and Cracking the
AP U.S. History Exam.
Have you tried any of the practice DBQ’s available online or in the two APUSH review
books?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Since an early step in the DBQ process is to not read the documents but rather ask
yourself what you know of the subject matter and time-period, how would you do with the
following DBQ?
Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity.
In light of the following documents and your knowledge of the 1820’s and 1830’s, to what extent do you agree with the Jacksonians’ view of themselves?
This information was right out of the textbook, as well as reviewed in multiple ways in
both of the aforementioned AP study books.
Need some help?
http://www.professays.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/DBQ-Essay-Question-one.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How about this DBQ:
To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? Use the documents and your knowledge of the period from 1750 to 1776 to answer the question.
Most of this was covered in class in one form or another, from lecture, debate, as well as
your book. assignments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you are lost on both of these examples, then wake up.
Outside study and practice provides 85% of the study time and drills needed to score
a 7 - 9 (out of 9) on the essays, as well as a 4 or 5 (out of 5) for the entire APUSH test.
Studies by The College Board have found that the only significant way for classroom
work to have a greater effect on students’ DBQ scores, is for teachers to spend a month
of classes on practice drills and peer-grading. However, as noted on the College Board
website: Classes that have such time are often block classes in which students have
nine hours of in-class time per week, or are in a school district that starts classes before
mid-August. Such classes make up less than 10% of APUSH nationwide.
Thus, outside, independent study and review is crucial.
AP US HISTORY DBQ RUBRIC
The 8-9 Essay:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Contains a well-developed thesis focusing on the assigned task
Richly supports the thesis with specific details
Effectively uses a substantial number of documents
Supports thesis with substantial and relevant outside information
May contain minor errors
Is clearly organized and well-written
The 5-7 Essay:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Contains a thesis that addresses the assigned task
Provides adequate support for the thesis
Offers an imbalanced treatment of the task or may not address the entire
task
Effectively uses some documents
Supports thesis with some relevant outside information
May have errors that do not seriously detract from the quality of the essay
Shows acceptable organization and writing; language errors do not
interfere with the comprehension of the essay
The 2-4 Essay:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Contains a limited or undeveloped thesis
Deals with the question in a general, simplistic, superficial manner
Merely paraphrases, quotes, or briefly cites documents
Contains little outside information, or information that is inaccurate or
irrelevant
May contain major errors
May be poorly organized and/or written
The 0-1 Essay:
•
•
•
Lacks a thesis or simply restates the question
Exhibits inadequate or incorrect understanding of the question
Has little or no understanding of the documents, or ignores them
completely
• May contain substantial factual errors
• Is poorly organized and or written
___________________________________________________________________
Or, here is a gridded rubric:
http://mrbrennan.tripod.com/APUSH/id82.html