一 Hook
五 Bucketing
二 Background Essay
六 Thesis
Development
三 Understanding the
Question / Pre-Bucketing
七 Essay Outline
四 Document Analysis
八 Essay Writing
A DBQ for civics
When you get your packet, write your name and class period on the top line.
Have you ever heard of the term mission statement? A mission
statement is a brief explanation of what a group or
organization hopes to achieve. Schools have mission
statements. So do companies and nonprofit groups. Here are
modified versions of two real mission statements:
The mission of the Chicago Zoological Society is to inspire people
to be leaders in the field of conservation leadership. The Society
does that by connecting people with wildlife and nature.
 The mission of Locks of Love is to help children who have lost
their hair feel confident and normal. Locks of Love uses donated
ponytails to provide high quality hairpieces and wigs to children
who cannot afford to buy a good wig.

Lake County School Board needs your help to write a mission
statement for this school! Alone or with one person nearby,
answer the following questions:
Overall goal:
What is the most important purpose of
your school?
Three ways to achieve this goal:
How will your school fulfill its purpose?
1.
2.
3.
Please exchange DBQs with someone. Make sure someone
new is looking at your mission statement (not a partner).
If you see a similar statement, put an S next to that
sentence.
If you see a statement you disagree with, put a D next to
that sentence.
If you see a statement that makes you think “I should have
thought of that!”, put an I next to that sentence.
Turn to page 89 and follow along with the pictures as we click through
history.
Skim the background essay for these words and use context clues and nearby
student to come up with approximation definitions. You have 6 minutes.
Preamble
Framers
justice system
defense
liberty
federal budget
Check your definitions. Did you get close? Add as much as you need to
from these definitions.
Preamble – introduction to a formal document
Framers – the delegates to the Constitutional Convention
justice system – system to ensure fairness
defense – protection against external threats
liberty - freedom
federal budget – plan for spending the funds of the U.S.
government
Please follow along with your finger as I read the background essay aloud.
Preamble – introduction to a formal document
Framers – the delegates to the Constitutional Convention
justice system – system to ensure fairness
defense – protection against external threats
liberty - freedom
federal budget – plan for spending the funds of the U.S.
government
DO NOT GET INTO YOUR GROUPS
UNTIL I’VE READ ALL THESE INSTRUCTIONS!
• Your group is based on your row (so no more than 3 per group).
• Move your desks together and keep apart from other groups.
• Re-read the background essay on page 87 together.
• The group leader (the person whose birthday comes up next) will
start by reading the first paragraph.
• Everyone in the group will then share their first impression starting
with the person to the left of the group leader.
• Everyone will write one of those quickthinks in the margin of the
DBQ.
(YOU CAN GET INTO GROUPS NOW)
Turn to page 89 again.
As a group, answer the
background essay
questions.
Check your work: do your answers have this information?
• I will read the answers in the teacher’s
guide out loud.
• Please put a checkmark next to the ones
that you feel you “got right.”
• If you need to see the teacher’s guide,
come see me later.
1.
2.
3.
What is the analytical question asked by
this mini-Q? see title page
What terms in the question need to be
defined? maybe Preamble, maybe budget
Rewrite the question in your own words.
Is the U.S. Government spending its money in a way that
meets the goals laid out in the Preamble to the Constitution?
The Big 5
Middle 5
Little Guys
Document number or letter ______
Title of Document (if present)
Source (Where did the document come from?)
Date of document
Author of Document
Primary Source
Possible Author Bias / Point of View
Secondary Source
What important facts can I
learn from this document?
What inferences can I make
from this document?
How does this document help
answer the question?
Overall, what is the main idea
of the document?
Analytical category
(bucket):
Document number or letter ______
Title of Document (if present)
Source (Where did the document come from?)
Date of document
Author of Document
Primary Source
Possible Author Bias / Point of View
Secondary Source
What important facts can I
learn from this document?
What inferences can I make
from this document?
How does this document help
answer the question?
Overall, what is the main idea
of the document?
Analytical category
(bucket):
In your groups, you will complete a think-a-loud to analyze each
document. Pick a different person for each page to lead the think-aloud. Chip in your thoughts even when it isn’t your turn to lead.
When everyone seems to be finished with Document A, I will present
some notes about that document. These facts may be perfect for
evidence in your essay. I recommend you write some of them down in
the margins of the document.
For each document,
you must also answer the questions at the bottom of the page.
Allen Schick is a professor of public policy at the University
of Maryland who was a visiting fellow at the Brookings
Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. He also
worked at the Library of Congress’s Congressional
Research Service.
The stripes on the American flag are an abacus. The abacus
had its origins in ancient Sumer (now Iraq) 4500 years ago
and is a device for doing basic arithmetic calculations.
The excerpt of in Document A is meant to establish tension.
There won’t be enough money to do everything, so you
are forced to make tough decisions.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
In your groups, you will complete a think-a-loud to analyze each
document. Pick a different person for each page to lead the think-aloud. Chip in your thoughts even when it isn’t your turn to lead.
When everyone seems to be finished with Documents B and C, I will
present some notes about those document. These facts may be perfect
for evidence in your essay. I recommend you write some of them down
in the margins of the document.
For each document,
you must also answer the questions at the bottom of the page.
More than 60% of the federal budget is mandatory
spending. That means that existing law dictates what will
be spent on that program. Mandatory spending includes
Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Unemployment
Insurance and other safety net programs. It is hard to
change this spending because Congress must change the
law first.
The rest of the budget is called discretionary spending. 60%
of discretionary spending is military spending. It is hard to
cut this spending because every state has military bases
and economics connections to the defense industry.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
In 2012, the five biggest military spenders in the world were:
U.S.
$716 billion
China
$130 billion
Russia
$ 72 billion
UK (Britain)
$ 63 billion
France
$ 63 billion
We spend more money on our military than the next ten
countries combined. Do these numbers create an
argument for raising or maintain U.S. defense spending?
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
Medicare is a national insurance program passed by
Congress in 1965. In 2012 more than 40 million older
Americans were covered as were nearly 10 million
younger people with various disabilities. Today, people
are living longer, and older people have more medical
expenses. Medicare is feeling the pressure.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
The Social Security Act was passed by Congress in 1935 to
provide income for older people after they retired. Social
Security is funded by roughly equal contributions from
workers and their employers totaling about 15% of the
average worker’s salary. The problem facing America and
many countries is that the number of workers
contributing to the social security pot is not keeping pace
with the growing number of retirees.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
In your groups, you will complete a think-a-loud to analyze each
document. Pick a different person for each page to lead the think-aloud. Chip in your thoughts even when it isn’t your turn to lead.
When everyone seems to be finished with Documents D, E, and F, I will
present some notes about those document. These facts may be perfect
for evidence in your essay. I recommend you write some of them down
in the margins of the document.
For each document,
you must also answer the questions at the bottom of the page.
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1941 – better known
as the GI Bill – paid for millions of returning World War II
veterans to attend college. In 1947, 49% of all college
admissions were veterans. Today’s veterans enjoy similar
benefits.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
The Department of Homeland Security formed as a
response to the 9/11 attacks. Twenty-two federal
departments and agencies merged to form DHS. Its
“Mission One” is “preventing terrorism and enhancing
security.”
FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is
part of DHS. Its job is to respond to disasters that are too
much for state and local authorities to handle.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is part of the
natural resources and environment pie budget slice. It
was founded in 1970 in the wake of increased awareness
of the effects of pollution and other ecological concerns.
There are 397 national sites under direct EPA protection in
the United States. The largest, Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park, is larger than the country of Switzerland.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
The energy budget focus in 2012 and 2013 was on
innovation, clean energy, and nuclear security. The
problem has been how to shift an economy so long
dependent on fossil fuels like coal and oil to cleaner fuels
like wind and solar. What is striking is the size of the
energy budget compared to other categories like interest
payments.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
In summer 2012, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) landed the rover Curiosity on
Mars. It cost $2.5 billion for entire mission. What might
the Framers say about increasing NASA’s little piece of the
budget pie? Do the goals of the Preamble justify an
increase?
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
Patrick Chappatte is a Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist and
graphic journalist based in Geneva, Switzerland. Graphic
journalism presents reportage in the style of graphic
novels.
While Medicare and Medicaid (plus CHIP [the Children's
Health Insurance Program]) receive funding that is
approximately equal to defense spending, funding for
these health programs is mandatory. The military
spending is discretionary. The fact that 60% of
discretionary spending is devoted to the military may
reflect the power of military depicted in this cartoon.
Underlined words were suggested by previous classes.
Body ¶ #1
Body ¶ #2
Body ¶ #3
The Big Five
The Middle Five
The Little Guys
A, B, C, F
A, B, D
A, B, E
In each of three budget
clusters, the U.S.
(your changes for the middle five)
government should
make adjustments in the
way it is distributing
money

Grabber (1 sentence):

 Write something interesting about the Preamble.
 Do not start your sentence with “WOW!” or “Did you know?”.
Background (at least 2 sentences):
 Mention the five goals of the Preamble (establish justice,
domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and liberty).

Restating the question with key terms defined:

 Copy what you wrote for page 91, #3.
Thesis and road map:
 Turn your chicken foot into a sentence (see next slide for
example).
Students should
not jump in a
bounce house after
lunch time because
students might throw up
Students should not jump in a bounce house after lunch time because
students will get injured, students will throw up their lunch, and
students will be late to class.

Baby Thesis:
“In the Big Five cluster, we should …”
¶3 “In the Middle Five, we should …”
¶4 “For the Little Guys, we should …”
 ¶2




Evidence:
 Cite facts (mostly numbers this time) from the documents.
 Make sure you use document citations (Doc G)!
Argument:
 Write exactly what you want to raise or cut.
 Write how the change meets the goals of the Preamble.
 “We should cut spending on cotton candy by $8.8 billion
because it would promote the general welfare by taking
junk food away from us.”

Conclusion: “Although” statement:
 Write one reason why doing the opposite of what you
recommended might be right. If you wanted to cut
spending on something, talk about a good reason to
increase its spending. If you wanted to spend more
somewhere, talk about why you might cut it.

Conclusion: convincing restatement of the main idea.
 “We need to make the following changes to the federal
budget:” baby thesis 1, baby thesis 2, and baby thesis 3.
 Clinch your argument by putting the reader into a world
where your changes have been implemented. Tell the
reader something very good that could happen.
Show me your outline when
you are finished.
Once I have checked your
outline, you may start writing.
If you need assistance, raise your hand and wait for me to come to you.
You may also come to the front table to scroll through this presentation
for help on your outline.
Good luck!
¡Buena suerte!
がんばって!
1.
If you have reached this slide, please
decorate your DBQ folder.
2.
Every slide after this refers to another
DBQ. The answers after this will be
wrong for this DBQ.
Don’t forget your home prep!
3.