DBQs!!

Working in collaborative groups do the following: 1. Read the question – that is, the prompt—three times.

2. Identify the task. State in your own words what you are being asked to write.

3. Circle or underline the main words, especially words of direction, such as “analyze”, “explain”, “compare and contrast”, “evaluate” and “to what extent” etc.

Continued…. 4. Briefly list the main events of the historical time period addressed.

Use the acronym PERSIA to help with your list: political Economic Religious Social Intellectual artistic

Continued: 5. Read each document, noting the source and/or title

Briefly write the main point of each. Group the documents on the basis of positions if the prompt requires you to take

one.

Thesis: Decide what your position is.

Write a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question (does more than re-stating the question)

Example:

http://www.henryhudsonreg.k12.nj.us/hhrs/Personnel/Faculty/Shawn%20Feeney/AP%20United%20States%20History/AP%20Test%20information-Structure%20and%20Format/Better%20Practice%20Information/Thesis_Statement_Construction.pdf

Other Power Point here

Want a formula? Although……

however…….

because……

Here is a stellar one from the question you’ve been asked: “Although there were significant taxes stemming from the French and

Indian War that caused an economic burden upon the colonists, these measures only perpetuated the colonists’ desire to sever an already fleeting relationship with Great Britain. Thus, to a large degree, existing political motives such as the end of salutary neglect and enlightenment ideals of popular sovereignty greatly contributed to the colonists’ beliefs that they should rebel from England and form a new, independent nation.”

Make your outline: Supported points, etc.