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Tips for DBQ Essay

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Serendipity's picture
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Tips for DBQ Essay

How to write A DBQ

This is considered the easiest of the essays to write. =) So don’t worry too much for this essay. I hope this helps some of you.

*50 minutes ( Ten to read, forty to write)

*Read analyze, GROUP by Point Of View
I think it would be best to refer to the document by the author but you can also use the number of the number, that’s okay too. (DOC#2)

When analyzing and grouping the documents keep in mind if the document might be biased, the date, the reliability, and the accuracy. If you have trouble analyzing documents, keep this in mind for each document:

Speaker
O ccasion
Audience
Purpose
Subject

*Short intro(leaner essay style)

The good thing about a DBQ not a lot of background is needed, you don’t need to recall that much. They usually give you a short background statement anyhow. So, just read, interpret, and group the documents.

*must have thesis

*support thesis w/ evidence from DOCS

*Must group DOCS AND NOT just summarize

T- Thesis
E- Evidence (support)
A- All, use all the documents (
M- Meaning(understand document)
B- Biased(understand biased in documents) *POV*
A- Addiction document *Be specific*
G- Grouping

If you have any questions, do ask.

"I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn." -Leo Buscaglia

AdminChris's picture
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In my opinion, you don't need to go into great detail about each of the documents. One or two sentences on some of the more minor documents is enough to explain that you understand the cultural/economic/political importance of it.

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cll46's picture
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Joined: Dec 2011

What's the difference between summarizing and analyzing? I have been told I summarize my docs, but I always thought I was analyzing...

AdminChris's picture
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The difference in my opinion is that when you summarize, you are not providing any new insights/information to the existing text. Summarizing is simply taking the existing text and making it shorter by only talking to the key points.

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Suvleena's picture
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Joined: Mar 2013

You have to USE all of the documents and groups to answer the question and explain how you could USE the additional document to answer it. The point of the essay is to answer the prompt by pulling information from the documents and analysing point of view. The graders already know what the documents say. They want to know if you can understand them and use the information in them to reach a specific objective.

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