CYDI? YYC! BYGE! BYSE! ADPLY!

The College Board uses the

Document Based Question to assess your ability to analyze primary documents, evaluate them and use them appropriately to answer a given historical question.

Think of this as a mystery or

crime scene investigation The documents you have been given are your clues/evidence All clues are important in helping to solve the problem

HOWEVER

not everything in a document can be taken at face value

What about the source?

 What kind of source is it? How does that impact what it has to say? What is the status (ec, pol, soc) of the

author? How does that impact what it has to say? Who is the audience? How does that impact what it has to say? When was it written? How does that impact what it has to say?

(1) Read the question carefully.

Prompt: Using the documents, analyze

Han and Roman attitudes toward technology. Identify one additional type of document and explain briefly how it would help your analysis.
Consider each word to make sure you

understand EXACTLY what the question is asking. You must answer the question, not what you would like to answer!

(2) Analyze the documents

For this practice/prep Create a chart:

Documents

Category

Source/author/ summary

Significance of source

Normally you would do this next to each document in the

packet

(3) Analyze Point of View (POV) Point of view refers to: WHO (what) the person (or source) is And HOW that impacts what the source has to say
Use the source analysis in your chart

 What kind of source is it? How does that impact what it has to say? What is the status (ec, pol, soc) of the

author? How does that impact what it has to say? Who is the audience? How does that impact what it has to say? When was it written? How does that impact what it has to say?

Do you see patterns, similarities

or contrasts? Do certain documents support particular conclusions?

(4) Organize your ideas How can you organize the evidence? What is the best approach to take for organizing the essay? (there isnt only ONE way) This is referred to as grouping the documents

(5) Consider what else you know Do the documents or the prompt spring board additional information about the Classical time period innovations? People?

(6) Write your thesis Read the question again. Look at your evidence. Work on devising a thesis. The thesis must answer ALL parts of the question thoroughly.

Gr ou p #2

Group #1

The purpose and significance of the

Homecoming dance in the life of Lambert High School was to make money to get the class out of debt, to have students look nice, and have all students enjoy themselves while socializing and dancing, with opinions varying based on role at Group #3 the school.

 Do NOT use: I They We You Us Stuff The document says repeatedly eg: using docs & POV: Ms. Parker,

the senior class sponsor, seems to believe that making a profit is the purpose of the homecoming dance (doc. 5). As class sponsor, she is especially concerned that the debt be taken care of since she is ultimately responsible for the club finances.

You are not to just summarize the

documents. No quotes explain and analyze You are to use the documents to support the thesis. This will require you to use the analysis you have already begun in your chart and analyzing the source.

 Do not assume write as if the reader

doesnt know what the question is or what the documents are You MUST have at least 2 documents supporting a body paragraph No more than 3 groups Use ALL documents Analyze POV as much as possible

(7) Additional type of Document What is missing? What other TYPE of source or person (not already present) might provide additional information or perspective?