DBQ ReteachAPUSH

11/30/15

Part 1:The Setup

The DBQ is confusing!!

1) I don’t know what to do first.2) I don’t know when to read the documents.3) I don’t know how to setup the essay.4) I don’t know where to put the documents.5) I don’t know how to include HAPPs.6) I don’t know how to include evidence.7) I don’t know where to put contextualization or

how to use it.8) I don’t know how to do synthesis.

Does this sound like you?

How to setup the DBQ:

1) The DBQ is like the long essay – the format and setup are essentially the same.

2) OUTLINE and proceed at first like you’re writing a long essay – that means to annotate the prompt, brainstorm, choose topics for your body paragraphs, and have a general idea of what you are going to write about.

3) Do this BEFORE reading the docs. You want some kind of idea of what your essay is going to be about BEFORE looking at the docs.

Here’s an example:

Prompt: Analyze the struggles of the new American republic to create a new social, political, and

economic identity between the years 1776–1801.

1) Annotate – highlight, underline, etc. all the important stuff you need in your essay and your thesis

2) Brainstorm3) Come up with the topics of your three body

paragraphs and if possible, general arguments

1) Annotate

Prompt: Analyze the struggles of the new American republic to create a new social, political, and economic identity between the years 1776–1801.

1. Analyze2. Struggles3. NEW American republic4. Create5. NEW social identity6. NEW political identity7. NEW economic identity8. 1776-1801

2) Brainstorm

Articles Constitution Whiskey Rebellion

XYZ Affair Expansion Federalists

Antifederalists Taxes War Debt

Voting Rights Slavery Native Americans

Capitalism Power Federal vs. State

3) Come up with the topics of your three body paragraphs and if possible, general arguments

1. NEW Social identity

2. NEW Political identity

3. NEW Economic identity

Why do I keep capitalizing NEW? Because you need to show how it’s different from the time before. HOW is it new?

Some things to remember during setup:

1) This is BEFORE reading the docs.2) The reason it’s before is because many of you just read

the docs and formulate your argument based solely on those – it’s not an essay about the docs!

3) You’re coming up with the foundation of your essay first so you know what to look for when reading the docs.

4) Right now, your topics for your body paragraphs can be vague – you can fill in the rest later.

5) The annotating the prompt and coming up with the basic arguments should take 2-3 minutes, no more.

Part 2:The Docs

Some things to know when reading the docs for the first time:

1) The docs are meant to prove YOUR ARGUMENT. This is not an essay telling the reader about the docs.

2) Look for docs that fit with your basic outline – in this case, it’s social, political and economic.

3) While reading, taking note of the specifics: author, place, title, and YEAR if given.

4) Start noting which documents fit with the specific parts of your essay.

Here’s a practice one:

Source: The Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights…2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community…5. That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary…8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses…9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted…12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty…16. All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience…

Some things to remember:1) Spend about 1 minute per document – that’s it!2) Read it and then immediately put down what you think

it means – this way, you can refer back to the docs without reading them again.

3) Jot down which part of your essay it should go with. In this example, it would be either social, political, or economic. Make a choice!

4) If you can’t figure out a document or you can’t decide where to put it, cross it out and don’t use it. You only have to use 6.

5) As you’re going, make note of possible HAPPs that you use.

Here’s the example again.

Source: The Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights…2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community…5. That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary…8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses…9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted…12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty…16. All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience…

Document 1 - Source: The Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights…2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community…5. That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary…8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses…9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted…12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty…16. All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience…

POLITICAL - Listing ideal laws for the state; inspired by the Enlightenment – was later an inspiration for the later Constitution and Bill of Rights.

HAPP – b/c of the perceived excessive taxes and unjustified laws put on the colonists, many colonists were angry and wanted more rights which is a reason for creating these types of declarations

What do I do with the docs now?1) Finish reading all the docs. Do this quickly – about 1

minute per document!2) Now, place them within your essay under the

paragraphs you’ve already sorted. For example:

1. NEW Social Identity – doc 2, doc 6, doc 7

2. NEW Political Identity – doc 1

3. NEW Economic Identity – doc 3, doc 4, doc 5

Part 3:Establishing

Arguments for the Paragraphs

I’ve read the docs and put them into paragraphs, now what??

1) You have the basic outline now. Now you have to figure out the actual argument of your paragraphs.

2) To do that, look back at your brainstorm:

Articles Constitution Whiskey Rebellion

XYZ Affair Expansion Federalists

Antifederalists Taxes War Debt

Voting Rights Slavery Native Americans

Capitalism Power Federal vs. State

3) Sort them into social, political and economic. Choose – don’t be wishy washy and say they’re both:

Articles – political Constitution - political

Whiskey Rebellion – social XYZ Affair - political

Expansion - economic Federalists - political

Antifederalists - political Taxes - economic

War Debt – economic Voting Rights - social

Slavery - economic Native Americans

Capitalism – economic Power

Federal vs. State - political

4) Now put them together and think of a common theme with all the terms, one that could be used to argue the point. We went over this in the long essay reteach but you need to TAKE A STANCE and make an argument.

5) Example for political:a) Because of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution,

and arguments between the people, there was a new political identity in the United States.

b) Notice anything wrong? It doesn’t state WHAT the new political identity is!

c) Americans tried to establish a new political identity of being self-reliant, autonomous and stable by establishing the Constitution and involving themselves in foreign affairs, but still had to constantly deal with internal issues, like the fight over the Constitution and federal vs. state authority battles.

6) Do this for each paragraph:a) Social – Americans established a new social identity of trying

to allow more men the ability to climb the social ladder and giving more opportunities, but still experienced problems of the classes clashing.

b) Political - Americans tried to establish a new political identity of being self-reliant, autonomous and stable by establishing the Constitution and involving themselves in foreign affairs, but still had to constantly deal with internal issues, like the fight over the Constitution and federal vs. state authority battles.

c) Economic – Americans tried to establish a new economic identity of becoming a prosperous nation independent from foreign investments, but still dealt with war debt and the increasing demand for taxes.

But wait!! What if my docs I chose don’t fit with the argument?

1) The documents will ALWAYS fit with your argument because YOU make them fit.

2) For example, if the argument for social is that Americans were trying to include more men the ability to climb the social ladder, well, that leaves out women!!

3) Look at doc 7 – it’s a woman complaining that women are left out of the social changes.

4) You can add this by talking about people being left out and then noting that women were left out completely, and then using the document as proof!

5) But HOW do I do that??? Stay tuned – that’s in Part 4.

Things to remember:1) Your arguments set the stage for your essay. The better

you make them, the better your essay will be.2) Take about 4-5 minutes to establish these. Trust me –

the time you take here will save you time later.3) You don’t have to be fancy – don’t worry about elevated

diction or correct grammar: just get your ideas down and you can always fix them later.

4) These will also basically be your thesis statement – here, there are three ideas so you could do a 3-sentence thesis statement. It’s faster that way so just do it and try not to go overboard on the length.

5) If you missed the long essay reteach, just put together the arguments for the thesis just like so:

Between the years 1776-1801, Americans greatly struggles to establish new identities for themselves, such as socially when they tries to give more men opportunities and the ability to climb the social ladder but still had issues with the classes clashing. Also, politically Americans tried to become self-reliant, autonomous and stable by establishing new laws and involving themselves in foreign affairs, but still had to constantly deal with internal issues, like the fight over the Constitution and the battles over authority. Economically, Americans attempted to become a prosperous nation independent from foreign investments, but still dealt with war debt and the issues over taxes.

6) This is a long thesis statement but it covers everything and leaves no doubt that it answers the question.

7) Try to balance your time between being extremely specific and being brief – that sounds impossible but with time, you can learn to spend only a few minutes on your thesis statement but still be specific.

8) Overall, your outlining/prep should take about 15 minutes. That’s 1 minute to annotate, 2 more minutes to figure out the arguments, 8 minutes to read the docs and analyze, then the remaining 4 minutes or so to come up with the arguments and thesis.

9) Should you take 20 minutes, that’s actually OK right now – I give you more time than you’ll get on the AP test and you can slowly get used to how to do it and get yourself faster.

Part 4:Writing the

Paragraphs and Using the Docs

PROPERLY

What I’ve been seeing:1) Students have no clue how to use the documents in

paragraphs.2) Students just plop the documents in without introducing

them or saying why they’re there.3) Students talk ABOUT the documents in their paragraphs

instead of making an argument about the PROMPT.4) Students have no clue how to do HAPPs.5) Students don’t know how to transition from one doc to

another so they end up just listing them.6) Students don’t know how to finish paragraphs when

using docs so the doc is usually at the end of the sentence.

7) Students don’t CONNECT docs to their argument or to the prompt.

Sound like you in any way? So, what do you do? Some things to remember:

1) Docs are meant to ENHANCE YOUR ARUGMENT. Meaning, they’re there for EVIDENCE, not at the main source of your paragraph.

2) Think of them like evidence in a court trial – attorneys will make a point (like Person A shot Person B) and then use evidence to prove their point (like showing a used gun to incriminate Person A)

3) Docs are used the same way – you make a statement, then use the document to prove your statement.

4) Make a DOC SANDWICH – a) Argument/outside evidenceb) DOCc) Argument/outside evidence

Hmm… OK – but what about connecting? You keep putting that down…

1) Docs should NOT just be plopped in your essay.2) Docs are meant to prove your argument so you need to connect.3) Think of the court trial again and see if this dialogue makes any

sense – “Person A murdered Person B. Here’s a gun! So that proves Person A murdered Person B.”

4) That’s EXACTLY what many of you are doing when using docs. You plop down the document in the middle of your argument without saying how it connects.

5) ANY TIME you use a doc, you need to say why it’s there – what is it proving, what does it connect to, how does it enhance your argument, etc.

6) Paragraphs in DBQs are about 9-12 sentences because you have to argue your point, use docs, AND connect. It takes some time.

Here’s an example:Americans were also establishing a new social identity during this time period. One of the reasons that the colonists were fighting the American Revolution in the first place was to procure more rights for more people. Many believed that the hierarchy of British society was antiquated and American colonists were instilled with a sense of individualism and natural rights and believed that they could climb the social ladder. This new idea that titles don’t matter can be seen in Abigail Adams’ letter to her son, in which she reminds him of the reasons behind the Revolution and hopes that he also will understand that the new country does values a person’s mind over a person’s title (doc 2). Here Mrs. Adams touches upon the new identity that many Americans wanted which was one based on merit rather than birth.

How to cite documents:1) Introduce your document – use the author’s

name (or multiple names if there are multiple people) and the title of the work

2) If there is no title, refer to what it is (like Abigail Adams’ letter to her son)

3) PARAPHRASE what the doc says – you summarize the doc and include it as evidence for your argument you’ve already stated

4) CITE the doc number at the end of the sentence5) This is how to cite – PERIOD

What about HAPPs??1) Some of you get these, most of you don’t.2) Why? You don’t know how to include them, how to set

them up, how to connect, etc.3) Here are the letters and what you should do:

a) H – historical context = this is where you set the scene for the document, as in what else is happening at that time period that would affect the author

b) A – audience = for whom was the document created AND how does this affect the document?

c) P – point of view = what makes the author unique AND how does that affect the document?

d) P – purpose = why did the author create the source? What was the OVERALL GOAL and WHY?

Here’s an example for the Adams letter:1) H – When Mrs. Adams wrote this letter in 1783, the American Revolution had

just ended and the tail end of Enlightenment was still affecting the world and the two natural rights-focused events most likely affected Mrs. Adams and molded her views into those cognizant of all people, not just elites, and these ideas found their way into her letter.

2) A – While Mrs. Adams’ letter was obviously meant for her son, it also meant that she could be more candid with her thoughts since she believed only a close relative would be reading it and as such, her words would most likely be insight into her actual beliefs at the time.

3) P – While John Adams had yet to be president at the time of the letter, he was still an important Founding Father and Mrs. Adams’ would be exposed to the beliefs of these men and to the inner workings of the government, making her words of wisdom to her son representative of the nation’s beliefs as a whole.

4) P – As a wife of a Founding Father and due to the close relationship with her husband, Abigail Adams was privy to the goals and struggles of the new nation and her letter serves as a guide to her son in the hopes that he will continue and ideas that his father had.

A few notes on HAPPs:1) You only need FOUR. Some of you do them for EVERY.

SINGLE. DOCUMENT. This messes up your argument. I would do 5 if you’re worried you missed one but limit the HAPPs!

2) CONNECT – read over your HAPP attempt and if you don’t mention why it’s important to the doc and/or to the prompt, FIX IT.

3) Knowing the history helps here – it’s hard to connect if you don’t know what’s actually happening.

OK – so now you have to include a HAPP and finish the paragraph – here’s the finished product:

Americans were also establishing a new social identity during this time period. One of the reasons that the colonists were fighting the American Revolution in the first place was to procure more rights for more people. Many believed that the hierarchy of British society was antiquated and American colonists were instilled with a sense of individualism and natural rights and believed that they could climb the social ladder. This new idea that titles don’t matter can be seen in Abigail Adams’ letter to her son, in which she reminds him of the reasons behind the Revolution and hopes that he also will understand that the new country does values a person’s mind over a person’s title (doc 2). Here Mrs. Adams touches upon the new identity that many Americans wanted which was one based on merit rather than birth. As a wife of a Founding Father and due to the close relationship with her husband, Abigail Adams was privy to the goals and struggles of the new nation and her letter serves as a guide to her son in the hopes that he will continue the ideas that his father had. Even though many Americans wanted to provide more opportunities to people, the reality was that people were still left out. There was still an elitist mindset in America, with the rich ruling society and the lower classes still trying to catch up. Francois Alexandre Frederic captures this idea well when writing about his travels in the U.S., mentioning that the upper classes will shake hands with the lower classes but not mix with them and that the only way to achieve status in this “republican” society is to earn money (doc 6). His observations show that while Americans were trying to establish equality for all as a new identity, they were still stuck in the past. Another complaint was from women since they were left out. In The Female Advocate, Mary Ann Radcliffe asks why women are not included and given education when they are just as capable as men (doc 7). Her argument stems from the age-old battle of men vs. women and is voicing her frustration at the promised changes of the new American identity but not seeing them. Americans, it seemed, were not exempt from internal challenges during their attempts to establish a new social identity.

Whoa – that’s long! How do I do that??1) This ideally is how you’ll write on the AP test – take baby

steps!2) Remember you only need 6 docs and 4 HAPPs – don’t

overdo it! If you’re running out of time, don’t use all the docs.

3) Outside evidence is an extra point – if you’re short on time, you don’t need to include the extra stuff. Just focus on arguments and getting the docs/HAPPs in.

4) Spend about 9 minutes per paragraph. If you look at the clock and you’re only halfway done and it’s been 6 minutes, cut out stuff and move on. Finishing the essay will usually get you more points than trying to make each paragraph perfect. Here’s a shortened version of the previous example:

Americans were also establishing a new social identity during this time period. Many American colonists were instilled with a sense of natural rights and believed that they could climb the social ladder. This new idea that titles don’t matter can be seen in Abigail Adams’ letter to her son, in which she reminds him of the reasons behind the Revolution and hopes that he also will understand that the new country does values a person’s mind over a person’s title (doc 2). Here Mrs. Adams touches upon the new identity that many Americans wanted which was one based on merit rather than birth. As a wife of a Founding Father and due to the close relationship with her husband, Abigail Adams was privy to the goals and struggles of the new nation and her letter serves as a guide to her son in the hopes that he will continue the ideas that his father had. Even though many Americans wanted to provide more opportunities to people, the reality was that people were still left out. Francois Alexandre Frederic captures this idea well when writing about his travels in the U.S., mentioning that the upper classes will shake hands with the lower classes but not mix with them and that the only way to achieve status in this “republican” society is to earn money (doc 6). His observations show that while Americans were trying to establish equality for all as a new identity, they were still stuck in the past. Americans, it seemed, were not exempt from internal challenges during their attempts to establish a new social identity.

Last thoughts on paragraphs:1) The new sample is only 9 sentences. Let’s say you take

one minute to write each sentence. That’s 9 minutes and right on time! Some of you physically write faster so that’s great.

2) This is why outlining/prepping is so important – you’ll know what to write as you’re writing. You won’t do that staring-into-space thing a lot of you like to do!

3) How much time you spend outlining will dictate how long you have for each paragraph. Let’s say I give you 1 hour and you spend 20 minutes outlining. You’ll have 40 minutes for 5 paragraphs – so 8 minutes per paragraph.

4) Practicing helps – do this at home and get better at it so that during tests you’re faster!

Part 5:Contextualization

and Synthesis

Eeek – these need work! Some things to remember:

1) BOTH of these are in the STOP paragraph (conclusion).

2) They are NOT counted anywhere else!3) They’re similar but different at the time. Fun.4) They’re both worth ONE point on the rubric – if

you can master these, that’s TWO points out of 7 you’ll get!

5) Again, history matters here – you have to make connections for both of them and if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you won’t get it.

To start: contextualization

1) There is a lot of confusion with this one – you are attempting to explain what is ALSO happening DURING THE SAME TIME PERIOD of the prompt that WOULD AFFECT THE PROMPT.

2) Essentially, you’re kind of looking at the big picture – like if you have a prompt on the Civil War, what ELSE is happening AT THE SAME TIME PERIOD that would affect what’s going on during the Civil War?

3) Basically think of it this way – the prompt you’re writing on is a small blip of history that was happening at that time period. You’re trying to explain everything else that was going on and set the scene.

Here’s the example using the prompt:

ONE EVENT THAT WAS

HAPPENING WITHIN THE EVENTS OF THE BLUE CIRICLE:American struggles

during 1776-1801

WHOLE BLUE CIRCLE represents:End of the Enlightenment, Age of

Revolution worldwide and the coming of Napoleon

ONE EVENT THAT WAS

HAPPENING WITHIN THE EVENTS OF THE BLUE CIRICLE:American struggles

during 1776-1801

WHOLE BLUE CIRCLE represents:End of the Enlightenment, Age of

Revolution worldwide and the coming of Napoleon

Contextualization

To get contextualization, you must CONNECT the specific event to the prompt to the BIG CIRCLE, or to the events going on overall.

What does that look like in an essay? Here is an example:

During the time of Americans attempting to establish new identities, it was also the tail end of the Enlightenment as well as the growth of democratic ideals in the world, specifically in France, a country the U.S. was still dealing with closely. The events of the Enlightenment helped to cause the Revolution and also helped to inspire Americans when creating their country later on. The French Revolution affected the Americans because their ally during the Revolution was now at war with itself and asking for help, and this conflict only added to the Americans’ difficulties.

So now – synthesis:

1) This unfortunately is very similar to contextualization in that you’re having to connect to something outside of the prompt.

2) But, this time you’re connecting to a SIMILAR EVENT that HAPPENED IN ANOTHER TIME PERIOD.

3) You have to choose something that is not close in time to the prompt – so in this case, don’t choose something in 1775 or 1802.

4) A good way to remember this one – similar in kind, different in time.

5) You’re connecting something SIMILAR TO THE PROMPT. So in this case, it’s about Americans attempting to create a new identity through struggles. So you need to choose ANOTHER TIME PERIOD when Americans STRUGGLED TO CREATE IDENTITIES.

Here’s an example:

American struggles

during 1776-1801

American struggles

during Reconstruction

WHOLE CIRCLE: Era of Imperialism, Growth

of Cities, Industrialization

Contextualization Synthesis

WHOLE CIRCLE: End of the Enlightenment, Age of Revolution

worldwide and the coming of Napoleon

To get SYNTHESIS – you must connect the ideas of the prompt (American struggles during 1776-1801) to something similar in ANOTHER TIME PERIOD, and in this case, American struggles during Reconstruction.

What does that look like in an essay? Here is an example:

Americans’ struggles after the American Revolution are very similar to the struggles Americans faced after the Civil War. In that case, the North had to bring the South back into the Union. They needed to a create a new national identity without slavery and with a resentful South, so as a whole, the government tried to avoid issues that caused the war in the first place, such as authority debates but this avoidance led to major issues overall like racism and a president being impeached. Similarly, Americans after the Revolution were also trying to create new identities after a huge upheaval and attempted to avoid problems that caused the Revolution in the first place, like keeping power away from the government and minimizing taxes, but this also led to more issues in the long run.

Some final thoughts overall:1) As you can see, contextualization and synthesis are both LONG. You have to

explain and connect to get the points so you need to save some time for the STOP paragraph.

2) If you follow the first four parts here, you should be able to master A & B on the rubric. That’s 3 points. While that’s borderline passing on the AP test, it’s still close and way better than a 0, 1, or 2!

3) Master those steps first and then move onto what you feel comfortable with – I think evidence is the easiest next. You can incorporate that into your paragraphs fairly easily.

4) Once you master another point, keep adding more – contextualization and synthesis are great, but if you rush to get to those, you might still not get them and miss other points too!

5) If you noticed, we didn’t even cover counterargument – it’s the hardest point to get so seriously, don’t even bother right now. If you start mastering these essays and are getting a 5 or 6 consistently, come see me and I’ll tell you how to do counterargument. Until then, don’t spend time on it.

6) WATCH THE CLOCK – you need to get used to knowing how much time has gone by. DBQs (well, any timed response) are dependent upon you knowing the time so watch!

7) If you can’t get to the STOP paragraph, that’s OK right now. Just get the 3 points we went over on here then start speeding yourself up. You’ll get there!