AP U.S. History: Attacking the DBQ
Planning & Writing for the AP Essays

Step 1: Know what the question is asking and identify important terms, times and events that need to be
addressed in the response:
 Read and understand what the question is asking.
 Underline Verbs
 Circle Key Terms
 Put a Triangle around word(s) that hint at the “extent” of information they are asking you to address.
 Find the “given” information in the question and put a square around it.
 Circle the “bracket dates”
 Rephrase the question into terms you understand
Compare and contrast United States foreign policy after the First World War and after the Second World
War. Consider the periods of [1919-1928 ] and [1945-1950].
How was US foreign policy similar and different after the first (1919-1928) and second(1945-1950) world
wars?

Step 2: Brainstorm & Organize (use shorthand, abbreviations, etc. to shorten writing time for this part).
 List all the things you know about what the question is asking (ideas, evidence, counterarguments.)
Collective security v. Isolationism
Promoting and maintaining peace
Five, Four, Nine Naval Power Treaties – limits on stockpiling armaments
1928-Kellogg-Briand Pact – 62 nations signed to outlaw aggression
Latin Am & Clark Memorandum – US not intervene in LAm issues.
Interventionist – collective security
1945 - February 4-11 Yalta Conference with Joseph Stalin and Churchill; agreement on division of Eastern
Europe
1945 - July 17 - August 2 Potsdam Conference; U.S. President Harry S. Truman meets with Stalin and U.K.
Prime Minister Clement Attlee; tells Stalin of atomic bomb; gives Japan last warning to surrender; Germany
(and Austria) divided into 4 zones of occupation
1945 - June 26 - United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco. America becomes a founding member and
has veto power on the Security Council along with Great Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union.
1945-47 - Marshall Mission to China tries and fails to force coalition government of nationalists and
Communists
1947-89 - Cold War, the period of tension and hostility between America, Western Europe, and Japan, and
Eastern Europe, China and the Soviet Union.
1947 - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Signed in Geneva by 23 nations including America,
membership has since increased, for the purpose of eliminating trade barriers of all kinds on industrial and
agricultural goods.
# 1948 - "European Recovery Plan" (called Marshall Plan); America gives out $11 billion to rebuild and
modernize Western European economies. Increased trade between Europe and the America; no repayment
asked for.
# 1948 - Berlin Blockade imposed on June 24 by the Soviet Union, blocking traffic into western sectors of
Berlin, followed by Operation Vittles, America airlifted massive amounts of food, fuel and supplies into
city. Soviet blockade lifted on May 12, 1949.
# 1949 - America and eleven other nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO, a military
alliance with the purpose of countering the Soviet Union and its allies.
# 1949 Dean Acheson becomes Secretary of State
# 1950-53 - Korean War; U.N. orders defense of South Korea against invasion by North Korea. (Soviet
Union boycotted U.N. and did not veto.) U.S. forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last
year of the conflict.
 Create a table to compare/contrast based on main ideas being asked about or by political, social
economic.
 Under each column put a number (1-low, 5-high) to determine “extent”.

Example:
Political Causes
1.
2.
3.
Social Causes
1.
2.
3.
Economic Causes
1.
2.
3.
To what extent -scale of 1-10, one
being low and ten being high- was this
area of evidence significant to
supporting your answer to the
question?
To what extent -scale of 1-10, one
being low and ten being high- was
this area of evidence significant to
supporting your answer to the
question?
To what extent -scale of 1-10, one
being low and ten being high- was this
area of evidence significant to
supporting your answer to the
question?

Step 3: Scan The Documents, analyze and jot down notes
 Quickly scan the documents and cross out the things on your chart that is covered in the given
documents. Information left on the chart is your pool of outside information. (To score well on the
DBQ you need to use the information given in the documents as well as outside information)
 Read the documents you are familiar with first, analyze the information and figure out 1 (ONE)
inference per document. Quickly jot down (use shorthand) point you are going to make with the
document.

Step 4: Create a thesis, organize information and write
 Create a thesis-be sure it is a response to the question.
 Number brainstormed ideas and documents in the order you want to include them.
 Write a first paragraph including your thesis.
 Use transitions to write until you have included all relevant ideas.
 Write a solid concluding paragraph, some possible conclusions are:
 rephrasing thesis
 summarizing ideas
 referring back to opening paragraph
 an appropriate quotation

Use the final minutes to go back and make revisions.