Pre-AP World History Summer Asssignment

7/31/2019 Pre-AP World History Summer Asssignment

1/23

BROAD RUN HIGH SCHOOL

PRE-AP SUMMER ASSIGNMENTLETTER TO THE PARENTS

May 9th, 2012

Dear Parents,

Congratulations on your childs graduation from Middle School and their upcoming

commencement into Broad Run High School! There will be many great things that happen

over the next few years, as well as many changes, and we want to try and make that

transition as easy as possible.

The Pre-AP course is considered the Honors version of 9th grade World History, and

with it comes a more intensive work load including nightly reading and outlining, essay

writing and AP style assessments. While the content covered is the same in both the

Academic and Pre-AP levels, and both will properly prepare your child for the SOL andeventually college, many of these requirements listed above for Pre-AP are given on a

smaller scale in the Academic classes. In short, the Pre-AP level requires much more self-

motivation and self-organization, and requires the student to be much more self-driven in

their education to meet the requirements of the course.

To assist with this transition, the Social Sciences Department has created a Summer

Assignment for any students planning on taking Pre-AP World History in the fall. The

goal of this assignment is to not only give the students and parents a preview into the types

of assignments that will be required of the student, but to also allow them to practice over

the summer in order to better aid the student in his or her level of success in the course.

The summer assignment focuses on a key element of the course; the writing process,which is something almost completely new to the students. While they are used to the

writing process, they may or may not be accustomed to the process in the historical realm,

which requires less opinion and more factual analysis of information. It also will allow the

student to become accustomed to the AP rubric in which all papers will be graded against.

Teachers will be available via email all summer to help assist with questions on the

assignment, and the students are encouraged to attempt every question. While we

understand this is very new, being exposed to the process early will be very beneficial.

Thank you in advance and please be sure to contact us at any time.

Regards,

Broad Run HS Social Sciences Dept.

Email contact: JJ Totaro [email protected]

2012-2013 Pre - AP Summer Assignment


2/23

Read through the following packet of information, as well as the documents and

assignments provided and complete each section of work. Upon your return to Broad Run in thefall, these packets will be collected and graded. The essays written will be graded on the AP

Rubrics which will be the same throughout the year on your essays, so be sure to take time to

familiarize yourself with them as you work through these packets.

Section 1 - Compare and Contrast Essay/ Comparison Essay

Comparison essays take two subjects in history and ask you to evaluate them in specific

areas. At times these areas will be given to you, but at times you will be required to analyze the

information and create your own categories for evaluation. In this section, you will begin workingthrough and evaluating information for a Comparison essay.

* Please note that comparison essays may not always ask what is similar and different. They mayalso ask you to evaluate the causes, effects, outcomes, or other such topics of two subjects.

Examples will be provided later in the packet.

Section 2 - Document Based Question Essay/ DBQ Essay

DBQ essays, or Document Based Questions, are essays that require the reader to evaluate6-15 documents and then answer the question posed in the areas specified. DBQ essays are trying

to prove an opinion and must use the information provided to prove that opinion. The reader will

be required to understand each of the documents and also be able to make connections betweenthem.

* Please note that documents may not always be written, and can also include maps, charts,graphs and pictures which also need to be evaluated and analyzed. DBQ essays can ask their

questions in numerous ways, which require a specific answer.

The following assignment will break down both of these types of essays, as well as helping

you to structure the proper way to format, write and analyze an essay, which will be a requirement

of each test taken in class, as well as essays that will be written outside of class on a regular basis.

Section 1 - Part 1: Understanding the Question Posed


3/23

Each time a question is posed to the reader, it requires a specific answer, as well as

information to prove that answer and analysis to explain why the answer is correct. In this sectionthe reader will need to do the following;

1. Understand what the two subjects of the question are2. Understand what the question is asking the reader to answer

3. Understand the areas the question asks the reader to specify their information

Read through the following questions and answer the sub-questions for each. Be sure toread and analyze carefully to make sure the question is fully understood.

1. Analyze the similarities and differences between the early civilizations of Mesopotamia andEgypt in their economic, political and religious practices.

a. What are the two subjects being compared in this question______________________________________________________________________________

b. In your own words, what is the question asking you to compare_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

c. What are the areas they want to focus on and explain each area of comparison asked forand what specifically they are looking for out of your answer

_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. Evaluate the achievements and geographic comparisons between the areas of Mesopotamia and

Ancient Egypt.



_____________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

3. Analyze the social and geographic outcomes of the Persian Wars on the city-states of AncientGreece.


4/23



_____________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Section 1 Part 2: Formulating a Thesis

When creating a thesis, there are certain aspects that need to be addressed in a very specificway in order to meet the criteria of the AP rubric. This section will help to figure out what needs

to be included in the thesis, as well as how to properly answer the question posed to the reader.

First, and foremost, the thesis must directly answer the question in a 1-2 sentence statement

that is specific and concise (to the point). It must address the subjects of the prompt, as well as theareas in which the prompt has indicated, without repeating the prompt back in the sentence.

Additional items such as a general time period and location can be added, but are not always

required in the thesis to gain expanded core points. Expanded core points show mastery of theessay writing process, but that will come with time. Read below to see an example of a thesis and

its parts, and then try to create a thesis for the prompts given with your information from above.

Example Prompt and Thesis:

Analyze the similarities and differences between the religions of Christianity and Judaism

in the areas of their reference to god(s), their beliefs and/or practices and the belief in prophets.

Thesis: The early religions of Christianity and Judaism were similar in their belief in only one,

single God, their following of the Ten Commandments as a moral code, and the belief that Godspoke to a person to lead his people. However, Judaism and Christianity differ in their naming of

their one God, their holy day of the week and holidays, and who the true prophet was .

Meeting criteria: 1-2 sentences YESSpecific examples for each area YES

Has both similarities and differences covered YES

Does not repeat the categories given YES

In the first sentence, all the similarities are offered together as one complete thought, with

each category/area receiving a specific example in the sentence (they are in order if you cannotfind them, and in italics). The same is true for the differences that follow after in the next

sentence. Also pay attention to the transition word that shows that we are transferring to a new

topic in the next sentence. Now, with the same questions you were given, and the information


5/23

provided below, try to write your own 3 theses for the activity. Be sure to reference the example to

help you along.

* Note that the last question, asks for something slightly different; it asks for social and political

outcomes, or effects, following a war. For this question, you will need to express the social andpolitical effects on the Athenian city-states after the Persian War.

1. Analyze the similarities and differences between the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and

Egypt in their economic, political and religious practices.

MESOPOTAMIAN BASIC INFORMATION

Located along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East with desert on one side

and mountains on the other side of the river forcing people to stay close to the river tolive

Rivers are vitally important to their everyday life for water supply and farming

Mesopotamians created/used irrigation canals to control water to their fieldsEmpire was polytheistic believed in more than one god

Created temples to each God/Goddess and would sacrifice products to the gods

Temples were stepped pyramids; looked like stairs on each side of the pyramid

Mesopotamia was based on agriculture (farming) for most of its jobs/foodTrading items for other items (known as barter) was also very important to the

Mesopotamians and their economy. Usually traded grain or other products.

Mesopotamia was ruled by kings who were thought to be able to talk to the godsKings had all the power in society, but there were also social classes as well. Merchants

and Artisans made up the middle class and commoners/ farmers were the lowest class.

EGYPTIAN BASIC INFORMATION

Located along the Nile river in the area now known as Egypt with vast deserts on eitherside of the river forcing people to stay close to the river to liveRivers are vitally important to their everyday life for water supply and farming

Egyptians created/used irrigation canals to control water to their fields and also created

the sail to help navigate the Nile river for trading purposes

Empire was polytheistic believed in more than one godCreated temples to each God/Goddess and would sacrifice products to the gods

Temples were pyramids; that were smooth on each side of the pyramid

Egypt was based on agriculture (farming) for most of its jobs/foodTrading items for other items (known as barter) was also very important to the

Mesopotamians and their economy. Usually traded grain or other products.

Egyptians relied heavily on the Nile for their trading with other cities and areasEgypt was ruled by god-kings, called pharaohs, who were thought to be descendants or

relatives of the gods, and would become gods upon their death.

Pharaohs had all the power in society, but there were also social classes as well.Merchants and Artisans made up the middle class and commoners/ farmers were the

lowest class.


6/23

a. Write a thesis to the following prompt. Be sure to figure out what information would

qualify as economic, political and religious facts to use for your thesis. And remember to look atthe criteria and example above.

______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


Ancient Egypt.

a. Write a thesis to the following prompt. Be sure to figure out what information would

qualify as achievements and geographic facts to use for your thesis. And remember to look at the

criteria and example above.______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Analyze the social and geographic outcomes of the Persian Wars on the city-states of Ancient

Greece.

ANCIENT GREEK CITY-STATE BASIC INFORMATIONCity-states of Ancient Greece were very separated and independent and many times they did not work

together or agree on rules and how life was supposed to be lived

Sparta focused almost specifically on war and battle training and believed you should win at all costs, anddie trying if it came to it

Athens focused on making well-rounded. educated people that were tutored in the arts, writing, reading,

math and speaking skills, as well as military training, but for a much shorter time

All Greek city-states spoke the same language (Greek) and followed the same religion (Greek mythology)which was a polytheistic belief

Following the Persian Wars, the city-states of Greece now controlled the entire Mediterranean Sea and

trade routes of the seasAlso after the wars, the Greeks also controlled much of Anatolia and colonized it for better farmland for

their crops.

Athens was mostly destroyed during the Wars and was forced to rebuild its city. When they did so, it wasbuilt even better than before and Athens entered into a Golden Age, which means a time of prosperity and

wealth.

Sparta was relatively unaffected by the war other than the loss of soldiersBoth Sparta and Athens create an alliance system to protect against future attacks, but create separate

alliances which creates a bitter hatred between them.


7/23

Write a thesis to the following prompt. Be sure to figure out what information would

qualify as social and geographic outcomes to use for your thesis. Be sure to be specific whenreferring to just Athens or just Sparta, as well as when you refer to all of Greece as a whole. And

remember to look at the criteria and example above.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Section 1 Part 3: The Analysis

One of the most difficult things for young writers to grasp is the idea of analysis in theirpapers. Unfortunately, it is a vital part of each essay you will write and is required in order to gain

the full point allowance on the rubric.

When analyzing, you must think of the question why? Why is this a similarity between

two subjects? Why is this a difference between two subjects? Why is this an effect of one subjecton other subjects? These are the types of questions that will need to be answered, and supported in

your essays, but they cannot be supported by opinion; they must be supported by factualinformation. This factual information will come from the notes, readings and other activities we

do in class, or from information provided for the essay.

To see examples in real life, watch sportscasters or newscasters when they start analyzing

questions, such as will the Redskins benefit from the draft of RGIII? or how will the latest

scandal affect President Obama? These types of questions are followed by what the person seesas the possible outcome, and they use factual information to back it up. RGIII was a great

quarterback at Baylor and has excellent mechanics, which should help to benefit the Redskins in

the quarterback position. Or, The latest scandal involving the President and the Secret Service isgoing to leave a large black mark on his administration. More than likely funding will be

decreased for the department, because we have seen this type of thing happen in the past, which

will be a large negative to the Secret Service department. Each give specific factual examples of

the effects of two events on another subject.

Now, using the information we were given before, we are going to work to analyze the

information about the questions that were posed in our essay prompts. Remember that in everyessay, your goal should be to analyze every statement you make that is a similarity or a difference

or an effect. The better your analysis, the better off your grade will be in the end.

1. Analyze the similarities and differences between the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and

Egypt in their economic, political and religious practices.


8/23

a. What are the examples of a similarity between Mesopotamia and Egypt in each area of

the essay?Economic similarity-

______________________________________________________________________________

Political similarity-

______________________________________________________________________________

Religious similarity -______________________________________________________________________________

b. In your own words, answer this question for each area using information to analyze yourpoint. Be sure NOT to use the words me, my, I, you, or your as these are too informal and also

show personal opinion rather than factual information. A great way to start your sentences is like

this; This was a religious similarity because Do this for each of them and be sure you do NOTjust restate your similarity, use facts to prove it.

Economic -_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Political -

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Religious -

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

c. Now, we must do the same thing with the differences as we did above. Follow the same

directions, but list your difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Economic difference-

______________________________________________________________________________

Political difference-______________________________________________________________________________

Religious difference-______________________________________________________________________________

d. Now do the same as above and analyze your differences. Again, be sure NOT to use the

words me, my, I, you, or your as these are too informal and also show personal opinion rather than

factual information. A great way to start your sentences is like this; This was a religious difference


9/23

because Do this for each of them and be sure you do NOT just restate your similarity, use facts

to prove it.

Economic -

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Political -

_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Religious -

_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________


Ancient Egypt.

a. What were the examples of a similarity between Mesopotamia and Egypt in each area of

the essay?

Achievements similarity-

______________________________________________________________________________

Geographic similarity-

______________________________________________________________________________

b. Analyze your similarities Do this for each of them and be sure you do NOT just restateyour similarity, use facts to prove it.

Achievements -_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Geographic -

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

c. Now, we must do the same thing with the differences as we did above. Follow the samedirections, but list your difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia.


10/23

Achievement difference-______________________________________________________________________________

Geographic difference-______________________________________________________________________________

d. Analyze your similarities Do this for each of them and be sure you do NOT just restateyour similarity, use facts to prove it.

Achievements -_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Geographic -_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Activity 3 of this section becomes a bit different in the wording but does not change in thegoal of the writing; we are still trying to analyze and explain why. Except this time instead of

explaining why something is similar or different, we are going to answer the question why/how

was this a social outcome/effect of the Persian wars on Ancient Greece? and why/how was this ageographic outcome/effect of the Persian wars on Ancient Greece? Use the same steps given

above to attempt this prompt.

3. Analyze the social and geographic outcomes of the Persian Wars on the city-states of Ancient

Greece.

a. What were the examples of a social outcome/effect of the Persian War on the city-statesof Ancient Greece?

Social outcome #1-______________________________________________________________________________

Social outcome #2-

______________________________________________________________________________

Social outcome #3 (if you have one)-

______________________________________________________________________________

b. Analyze your outcomes; answer the why is this a social outcome or why does this affectthem socially? Do this for each of them and be sure you do NOT just restate your similarity, use

facts to prove it.


11/23


12/23

Section 1 Part 4: Creating a Full Essay

Now that we have broken down the main parts of an essay, it is time to put them alltogether to create a complete Comparison Essay, which will be graded on the AP Rubric. Before

we get you writing, lets break down the scoring of the Rubric so that you understand how the

points work and what each level of the Rubric means. Look at the rubric page attached to this

packet and follow the Comparison Essay Rubric with the breakdown given below.

Basic Core Scoring total of 7 points.

1. Thesis the thesis is worth 1 point. It must be an acceptable thesis, which means it must

be in 1-2 sentences, addresses the topics and the areas given in the prompt, and it must give

specific examples in each area, rather that restating or repeating the areas given.(you cannot say they were similar and different)

(you cannot say they were similar/different religiously, politically, etc)

(you cannot say they were affected socially and politically, etc.)2. Addresses all parts of the question this is worth 2 points, and it means that you refer to

all parts of the question, including all the areas given as well as both similarities anddifferences in each area, as we did in the examples above. They do not need to be spoken

about evenly, but each area must be talked about. If some sections are left out, like thedifferences or the similarities or an area, you can only receive 1 of the 2 points. If you do

not address either in your writing, you will receive 0 out of 2 points.

3. Substantiates thesis with appropriate historical evidence this is worth 2 points, andhas a requirement of how many pieces of evidence constitutes a point. Remember earlier

we said that facts needed to be used in our analysis, this is where it comes into the scoring.

A good rule of thumb is trying to use 1 or more facts to support each point in your paper.If you are able to compare and contrast 3 areas that would be 6 points you would bring up

in your paper, so the minimum for points would be 6 facts, but using more than that

number, say 9 or more, and making sure they are appropriate, will be beneficial and earnyou 2 points, instead of just 1. If you were to use less than 6 appropriate facts, you would

not receive any points. But remember they must be appropriate, which means they must

connect to the topic.

4. Makes at least 1 or 2 relevant comparisons this is worth 1 point, and means that youhave directly stated a comparison between two subjects in an area. For instance, each time

you start a paragraph and state, Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar religiously due to

their practice of polytheism, that is a direct comparison. Doing that for each paragraph isan excellent way to start and stay organized, but also makes sure you earn points as well.

5. Analyzes at least one reason for a similarity or difference identified in a directcomparison this is worth 1 point, and it means that you have explain why something is a

similarity or a difference in your essay. This is what we were working on in the activityearlier, and is one of the most missed portions of the grading.

After doing all of this, you earn a score of __ out of 7. If you do NOT earn a 7, that is your score.If you do earn a 7 out of 7, we move to the Expanded Core points, which go to 9.

Expanded Core Scoring total of 2 points (plus 7 from before) for a total of 9 total points.

All essays are graded out of 9 points, but you CANNOT earn expanded core points

without scoring 7 out of 7 in the Basic Core Scoring.


13/23

1. Has a clear, analytical and comprehensive thesis this means that you have written a

thorough and clear, as well as understandable thesis that encompasses the entire essay in 1-2 sentences.

2. Addresses all parts of the question (as relevant) this means that you addressed everything

the question asked for and did it thoroughly3. Provides ample historical evidence means that you have gone above and beyond the

necessary facts needed to support your thesis. BE CAREFUL as wrong information can

derail your chance at a 9!!

4. Relates comparisons to the larger global content this means that even though you areconnecting your comparisons to what the topics are, you are also able to connect it to other

empires or areas that may also have a similar issue or practice.

5. Makes several direct comparisons means that you are hitting all your comparisons, andpossibly throwing in more than 1 in an area. An example might be saying that

Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in their polytheistic beliefs, their temples to the gods

and their use of sacrifice to appease the gods (3 in a single category).6. Consistently analyzes the causes and effects of relevant similarities and differences this

means that you are analyzing the whys as well as giving reasons to what caused this to be a

comparison, as well as what happened afterwards.

Expanded Core Scoring basically says that you are doing all the right things, and doing themnumerous times in your paper and you are doing them multiple times. If you are able to get 3 of

the 6 areas of ECS, you earn 1 additional point (for an 8), and if you are able to hit 5 or 6 of theECS, you earn 2 additional points (for a 9). Scoring a 9 is difficult and rare, but it should be your

goal for the entire year!

Now to finish off this section of your Pre-AP summer Assignment, you must put all the

pieces together and write a Comparative Essay. The prompt will be given to you on the followingpage, along with pages that can be written or typed on for your convenience. Be sure to take your

time and go through all the steps first and use the Rubric given to you to assist you along the way.

If for some reason you get stuck or are unsure of what to do, that is not a problem. You

will be able to contact us over the summer to ask questions about the assignments. Contact

information will be provided at the bottom of the page for your convenience.

Good luck with this section, and when you finish, be sure to start moving on to the section

portion of this Summer Assignment, which will ask you to begin breaking down and understanding

historical documents in order to be able to figure out their meaning and significance.

Contact Information

Mr. J.J. Totaro Pre- AP Teacher Email Address [email protected]

* Please allow some time for a response, as we may be on vacation or away from email.

Comparative Essay Response Pre- AP Summer Assignment

Prompt: Analyze the similarities and differences between the early civilizations of

Mesopotamia and Egypt in their geography, political leaders and religious practices. Be sure totake time to plan your essay out. While there is no set structure for the essay, a common, and easy,
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


14/23

format is a simple 5 paragraph essay. The essay would break down as an opening paragraph,

which would include your thesis statement, 3 body paragraphs, which would include thesimilarities and differences of the 3 areas given, each in a separate paragraph, and a conclusion

paragraph that would summarize the paper and the thesis. Also be sure to use the activities from

earlier to assist you in writing this assignment.

Response: _______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________


15/23


16/23

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____

Section 2 Part 1: Understanding Documents and Their Meanings for DBQ Essays

When dealing with historical documents, there is always plenty of information that one can

gather from a single piece or single author. In Pre-AP, we are required to do just that, and then


17/23

synthesize that information into a response for a prompt given to us in a Document Based

Question. This will be an activity that we do later in the year, but we first need to be able to breakdown and understand how to gain information from a document. In this section, that is exactly

what we will attempt to do.

Using the information given, follow the directions and answer the questions posed to you.

Be sure to really think about what each document, picture, chart or graph is trying to tell you and

what the possible reasoning for this persons demeanor or opinion might be. For instance, if I amthe writer of a review of Taylor Swifts new CD and I give it 5 stars, what is the reasoning I enjoy

it so much? Am I a country fan? Do I think she is pretty so I overlook her lack of singing talent?

Sometimes the reasons will jump out at you, and other times they will not. If I am the

leader of a country and something terrible happens, I cannot say this is an event that will bring

down the entire country, I have to spin it to make it sound good, so I say that it is bringingpeople together and we will rebuild stronger than it was before? Why do I say this, well not just

because I am the leader of the country, but because I do not want people to lose faith in me as a

leader and I dont want them to lose faith in our country.

It seems difficult, but over time it will become easier. As you go through these documentactivities, think about these types of questions in order to better be able to extract information.

Now lets move on to an example document and see what we need to do to pull information fromit. Remember, our goal with each document is to pull out as much information as we can in order

to make answering our essay prompt that much easier.

Here is the first document, labeled Document A. In this document we have a picture with

captions of information around it, which is very helpful. But, lets break down every part of thedocument in order to be sure we are getting the maximum amount of information possible.


18/23

Notice at the top where it says Source; this gives us an idea of where the document camefrom and some background information on it. This is important because it helps us to put the

document into a historical context to better understand what we are looking at. Also, at times,

there will be a Note; this gives us additional information about the document that may not be ableto be gotten from just reading or looking at it. This can also be helpful to maximize our gains of

information for our essay prompt.

But the Source and Note information can only give us so much. It is for that reason that weneed to ask our own questions to investigate and gain all the information we need. What questions

should we ask? Well to answer that, we think back to the 6 major questions you were taught your

entire life; Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. By answering these simple questions wecan gain all the information we need.

Section 2 Part 2: Asking Questions to Gain Document Information


19/23

So we have our questions, but they are not specific questions, and in order to answer a

question, we know we need specific information. So lets take our questions and make them morespecific so that we get the information we want.

1. WHO is the creator of this document and WHO is his/her audience?

Basically, who is writing or painting or creating this document and who does it

seem that he is writing to? Was it meant for himself, a letter to his family, an edict to the

people he controls?

2. WHAT is/are the purpose(s) or main idea(s) of this document?

This is where we try to understand what the creator is saying or trying to tell us. If

the document is a chart, graph, map or painting, what is it trying to convey to the people

reading it?

3. WHEN was this document created?

This may not seem like a question that will help very much, but it will. It helps to

give us context clues. Maybe the document came out right after a bitter loss and the writeris angry, or maybe he is happy after a major win. Was it written at the best times of an

empire or the worst? These clues help us to understand what the world was like around thecreator when he created this document.

4. WHERE was this document created?

Again, this does not seem to help us out very much, but just like asking when, it

helps to give context clues as to what is going on in the area where it is being written.Maybe the creator is a foreigner in a foreign land and does not like the area because it is

not home. Things like this can be important.

5. WHY does the creator of this document have this opinion or point of view?

This may seem like a silly question, but it is a requirement when writing a DBQ

essay. One thing you MUST remember EVERY DOCUMENT HAS A POINT OFVIEW no matter what. There is always a reason people think what they think. A person

may dislike the President because he is a Democrat, and the person may not like him

because he is a republican, or maybe he voted against something the person wantedchanged like taxes, but there is always a reason for a persons point of view. Think about

your friends and how many people they say they like and dont like and why. Do you think

there are people that think the opposite? Of course!

6. HOW can I categorize this document? orHOW many ways could I categorize this?

This question is difficult to answer without knowing what the essay prompt is, butyou can start to get an idea of what categories the document could be grouped into for your

essay. For instance, does it discuss a political issue, or economic, or geographic? Can it be

grouped by its location, or time period its written, or by the social class or beliefs of thecreator of the document? There are all kinds of ways to categorize and when you have the

essay prompt it becomes much easier to do this.

Now lets try a few examples to see if we can break down the information on somedocuments. Read the documents below and answer the questions associated with them.


20/23


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________

4. WHERE was this document created?______________________________________________________________________________

5. WHY does the creator of this document have this opinion or point of view?_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This document is slightly different and gives examples of laws. Try to do the same thing

you did with the last document.


21/23


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

2. WHAT is/are the purpose(s) or main idea(s) of this document?_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________

5. WHY does the creator of this document have this opinion or point of view?_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In this document, you have a chart created from numerous sources, so there is no author,but you can still answer the other questions. Give it a shot.


22/23

1. WHO is his/her audience?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________

5. WHY does the creator of this document have this opinion or point of view?

_______________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Finally with our last document, we have something from Ancient Rome. Look it over andanswer the questions.


23/23