{"id":10849,"date":"2017-10-06t10:10:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-06t17:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=10849"},"modified":"2017-10-11t13:33:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11t20:33:57","slug":"apush-document-based-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/ap\/apush-document-based-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"apush document based questions and responses: a study guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

document based questions tend to freak students out the most on the apush exam. this is understandable; not only do you have to read documents, you have to write a coherent essay about them.<\/p>\n

eeek!<\/p>\n

however, we\u2019ve got you covered here at magoosh. for a step-by-step breakdown of what you need to do to write a document based question (dbq), check out my other blog posts on 3 steps to a dbq essay that works<\/a> and how to write a dbq essay<\/a>. this post, though, will focus on what other students have done to make their document based question essays successful.<\/p>\n

i will take you through one dbq on a prior apush exam and give you the ins and outs, and the dos and don\u2019ts. at the end, i will provide a link to a dbq essay for you to practice some of the things that successful test-takers have done. there, you can compare your essay to the scoring notes provided by college board. in fact, everything i present on this post will be provided by college board<\/a> \u2013 you can (and should!) check out their website for more tips.<\/p>\n

sound good? let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

document based question #1<\/h2>\n

this is taken from the 2016 apush exam<\/a>. the dbq for this section asks you to do the following:<\/p>\n

explain the causes of the rise of a women\u2019s rights movement in the period 1940\u20131975.<\/em><\/p>\n

you will have 55 minutes to answer that question. the college board suggests 15 minutes for reading and 40 minutes for writing, although if you are a fast and careful reader, you can start writing before your 15-minute reading period is done.<\/p>\n

i won\u2019t post all of the documents that you have to reference (there are 7 after all!), but the following two documents are representative of the types of documents you will encounter on a dbq.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

as you can see, there\u2019s a mix of photographs, advertisements, and text that you will be expected to incorporate into your essay.<\/p>\n

still with me? good. next, let\u2019s look into what an essay should have in it.<\/p>\n

scoring notes for document based questions<\/h2>\n

the following (including descriptions) comes straight from the apush scoring notes. i\u2019ll break down parts of it later to make sure that you understand what they want to see.<\/p>\n

your dbq essay should have the following (for a maximum of 7 points):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. thesis: <\/strong>present a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question. the thesis must consist of one or more sentences located in one place, either in the introduction or the conclusion.<\/li>\n
  2. argument development:<\/strong> develop and support a cohesive argument that recognizes and accounts for historical complexity by explicitly illustrating relationships among historical evidence such as contradiction, corroboration, and\/or qualification.<\/li>\n
  3. use of the documents:<\/strong> utilize the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.<\/li>\n
  4. sourcing the documents:<\/strong> explain the significance of the author\u2019s point of view, author\u2019s purpose, historical context, and\/or audience for at least four documents.<\/li>\n
  5. contextualization:<\/strong> situate the argument by explaining the broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question.<\/li>\n
  6. outside evidence:<\/strong> provide an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument.<\/li>\n
  7. synthesis: <\/strong>extend the argument by explaining the connections between the argument and one of the following.\n