Lawrence Clark Powell
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“Write to be
understood,
speak to be
heard, read to
grow...”
TO PRACTICE IS TO PREPARE
The World History AP examination consists of 70
multiple-choice questions and three essays
 Students will be given 55 minutes to complete
the 70 multiple-choice questions and 130 minutes
to complete the free-response section (the three
essays)
 Of the 130 minutes for the free-response section,
students will begin with a mandatory 10-minute
document-reading period for the DBQ essay
 During the 10-minute document-reading period,
students may take notes on the documents but
may not work on an actual essay

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After the mandatory 10-minute document-reading
period, students may begin writing essays.
Students should spend roughly 40 minutes on
each essay. Obviously, the DBQ essay should be
the first essay written while the documents are
still fresh in the student’s mind. Therefore, let’s
practice writing an actual DBQ essay from an
actual World History AP examination (courtesy
of ETS and the College Board).
FROM THE 2007 WORLD HISTORY AP
EXAMINATION (COURTESY OF COLLEGE
ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD):
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1. Using the documents, analyze Han and Roman
attitudes toward technology. Identify one
additional type of document and explain briefly
how it would help your analysis.
Prior Knowledge
About Han:
Prior Knowledge
About Romans:
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Han Documents
Document 1:
Source: Han government official, writing to local
officials concerning flood prevention, early second
century B.C.E.
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I request that you establish water conservation offices
in each district and staff them with people who are
experienced in the ways of water. There should be
one high official and one deputy with just enough
workers to meet the need. For the area on both sides
of each river select one person as a chief hydraulic
engineer. Order inspections of the waterways, the
walls of the cities and their suburbs, the dikes and
rivers, canals and pools, and government buildings
and cottages, and supply enough workers to those
who are to carry out the repair work in each district.
ANALYSIS: DOCUMENT 1

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
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

Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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
What part of the question does the document
address?
Document 2:
Source: Huan Guan, Han government official,
Discourses on Salt and Iron, first century B.C.E.
Document 2 continues on next slide
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In earlier times workers were allowed to do both
foundry work and salt-boiling as long as they
reported the work and paid a tax. Tools
manufactured by individual families to do this
work were well-made. Today the iron tools that
workers are required to use are produced by the
state using convict labor; these tools are often
crude and not very functional.
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In previous times the tools manufactured by
workers for their own use and for sale were of
excellent quality. Now that the state has
monopolized the salt and iron trades, most of the
tools provided to the workers are hard and brittle
and the responsible government officials are
often not available to take complaints. Good
implements are hard to come by. Salt and iron
are now sold at very high prices by the state and
many common people cannot afford to buy either.
Some of the poorest peasants now have no choice
but to till the soil with wooden plows and cannot
afford salt to season their food.
ANALYSIS: DOCUMENT 2

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
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

Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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
What part of the question does the document
address?
NOW, THAT THERE ARE TWO DOCUMENTS

Is this document similar to a previous document?
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
Is any conceivable strategy for organizing
documents emerging yet?
Document 3:
Source: Huan Tan, upper-class Han philosopher,
New Discourses, about 20 C.E.
*Fuxi is a mythological wise emperor.
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Fuxi* invented the pestle and mortar. Later on,
the pestle and the mortar were cleverly improved
in such a way that the whole weight of the body
could be used, thus increasing the efficiency ten
times. In time, the power of animals – donkeys,
mules, oxen, and horses – was added. Later,
water power was also applied, and the benefit
was increased a hundredfold.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 3:

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
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

Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
Document 4
Source: History of the Early Han Dynasty
(government-sponsored history), about 200 C.E.
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Tu Shih was appointed governor of Nanyang
[about 31 C.E.]. He was a generous man and his
policies were peaceful. He destroyed evil-doers
and established the dignity of his office. Good at
planning, Tu Shih loved the common people and
wished to save their labor. He invented a waterpowered blowing-engine for the casting of iron
agricultural implements that allowed people to
enjoy great benefit for little labor. His invention
has been widely adopted and used.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 4:

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
E. Napp


Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
Roman Documents
Document 5:
Source: Cicero, upper-class Roman political leader,
On Duty, first century B.C.E.
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Now, as to which crafts and other means of earning a
living are suitable for a gentleman to practice and
which are degrading, we have been taught more or
less the following: Vulgar and unbecoming to a
gentleman are all the jobs hired workers take on,
whose labor is purchased rather than their skill. All
craftsmen spend their time in vulgar occupations;
no workshop can have anything enlightening about
it.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 5

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
E. Napp


Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
Document 6:
Source: Plutarch, Greek-born Roman citizen and
high official, describing second-century B.C.E.
Roman political leader Gaius Gracchus, first
century C.E.
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He was especially anxious about road building and
paying attention to utility as well as to that which
was beneficial to grace and beauty. For the roads
were carried straight through the country without
wavering, and were paved with quarried stone, and
made solid with tightly packed sand. Hollows were
filled up and bridges were built across whatever
wintry streams or ravines cut the roads.
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And both sides were an equal and parallel height
with the result that the road for its entire course
had a level and beautiful appearance. Besides these
things, he measured the whole road mile by mile
and set up stone columns as distance indicators. He
also placed stones on either side of the road at lesser
intervals so that it would be easier for those who
had horses to mount them from the stones without
requiring a groom to help.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 6

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
E. Napp


Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
Document 7:
Source: Seneca, upper-class Roman philosopher and
adviser to Emperor Nero, first century C.E.
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I do not believe that tools for crafts were invented
by wise men. The question of whether the hammer
or the tongs came first does not seem important to
me. Both were invented by someone with a mind
that was nimble and sharp, but not great or
elevated.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 7

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
E. Napp


Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
Document 8:
Source: Frontinus, Roman general, governor of
Britain, and water commissioner for the city of
Rome, first century C.E.
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All the aqueducts reach the city at different
elevations. Six of these streams flow into covered
containers, where they lose their sediment. Their
volume is measured by means of calibrated
scales. The abundance of water is sufficient not
only for public and private uses and applications
but truly even for pleasure. The water is
distributed to various regions inside and outside
the city, to basins, fountains and public buildings,
and to multiple public uses.
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Compare such numerous and indispensable
structures carrying so much water with the idle
pyramids, or the useless but famous works of the
Greeks.
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT 8

Who is the author of the text or what is the
source of the document?
E. Napp


Provide any relevant information about the
author (gender, religious affiliation, background,
socioeconomic class, ethnicity, etc.) or about the
source.
When was the text written?

What is the author’s or source’s point of view or
opinion?
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

What part of the question does the document
address?
Is there potential for categorization with previous
documents?
SORTING TIME
Look for complexities
 Don’t simply sort in the obvious way
 A culture has its preferences but within that very
same culture, there may be contradictions or
dissenting voices
 Like the Lego figure in the image, maybe the red
has something in common with the blue

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AND DON’T FORGET THE MISSING VOICE
The “missing voice” is the point of view that is
missing in the documents
 For example, were any of the sources from
women?
 Were any of the sources from peasants?
 Were any of the sources from the landed gentry?
 Who was not represented?
 In order to receive total points for the basic core
points, the student must identify one type of
additional document needed and for expanded
core points, the need for two or more additional
document types must be included

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BUT THE MISSING VOICE CAN ALSO BE
A Map
 A Diagram
 A Chart with specific information
 A Journal Entry

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Most importantly, the student must explain why
the missing document would be useful in
answering the question.
AND DON’T FORGET THE QUESTION:

“Identify one additional type of document and
explain briefly how it would help your analysis.”
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WHO IS THE “MISSING VOICE”?

Make a list of at least two additional document
types needed in the space below:
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REMEMBER SCORING FOR THE BASIC
CORE
Acceptable thesis (1 point)
 Addresses and shows understanding for all (or all
but one) of the documents (1 point)
 Thesis is supported by evidence from all
documents or all but one (2 points)
-But if only supported by all but two documents,
only 1 point
 Analyzes point of view in two or more documents
(1 point)
 Analyzes documents by clustering them in two or
three ways (1 point)
 Identifies one type of additional document and
explains why it is needed (1 point)

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THE EXPANDED CORE
If the student addresses all tasks required for full
points in the basic core, the student is eligible for
the expanded core points
 Expanded Core:
-Expands beyond the basic core
-The student has addressed all aspects of the
basic core’s task and provided more information
than was required by the basic core

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BUT WHAT ABOUT THE THESIS?
Clearly, the thesis is the foundation upon which
the essay is built
 So, how does the student create a thesis
statement for this essay?
-Look at the question again
-What conclusions reached from the documents
answer the question?

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Hmmm, it seemed that in three of the four
documents concerning the Han, innovation and
efficiency regarding technology were encouraged
by the elite but in one document, a state
monopoly led to inferior technology. Conversely,
in two of the four documents concerning the
Romans, innovation and technological efficiency
were considered negatively yet in two
documents, these very traits were praised.
TIPS FOR THE THESIS PARAGRAPH
Present a clear, analytical, and comprehensive
thesis or at least, an acceptable thesis
 Correctly identify the nature of the documents
 Tell the reader how the documents will be
categorized

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SAMPLE THESIS PARAGRAPH
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A society’s attitudes toward technology often
determines the degree of its inventiveness and
progress. Yet sometimes within the very same
society, conflicting views regarding technological
innovation exist. While scholars and officials in
Han China often encouraged inventiveness, there
were some government policies that actually
discouraged it. In Roman society, a greater
degree of dissent regarding technology existed.
Some Roman writers and philosophers praised
Roman inventiveness while others considered the
work of the hands as degrading and beneath
scholarly pursuits. Even today, technology has
its proponents and its detractors.
OF COURSE, THERE ARE MANY ROADS
There is not one acceptable thesis statement but
many
 Yet an acceptable thesis statement clearly
addresses the question, the nature of the
documents, and the categorizations which will be
employed

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FINAL REMINDERS:
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Aim for
-An acceptable, clear, analytical, and
comprehensive thesis statement
-Address and show understanding of all
documents
-Support thesis with evidence from all documents
-Analyze point of view in all documents
-Analyze documents by grouping or clustering in
multiple ways
-Identify the missing voices
TO BE PREPARED IS TO SUCCEED
Read for understanding
 Consider each document’s point of view
 Determine missing voices
 Craft a strong thesis statement
 Use evidence to support the thesis statement
 Write a balanced essay that incorporates all
documents

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A DBQ IS GREAT PRACTICE FOR
DEVELOPING AN ANALYTICAL MIND
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