THE DBQ ESSAY – Again….
Dr. Afxendiou
Sachem North High School
AP World History and Geography
Remember…
The DBQ Essay tests if you know how to
work like a historian and compose an
essay like a historian.
 It is not testing what historical knowledge
you have on the topic
 When you are taking the AP test, you are
not going to know a great deal on the
topic of the DBQ essay
 BUT…
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BUT…
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Do you know how to educate yourself on the
topic from the documents (understanding)?
Do you know how to get evidence from the
documents to prove your points (thesis)?
Do you know how to organize information
(grouping) and present it to others in written
form?
Do you know how to evaluate your sources
(pov), how valid they are, how trustworthy?
If you were a historian, what other
information/documents would you want
(additional document) to make a more complete
case on your topic?
That is what the DBQ expects of
you!
Don’t list the documents.
 Don’t take chunks of the documents and
just mush them together thinking that you
are grouping.
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 Learn
from the documents and
present that knowledge – and
cite the source of your
knowledge (doc. 2)
The Classical Athens DBQ Re-write
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Make sure you have a clear thesis
Make sure each paragraph is about one
clear topic (make sure you have a topic
sentence and that the sentences that
follow provide support and evidence for
that topic sentence)
Make sure that each document used is
clearly cited
Add at least one POV in each paragraph –
that means the SOAPSTone of at least one
document
State the need for an additional document
at the end of each body paragraph
POINT OF VIEW
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Explains why this particular person might
have this particular opinion.
OR
Explains what particular feature (cultural,
political) informs the author’s point of view
The point of view is completed by the tone
of the document, the intended audience, the
occasion, in other words all the information
you get from the document using
SOAPSTone.
POINT OF VIEW
How do you get the point of view?“
 Answer the question: “Why” did the author
said what he/she said?
◦ “Why” includes factors that influenced the author’s
position
◦ These factors can be found
 In the documents themselves (information in the box – the
source)
 Through knowledge of author or of what is being said
POINT OF VIEW

Factors that help you evaluate the
author’s point of view are:
◦ Name, Position, Nationality, Document Date
and/or Document Type
◦ Evaluating the reliability of the source - realize
that different types of documents were
authored to serve different purposes
SAMPLE POV
Vasquez, writing about Potosi, the largest silver
mine in Spain’s colonial possessions, describes
the terrible conditions that Native Americans
dealt with in the labor in the mines (doc. 6).
Vasquez shows the continuing manipulation of
the Native American population by the
Spanish. He is obviously a priest like de las
Casas, who is sympathetic towards the Indians.
And as a priest who has influence he was
trying with his writing to affect the position of
the Indians positively.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT
What kinds of information would you like to have to
help answer the question better?
 You don’t have to name a specific actual document,
but you must do two things with this Additional
Document:
1. Describe the kind of information you’d like to see in
an additional document.
2. Explain of how that information would help a
historian answer the question more completely.
(“…because it would help” is not an acceptable
answer.)
 What would you do with such information? What
conclusion could you make with “Information x” that
you can’t make now?
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ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT
The best essays ask for an additional document in
every body paragraph to supplement the evidence
supporting that paragraph’s topic sentence.
 You could say: “Historians could better [make
what conclusion?] if a document from a [type of
source] that dealt with [subject matter] existed.”
or
 “In order to [describe what conclusion you’d like
to be able to draw] historians would need a [kind
of document] showing [describe what kind of
information desired].”
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NOW GO RE-WRITE YOUR ESSAY!