I'm taking AP US Hist. next year, and one of the things we have to do for summer homework is a DBQ. I've never done one of these before, and on top of that I have almost no outside information to add to the documents. As well, I'm not entirely sure what to do with all of the documents or how they relate to the question. Any help would be appreciated!
The question is: "To what extent did the American Revolution fundamentally change American society? In your answer, be sure to address the political, social, and economic effects of the Revolution in the period from 1775-1800"
Thanks bunches!
-Edit-
The Documents are arranged in chronological order... that means I should incorporate time/development/chronology into the essay, right?
From what my APUS teacher told me (somebody told me it's different with other classes, AP World for instance) when you write a DBQ you shouldn't rely only on the information in the documents, but instead you should use mostly your own knowledge and use the documents to supplement it. I find it a little weird that your teacher should assign a DBQ for a summer project, since you obviously haven't learned anything about it yet.
But I guess you have to make do with what you have.
First, yes, keep things in chronologial order as much as you can. Also, always always always keep in mind that the question is only asking for information about 1775 to 1800. It's really important to remember that, and to therefore only incorporate things that happened within that time frame. A mention of other things would be okay, but only if they directly led to legislation or something like that in the time frame that it's asking for; if you're going to include it, just skim over it, and be sure to mention it's effects right away.
Second, you don't have to use all the documents, unless for some reason it's specifically stated that you do. I guess teachers like it if you use them all, but if you can work most of them in,you should be fine. And anyway, I would think that it's better to not use a document if you don't understand it. But try to comprehend and use as many as you can.
And some random things:
If you really feel the need to, do a little bit of research on the American Revolution, particuarly on the political, social, and economical effects it had, since that's what the question is asking for. I wouldn't spend a ton of time on it, since your teacher obviously doesn't expect you to know everything, but a little background couldn't hurt.
And also, when you are writing, don't do in-text citations when you use a document. Your teacher should be familiar enough with them to know when you are referencing one.
That was sort of long... but I hope it helps a little.
Good luck!
DBQ writing - yes, you should get very familiar with it. bethanykate made some very good suggestions, and I'd like to add a bit to them.
About the time period - I agree completely examples from other time periods can ruin your essay grade (trust me, been there, done that, don't want to repeat).
About organization - well, first things first, you need a thesis statement. If you're good at writing essays, your thesis doesn't have to be confined to one sentence or doesn't have to be simple, but for your first essays you might have a basic thesis. The papers organization must, I repeat MUST follow the lead of your thesis. If you go out of order, you get points taken off. Usually for this topic and ones similar to it, people choose to make their main point the different aspects mentioned - social, political, and economic in this case. As for document usage, 6 or more is a good number, you can use all 8 if you want to though. Important details - cite the documents at the end of your sentences, and make sure you explain all citations. Don't randomly throw out a fact and move on, you must explain its significance. And yes, (probably shouldn't say this, but until you get good enough at bluffing) you do need to read up on your facts and incorporate outside information. The documents are there to help you support your knowledge, not supply it. There should be some info around the site somewhere...I'll look around in a bit and see what I can find. Also, the outlines we have here should supply you with a bit of information.
I'll be back with more help later though. If you want, I can walk you through it so you know how DBQs are done - you can im me on aim and I'll probably turn on trillian so my other names work. I'm also happy to proofread when you're done.
Best of luck, and let me know if you get stuck.
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A key phrase AP graders use (though more on AP World than on AP US) is "Change Over Time". So, yeah, they're asking about change and they give you the docs in chronological order, so you should see a difference btw docs A+B vs. E+F. I don't have that DBQ in front of me to look at, but I'm sure you can always go for a Social/Economic/Political approach.
1. Change in women's roles over time?
2. Change in the structure of the government?
3. Change in the colonial economy from mercantilism to self-reliance?
Use the documents merely as supporting evidence to back up your arguments. You don't have to talk ABOUT the documents, just cite them as evidence when it would be helpful.