2016 apush exam<\/a>. the dbq for this section asks you to do the following:<\/p>\nexplain the causes of the rise of a women\u2019s rights movement in the period 1940\u20131975.<\/em><\/p>\nyou 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
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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
\nthesis: <\/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>\nargument 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>\nuse of the documents:<\/strong> utilize the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.<\/li>\nsourcing 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>\ncontextualization:<\/strong> situate the argument by explaining the broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question.<\/li>\noutside evidence:<\/strong> provide an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument.<\/li>\nsynthesis: <\/strong>extend the argument by explaining the connections between the argument and one of the following.\n\na development in a different historical period, situation, era, or geographical area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n \n\na course theme and\/or approach to history that is not the focus of the essay (such as political, economic, social, cultural, or intellectual history).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nyes, it\u2019s a lot. but students have done it before, and so can you! just because of the limits of space, i am only going to show you what to do – and what not to do – on the parts where i have seen students struggle most: thesis and synthesis.<\/p>\n
thesis statements for document based questions<\/h2>\n your thesis statement is the bread and butter of any essay you write for the apush exam. as i have stated before in previous posts, you should spend the most time on your thesis because a strong thesis will guide the rest of your essay.<\/p>\n
but what makes a thesis strong? as mysterious as that question may seem, it is relatively straightforward:<\/p>\n
a strong thesis directly answers the question being asked<\/strong> by referencing specific <\/strong>times, movements, or ideas.<\/em><\/p>\nit\u2019s that simple! well, it\u2019s sort of simple. developing a strong thesis is hard work, but let\u2019s begin at the beginning. here’s the question being asked: explain the causes of the rise of a women\u2019s rights movement in the period 1940\u20131975.<\/em><\/p>\nnotice that the question asks for causes, meaning more than one. also, notice that the question gives you a defined time period to work with. therefore, your thesis shouldn\u2019t deal with any events, ideas, or people outside of that time period.<\/p>\n
let’s look at two student examples.<\/p>\n
example thesis #1:<\/h4>\n the women\u2019s rights movement arose as a result of women\u2019s experiences with inequality at work and the influence of other rights movements.<\/em><\/p>\ndoes the student directly answer the question being asked? \nyes. according to the student, the women\u2019s rights movement was caused by the experiences of women dealing with inequality at work and the influence of other rights movements in the same time.<\/p>\n
is the student being specific? \nyes. i know that this student will be organizing their essay in two big chunks: inequality in the workforce and civil rights movements.<\/p>\n
notice that this student didn\u2019t give the longest answer possible, and the response was not necessarily the most eloquent, but that student still got a point for their thesis.<\/p>\n
example thesis #2:<\/h4>\n the woman\u2019s rights movement was the product of unfair treatment in economics, politics, and society.<\/em><\/p>\ndoes the student directly answer the question being asked? \nwell, yes, but i am unclear what \u201ceconomics, politics, and society\u201d means.<\/p>\n
is the student being specific? \nnot at all. there could be thousands of things that go under economics, politics, and society \u2013 and many things could be considered \u201cunfair\u201d \u2013 so i have no idea what the student will be arguing in this dbq.<\/p>\n
thesis statement dos and don’ts<\/h4>\n do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\ndirectly answer the question being asked.<\/li>\n be specific.<\/li>\n write a thesis statement like the first example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\ndon’t:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nanswer the question in a confusing way or answer some other question you think the test should be asking.<\/li>\n be general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nsynthesis in document based questions<\/h2>\n this is a newer component of the dbq. you need to demonstrate your understanding of history by being able to go beyond the documents they provide you and make connections between different parts of history. this does not mean that you need to spend all of your time racking your brain for more evidence. however, it does mean that you should have a solid understanding of us history and can extend your argument to other time periods or themes. let\u2019s look at some student examples to explain what i mean.<\/p>\n
student example #1:<\/h4>\n the conditions that helped cause the rise of the women\u2019s rights movement in the 20th century were similar to those that helped cause the rise of a movement for greater women\u2019s rights in the 1840s. in both periods, calls for greater rights for african americans led women to demand more of a voice in social and political reforms.<\/em><\/p>\nthis student explains that the conditions for women\u2019s rights movements were similar in two different time periods, extending the argument beyond this one moment in us history.<\/p>\n
student example #2:<\/h4>\n a development in a different historical period was when alice paul went on hunger strikes and protests in from of the white house to gain attention on passing an amendment that would give women their rights. paul\u2019s fight for women\u2019s rights started with trying to get equal voting rights for women. this links to how in 1940-1975 women were fighting for equal rights in wages and other important rights.<\/em><\/p>\nthis student makes a connection to another time period by arguing that the fight for equal rights did not begin in 1940; instead, women had been active for some time in us history to achieve equal rights.<\/p>\n
student example #3:<\/h4>\n the seneca falls convention also served to help inspire women around the world to gain equal rights. the speech given clearly stated the way things were being conducted was unconstitutional and women should not be socially inferior to men.<\/em><\/p>\nunlike the first two student responses, this third response does not connect back to the time period in the question. i am unclear from this student response whether the connection is gaining equal rights for women, the persistence of inequality, or the changing interpretations of the constitution. this student did not receive a point for the synthesis criteria.<\/p>\n
synthesis dos and don’ts<\/h4>\n do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nconnect back to the time period of the question.<\/li>\n be specific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\ndon’t:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nstate something that you feel is an \u201cobvious\u201d connection, but never make a connection yourself. you should be doing that work for your reader.<\/li>\n be general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\ndocument based question #2: your turn!<\/h2>\n although i haven\u2019t outlined every single component of the dbq, you should look at the two blog posts i linked to at the beginning of this article for more references.<\/p>\n
but now it\u2019s time for you to dive in! you will only get better by practicing.<\/p>\n
you should practice with the 2015 document based question 1<\/a>. in that document, you will have access to the questions and sample student responses.<\/p>\ngood luck, and let me know how it goes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
nervous about tackling document based questions on your apush exam? we have you covered! we’ll analyze student examples to help you write your own successful essay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[276],"ppma_author":[24938],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
apush document based questions and responses: a study guide - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n