Hippoing Documents
Analyzing Documents
Historical Context:
H.I.P.P.Oing Documents
Analysis of ‘Historical Context’ involves connecting a document to specific historical events, to specific
circumstances of time and place, and/or to broader regional, national, or global processes. Identifying
the ‘Historical Context’ places the document within broader trends which are contemporary to the
source. It might also connect the document across time to earlier and later eras, or across space to
events happening in different places.
Intended Audience:
Explain to the Reader who the author had in mind when he/she created the document.
Purpose:
Explain to the Reader why was the document created?
Point of View:
Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals
involved in a situation.
Outside Information:
Explain to the Reader one piece of outside information that is not contained in the document (but is
spurred from the document) and why it is important to that time period.
H.I.P.P.Oing Phrases in your Notebook/Essay
Historical context:
“the historical context of this document is___________________.”
Intended Audience:
“the author’s intended audience was ___________________” and “is shown
by_______________.”
Purpose:
“the author’s purpose in writing was to ______________” and “is shown by______________.”
Point of View:
“the author’s point of view in this document was ____________________” and “is shown
by______________.”
Outside Information:
Make sure you use the Outside Information to Answer The Question (ATQ) within the time
period!!!
Document Choices for your homework: (Black Death)
Reading Selections:
You must find a Twitter reading selections within the time period being discussed in class that are
between 120 – 150 words. These selections should help inform you about the particular time
period. They can be either primary or secondary sources.
Historical Pictures/Political Cartoons:
You can choose a historical picture or political cartoon that took place during a certain time
period in European History. Make sure the Picture or Cartoon helps to teach you more about the
time period through HIPPOing.
Graphs or Charts
Graphs or charts that describe a factor/s of a time period can also be used as a HIPPOing
document. WARNING: These documents will be more difficult to HIPPO!
Bring 6 copies of the Document . HIPPO the document
Lets practice Hippoing!
Columbus Discovers America (1492), Saturday October 13th
“At dawn many of these men came down to the shore, all are, as already,
said, youths of good size and very handsome: their hair is not wooly, but loose
and course like horse hair, they have broader heads and foreheads than I have
seen in any other race of men, and the eyes very beautiful not small, none of
them are black, but of the completions of the inhabitants of the Canaries, as it
is to be expected, for it is east [and] west with the island of Hierro in the
Canaries, in the same line [latitude]. All without exception have very straight
limbs, and no bellies, and very well formed. They came to the ship in canoes,
made out of trunks of trees all in one piece, and wonderfully built according to
the locality, in some of them forty or forth-five men came, others were
smaller, and in some but a single man came.
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Cortes and La Malinche meet Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan, November 8, 1519.
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Bartolomé de las Casas Condemns Spanish Treatment of the
Indians (circa. 1510)
In exchange for his life of services, an Indian received 225 maravedis, paid
them once a year as pin money or cacona, as Indians call it, which means
bonus or reward. This sum bought a comb, a small mirror, and a string of
green or blue glass beads.
I believe the above clearly demonstrates that the Indians were totally
deprived of their freedom and were put in the harshest, fiercest, most
horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can
understand. Even beasts enjoy more freedom when they are allowed to graze
in the fields. When the Indians were allowed to go home, they often found it
deserted and had no other recourse than to go out into the woods to find
food and die. When they fell ill, which was very frequently because they are a
delicate people unaccustomed to such work, the Spaniards did not believe
them and pitilessly called them lazy dogs, and kicked and beat them, and
when illness was apparent they sent them home as useless.
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The Plan
Document Choice for your homework: (Black Death)
 Reading Selections:
You must find a “Twitter reading” selections within the time period being discussed in class that are
between 120 – 150 words. These selections should help inform you about the particular time period.
They can be either primary or secondary sources.
 Historical Pictures/Political Cartoons:
You can choose a historical picture or political cartoon that took place during a certain time period in
Europe’s History. Make sure the Picture or Cartoon helps to teach you more about the time period
through HIPPOing.
 Graphs or Charts
Graphs or charts that describe a factor/s of a time period can also be used as a HIPPOing document.
WARNING: These documents will be more difficult to HIPPO!
Bring 6 copies of the Document . HIPPO the document
Step 2
• When you come back tomorrow, you will have a document and you have hippoed it as well.
Step 3
You will be put in a group of 6 or 7 class members. You will read each document they bring
to the table. Your task is to see if they have hippoed it. If not, help them to HIPPO it right.
Step 4
After reading all the documents, you will create a Document –Based question.
Example question: Analyze the various responses to the outbreaks of plague from the
fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Discuss the beliefs and concerns that these
responses express.
Step 5
You will create a poster which has your constructed question and the documents of your
group following the question.
Step 6
You will write a thesis paragraph using the following steps in the next slide
INTRO Paragraph with thesis statement
1st sentence – Broad context/time-period
2nd sentence – HISTORICAL CONTEXT (explain the immediate
backdrop for your essay)
3rd sentence – THESIS – specifically answer all parts of the
question.
Parts to a Thesis
The thesis sentence is the most
important sentence in any essay.
It must be clear, properly
structured, and in the correct
place.
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Thesis Checklist
• To be effective, remember there are three things your thesis must do.
Before you go on to the body of the paper, check to see if your thesis
has all 3 necessary elements. If it does not, go back and rewrite your
thesis so that your FRQ/DBQ response successfully does its job.
• The thesis must address all parts of the question.
• The thesis must contain 3 organizational categories
• The thesis must be clear, concise, analytical and specific
XYZ Thesis
• 1. XYZ: Answer the question in the first part of your thesis and then follow
it up with your Plan of Attack (POA). The POA should consist of your
organizational categories.
• Example: Analyze the causes of the French Revolution of 1789.
• The French Revolution broke out because of political, economic, and social
problems in France, which had existed since the time of Louis XIV. The 3rd
estate lacked voting and political power, the tax structure was unfair to the
lower classes, and the 3rd estate still owed feudal dues and obligations to
the nobility, contradicting the Enlightenment idea that all men are created
equal.”
Check
INTRO Paragraph with thesis statement
1st sentence – Broad context/time-period
2nd sentence – HISTORICAL CONTEXT (explain the immediate
backdrop for your essay)
3rd sentence – THESIS – specifically answer all parts of the
question.
Lets write the DBQ essay
Lets read sample DBQ essays and understand the rubric.
HOW TO FORMAT A LEQ/DBQ
INTRO Paragraph
1st sentence – Broad context/time-period
2nd sentence – HISTORICAL CONTEXT (explain the immediate
backdrop for your essay)
3rd sentence – THESIS – specifically answer all parts of the
question
Four Types of Essay:
MAIN BODY Paragraphs
Historical Causation
1st
Paragraph/Thesis point -- Use supporting evidence (for
a DBQ use the docs and some relevant outside evidence)
Continuity and Change over Time
Compare and Contrast
2nd Paragraph/Thesis point -- as above
Turning Point
3rd Paragraph/Thesis point – as above
(also the occasional Competing
Historical Narratives)
CONCLUSION Paragraph
1st sentence - Repeat the THESIS
2nd sentence - EXTEND THE ARGUMENT (what was the significance of
these events in a wider context?)
3rd sentence – LINK TO SIMILAR HISTORICAL ISSUE/DEVELOPMENT (in
earlier or later period), EXPLAIN HOW LINKED - SYNTHESIS
DBQ Rubric
Congratulations for writing your first DBQ essay