dbq essay requirements

AP United States History

Review the free-response questions from the 2024 ap exam., exam overview.

Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information, download the  AP U.S. History Course and Exam Description  (CED).

Scoring rubrics – general scoring criteria for the document-based and long essay questions, regardless of specific question prompt – are available in the course and exam description (CED).

Encourage your students to visit the  AP U.S. History student page  for exam information.

Rubrics Updated for 2023-24

We’ve updated the AP U.S. History document-based question (DBQ) and long essay question (LEQ) rubrics for the 2023-24 school year. 

This change only affects the DBQ and LEQ scoring, with no change to the course or the exam: the exam format, course framework, and skills assessed on the exam all remain unchanged.

The course and exam description (CED) has been updated to include: 

• Revised rubrics (general scoring criteria) for the DBQ and LEQ.
• Revised scoring guidelines for the sample DBQ and LEQ within the CED.

Fri, May 10, 2024

AP U.S. History Exam

Exam format.

The AP U.S. History Exam has consistent question types, weighting, and scoring guidelines, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day.

Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice

55 Questions | 55 Minutes | 40% of Exam Score

• Questions usually appear in sets of 3–4 questions.
• Students analyze historical texts, interpretations, and evidence.
• Primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps are included.

Section I, Part B: Short Answer

3 Questions | 40 Minutes | 20% of Exam Score

• Students analyze historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history.
• Questions provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best.
• Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
• Question 1 is required, includes 1–2 secondary sources, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1754 and 1980.
• Question 2 is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1754 and 1980.
• Students choose between Question 3 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1491 and 1877) and Question 4 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1865 and 2001) for the last question. No sources are included for either Question 3 or Question 4.

Section II: Document-Based Question and Long Essay

2 questions | 1 Hour, 40 minutes | 40% of Exam Score

Document-Based Question (DBQ)

Recommended Time: 1 Hour (includes 15-minute reading period) | 25% of Exam Score

• Students are presented with 7 documents offering various perspectives on a historical development or process.
• Students assess these written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.
• Students develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
• The document-based question focuses on topics from 1754 to 1980.

Recommended time: 40 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score

• Students explain and analyze significant issues in U.S. history.
• The question choices focus on the same skills and the same reasoning process (e.g., comparison, causation, or continuity and change), but students choose from 3 options, each focusing on historical developments and processes from a different range of time periods—either 1491–1800 (option 1), 1800–1898 (option 2), or 1890–2001 (option 3).

Exam Questions and Scoring Information

Ap united states history exam questions and scoring information.

View free-response questions and scoring information from this year's exam and past exams.

Score Reporting

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AP® US History

How to write a new ap® us history dbq.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

Hey! We wrote an updated version of this post here . Check it out for helpful videos and FRQ tips.

The dreaded AP® US History Document Based Question. For years it has struck fear in the hearts of many, turned boys into men and rookie students into old, weathered veterans. Rumor has it that little Jimmy Walker once took the AP® US History exam and when he got to the DBQ section, proceeded to spontaneously combust. Okay, so maybe that is a little dramatic. But the DBQ can be a really intimidating process that stands in the way of success for many students. Lucky for you, with this comprehensive guide, it can be relatively painless, and you will be well on your way to academic success and glory.

To start with, it is a good idea to figure out what exactly you are trying to  accomplish on the DBQ .  The quickest way to a high score is to know what the test scorers are looking for, and then do it! The rubric for grading the AP® US History DBQ can be found  here . Also lucky for you, we broke down the rubric to make it easy to understand. Before you continue through the rest of this how-to guide, be sure to go check out the DBQ rubric guide  here .

All right, so now you know what they are looking for and what you are trying to accomplish. Let’s get started.

The DBQ Layout:

Okay, so here’s how it works. Basically, you will be given an essay prompt, a set of primary source documents (never more than 7), and only 60 minutes to come up with a well written, clear and coherent essay response. The general rule of thumb, recommended by the good people at CollegeBoard, is to dedicate about 15 of those precious minutes to planning and the last 45 to writing. That may seem a little overwhelming, but it is totally doable! Especially with these 6 easy steps!

1. Read the Question.

Then figure out what the question is asking you. I can’t stress this enough, figuring out what the prompt is asking you is critical. No matter how good of a writer you are, or how much history you may know, if you don’t answer the question, you are sunk. A neat tip might be to write out in your own words what the question is asking.

As you are reading the question, be on the lookout for which skills they are trying to test you on. Every DBQ is looking to test your skills of historical argumentation, use of historical evidence,  contextualization , and synthesis. These things are outlined in the rubric and are consistent parts of every good DBQ. In addition to these critical skills, a DBQ will be looking to analyze one of a number of certain skills. These include: causation, change/continuity over time, comparison, interpretation, or periodization. Don’t waste too much time trying to figure this out, and don’t get so caught up in it that you forget to answer the actual question, just be sure to keep it in mind as you plan out your answer.

That probably seems like an insanely long first step, but all of that will really only take a couple of minutes and set you up to breeze through the rest of the process. Once you have thoroughly read and interpreted the question, you are ready for step number 2!

2. Dig into the Sources

While you want to make sure that you read each document, don’t waste your time on too focused of a reading. Underline or highlight things that stand out, and make notes out to the side. One suggestion is to write a quick sentence or two that summarizes the main idea of each document. And again, this is all just part of the 15-minute planning period; so don’t get too caught up on any document. You are just looking for main ideas and details that really stand out. To take this one step further, you can organize the documents into groups based on their main point. (For highest score possibilities, make sure to use either all or all but one of the primary source documents).

3. Make an Outline.

First decide on a thesis, and from there think about how you want to use your primary source documents to support that thesis. Think about what kinds of outside information you might want to bring in to further support your argument, and where it will fit into your essay as a whole. Once more, don’t get stuck mapping out every single thing that you are going to say, but be sure that you include documents where they fit in the response. This will make it much easier to incorporate them into your answer. Hopefully it has only been 15 minutes or less at this point and you are now ready to write!

4. Start Writing!

Most of your highly intensive, critical thinking type stuff should already have happened and now it is just all about putting those thoughts into words. If you played your cards right and made good use of the first 15 minutes, this part of the process should be pretty straightforward. Start with a brief introduction that gives a little context to the subject matter and shows that you know some of the details surrounding the subject matter. Introduce your thesis, then a few of your main ideas that support your thesis. This part of your paper is not much different than a regular essay response.

5. Keep Writing!

As you get going on some longer paragraphs and stringing together lots of sophisticated and smart sounding sentences, it can be easy to lose sight of the main points of your paper. I have said it a couple times already, but it is absolutely essential that you answer the question!

A few key things to keep in mind as you write your body:

1. Use specific references from your documents, and always show where you are getting the information. At the same time, don’t just use huge block quotes to take up a bunch of space. Use what you need to answer the question.

2. Make sure you use some outside knowledge to support your argument, along with your documents. Specific examples that aren’t on the documents are super helpful in making your argument stronger, and just showing that you know what you are talking about.

3. Don’t forget to contextualize. Things that happen in history are not isolated events, and the circumstances surrounding things matter. Don’t forget to address that.

6. Wrap it up with a ballin’ conclusion.

Don’t draw it out and don’t introduce new ideas in the conclusion. Make it short and to the point. Summarize what your main thesis and arguments were and leave it at that. Don’t try to be too clever or witty or trite and you actually don’t have to use the term “In conclusion” every time you write a conclusion. (Mind blown, I know).

If you follow these 6 easy steps and  ANSWER THE QUESTION , you will demolish the DBQ section of the  AP® US History  exam. (That’s a good thing). And at the very least, you will make it out better than poor Jimmy Walker.

Looking for AP® US History practice?

Kickstart your AP® US History prep with Albert. Start your AP® exam prep today .

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4 thoughts on “how to write a new ap® us history dbq”.

This says it was updated in May of 2020, bull crap! YOu are telling students they have 15 min to read the documents and 45 to write. Thats wrong! They have a total of 45 min. on the new 2020 online DBQ. So Im telling students to spend no more than 19 min with reading the docs. Come on guys! get this updated

I meant 10 min on reading Docs.

Paul, this was written several years ago as noted by the disclaimer. For the 2020 exam, please review our new guide here: https://www.albert.io/blog/ap-us-history-review/

Thanks for the comment!

Paul, this is an article from a few years ago (note the disclaimer). The updates made to this were just images, not core content. Our 2020 AP® US History guide can be found here: https://www.albert.io/blog/ap-us-history-review/

Comments are closed.

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How to Approach the AP U.S. History Long Essay Question

The second part of Section II of the AP US History exam contains three long essay questions—you must respond to one. The long essay question assesses your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytical manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would. This process is called historiography—the skills and strategies historians use to analyze and interpret historical evidence to reach a conclusion. Thus, when writing an effective essay, you must be able to write a strong, clearly developed thesis and supply a substantial amount of relevant evidence to support your thesis and develop a complex argument.

The College Board’s characteristics of a high-scoring long essay question response are listed below. Note that the requirements are very similar to those of the DBQ ; the primary difference is that any requirements related to use of the documents are removed from the scoring requirements for the long essay question.

• Thesis: Make a thesis or claim that responds to the prompt. The thesis or claim must be historically defensible and establish a line of reasoning.
• Context: Provide context relevant to the prompt by describing a broader historical development or process.
• Evidence: Use specific and relevant examples as evidence to support an argument in response to the prompt.
• Historical Skill: Use a historical reasoning skill (causation, comparison, or continuity and change) to develop an argument in response to the prompt.
• Complex Understanding: Demonstrate a complex understanding of an argument that responds to the prompt by using evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify the argument.

AP U.S. History Long Essay Strategy

Consider the following special strategies for the long essay question. Scoring requirements are highlighted in bold.

Step 1: Analyze the Prompt

• Each long essay question will ask you to “evaluate the extent” of some factor in American history. Since you are evaluating, you will need to develop an argument that addresses the prompt. Make sure to read all three prompts carefully. Think of the evidence you could use and the argument you could develop in response to each one, then choose the question you feel most confident about.
• Begin crafting your thesis statement. You must have a thesis that makes a claim and introduces the reasoning of your argument. It is not enough to merely restate the question as your thesis; you must take a position. Don’t be afraid of making a strong claim; just be sure you can provide relevant evidence to support your assertion. Your thesis may also outline the categories of analysis, or the major points, you will use in your essay.
• Part of developing your thesis should be considering how your essay’s argument will demonstrate a complex understanding, perhaps by analyzing multiple variables, by considering both changes and continuities, or by making an insightful connection to another time period.

Step 2: Plan Your Response

• Making a careful plan can help you make sure you address all the scoring requirements.
• Paraphrase your thesis statement. Knowing your claim will make it easier for you to plan an effective argument in your essay. In light of the documents, you must make a claim and/or demonstrate a line of reasoning that responds to the prompt. Avoid statements that are vague or general (“The Vietnam War was very significant”) and make a claim that responds to the prompt, uses both the documents and your historical knowledge, and sets up the rest of your essay (“The Vietnam War impacted Americans’ perceptions of the U.S. role in international politics, the power of the federal government, and the status of young people, influencing legal and social changes in American society”).
• Be sure your thesis or overall plan incorporates a complex understanding . You need to demonstrate that you have more than just a basic understanding of the content, so your thesis or overall essay should address complexity in the historical development—perhaps by including multiple variables, by considering both causes and effects, or by making an insightful connection to another time period. See below for a complete list of ways to demonstrate complex understanding.
• Make a note about how you will provide context for the topic of the prompt. This may fit well in the introduction or first body paragraph.
• List the documents you will use as evidence —remember that you must use six or seven to earn the maximum number of points for using the documents.
• Consider whether the paragraph is a good place to provide additional evidence —you must include one additional historical example.
• Think about when it would be beneficial to explain sourcing , or how a document’s context or situation is relevant to the argument—you must do so for three documents.
• Finally, review your plan and check off each requirement in your test booklet to ensure you addressed all six.

Step 3: Action! Write Your Response

• Nothing is more important in the first paragraph than the clear statement of an analytical thesis. The reader is most interested in seeing a strong thesis as soon as possible.
• Your thesis can be more than just one sentence. With the compound questions often asked by the DBQ, two sentences might be needed to complete the idea.
• Refer to the authors of the documents, not just the document numbers.
• A good idea is to write a concluding paragraph that might extend your original thesis. Think of a way to restate your thesis, adding information from your analysis of the documents.

Step 4: Proofread

• Skim for any glaring errors and, if you have time, check again to make sure your response meets each of the DBQ requirements.

AP Expert Note

Be prepared to demonstrate complex understanding The AP exam asks you to analyze sources and develop arguments in a sophisticated way. Demonstrating your complex understanding of the topic at hand is crucial to your success, and here are some ways you can do so.

• Analyze multiple variables
• Employ a complex historical reasoning skill by explaining both similarities and differences, both continuity and change, both causes and effects, or multiple causes
• Explain relevant connections to other regions or other time periods
• Corroborate perspectives across multiple course themes (such as environment, cultural developments, governance, economic systems, social organization, and technology)
• Qualify an argument using other evidence or views

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As you prepare for college, you will want to learn as much as possible about a DBQ essay. This type of essay is found in AP history exams and social studies classes in different grades.

A DBQ , or Document-Based Question essay  requires students to develop an argument using evidence from a set of primary source documents provided to them. The DBQ essay tests a student's ability to critically analyze multiple documents, connect them to the historical context, and form a coherent, well-argued response. These documents may include written texts, images, graphs, or maps, and typically relate to a specific historical period or theme.

It deals with way more of historical documents then you might have thought. So, at some point, you can certainly find yourself at a loss. “How to write a DBQ Essay?”, you may ask. Don't worry! In this article, we will talk about how to write it. We will look at its format and show you an example. Are you ready to learn more now from proficient essay writers online ?

Choose a professional essay writer to your liking, send paper requirements and get your assignment fast!  

Frequently Asked Questions About DBQ Essay

1. do i need to use quotes in my dbq essay.

Yes. Use quotes in your DBQ essay as often as possible. In this way, you will provide evidence to support your argument. But do not forget to analyze these quotes every time and talk about your point of view. Use quotation marks when writing quotes.

2. Can I start a DBQ essay introduction with a question?

Yes, you can start the DBQ essay introduction with a question. Keep in mind that you must answer this question using an argument. Further down a text, you should not ask questions.

3. Is a DBQ essay an LEQ with documents?

A DBQ essay should consist of evidence from the documents provided in your task. LEQ (that stands for thesis-based response) should not contain any evidence at all.

4. How many documents usually need to be analyzed for DBQ essay?

Usually, before writing a DBQ essay, you need to analyze about 5 to 7 documents. But it is always a good idea to check with your professors for clear instructions.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

In simple terms, a DBQ Essay is an assignment that tests student's analytical and comprehension skills. There is a more formal definition of this term. DBQ stands for Document-Based Question. This type of essay is part of the AP US History (APUSH) exam established by the US College Board. Student's task is to provide their foliage knowledge and back it up with facts. Three to 16 reliable sources of information are required. To write quality work, you must understand more about the DBQ essay schema.

The first question that students have is “how to write a DBQ essay?” Students must familiarize themselves with an issue posed in a document. They should interpret presented material with particular historical period in mind. Student will have 15 minutes to read paper, take notes, and then 45 minutes to write their DBQ. Sounds a little complicated? No worries. We’ve prepared a basic step-by-step guide to help you complete this challenge for the highest score.

If you are on an AP exam , you will have 15 minutes to familiarize yourself with the hint and document for writing a DBQ essay. During this short period, you need to read your given tip carefully (we recommend re-reading it several times), analyze attached documents, and develop your own argumentation. Document analysis is the first and most crucial step in writing a DBQ. Be sure to highlight the question for yourself. Otherwise, you risk losing points even for the most adequately structured and competent essay if it does not answer the question posed in the tip.

After reading an essay recommendation, you will need to highlight a DBQ thesis sentence. It is a summary of your arguments. Make sure your thesis is a well-founded statement that responds to clues rather than just repeats them. There should be several arguments in the thesis itself. Let's suppose that the question of your document is, “Why did movement for women's suffrage start in the 20th century?”. "Significant contributions of women in support of the war formed a movement for women's suffrage to the right” is a strong thesis. In this case, thesis speaks of participation in hostilities during the First World War. Therefore, it will be easier for you and your future reader to form some strong point of view when reading your work. Support your arguments with around 6 documents. Always highlight one of them whose vision of the situation is closer to you. You will decide on the main answer to the question based on your thesis and read the documents.  

As we said above, correctly highlighted abstracts are key to successful DBQ essay writing. Be careful when reading any information. Read the documentation carefully and take your time looking for answers. We have a few recommendations for you:

Kindly note that not all sources will be written documents. Occasionally, you will come across diagrams, maps, or political cartoons. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with some nuances of reading primary sources in advance.

Before you start writing your text:

If you indicate some sources as a confirmation to sections, it is recommended to draw up an essay in chronological order. Keep in mind that an essay structure should not be broken. Start with an introduction, then write at least three paragraphs with arguments. Your DBQ should end with a conclusion in which you again repeat your thesis, only in an affirmative manner.

Find out time management tips when writing DBQ essays. Remember that you will have 45 minutes during which you must complete the entire paper. We recommend that you plan how much time you are willing to spend on each of your sections. Be sure that you take a few minutes and correct your essay at the very end. DBQ essays have a clear structure that cannot be deviated from introduction with a thesis sentence, body with enough evidence supporting your arguments, and conclusion. We will tell you more about what each section should include later in this blog post.

It would help if you started with DBQ essay introduction. In this part of your text, indicate your thesis and several appropriate sentences in context. It is a natural and easy way that you can start your essay right and not get lost in thought. It should be noted that you must link your thesis with its historical implications. If you don’t, you will probably lose one point.

It is crucial to know how to write a body paragraph . DBQ essay body paragraphs occupy more than 80% of your text. It typically consists of at least three paragraphs. All sections should be logically related with each other. Stay tuned to chronology of events, especially if you mention periods or information that supports your arguments with documents' date. Each of the paragraphs can indicate some component of your thesis. You should mention dates, historical figures and cite papers as often as possible. Include document's number in parentheses when using a quotation.

Writing a conclusion in a DBQ essay is as easy as shelling pears. You shouldn't really indicate anything new that was not in your text. Summarize your arguments and point out to your reader that you have been able to prove your claim. You will most likely get an extra point if you can connect your arguments with history of other periods or other countries. Scale your thoughts. For example, if you are talking about the First World War period in the United States, then indicate that it had similar impact on citizens of other countries.

Still, have some more questions? DBQ essay sample will be beneficial for you when preparing for an exam. An example helps you understand the structure and formation of arguments in your future text. You can check out our sample if you are in need of further help. Do not hesitate to contact professionals! After all, high-quality assistance is key to your good grade.

We have detailed the way and structure of a DBQ essay. Its purpose is based on analyzing, drawing conclusions or tracing trends of events from the past. Writing a strong essay includes all your skills learned in the AP class. This way professors can assess student's knowledge, experience and evaluate their efforts. Your dbq score is one-quarter of your score on the entire AP exam. In general, you can achieve up to seven points for this assignment. Article above describes a few ways of getting more points...

• Indicate the document's author, their audience, and point of view.
• Determine percentage of reliability of this source and try to identify what influenced the author's opinion (perhaps this is particular historical period that will help you in further analysis).
• Highlight key points such as “evaluate,” “analyze,” and “compare and contrast.” Also, look for keywords such as "social,” "political," and "economical,” as well as information about the period and society in question (it is convenient to take notes in document margins so that you can return to desired passage).
• Make a brief DBQ essay template outline.
• Organize your brief and write your central thesis at page's top.
• Write a possible structure for your document.
• Next to each item, write one statement that does not contradict your view.

What Is a DBQ Essay: Main Definition

How to write a dbq essay: step-by-step guide, step 1. analyze the documents before starting a dbq essay, step 2. create your thesis for dbq essay, step 3. read the documents and note the details before writing a dbq essay, step 4. create a dbq essay outline, step 5. write your dbq essay, how to start a dbq essay, how to write a body paragraph for a dbq essay, how to write a conclusion essay for a dbq, the best dbq essay example, dbq essay: bottom line.

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How to Write a DBQ Essay

Last Updated: February 27, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Emily Listmann, MA . Emily Listmann is a Private Tutor and Life Coach in Santa Cruz, California. In 2018, she founded Mindful & Well, a natural healing and wellness coaching service. She has worked as a Social Studies Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator, and an SAT Prep Teacher. She received her MA in Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 2014. Emily also received her Wellness Coach Certificate from Cornell University and completed the Mindfulness Training by Mindful Schools. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 681,022 times.

In the past, Document Based Questions (DBQ) were rarely found outside of AP history exams. However, they’re now used in social studies classes across grade levels, so you’re bound to take a DBQ test at some point. [1] X Research source Going into the test, you will need strong background knowledge of the time periods and geographical areas on which you will be tested. Your documents will always relate back directly to the major subjects and themes of your class. The key to success is to analyze the provided documents and use them to support an argument in response to the essay prompt. While DBQ tests are rigorous, they allow you to actually do historical work instead of merely memorize facts. Don’t stress, put on your historian hat, and start investigating!

Writing Help

Analyzing the Documents

• For an AP exam, you’ll then have 45 minutes to write your essay. Exact times may vary for other exams and assignments but, for all DBQ essays, document analysis is the first step.
• For an AP exam, you will also need to include a thesis, set the prompt’s historical context, use 6 documents to support an argument, describe 1 piece of outside evidence, and discuss the point of view or context of at least 3 of the sources. Label these elements as you review and outline so you don’t forget something.

• A prompt might ask you to analyze or explain the causes of a historical development, such as, “Explain how the Progressive Movement gained social, political, and cultural influence from the 1890s to the 1920s in the United States.”
• You might need to use primary sources to compare and contrast differing attitudes or points of view toward a concept, policy, or event, such as, “Compare and contrast the differing attitudes towards women’s rights in the United States from 1890 to 1920.”
• Keywords in these examples inform you how to read your sources. For instance, to compare and contrast differing attitudes, you’ll need to identify your sources’ authors, categorize their points of view, and figure out how attitudes changed over the specified period of time.

• Suppose one of the documents is a suffragette’s diary entry. Passages in the entry that detail her advocacy for the Women’s Rights Movement are evidence of her point of view. In contrast, another document is newspaper article written around the same time that opposes suffrage.
• A diary entry might not have an intended audience but, for documents such as letters, pamphlets, and newspaper articles, you’ll need to identify the author’s likely readers.
• Most of your sources will probably be written documents, but you’ll likely encounter political cartoons, photographs, maps, or graphs. The U.S. Library of Congress offers a helpful guide to reading specific primary source categories at https://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/guides.html .

• Suppose you have a letter sent from one suffragette to another about the methods used to obtain the right to vote. This document may help you infer how attitudes vary among the movement’s supporters.
• A newspaper article depicting suffragettes as unpatriotic women who would sabotage World War I for the United States helps you understand the opposing attitude.
• Perhaps other sources include a 1917 editorial on the harsh treatment of imprisoned suffragists and an article on major political endorsements for women’s suffrage. From these, you’d infer that 1917 marked a pivotal year, and that the role women played on the home front during World War I would lead to broader support for suffrage.

• For instance, perhaps you read that the National American Woman Suffrage association (NAWSA) made a strategic shift in 1916 from focusing on state-by-state suffrage to prioritizing a constitutional amendment. Mentioning this switch to a more aggressive strategy supports your claim that the stage was set for a 1917 turning point in popular support for women’s suffrage.
• When you think of outside evidence during the planning stages, jot it down so you can refer to it when you write your essay. A good spot could be in the margin of a document that relates to the outside information.

Developing an Argument

• For example, after reviewing the documents related to women’s suffrage, identify the opposing attitudes, how they differed, and how they changed over time.
• Your rough argument at this stage could be, “Those in opposition saw suffragettes as unpatriotic and unfeminine. Attitudes within the suffrage movement were divided between conservative and confrontational elements. By the end of World War I, changing perceptions of the role of women contributed to growing popular support for suffrage.”

• Suppose your DBQ is, “How did World War I affect attitudes toward women’s suffrage in the United States?” A strong tentative thesis would be, “The roles women played in the workforce and in support of the war effort contributed to growing popular support for the suffrage movement.”
• A weak thesis would be, “World War I affected how Americans perceived women’s suffrage.” This simply restates the prompt.

• For example, under numeral I., write, “New Woman: perceptions shift in the 1890s.” This section will explain the 1890s concept of the New Woman, which rejected traditional characterizations of women as dependent and fragile. You’ll argue that this, in part, set the stage for shifting attitudes during and following World War I.
• You can start your planning your essay during the reading portion of the test. If necessary, take around 5 minutes out of the writing portion to finish outlining your argument.

• For instance, under “I. New Woman: perceptions shift in the 1890s,” write “(Doc 1),” which is a pamphlet praising women who ride bicycles, which was seen as “unladylike” at the time.
• Beneath that line, write “(Doc 2),” which is an article that defends the traditional view that women should remain in the household. You’ll use this document to explain the opposing views that set the context for suffrage debates in the 1900s and 1910s.

• Suppose your tentative thesis is, “The roles women played in the workforce and in support of the war effort contributed to growing popular support for the suffrage movement.” You decide that “contributed” isn’t strong enough, and swap it out for “led” to emphasize causation.

Drafting Your Essay

• If you have 45 minutes to write, take about 5 minutes to make an outline. If you have an introduction, 3 main points that cite 6 documents, and a conclusion, plan on spending 7 minutes or less on each of these 5 sections. That will leave you 5 minutes to proofread or to serve as a buffer in case you need more time.
• Check the time periodically as you write to ensure you’re staying on target.

• To set the context, you might write, “The Progressive Era, which spanned roughly from 1890 to 1920, was a time of political, economic, and cultural reform in the United States. A central movement of the era, the Women’s Rights Movement gained momentum as perceptions of the role of women dramatically shifted.”
• If you’d prefer to get straight to the point, feel free to start your introduction with your thesis, then set the context.
• A timed DBQ essay test doesn’t leave you much time to write a long introduction, so get straight to analyzing the documents rather than spell out a long, detailed intro.

• Each body section should have a topic sentence to let the reader know you’re transitioning to a new piece of evidence. For example, start the first section with, “The 1890s saw shifts in perception that set the stage for the major advances in women’s suffrage during and following World War I.”
• Be sure to cite your documents to support each part of your argument. Include direct quotes sparingly, if at all, and prioritize analysis of a source over merely quoting it.
• Whenever you mention a document or information within a document, add parentheses and the number of the document at the end of the sentence, like this: “Women who were not suffragettes but still supported the movement wrote letters discussing their desire to help (Document 2).”

• For example, a private diary entry from 1916 dismissing suffrage as morally corrupt isn’t necessarily a reflection of broader public opinion. There's more to consider than just its content, or what it says.
• Suppose a more reliable document, such as a major newspaper article on the 1916 Democratic and Republican national conventions, details the growing political and public support for women’s suffrage. You’d use this source to show that the diary entry conveys an attitude that was becoming less popular.

• In your essay on World War I and women’s suffrage, you could summarize your argument, then mention that the war similarly impacted women’s voting rights on an international scale.

Revising Your Draft

• If you’re taking an AP history exam or other timed test, minor errors are acceptable as long as they don't affect your argument. Spelling mistakes, for instance, won’t result in a loss of points if the scorer can still understand the word, such as “sufrage” instead of “suffrage.”

• A clear thesis statement.
• Set the prompt’s broader historical context.
• Support your argument using 6 of the 7 included documents.
• Identify and explain 1 piece of historical evidence other than the included documents.
• Describe 3 of the documents’ points of view, purposes, audiences, or context.
• Demonstrate a complex understanding of the topic, such as by discussing causation, change, continuity, or connections to other historical periods.

• As with spelling and grammar, minor errors are acceptable as long as the scorer knows what you mean. Little spelling mistakes are fine, but you’ll lose points if you write that a source supports suffrage when it doesn’t.

Community Q&A

• Remember that you shouldn't just identify or summarize a document. Explain why a source is important, and tie each reference into your argument. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you’re taking an AP history exam, find exam rubrics, practice tests, and other resources at https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses . Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Taking a timed test can be tough, so time yourself when you take practice tests. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.gpb.org/blogs/education-matters/2016/10/14/getting-started-document-based-questions
• ↑ https://sourceessay.com/tips-to-write-an-impressive-dbq-essay/
• ↑ https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/writing/writing1
• ↑ https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-us-history-dbq-2018.pdf?course=ap-united-states-history
• ↑ https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-us-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

Document-Based Questions, or DBQ essays, are often used in social studies classes to test your ability to do historical work rather than simply memorize facts. Start by spending some time reviewing the documents and developing an argument. Pay special attention to keywords in the prompt that will help you construct your argument. For example, if the prompt includes the words "compare and contrast," you'll need to include 2 different viewpoints in your essay and compare them. Then, as you read your sources, note the authors, points of view, and other key details that will help you figure out how to use the documents. Once you’ve reviewed all of the material, come up with your response. Sketch out a tentative thesis that encapsulates your argument and make an outline for your essay. You can then draft your essay, starting with an introduction that gives context and states your thesis, followed by supporting body paragraphs. To learn how to write a conclusion for your DBQ, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Acing the Document Based Question on the AP US History Exam

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Taking the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) exams and accompanying coursework while you’re in high school is a great way to demonstrate your academic skill and prepare for college coursework. If you do well on your AP exams, those high scores will be valuable assets when it comes time for you to apply to college.

One of the most popular AP exams is AP United States History , which was taken by nearly half a million high school students in 2016. This exam consists of 55 multiple-choice questions, four short-answer questions, a longer essay with a choice of two prompts, and a special type of essay question: the Document Based Question, or DBQ.

The DBQ doesn’t have to be intimidating, but you may not be familiar with its expectations, so it pays to get well acquainted with its format beforehand. Read on to learn what to expect from the AP US History DBQ, as well as some advice for getting prepared for this type of question and formulating your plan of attack for test day.

AP US History: a brief introduction

As its title indicates, the AP US History exam and its accompanying course curriculum deal with the history of the now-United States, starting in the 1490s with the arrival of European colonists and extending until the present day. It covers not only events and people from this time and place, but also broader historical trends that have shaped US history.

In its role as an Advanced Placement course, AP US History exists not only to teach you historical facts, but to help you understand how to approach and analyze historical content in the way that college-level courses will eventually expect you to be able to do. The AP US History exam is intended to test your skill at this type of analysis, and the DBQ is an important part of this assessment.   

While many students take AP US History courses at their high schools in preparation for the exam, you can also study for the exam independently. Check out our blog posts Which AP Should I Self-Study? and The Ultimate Guide to Self-Studying AP Exams for more information about whether and how to self-study for this and other AP exams.  

Since AP US History is so popular, there’s no shortage of study guides and other preparatory materials for this exam on the market. However, you should be aware that in 2015, this exam was updated, and some significant changes were made in how it approaches historical material.

When you’re studying on your own, either instead of or in addition to taking an AP course at your high school, seek out materials specific to this most recent version of the test. Older study materials will no longer be accurate.

For CollegeVine’s overview of this exam, take a look at our Ultimate Guide to the US History AP Exam . You can also find a very detailed overview of the exam and curriculum in the official College Board AP United States History Course and Exam Description, available on the College Board’s website .

What is the Document Based Question?

The DBQ is the first of two essay questions you’ll face on the AP US History exam. Unlike the other essay question, in which you’ll choose between two essay prompts that rely heavily upon your memory of the course content, the DBQ asks you to answer a question with specific reference to a number of documents that are provided for you within the exam booklet.

You’ll be given 55 minutes to complete the DBQ. It’s recommended that you spend 15 minutes reading the documents and planning your essay, and the remaining 40 minutes writing. Your DBQ score will account for 25% of your overall score on the exam.

In requiring you to analyze primary and secondary sources on your own, the DBQ mimics the work that professional historians do in assessing historical documents. This is how the AP US History exam determines how well you’ve acquired not only historical facts, but methods of approaching the study of history.

The documents provided for the DBQ will vary a great deal from year to year and topic to topic. Most of them will be the type of written sources you’re used to seeing in history classes, such as letters, speech transcripts, newspaper articles, or passages from scholarly works.

However, the term “document” is used broadly here, and the documents you’re given could also include such diverse sources as song lyrics, graphs of data, maps, political cartoons, or photographs. You’ll have to be ready to tease meaning out of whatever type of source you’re given.

The DBQ’s documents will provide you with a lot of useful information, which can make writing your essay easier in certain ways—you won’t be coming into this essay trying to work from memory alone. On the other hand, the more complicated format and high expectations of the DBQ can present some unique challenges.

For one thing, you’ll still need to employ a great deal of the knowledge you accrued in your  AP US History course or self-studying experience. You’ll be expected to understand the various historical contexts in which your documents were created, the events and issues they reference, and the possible impact of authorial biases on their composition.

Practically speaking, writing a successful DBQ essay requires you to read, comprehend, and assimilate into your larger historical understanding a number of new and unfamiliar pieces of information within a very short period of time. This can be done, but it’s not an easy task.

Also, as we’ll go over in greater detail below, the DBQ has high expectations. While the question in the test booklet will come with a long list of specific, stated requirements in terms of what you need to address and how, you’ll also need to come into the test being already familiar with the goals and standards of the AP US History curriculum.

How is the DBQ evaluated?

The AP US History DBQ is always designed to test a certain set of skills that it considers essential to historical study. The readers will judge your essay upon how well it demonstrates solid argumentation, analysis of evidence, contextualization, and synthesis.

In addition to these skills, each year’s DBQ requires test-takers to demonstrate understanding of one additional theme from a set provided by the College Board. The DBQ you receive will focus either on historical causation, patterns of continuity and change over time, comparison, interpretation, or periodization.

Aside from these factors, a successful DBQ response will fully address the question that you’ve been asked, which can sometimes be complex or have multiple components. In composing your essay, you’ll need to follow the provided directions exactly as they’re given, and watch out to make sure answer all parts of a multi-part question.

A successful essay will also make full use of the documents you’ve been provided. You should do your best to address all the documents in your essay, though it’s acceptable to use all but one. Mentioning these documents isn’t enough—you’ll need to show that you really understand them, from the meaning of the text to the historical context of the authors’ identities and points of view.

It’s very important to remember that a high-scoring DBQ essay is an essay, not just a list of comments on your sources. It should have the same components as any other short essay, including a strong thesis statement and ample supporting evidence for this thesis. Most of all, it has to be coherent and make sense as an argument for your point.

For more specific details of how the DBQ is evaluated and scored, the rubric that’s used for all the AP history exams is available on the College Board website.

Preparing for the DBQ

When you’re studying for your DBQ, it’s important for you to keep in mind that the question and accompanying documents may come from any part of the AP US History curriculum. There’s no way of knowing what material your DBQ will involve, so it’s essential that you have a strong overall strategy for reviewing the full scope of what you’ve learned.

As we’ve mentioned, the purpose of the DBQ is to teach you how to approach historical data and documents in a way that’s similar to how a real historian would do it. You’ll be given specific details, but it’s up to you to place those details in their proper historical context and develop a well-supported interpretation of the materials you’re given.

It’s essential, then, that you build up your ability to interpret sources, making use of the concepts and skills you’ve learned through the AP US History curriculum. You can’t simply rely on memorizing your textbook’s explanations of historical events; you also have to develop this skill and make your understanding of the material your own.

On a more specific, practical level, when preparing for your AP US History exam, and specifically for the DBQ, completing practice test questions and full practice tests is always helpful. At the moment, practice test options are limited due to the recent exam updates, so if you do get to take a practice test, it’s especially important for you to take it seriously.

Whatever practice you’re able to accomplish, make sure you do it with correct timing and a testing environment that mimic the real exam. Time management in the silence and stress of the exam room is a difficult thing, and timed practice questions will help you get a better feel for how quickly you need to work to complete your essay on time.

Your test day plan of attack for the DBQ

Finally, it’s time for the moment of truth: test day. In the span of three hours and fifteen minutes, you’ll answer multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions that might address any topic in the broad-ranging AP US History curriculum. Sandwiched in the middle of this test will be, of course, the DBQ.

Studying the material that will appear on the test is important, but with a timed, standardized test, it’s also important to be prepared for the particular testing environment. Here are some tips for approaching the real AP US History exam in the moment, when stress levels are high and time is of the essence.

• Read and re-read the question carefully. Make sure you understand exactly what you’re being asked to do—a misunderstanding can derail your entire essay.
• Read the test’s list of requirements for your answer. You don’t need to guess at what to include in your response—the test will tell you exactly what the readers are looking for.
• Read the documents carefully, keeping the question and requirements in mind. Take note of the author, the date, the location, and any other facts that frame the document, and think about how these may have affected its creation.
• Plan wisely—it makes a difference. Taking a moment to plan ensures that your essay will contain all its required parts and makes the writing process go much more smoothly.
• Make sure your planned answer is cohesive and analytical. It needs to be a coherent essay with depth and a strong thesis, not just a list of the sources.
• Write quickly and stay focused. Follow the plan you’ve made, watch for mistakes that obscure your meaning, and make sure your handwriting is legible.
• Save a few moments to review your essay briefly for errors. You can’t make any major changes at this point, of course, and minor spelling or grammar errors won’t count against you, but you’ll want to make sure that your essay makes sense.

For more information

Here at the CollegeVine blog , we’re no strangers to the demands of AP exams and courses. Take a look at our other blog posts about the AP program for more information about AP course offerings and how to prepare for your AP exams.

• Ultimate Guide to the AP Chemistry Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP Biology Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP Calculus AB Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP World History Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP Statistics Exam

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

The AP US History DBQ: What You Should Know

Many test takers dread the AP US History DBQ, but there’s no need to fear! By knowing what to expect, you can come prepared for success.

AP US History DBQ Format

The AP US History DBQ consists of one essay question. You will have 55 minutes to complete the essay, which will count for 25% of your overall exam score.

You will be presented with an essay question, followed by a series of documents (typically 7) related to the theme of the question. These documents can be:

• photographs
• political cartoons
• other artwork

  You will be expected to use information from the documents as well as your outside knowledge to construct an essay response to the question. Your response should be a persuasive essay and must include a thesis statement backed by evidence.

AP US History DBQ Requirements and Scoring

In writing your essay, you must:

• Have a strong thesis statement that directly answers the question asked and takes a clear position
• Develop a cohesive argument in which you support your thesis with multiple pieces of strong, relevant evidence
• Cite information from all or all but one of the documents (so if there are 7 documents, you have to use at least 6)
• For each document, include analysis of its author’s point of view, purpose, intended audience, and/or historical context
• Include outside information not found in the documents
• Place your argument and evidence within a larger historical context (contextualization)
• Make connections between the given topic and another time period, theme, or discipline (synthesis)

  The DBQ is worth 25% of the overall APUSH exam score. The essay is graded on a 7-point rubric. You will receive one point for meeting each of the above seven requirements. Learn more about the rubric here .

AP US History DBQ Strategy

You have a total of 55 minutes to complete this essay. It is recommended that you spend 15 minutes planning and 40 minutes writing. Here’s how to spend that time:  

• Read the question carefully. Make sure you understand what it is asking. Some questions have multiple parts. Be sure to address them all. Think about what you already know about the topic before you get into the documents.
• Read each document and take brief notes (quick bullet point reminders) about the main ideas and arguments.
• Decide on your argument and draft your thesis statement. Make sure you take a clear position and that you address all parts of the question.
• Make an outline. Figure out the main points of your argument and devote one paragraph to each. Include brief notes on which documents and outside information support each point. Make sure you follow a logical plan of organization that helps the reader follow your line of thinking as you convey your argument.
• Write! Follow your outline to make sure you stay organized. Include an intro and a conclusion.
• Check it over. Make sure you leave yourself a few minutes at the end to re-read and edit what you’ve written.

For even more tips on acing the AP US History DBQ, check out our DBQ essay guide .

Sarah is an educator and writer with a Master’s degree in education from Syracuse University who has helped students succeed on standardized tests since 2008. She loves reading, theater, and chasing around her two kids.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how to practice dbqs effectively.

Hey, I'm finding DBQ essays to be the most challenging part of my AP classes, and I want to improve my skills. What's the most effective way to practice DBQs? Should I focus on timed exams, or is it better to work on writing quality and analysis? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

It's great that you're looking to improve your DBQ essay skills! To practice effectively, you should combine your focus on timing, writing quality, and analysis. Here's a step-by-step process to help you improve:

1. Understand the DBQ essay format: Familiarize yourself with the requirements and expectations for a DBQ essay. Know the rubric, the structure, and the key elements such as the thesis, contextualization, evidence, sourcing, and outside information.

2. Review sample DBQ prompts and essays: Look for past DBQ prompts from AP exams, as well as sample student responses and scoring explanations. These resources will give you a better understanding of what's expected and help you assess your own writing.

3. Practice without time pressure: Initially, focus on developing strong analysis and writing skills without worrying about time constraints. Work on dissecting the prompt, contextualizing, crafting a clear thesis statement, using and analyzing documents properly, and integrating outside information.

4. Review and self-assess: After completing each practice DBQ, review your essay and assess it based on the rubric. Look for areas where you can improve, and address them in your following practices.

5. Introduce timed conditions: Once you're comfortable with the DBQ format and key elements, introduce a time constraint to your practice. The DBQ section on an AP exam typically gives you 60 minutes to read, analyze documents, and write your essay. Start by setting a generous time limit at first and gradually reduce it until you can complete a high-quality DBQ within the 60-minute window.

6. Work on your pacing: Develop a strategy for pacing yourself throughout the DBQ process. Allocate time for reading the documents, outlining, and writing, and stick to those limits during practice. Make sure you don't spend too much time on any one aspect, at the expense of the others.

7. Peer review and feedback: If possible, share your DBQ essays with classmates or your teacher to receive feedback. They can provide a more objective view of areas where you might need improvement.

8. Consistent practice: The more you practice, the better you'll become at tackling DBQs. Set a schedule for regular practice, aiming for at least one DBQ per week (or more, if your test is nearing) to maintain and improve your skills.

For more detailed guidance on how to tackle DBQs successfully, check out this blog post from CollegeVine: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-dbq/. By following the tips listed here, as well as CollegeVine's advice, and focusing on a combination of timing, writing quality, and analysis, you'll be well on your way to improving your DBQ essay skills. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Find what you need to study

How Can I Be Prepared for the AP US History FRQs?

5 min read • april 17, 2023

Sander Owens

👋 Worried about the FRQs on an upcoming APUSH exam or the actual AP exam? Don't worry! We're here to help you with a quick overview of what to expect on the Document-Based Question (DBQ) and the Long Essay Question (LEQ), as well as provide some advice from students who have done well on the APUSH exam.

Image Wikimedia Commons Writing the essays for AP US History takes an immense amount of practice and discipline.

APUSH FRQ Overview

The APUSH FRQ section consists of two essays: the DBQ and the LEQ. The DBQ is an essay in which you have to answer a given prompt using seven documents that interpret the historical event. The LEQ is an essay with a variety of prompts where you have to create an argument without any stimuli.

The biggest advice for doing well on the APUSH essays is planning. Take this student's advice:

"It was much faster to write once I had all of the information planned based on the rubric requirements" - Arthi

It may seem like a waste of time to plan out your essay when you have less than an hour to write, but it makes a difference! You can plan however you plan best: a mental outline, a bulleted list, a more fancy outline, or any other method that works for you.

DBQ Overview

The DBQ is the longer/more involved of the two essays for APUSH. You are given 60 minutes to write it, of which the first 15 are a planning/reading period.

You don't have a choice on the DBQ prompt, but it will only cover a topic from 1754 - 1980 (periods 3-8). The DBQ also includes seven documents that will interpret the events described in the prompt. The first step is to categorize those documents into 2-4 groups based on their common elements/views on the prompt.

You can increase your score just by knowing what to do. Simply writing a strong essay may not score as well if you don't know how to get all the points. Each one of these will score one point unless stated otherwise. Here's a quick, easy-to-read summary of the DBQ rubric:

👩‍⚖️ THESIS: Respond to the prompt with a claim about the prompt. Remember to take a stand on the prompt! An example of this might look like “Railroads supported empire-building by __________ and___________, BUT they undermined it by ________________." Use the categories you developed earlier to help fill in the blanks in your thesis!

🌎 CONTEXTUALIZATION: Describes the broader historical context relevant to the prompt. Think of what happened in the years/centuries leading up to the prompt (big events like global wars, trends, patterns, etc). You MUST connect this to the prompt.

🔍 EVIDENCE FROM THE DOCUMENTS: Use evidence from the docs to prove your point. Do not quote! Just use what the docs are saying to support your argument and cite them like this (2). Using evidence from 3 docs will score in 1 point while using evidence from 6 docs will score 2 points.

🚴‍♀️ OUTSIDE EVIDENCE: Consider people, places, events, and concepts that are NOT discussed anywhere in the documents and connect them to your argument.

🦛 SOURCING/HIPP: For at least 3 documents, you must explain how or why the broader historical context, intended audience, purpose, or point-of-view of a document is relevant to your argument. Use the acronym HIPP to remember this!!

🦄 COMPLEXITY: Demonstrates a deeper understanding of the prompt. You should weave a counter-argument throughout your essay. Don't stress too much about this one! It is pretty hard to get, and it's not something you can really try to add.

One of the easiest ways to get all of these points is to write it all down in a checklist next to your planning and tick them off as you go through.

"When I write essays, I like to have a checklist with me so I can keep count of what points I am confident I have earned" - Anna

Here's an outline that will help you write a concise, great essay!

👋 INTRO: 3-4 sentences of context to explain background information and relate it directly to the topic of the prompt. 1-2 sentence thesis statement that restates prompt + provides an argument.

👕 BODY PARAGRAPHS (INCLUDE AS MANY AS YOU HAVE CATEGORIES): Add a topic sentence to introduce your argument. Explain a piece of evidence from a document to back you up and connect that evidence directly to your argument. Source the document (HIPP)—choose Historical Context, Intended Audience, Purpose, or POV. Then, include a piece of evidence not mentioned anywhere in the documents and explain this outside evidence to strengthen your essay.

🧐 CONCLUSION: Sum up your argument with a counterargument, and rephrase your thesis. You can earn the thesis point here if it wasn't strong enough in the intro.

Image Wikimedia Commons Hopefully this guide can serve as your map to success!

LEQ Overview

The LEQ is the shorter of the two essays—you only have 45 minutes to write it. However, you have a choice between three prompts based on the periods: 1491 - 1800, 1800 - 1898, and 1898 - 2001. All three prompts will be about similar themes, so pick the one you can write about the most!

Like the DBQ, knowing the rubric is crucial! Each one of these will score one point unless stated otherwise.

🔍 EVIDENCE (x2): Provide specific historical examples to support your argument. These are specific people, places, and events. Explain your terms, and then connect it to your argument.

📚 HISTORICAL REASONING: Use comparison, causation, or CCOT to answer the prompt. You can answer the prompt using any skill, but choose one and stick to it!

Helpful Links

📰 Our Ultimate Guide to the DBQ!

📺 Replay of a Live LEQ Scoring stream with someone who has been an AP Reader!

📝 Replay of a DBQ Skills Stream!

🌶️ Complete Review of APUSH Content with Possible Essay Topics by Period!

A Word of Encouragement...

Throughout your review, remember these simple words: you will do fantastic! If you're reading this guide, it means you are taking steps to prepare for your exam. By following some of the advice we have given, you will become a much better writer and allow you to nail those essays!

You got this! 🎉

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How to Prepare the Greatest DBQ Essay

The DBQ is an abbreviation that means the document-based question. It requires from author to analyze exact historical events, situations, or issues using evidence from exact documents. These sources will be available for you as well during the exam. It’s quite important to understand what you need to do before you face such a task. It allows for improving your skills and performing better essays.

There are a lot of students who must prepare a DBQ essay. If you are going to do AP History examination then be ready to face such an issue. This kind of task works with all kinds for a history exam. For instance, you need to share your knowledge in American, European, or World history. Besides, your paper may include not only a historical event but also a current trend in the world. So to prepare a high-quality DBQ essay you need comprehensive knowledge in history.

The main focus of this task is analysis. The author works with different documents to make conclusions and prepare an essay. As a result, the student feels strange and not comfortable, because they are not used to work with a similar task. The main issue is the variety of different documents and quite a small amount of time for making an essay. That’s why there is no time to understand the task at the exam, so you need to know as more as possible about it beforehand.

In general, there are lots of hidden rocks in writing a DBQ essay. But if a student pays all efforts and uses all skills in writing, he can handle such academic paper. So be patient and use the following guide to know more about document-based questions. The most precious elements would be professional tips and advice in writing an essay.

Don’t forget, that only documents are different in your exam. All other elements like a rubric, tasks, rules in AP History examination are the same. To get the full guide once and you will need to handle such tasks anytime.

How to Write a DBQ Essay

Your essay requires you to be well-prepared for such a task. Unfortunately, almost no one can make the paper without proper organization. Even if you are a very talented student, the quality of the DBQ essay directly depends on your preparation. So use the first 15 minutes of your exam to organize yourself and the process of writing.

Here are the main tips for making good DBQ essay:

• Take your time with prompt

You need to understand the question, find out the key elements like time, social and economic issues, etc. On the next stage, you must pick up the relevant evidence from the documents you are provided with. Try to think widely and wisely.

You should also find out additional information from the question. Usually, it includes tips and notes for your answer. Using all the proper facts you will be able to write an informative and exciting essay. Add there as more information as you have previously learned from the subject during your classes. In most cases you have already heard the right answers for your questions in the exam, so be attentive and stay focused.

• Choose the main stand

During reading prompts you can get useful ideas. Keep them in mind and note, so you can choose the best one. This will be the main perspective for your DBQ essay.

The preparation for the essay helps the author to focus on the main problem and add additional knowledge to the subject. Thanks to it you can extend the paper and make it more professional and exciting. Keep going with such an approach to make your thesis.

• Prepare thesis

The prompt at the beginning of your task has a great meaning. It helps you find out the most important parts of supporting documents. So try to read these sections attentively to prepare the relevant temporary thesis for your essay. In the future, you can change your thesis and improve it according to the final text.

• Discover your documents

The task includes different historical papers which you will use as the evidence for the issue description. These files mean a storehouse for your exam. You can definitely find all the answers to your questions there. So make sure you have paid significant attention to these papers.

Start with the general reading and highlighting the main points of view of your documents. Don’t forget to make notes which will help you to arrange all the information for the essay. Make categories of all documents depending on the relevance according to the questions in the prompt. This is an essential skill to work with provided documents.

• Understand and describe different points of view

Remember your thesis which you have previously created. Now you need to support these statements with information in the provided documents. But you can do it only in case you understand each point of view in the evidence.

That’s why when you read these documents you need to stay for each author and understand his or her intentions. It is also recommended to make notes to improve your DBQ essay.

• Make several groups

Let’s make it clear: you are not obligated to get dive into papers and get a perfect understanding of its content. Your task is to read the document briefly and find a relevant thesis for your DBQ essay. These elements are the groups for your paper.

Note that making groups means to cluster the documents. Each section should support one side of the arguments. Also, you need to use additional sources besides those documents you were provided with. Just make sure you choose relevant and proper sources for the general DBQ essay prompts.

• Make your thesis perfect

At the beginning of the essay, you have already created your thesis. During the process of writing, you have gathered relevant information to support your statements. And right now you can polish these parts of the text. Your temporary thesis will transform into the final edition.

In general, keep your thesis statements clear and simple. Try to make them exciting and interesting for the target audience. And after you have prepared this important section, you will continue with the main part of writing.

The Outline for the DBQ Essay

The DBQ essay has quite a traditional structure. It includes the introduction, main part, and a conclusion. In addition, each section has several particularities to use.

1. Introduction

When you make an introduction, you need to mention the context of the provided documents and the general aim of the task. Keep the historical particularities of the text to make it relevant to the exam.

Your introduction should include thesis statements. The next section in this part is a brief overview of the topic you will describe in the main part. This is all for the beginning, so don’t make it too long.

2. Body paragraphs

First of all, it is important to place all sections in a logical order. Make sure to keep the same structure as your documents have. Also, each paragraph should start with one sentence to set the main idea of the section. In the next sentences, you need to explain the bullet. It is inappropriate to refer to any other document but not those sources you were provided with. Use an analytical approach to demonstrate that you clearly understand prompt and task.

Don’t forget to use all other requirements from your AP History DBQ essay. Exact rules depend on the type of exam. For instance, when you are working on AP US History you need to use outside evidence, but the biggest part of your quotations should be from the provided sources. In case you prepare an AP European History, then focus only on the provided files.

Besides using evidence from provided sources you also need to explain their connection. Put your thesis statements with some description and develop your logical paragraphs. This is the way to make body sections to be in line with thesis statements. The easiest way to keep this requirement is to make an outline relevant to the thesis.

The direct citations are welcomed but use only relevant ones. Keep each quote suitable for your writing. This is the only way to make a fair analysis and execute the task from the exam.

3. Conclusions

This is the last, but not the least part of your essay. It is meant to be short and brief but brings vital sentences. Each DBQ essay must contain a final summary of the text. The content of this section varies and depends on the main part.

Put your thesis and final thoughts in your conclusion. This is a brief overview of what you have mentioned in the body, so never share any new information.

The Best Example of a DBQ Essay

You can prepare a high-quality DBQ essay for any topic. There are no strict limits, so use your skills and knowledge to perform the best result. Here are several good topics for your writing:

• Compare the women’s rights in the USA in 1890 and 1920.
• Describe the main consequences of the Great Depression
• Explain the reasons for the Civil War (1861-1865)

So be attentive and use all your powers to write the best DBQ essay! This step-by-step instruction will definitely help. However, you always order such type of essay or any other assignments from professional essay writing service Tutoriage.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to ace the ap world history dbq: rubric, examples, and tips.

Advanced Placement (AP)

AP World History is a challenging class, and in order to get credit for it you’ll have to take an equally challenging exam. And one of the toughest parts of the test is the AP World History document-based question, or AP World DBQ. This question asks you to read and analyze documents on the fly, then write an argumentative essay…all in one hour. 

It can be hard to know what–and how–to study for the AP World History DBQ, especially when you don’t know which documents you’ll receive on test day. But don’t worry: we’ll break down everything you need to know about the AP World History DBQ so you can ace it on test day. (We’ll even give you AP World History DBQ example questions and an AP World History DBQ rubric example!) 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• An explanation of what the AP World History DBQ is 
• A look at how the DBQ works on the AP World History exam
• A step-by-step process for tackling the AP World History DBQ
• A guide to studying for and answering the AP World History DBQ

Let’s get going!

What Is an AP World History DBQ? 

The document-based question (DBQ) is a question on the AP World History exam in which you are given a selection of seven documents and are asked to write an essay that incorporates information from at least six of them in a coherent argument based on a given prompt.

In other words: you’ll be writing an essay on a topic and incorporating resources that you’re given on the day of the exam! 

The DBQ tests over a wide range of skills , like writing, organizing thoughts, making arguments, making connections between different perspectives, and having a knowledge of world history. Yeah, the DBQs are definitely tough! That’s why it’s important to understand what the DBQ APWH is and how to best tackle it. 

How DBQs Work on the AP World History Exam

The DBQ format AP World History uses consists of a single open-ended prompt , and will focus on the time period of 1450-2001 .

Of the two free response questions, one is a long essay (worth 15%) and one is a DBQ. This means that the sole DBQ is, by itself, worth 25% of your total grade, making it the single most heavily-weighted question on the AP World History exam.  

Here are some actual AP World History DBQ examples from previous years’ AP World History exams:

• “Evaluate the extent to which economic factors led to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920).” ( 2021 )
• “Evaluate the extent to which the Portuguese transformed maritime trade in the Indian Ocean in the sixteenth century.” ( 2019 )
• “Evaluate the extent to which railroads affected the process of empire-building in Afro-Eurasia between 1860 and 1918.” ( 2018 )

Of course, one of the things that makes AP DBQ questions unique is that you’ll be given seven documents to analyze as part of your essay response. Not only will you have to read and analyze these documents on exam day, you’ll have to include them as evidence in your essay to prove your argument! 

The seven documents you’ll receive will be a mixture of: 

• Primary texts : texts that were actually written in the time period you’re being asked about 
• Secondary texts : texts written by later historians that explain or interpret the time period 
• Images: usually either political cartoons or artwork from the time period 

How many of each type of document you get varies by year, so you’ll need to be comfortable using all three types to support an essay-based argument. 

To answer the AP World History DBQ, you’ll have to read through all seven documents and write an argumentative essay that answers the prompt. So not only will you have to come up with an arguable point, you’ll have to prove that thesis using evidence contained in at least three of the seven documents. If you want to earn full credit for your DBQ, you’ll actually have to use six of the seven documents to support your position! 

Just like in a sport, understanding how to score points on your DBQ is key to doing well on your exam. 

Understand the AP World DBQ Rubric

First, y ou need to understand what the expectations are and how your answer will be graded. Doing this will help you figure out what you need to study and which skills you need to brush up on. It’ll also ensure that you know exactly what a great DBQ response requires so that you earn as many points as possible! 

The good news is that the College Board has provided the AP World History DBQ rubric 2021 as part of their 2021 AP World History: Modern Sample Student Responses and Scoring Commentary document. The AP World History DBQ rubric contains all the information you need to know about how your response will be scored. 

Here’s how the rubric breaks down:

Thesis (1 Point) 

First you’ll need to create a thesis that “responds to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis/claim that establishes a line of reasoning.” In order to get this point you’ll need to make an arguable claim based on the documents that answers the question of the prompt.  

Contextualization (1 Point) 

In order to get a point for contextualization you’ll need to “accurately describe a context relevant” to the time period covered by the prompt. What this means is that you’ll have to describe the political, social, or economic events and trends that contributed to the topic you’re writing about. 

Some of this you’ll know from the provided documents, but some of it you will also be expected to know based on what you’ve studied in AP World History class. You’ll also need to relate your knowledge to “broader historical events, developments, or processes that occur before, during, or continue after the time frame of the question.” In other words, you’ll have to show how the events of this time period are relevant now or how they are similar to some other historical situation.

Evidence (3 Points) 

This category assigns points based on how well you use the documents provided to you on the test. 

For this category, you get one of the potential three points solely for if you incorporate specific evidence that does not come from the provided documents in a way that is relevant to your thesis. 

However, in order to earn the other two points, you must support your argument by using even more evidence from the documents provided . If you use three to five documents, you’ll earn an additional point. If you integrate six or more documents in your response, you can earn up to two points…and full credit for this category!  

Just remember: You can’t just randomly throw information from the documents into your essay, though, you have to use it in a way that supports your argument and accurately represents what the documents are saying . 

Analysis and Reasoning (2 Points) 

For the analysis and reasoning section, you get one point for explaining “how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument,” and you get one point for “complexity,” showing that you understand the time period that the prompt covers and use evidence to prove your understanding and back up your argument . 

Here’s what that means: you’ll have to prove how the documents are relevant to your argument, and your argument has to show that you understand the period you’re writing about. Additionally, you’ll need to write an essay that proves your argument in a way that shows you understand that there are a variety of possible perspectives about that time period or issue, and that not everyone in that period had the same experiences. 

If all that sounds like a lot...that's because it is! But don't worry. We'll walk you through the steps you can take to get prepared for your DBQ.

5 Steps for Tackling an AP World History DBQ

The AP World History DBQ is a complicated question that tests you over several different skills, so there isn’t a simple technique to ace it. However, if you master each of the individual skills it takes to do well on the DBQ examples, you’ll set yourself up to write a successful DBQ! response! 

Here are five steps you can follow to prepare for–and tackle!--the AP World History DBQ. 

Step 1: Use Past AP World DBQ Prompts to Practice

Taking practice exams is a great way to prepare for any standardized test–including the AP World exam. Not only do you get a chance to test your knowledge, practice tests also give you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the test format…which is really important when it comes to AP World DBQs.

There’s good news when it comes to AP World DBQ prompts, though. College Board’s website has the actual AP World DBQ prompts from 2002-2020 available to download. This means you can take almost 20 practice AP World History exams, as well as access AP World History DBQ example responses and AP World History DBQ rubrics, for free!  

It’s good to take one practice test before you start studying intensely for it because that will let you know where your skills are now (and it’ll let you track your progress). However, the nature of a free response means that it won’t be easy for you to grade by yourself. When it comes to assessing your response, use the AP World History DBQ rubric and honestly assess whether or not you incorporated the information thoroughly and accurately. If that doesn’t work for you, you can always ask a family member, tutor, or teacher to give you feedback on your response as well! 

Don’t be afraid to use multiple AP World DBQ prompts as part of your test prep strategy. The more DBQs you do, the better prepared you’ll be on test day! 

Step 2: Practice Creating a Thesis

A thesis statement is a sentence or two, located in your essay’s introduction, that explains what your essay will be about. In this case, your thesis will outline the argument you make in your AP World DBQ. 

The most important aspect of your thesis is that it has to make a claim that is both arguable and relevant to the prompt you’re given. However, you don’t want to just restate the prompt in your thesis! 

Here’s what we mean. Say you’re given the following prompt:

“Evaluate the extent to which economic factors led to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920).” 

You don’t want your thesis to be “Economic factors led to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution,” since that just restates the prompt without adding in your own argument. To write a great DBQ, you want to make a specific claim about how and why economic factors led to the Mexican Revolution, and you want to be able to use the AP World History DBQ documents provided to prove it!

Here are two AP World History DBQ examples that College Board considers acceptable theses for this prompt:

• “Mexico’s inability to resist the political dominance of the United States and European powers was the most significant factor in leading to the revolution because foreign dominance prevented the Mexican government from enacting economic reforms.”
• “Ethnic tensions were just as important in leading to the Mexican Revolution as economic factors because much of the economic exploitation that was occurring in Mexico affected poor indigenous communities.”

See how these two examples both make specific claims? The first argues that foreign influences prevented the Mexican government from enacting economic reforms. This is a claim that the author can prove by showing how foreign governments interfered with the Mexican government, and how that action led to reforms being stalled. 

The second AP World History DBQ example thesis addresses something more complex: how ethnic tensions led to economic exploitation. The author can then use the provided documents as evidence that poor indigenous communities were exploited, and can argue that those actions led to the Mexican Revolution.

Outlines take a little time, but they'll keep your DBQ from derailing. (Staying on topic is key!)

Step 3: Practice Creating an Outline

Remember the AP World History DBQ is timed, and you’ll only have one hour to complete it! To keep your writing organized and on track, it’s a good idea for you to create a quick outline before you jump into writing your essay. 

Having said that, you’ll need to be careful not to spend too much time on your outline so you have enough time to write your DBQ. That’s why we recommend spending 15 minutes reading documents, 5 minutes outlining your essay, and 40 minutes writing your response. 

The most important things that your outline will need are an introduction and conclusion ! Your introduction sets up your thesis while your conclusion restates your thesis and explains how it’s relevant to the reader in some way–perhaps by showing that a similar claim could be made about another time period, or that the effects of the thesis are still being felt today. 

Apart from your intro and conclusion, you’ll need body paragraphs. Since you only have about 45 minutes to write this essay, you don’t want too many of them. Three or four body paragraphs will be enough to make your argument. The most important thing about your body paragraphs is that each of them supports your argument and incorporates information from the documents!

To help you out, here is an example of a usable outline for the AP World History DBQ:

• Set up your argument and include your thesis.
• You can break down your thesis into several steps, which will then become the topics of each body paragraph
• Tell the reader what they need to know about the historical situation. 
• Include any information you might already know from outside the provided documents.
• Make the first point you mentioned in your introduction.
• Use information from the documents to illustrate and prove your point.
• Include two or three documents that support your point 
• Just like the previous paragraph, use two or three different documents to prove the second point of your thesis
• If you make a third point in your thesis, explain it here using one or two different documents as evidence 
• Restate your thesis and summarize the main points you’ve made.
• Show how it’s relevant to the reader.

Your outline doesn’t need to be anything fancy–it just needs to give you an idea of how to structure your DBQ. Trust us: outlining might seem like a waste of time, but having a guide will make writing go much faster. 

Step 4: Practice Incorporating Quotes and References

As you write your essay, you’ll need to use examples from the documents provided–and each time you do, you’ll need to indicate which documents you pulled the information from . You’ll do this whether you are quoting your source or just paraphrasing it. 

Here are two attribution examples that College Board considers acceptable for the AP World History DBQ:

• (Document 1): “The finance minister tells strikers that unemployment is the result of supply and demand and is out of the government’s hands, a position which probably increased people’s discontent with the government because they were unwilling to help.”
• (Document 2): “The newspaper cartoon shows that the government was willing to use violence to put down popular protests against a rigged election system. Such oppressive government policies may have contributed to increased support for the eventual revolution.”

Note that both of these connect the contents of the document to the argument the author is trying to make. They don’t just paraphrase or quote the contents of the document for the sake of using them– you should use documents to support your argument!

Keep in mind that the College Board is pretty specific about how they want you to use AP World history DBQ documents. In the 2021 AP World History Scoring Guidelines rubric, College Board makes the point that you should “ describe and explain ” the contents of the document: By “describe'' they mean you should point out to your reader what about the document is relevant and illustrate it as if the reader did not have the document in front of them. 

From there, you’ll need to explain the document. That means you should use the document to show the reader why changes or situations in history have happened or why there is a relationship between two factors you’re writing about. 

Step 5: Understand Time Management

One of the most important skills you can acquire by taking multiple attempts at the AP World DBQ practice test will be time management. 

When you’re in the actual test environment, you won’t be able to use your phone to set a timer or alarm, so it’ll be difficult to keep track of how much time you’re spending on reading and re-reading the documents, brainstorming, and outlining. You want to leave yourself the majority of the time allowed (which will be one hour) for writing. 

College Board’s AP World History DBQ rubric recommends that you spend 15 minutes reading the documents and 45 minutes writing the essay . When you write your practice DBQs, be sure to use this format so you can get a feel for how much time you do (or don’t!) have for the question. Practicing with a timer is a great way to make sure you’re using your time wisely on test day! 

4 Tips for Studying for and Answering the AP World History DBQs

Now that you’ve read our step-by-step process for tackling the AP World History DBQ and have seen several AP World History DBQ examples, here are some expert tips on doing well on the AP World History DBQ . We’ve developed these tips based on the AP World History rubric to make sure you earn as many points as possible! 

Tip 1: Know Your Rubric

Go through the AP World History DBQ rubric 2021 and notice that it tells you exactly how to earn points in each category . Most categories are worth multiple points, so you need to know how to earn all the points possible. 

For example, the rubric is clear about how to earn points for your thesis statement. You’ll have to make sure that you have a thesis that states outright what argument you are trying to make if you want to earn credit for that category of the rubric! 

The scoring for the DBQ is pretty objective, and knowing exactly what the scorers are looking for will help you earn the most points possible.

Tip 2: Your Essay Can Contain Errors

In an AP World History DBQ, you’ll be able to make tiny errors and still be able to earn full credit for your response. 

Before you get too excited, there are big (and we mean big!) limits to this rule. For instance, you can’t misrepresent a document by saying an author makes one claim when they clearly aren’t. You also can’t write something that is obviously wrong, like that America continues under British rule because the revolution was unsuccessful! 

But you can make minor errors that don’t detract from your argument as long as you are demonstrating a knowledge of the time period and the ability to incorporate evidence to make an argument. So for example, you can make the mistake of saying that President Nixon’s impeachment hearings began in July 1974 (instead of May, when they actually began), and still earn full credit as long as you aren’t making an argument that depends on the accuracy of those dates.  

Tip 3: Write for Clarity 

One thing to keep in mind is that you’re graded on the quality of your argument and how well you prove it– you don’t get graded on how beautifully or fluently you write ! 

So, while you’ll want to use correct grammar and write as clearly as you can, don’t spend too much time making your writing beautiful. Instead, focus on clearly explaining your ideas! 

To this end, you won’t have points taken away for grammatical errors unless they make it difficult for the graders to see how you’ve used the evidence to make an argument. So while you want your writing to be as error-free as possible, it’s more important that you’re making your argument as clearly–and as persuasively–as possible. 

Tip 4: Write for Relevance

As you’re outlining and writing your AP World DBQ, ask yourself, why is this relevant to today’s readers? To earn a perfect score, you’ll have to tie your argument to another time period or historical situation. 

This is your chance to show that while the period you’re writing about may have been long in the past, the events are still relevant to us today ! This is why we read, write, and study history in the first place. So as you outline and write your DBQ, make sure you’re doing your best to show your reader why this historical moment or event is still important.

What’s Next? 

No matter what AP course you’re taking, you’ll want to have a study plan in place when it comes to exam time. This blog article can help you put together a prep strategy that works.

Not sure what a “good” AP test score is for AP World History? This list of the average AP test scores for every exam will help you understand how your scores stack up. 

Perfect test scores are great, but do you really need a perfect AP World History score? Our experts will explain the pros and cons of getting perfect 5s on your AP exams . 

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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The Expert’s Guide on How to Write a DBQ like a pro

Are you preparing for your AP history exam? Writing a Document-Based Question (DBQ) involves analyzing historical documents and crafting an essay that responds to a specific prompt or question.

It first got introduced in the 1973 AP United States history exam and from then it keeps on evaluating student’s knowledge and potential in May every year.

Working on such an assignment gets very challenging, especially for students who are not fully aware of the requirements of this academic activity. That’s why we have shared this guide to simplify things in the process of how to write a dbq essay.

Table of Contents

Who Needs To Know About the DBQ Essay Guide?

Students that are preparing for the AP History exam are in dire need to learn about the DBQ essay. The most challenging part about this exam is the limited time and the number of materials given to analyze.That’s why it’s important to know about the possible problem that one might encounter while writing DBQ essays.

Why is the DBQ Essay Important?

DBQ essays are an important part of the American AP history exam. They are usually conducted to evaluate the knowledge of students regarding their subject. Another purpose of this essay is to evaluate the critical analysis, problem solving, and time management skills.

Passing the AP history exam is very important for being a professional historian. They are important to judge the knowledge level and the point of view of a student over history.

The author writing this comprehensive guide shared, “I was always interested in history but it got very challenging when I prepared for my AP history exam. The DBQ essay took the most of my time in analyzing the materials and organizing my thoughts and then actually writing them down with complete accuracy.

It took a lot of time to learn how to write a dbq essay and to manage my time but I made it with constant practice. I faced many problems and that’s why I compiled the easy steps to save students from struggling later.”

Common Problems Students Encounter While Writing a DBQ

• Misreading the question might cause you to give an answer that isn’t relevant.
• Difficulty in comprehending and analyzing provided documents affects argument construction.
• Figuring out how to assemble arguments using documents and extra info can be tricky.
• Developing a weak outline for DBQ that lacks content flow.
• Crafting a clear thesis that incorporates documents and addresses the prompt can be tough.
• Picking out evidence from documents and other sources and using it in the right way is really important.
• Figuring out how to write a dbq and juggle analyzing, planning, and getting your writing done before the deadline can be stressful.

Scoring Trends Of AP US History Exam

Let’s take a look at the scoring trends of the past five years by a US History to see how passing DBQ is becoming more challenging.

From these above mentioned statistics, we can see the passing percentage is decreasing every year. It peaked only during the 2020 pandemic and the reason was the online testing which is quite easier than traditional testing.

Not more students are passing the AP exam and that’s why we need to revise how to write a dbq essay.

How To Prepare For APUSH?

Following are some resources that are going to be helpful to know more about how to write a DBQ essay and pass APUSH exams. 

Steps to Write a Perfect DBQ

We have discussed a detailed breakdown of the steps below, to help you encounter the challenges effectively.

Get a Good Understanding of the Prompt

Thoroughly Read the Prompt:  For your essay, you need to figure out the time period, the background history, and the exact question you’re trying to answer. Read the dbq essay template to get a clear idea.

Example Prompt:

“Evaluate the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the workforce in the United States. Analyze at least five documents and your knowledge of the time period to develop your argument.”

• Understanding the Prompt
• Identify Key Elements

Historical Context:  World War II in the United States.

Time Frame:  The period during and immediately after World War II.

Specific Task/Question:  Evaluate the impact of the war on women’s roles in the workforce.

• Breakdown of the Prompt

Topic:  Impact of World War II.

Focus:  Women’s roles in the workforce.

Requirement:  The most important step of how to write a dbq is toanalyze a minimum of five documents and incorporate outside knowledge of the time.

Task Verb:  “Evaluate,” meaning assess or judge the impact.

• Understanding the Scope

Think about how the war changed women’s roles in the workforce – not the war’s wider implications or other elements.

• Developing the Approach

Documents and Outside Knowledge:  You should take information from at least five of the given documents and combine it with your own understanding of the period. To understand the content approach, read the dbq sentence starters in the paragraphs.

Analytical Perspective:  The emphasis is on evaluating and analyzing the impact, which requires critical thinking and interpretation of the sources.

Application to Writing

For this essay, it’s essential to get a handle on women’s roles in the workforce during World War II. Breaking down the documents should focus on how they show changes, difficulties, or changes in women’s jobs during that time.

For example, there could be government materials advocating for female workers, numbers on how many women are employed, stories from ladies about what it’s like to work in a factory, or pieces discussing people’s opinions of women joining jobs that are usually held by guys.

Analyze the Documents

Struggling with the process of how to write a dbq? uplift your analysis process. Interact with the given sources, taking into account their background, who wrote them, who they were intended for, and their importance in history. Sort them into categories based on shared themes, points of view, or arguments.

Example Documents:

Document 1:

Type:  Government propaganda poster encouraging women to work in factories during WWII.

Context:  Produced in 1943 by the U.S. government to address labor shortages.

Authorship:  Created by a government agency.

Intended Audience:  Targeted at women to persuade them to join the workforce.

Historical Significance:  Illustrates the government’s efforts to mobilize women for wartime production, portraying them as patriotic contributors to the war effort.

Document 2:

Type:  Newspaper article published in 1945 discussing post-war employment trends.

Context:  Written towards the end of WWII.

Authorship:  Written by a journalist for a mainstream newspaper.

Intended Audience:  General readership interested in post-war developments.

Historical Significance:  Provides insights into societal expectations regarding women’s roles post-war and reflects on potential changes in employment patterns.

Document 3:

Type:  Personal diary entry from a female factory worker in 1942.

Context:  Written during the peak of wartime production.

Authorship:  Authored by an anonymous factory worker.

Intended Audience:  Intended for personal reflection, not public consumption.

Historical Significance:  Offers a firsthand account of the challenges and experiences of a woman in the wartime workforce, capturing the emotional and practical aspects.

Analyzing the Documents

• Understanding Context, Authorship, and Audience

Contextual Relevance:  To understand how to write a dbq essay, It’s really important to know where the documents come from and how long they’ve been around for to get the full picture of their importance with regards to World War II.

Authorship Impact:  By figuring out who wrote the document, whether it’s from a government agency, a reporter, or an individual, it can help you understand if there might be any underlying bias or purpose.

Audience Influence:  Figuring out who the document is meant for gives you an idea of what it’s trying to say and why.

• Categorizing Based on Themes or Perspectives

Common Themes:  Look for any similarities among the documents. They could be patriotism, societal expectations, or the difficulties women face in the workplace.

Perspectives:  Organize documents that have different or similar points of view. For instance, government-issued material and people’s personal stories might provide different outlooks on women working during wartime.

How to Apply this Step

In the essay, these documents would be analyzed based on their unique contexts, biases, and perspectives. Government propaganda might highlight the state’s efforts to mobilize women, while personal diaries could reveal the emotional toll or day-to-day realities of working women.

Organizing documents by similar topics or points of view makes it easier to study them. For example, if you put together papers that talk about how women’s roles were seen after World War II, it could help you form ideas about how standards shifted.

Develop a Thesis Statement

Formulate a Clear Thesis:  To eliminate most problems regarding how to write a dbq, create a brief thesis statement that answers the question asked and outlines what your essay will be about.

Coming up with a good thesis statement is really important for a DBQ essay. To help illustrate this, let’s check out an example based on a prompt about how World War II changed women’s roles in the US.

Example Prompt

Developing a Thesis Statement

Key Focus:  Impact of WWII on women’s workforce roles.

Specific Task:  Evaluate and analyze using provided documents and additional knowledge.

• Crafting a Thesis

Sample Thesis Statement:  “World War II significantly transformed women’s roles in the American workforce by catalyzing increased participation, altering societal perceptions, and setting the stage for long-term economic and social changes.”

• Breaking Down the Thesis

Clear Response:  The thesis directly addresses the prompt by acknowledging the transformative impact of WWII on women’s roles.

Three Key Arguments:

Increased Participation:  Highlighting the rise in women joining the workforce during the war.

Societal Perceptions:  Discussion on how perceptions of women’s capabilities shifted due to their wartime contributions.

Long-Term Impact:  Indicating that these changes extended beyond the war, affecting the economy and society.

• Evidence and Analysis

Supported by Documents:  The process of how to write a dbq strengths when the thesis aligns with the analysis of the provided documents. For example, government propaganda may support increased participation, while personal accounts could reveal societal shifts.

Room for Analysis:  It sets the stage for in-depth analysis in body paragraphs, allowing examination of specific document evidence to support each argument.

You can take help of the  thesis statement generator  if you need to.

This Step Application in Writing

In the essay, each body paragraph would focus on one aspect mentioned in the thesis. For instance:

Paragraph 1:  Analyzes how women’s participation in the workforce increased during WWII using specific document evidence.

Paragraph 2:  Explores societal perceptions through various document perspectives and contextualizes these changes.

Paragraph 3:  Discusses the long-term impact, drawing connections between wartime changes and post-war societal shifts using a blend of document evidence and external knowledge.

Structure Your Essay

Organize your Thoughts:  improve how to write a dbq process by creating an outline that includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Introduction:  Set the context, present your thesis, and briefly outline the main points you’ll address. It’s an important section and you need to be careful while writing it. Don’t use  English phrase that make no sense  at all.

Body Paragraphs:  Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect supported by evidence from the documents. Use topic sentences, evidence, and analysis to support your argument.

Conclusion:  Summarize your main points, restate your thesis, and provide a broader historical context or implications of your argument.

Let’s create an outline for a DBQ essay based on the prompt about World War II’s impact on women’s roles in the American workforce:

Develop Outline for DBQ Essay

Here are complete details on the dbq structure or dbq outline:

• Introduction:

Context Setting:  Discuss the historical background of women’s roles pre-WWII and the societal norms regarding women in the workforce in specific DBQ body paragraph example and arrangement.

Thesis Statement:  Introduce the thesis that highlights the transformative impact of WWII on women’s roles in the American workforce.

Preview of Main Points:  Briefly outline the main arguments that will be explored in the body paragraphs. This practice will strengthen how to write a dbq essay process.

• Body Paragraphs:
• Increased Participation:

Topic Sentence:  Women’s increased participation in the workforce during WWII was a notable shift in societal norms.

Document Evidence:  Reference specific documents, like government propaganda or statistical data, showcasing the rise in female employment.

Analysis:  Discuss the significance of this increase, its implications, and its portrayal in the provided documents.

• Societal Perceptions and Changes:

Topic Sentence:  The war prompted a shift in societal perceptions about women’s capabilities in the workplace.

Document Evidence:  Utilize personal accounts or editorials from the provided sources reflecting changing attitudes towards women in traditionally male-dominated roles.

Analysis:  Examine the evolution of societal views depicted in the documents and analyze their historical significance.

• Long-Term Impacts Beyond the War:

Topic Sentence:  The changes initiated during WWII had lasting effects on the role of women in the post-war American workforce.

Document Evidence:  Extract examples from documents discussing post-war employment trends or societal adaptations.

Analysis:  Explore how the changes during the war era influenced the trajectory of women’s employment and societal roles in the subsequent years.

• Conclusion:

Summarize Main Points:  The best trick you can learn for how to write a DBQ Recap the key arguments presented in the body paragraphs, emphasizing their significance. The DBQ sentence starters should be used to compel the audience.

Restate Thesis:  Reinforce the thesis statement while demonstrating how it’s supported by the evidence analyzed.

Broader Historical Context:  Provide a brief discussion on the broader implications of these changes, connecting them to larger historical trends or societal impacts beyond the scope of the prompt.

Application of this Step

This dbq outline or structure ensures a well-organized essay that adheres to the prompt’s requirements.

Each dbq body paragraph example information focuses on a specific aspect of the thesis, supported by evidence from the provided documents and followed by insightful analysis.

The conclusion summarizes the key points while expanding on the broader implications of the arguments presented.

Interesting Note

Many students hire a professional  thesis writing service  provider just to make them an outline for their DBQ essay.

Use Evidence from the Documents

Cite Document Evidence:  If you want to add credibility in how to write a dbq essay process, incorporate specific examples and quotes from the provided documents to support your arguments.

Analyze the Documents:  Offer critical analysis of the documents, explaining how they support or contradict your thesis.

Let’s explore how to use evidence from documents and analyze them within the context of a DBQ essay about the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the American workforce:

Incorporating Document Evidence:

Document 1:  Government Propaganda Poster

“Join the Women’s Land Army – Help Farmers Win the War!”

Incorporating Evidence:  The poster portrays women as vital contributors to the war effort by encouraging them to join agricultural work.

“Rosie the Riveter” by J. Howard Miller (1942)

Incorporating Evidence:  The iconic “Rosie” poster symbolizes women’s participation in industrial work, urging them to take up factory jobs.

Document 2:  Newspaper Article from 1945

“Post-War Employment Trends: Women Expected to Return to Domestic Roles”

Incorporating Evidence:  The article reflects societal expectations, predicting a return of women to traditional domestic roles post-war.

Document 3:  Personal Diary Entry from a Factory Worker (1942)

“Today was exhausting. Worked 12 hours at the factory. Proud to contribute, but worried about balancing home and work responsibilities.”

Incorporating Evidence: The diary entry provides a personal perspective, revealing the challenges and pride associated with working in the wartime industry.

Analyzing Document Evidence

Analyzing Document 1 – Government Propaganda Poster

• Support for Thesis:  The poster supports the thesis by illustrating the government’s effort to mobilize women into various sectors of the economy during wartime.

Contradictions:  It might contradict the societal norms of women’s roles as homemakers, highlighting a shift in perceptions.

• Analyzing Document 2 – Newspaper Article

Support for Thesis:  The article aligns with the thesis by depicting societal expectations of women returning to traditional roles, showcasing the societal pressures women faced post-war.

Challenge to Thesis:  However, it might challenge the notion of a long-term impact by suggesting a potential regression in women’s roles.

• Analyzing Document 3 – Personal Diary Entry

Support for Thesis:  The diary entry corroborates the thesis by portraying the challenges faced by women in balancing work and home responsibilities during the war.

Emotional Impact:  It adds a human element, illustrating the emotional toll of working women during the wartime period.

How Can We Apply This One

In the essay, incorporating evidence involves seamlessly integrating specific examples from the documents into each body paragraph. For instance:

Paragraph on Increased Participation:  Reference the “Rosie the Riveter” poster to illustrate the government’s push for women’s involvement in industrial jobs.

Paragraph on Societal Perceptions:  Cite the newspaper article to depict societal expectations that contradicted women’s sustained participation in the workforce.

Paragraph on Long-Term Impacts:  Utilize the diary entry to showcase the personal struggles faced by working women and its implications for their roles post-war.

Contextualize

Provide Historical Context:  To uplift how to write a dbq process,integrate broader historical context beyond the provided documents to strengthen your argument and showcase a deeper understanding of the topic.

In a DBQ essay about the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the American workforce, integrating a broader historical context beyond the provided documents is crucial to offer a comprehensive understanding and strengthen the argument.

Contextualizing Historical Background

• Pre-WWII Women’s Roles

Traditional Gender Roles:  Pre-war society primarily depicted women as homemakers, limited to domestic responsibilities.

Limited Work Opportunities:  Women had limited access to professional jobs and were often confined to specific roles, such as teaching or nursing.

• The Impact of World War II on Society

Shift in Labor Dynamics:  The war created labor shortages, prompting industries to recruit women to fill positions traditionally held by men.

Rise of Propaganda:  Government campaigns like “Rosie the Riveter” aimed to mobilize women into industrial and agricultural sectors to support the war effort.

• Societal Changes Post-War

Expectations vs. Reality:  Post-war, societal expectations often pressured women to return to traditional roles despite their proven capabilities during the war.

Long-Term Impacts:  Despite the post-war societal pressure, women’s increased participation in the workforce during WWII set the stage for gradual changes in societal perceptions and employment opportunities for women.

Integration into Writing

How to write a dbq with high credibility? By incorporating this broader historical context into the essay strengthens the argument by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing women’s roles during and after WWII.

Introduction:  Briefly touch upon the pre-war societal norms regarding women’s roles to set the stage for discussing the revolutionary changes brought about by WWII.

Body Paragraphs:  Use the historical context to explain the significance of the wartime changes in contrast to pre-war expectations. For instance, contrast the limited opportunities for women before the war with the unprecedented employment opportunities created during the war.

Conclusion:  Summarize how the war acted as a catalyst for altering perceptions of women’s capabilities and briefly discuss the lasting implications of these changes in the post-war era. The closure statement is the most important part of how to write a dbq essay process.

In a body paragraph discussing societal perceptions, you might incorporate the broader historical context:

“Contrary to pre-war societal expectations that confined women to domestic spheres, World War II served as a watershed moment. The labor shortages prompted a seismic shift in employment dynamics, challenging the traditional roles assigned to women. This unprecedented recruitment of women into various sectors previously dominated by men, as evident from the provided documents, laid the foundation for a fundamental reevaluation of women’s capabilities and their contributions to the workforce.”

Be Clear and Analytical

How to write a dbq essay? The specific answer is to write in a clear, concise, and organized manner, ensuring your ideas flow logically. Use historical reasoning to analyze the documents critically and offer insightful interpretations.

This might be very challenging but you can practice on a good dbq essay template to polish your skills.

Writing with clarity and adopting an analytical approach is pivotal in crafting a successful DBQ essay. Let’s explore this with examples in the context of the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the American workforce:

Clarity in Writing

• Clear and Concise Expression

Example:  “The rise in female workforce participation during WWII challenged conventional gender roles, ushering in a new era of women’s contributions to the nation’s economy.”

Explanation:  This sentence succinctly summarizes a significant impact of WWII on women’s roles, avoiding unnecessary complexity while conveying a clear message. This is a vital step in how to write a dbq essay process.

• Logical Organization

Example:  Using clear transitions between paragraphs to maintain a coherent flow of ideas.

Explanation:  Smooth transitions help readers follow the essay’s progression, ensuring a logical and organized presentation of arguments.

Analytical Approach

• Critical Document Analysis

Example:  “The government’s ‘Rosie the Riveter’ campaign symbolized the pivotal role women played in industrial work, challenging societal norms.”

Explanation:  This analysis goes beyond describing the document; it interprets its significance in challenging societal perceptions, offering a deeper understanding.

• Historical Reasoning

Example:  “The wartime surge in female employment not only addressed labor shortages but also reshaped societal attitudes towards women’s capabilities in non-traditional roles.”

Explanation:  By connecting historical events to broader implications, this analysis demonstrates a deep understanding of the historical context.

Using This in Our Writing

Incorporating clarity and an analytical approach into how to write a dbq essay involves crafting clear and concise sentences while providing insightful interpretations of the provided documents and historical context:

Clear Writing:  Ensure each sentence contributes directly to the argument, avoiding vague or ambiguous language.

Analytical Analysis:  Go beyond summarizing the documents; instead, interpret their implications and connections to broader historical contexts. For instance, explore how the “Rosie the Riveter” campaign challenged gender norms and impacted societal perceptions of women’s roles.

Proofread and Revise

Proofreading:  Review your essay for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors to level up how to write a dbq essay process.

Content Revision:  Ensure that your arguments are coherent, well-supported, and directly address the prompt.That’s the crucial part of how to write a dbq process.

Proofreading and revising are crucial steps in writing a DBQ essay. Let’s delve into these steps with examples in the context of the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the American workforce:

Proofreading

• Spelling and Grammar

Example:  “The government’s propaganda played a vital role in mobilizing women.”

Revision:  “The government’s propaganda played a vital role in mobilizing women.”

• Punctuation

Example:  “Women’s participation increased during WWII government propaganda played a crucial role.”

Revision:  “Women’s participation increased during WWII; government propaganda played a crucial role.”

Content Revision

• Coherence of Arguments

Example:  Incoherent argument sequence: Discussing post-war changes before explaining wartime impact.

Revision:  Reorganize paragraphs to present arguments logically, starting with wartime impact and leading into post-war changes.

• Support for Arguments

Example:  Making claims without documented evidence or analysis to support them.

Revision:  Incorporate specific examples and analysis from the provided documents to substantiate each argument.

Applying the Concept in Our Writing

Proofreading:  After completing the essay, review it carefully for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Use tools like spell checkers but also read the essay aloud or have someone else review it for better accuracy. Proofreading will always help students learn how to write a dbq essay.

Content Revision:  Ensure that each argument directly addresses the prompt and is supported by evidence from the documents. Revisit each paragraph to verify that it contributes to the essay’s central thesis and maintains a logical flow of ideas.

Sample Integration

“During World War II, women’s roles in the American workforce underwent a profound transformation. The government’s propaganda, such as the ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster, served as a catalyst in reshaping societal perceptions about women’s capabilities. Women’s increased participation in traditionally male-dominated industries, as evidenced by government campaigns, directly countered pre-war societal norms.”

Revising for Clarity and Coherence

“The ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster is an iconic symbol of the seismic shift in women’s roles during WWII. Its depiction of a confident female worker challenged traditional gender roles, exemplifying the transformative impact of the war on societal perceptions. Moreover, personal accounts, like the diary entry of a factory worker, highlight the challenges and pride associated with women’s contributions to the wartime economy.”

Practice and Time Management

Practice Writing DBQs:  The best answer to how to write a dbq essay is to practice. Familiarize yourself with the format and practice analyzing documents to enhance your skills. Start with  300 words essay format guide  and then increase the word limit with time.

Time Management:  Practice writing within the allocated time frame to ensure you can effectively complete the essay section in the given time.

Developing proficiency in how to write a DBQ essay process involves practice and effective time management. Here’s a breakdown with dbq example in the context of analyzing the impact of World War II on women’s roles in the American workforce:

Practice Writing DBQs

• Familiarizing with the Format

Example:  Analyze various DBQ prompts on different historical topics, such as the Civil Rights Movement or Industrial Revolution, to understand the varied approaches and required analyses.

Practice Task:  Answering a prompt on the Civil Rights Movement, exploring documents related to key events and societal changes.

• Enhancing Document Analysis Skills

Example:  Engage in document-based activities by examining historical texts, images, or speeches to sharpen document analysis skills.

Practice Task:  Analyzing primary sources related to women’s suffrage movements and their impact on societal changes.

Time Management

• Setting Time Limits for Practice Essays

Example:  Allocate a specific time frame (e.g., 45 minutes) to complete a practice on how to write a DBQ essay, mirroring the time constraints of the actual exam.

Practice Task:  Answering a DBQ prompt on the impact of technological advancements on society within the given time limit.

• Effective Planning during Practice Sessions

Example:  Devote a set time for reading and analyzing the documents, outlining the essay, and writing the actual response.

Allocating 15 minutes for document analysis, 10 minutes for outlining, and 20 minutes for writing a practice DBQ on the Civil War’s economic effects.

Using it in Your Writing

Regular Practice:  Engaging in frequent DBQ practice sessions hones document analysis skills, improves writing coherence, and familiarizes you with effective time management strategies.

Simulation of Exam Conditions:  Replicate exam conditions during practice sessions, including time limits and adherence to the DBQ format, to simulate the actual test environment.

Integrating the Sample

“I dedicated 15 minutes to analyzing the provided documents, and identifying recurring themes and perspectives. Then, I spent 10 minutes outlining the essay, and organizing arguments based on document evidence. Finally, within the remaining 20 minutes, I crafted a well-structured response to the DBQ prompt on the Industrial Revolution’s impact on urbanization.”

Seek Feedback

Share your practice essays for constructive feedback to improve how to write a dbq essay and your analysis skills.

Approximately 470,000 students take the AP exam and go through the document based question essay. But not all of them succeed and the reason is not writing what they are asked for. This guide has revised solutions for the challenges faced by students previously regarding how to write a DBQ. You can take the advice from the experience and mistakes of former applicants and craft your essay while avoiding such mishaps.

Still Confused?

How to write a DBQ? This process can get very confusing. So if you are still in sixes and sevens about this writing, don’t hesitate to consult our  paper help  for assistance and valuable tips. 

Now, You’ve Got All the Answers For DBQ Essay

You finally made it to the end of this comprehensive guide and now you are equipped with the steps of writing a great DBQ essay. Practicing these steps are going to help you write the best essay in the given time limit.

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How to Write a DBQ, LEQ, & SAQ

General tips.

• Planning, reading, and annotating documents  (15 minutes) and writing essay (40 minutes) 
• Do NOT answer the question in bullet points.
• Read the question carefully.
• Use the language of the prompt to directly answer the questions.
• Look for key action words and circle them (describe, analyze, explain, identify, etc). 
• Look for plurals (ex: reason vs. reasons), if something is plural you must do two!
• USe specific proper nouns that are given in each part of the question. This will support what you are trying to say and will give you credibility. 

ACE The question

• Answer the question using a claim or topic sentence 
• Cite specific factual evidence
• Explain how the evidence proves the claim

DBQ: Requirements

• A DBQ is a document based question where you take information from given documents and write an essay
• There is no set format for DBQ writing, however there are certain things you have to touch up on which are 
• Thesis/Claim 
• Contextualization 

Analysis and Reasoning 

DBQ: Outline

Contextualization

• Conclusion (if you have time)
• Contextualization includes historical information relevant to the prompt
• Think before, during, and after what you are going to be writing about.
• Should be 3-4 sentences.
•        Last sentence is your thesis statement.

1.A Thesis Statement

• Your thesis statement is trying to prove a point.
• DO NOT RESTATE THE PROMPT.
• Should be 1-2 sentences.
• Be specific! 
• A strong thesis answers the “How” or “Why” question about your topic through a specific language.
• Should include date (can be centuries) and location.
• Ex: “ [Event] changed [example #1], [example #2], and [example #3] realities in [given place] during [date].” 
• Body paragraphs  
• Your body paragraphs go into detail for what you are trying to prove.
• Focus on these main categories (think PERSIANS ) based on your promt (remember, you will not need to cover all of these in your body paragraphs , but these are good ways to get analysis points. Political Social, and Economic are the ones that will show up the most).
• I ntellectual
• N ear (Geographical location)
• S ignificant Figures 

What should be included

• Document citations (you can just say “Doc #” next to where you add your information pertaining to the document).
• Description of document (even if it is a picture of a painting, you still have to describe it).
• Why does the document pertain to your thesis statement?
• For at least half of the documents you need to state at least one of the following and explain why it is relevant
• Credibility; is the document reliable?
• Point of view of the author
• Purpose of the document
• Intended audience (who would support/refute)
• *Remember, the whole point of doing this is to strengthen your argument. Choose something that is relevant to what you are talking about so you can earn points!
• Refresh everything that you have stated BRIEFLY.
• Try to end powerful, you want to show you have a complex understanding on what you are talking about.

Scoring on AP Exam 

Thesis/Claim

Responds to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis/claim that establishes a line of reasoning.

The thesis must make a claim that responds to the prompt rather than restating or rephrasing the prompt. The thesis must consist of one or more sentences located in one place, either in the introduction or the conclusion.

Describes a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.

The response must relate the topic of the prompt to broader historical events, developments, or processes that occur before, during, or continue after the time frame of the question. This point is not awarded for merely a phrase or reference.

Evidence from Documents

Uses content of 

At least three documents to address the topic of the prompt

Supports an argument in response to the prompt using at least six documents

Evidence from Beyond the Documents 

Uses at least one additional piece of the specific historical evidence (beyond that found in the documents) relevant to an argument about the prompt.

To earn one point, the response must accurately describe — rather than simply quote — the content from at least three of the documents. 

To earn two points, the response must accurately describe — rather than simply quote — the content from at least six documents. In addition, the response must use the content of the documents to support an argument in response to the prompt

To earn one point, the response must accurately describe — rather than simply quote — the content from at least three of the documents. To earn two points, the response must accurately describe — rather than simply quote — the content from at least six documents. In addition, the response must use the content of the documents to support an argument in response to the prompt

 For at least three documents, explains how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument. 

Demonstrates a complex understanding of the historical development that is the focus of the prompt, using evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the question.

To earn this point, the response must explain how or why (rather than simply identifying) the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, or audience is relevant to an argument about the prompt for each of the three documents sourced. 

A response may demonstrate a complex understanding in a variety of ways, such as: • Explaining nuance of an issue by analyzing multiple variables • Explaining both similarity and difference, or explaining both continuity and change, or explaining multiple causes, or explaining both cause and effect • Explaining relevant and insightful connections within and across periods • Confirming the validity of an argument by corroborating multiple perspectives across themes • Qualifying or modifying an argument by considering diverse or alternative views or evidence This understanding must be part of the argument. 

(from AP history DBQ rubric (7 points) - MRCASEYHISTORY. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://mrcaseyhistory.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/ap-dbq-rubric-and-reasoning-skills.pdf ) 

LEQ: Requirements

• An LEQ is long essay question that is usually compare/contrast or cause/effect.
• Thesis based prompt. 
• Should take around 40-50 minutes.
• 15% of total grade. 
• You do NOT NEED to have a five paragraph essay, you need as many to make your point.

LEQ: Outline

• Body paragraph #1
• Body paragraph #2
• Conclusion (if you have extra time). 
•        Last Sentence is your thesis statement.
• Your thesis statement is what you are trying to prove.
• A strong thesis answers the “How” or “Why” question about your topic through a specific language. 
• Should have at least three points 
• ex:  if you are comparing and contrasting the French and American Revolutions,  you can have two differences and one similarity, or one similarly and two differences. 
• “While both [topic 1] and [topic 2] are similar in [similarity #1], they are different in terms of [difference #1] and [difference #2].”
• Body paragraphs 
• Your body paragraphs go into detail for what you are trying to prove
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.
• Ex: X caused significant [selected PERSIANS] change during [given period].
• Focus on these main categories (think PERSIANS ) based on your prompt (remember, you will not need to cover all of these in your body paragraphs , but these are good ways to get analysis points. Political, Social, and Economic are the ones that will show up the most).
• Specific examples and analysis to prove your thesis.
• Background information (bringing in an outside source of information) (ex: if you are talking about American and French Revolutions, you can talk about the Haitian Revolution). 
• BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE.
• However if you do not know something, do not make something up.

Scoring on AP Exam

Scoring Criteria

Decision Rules

Provides specific examples of evidence relevant to the topic of the prompt.

Supports an argument in response to the prompt using specific and relevant examples of evidence.

To earn one point, the response must identify specific historical examples of evidence relevant to the topic of the prompt.

To earn two points the response must use specific historical evidence to support an argument in response to the prompt.

Analysis and Reasoning

Uses historical reasoning (e.g. comparison, causation, CCOT) to frame or structure an argument that addresses the prompt.

To earn the first point, the response must demonstrate the use of historical reasoning to frame or structure an argument, although the reasoning might be uneven or imbalanced.

To earn the second point, the response must demonstrate a complex understanding. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as:

• Explaining nuance of an issue by analyzing multiple variables

• Explaining both similarity and difference, or explaining both continuity and change, or explaining multiple causes, or explaining both causes and effects

• Explaining relevant and insightful connections within and across periods

• Confirming the validity of an argument by corroborating multiple perspectives across themes

• Qualifying or modifying an argument by considering diverse or alternative views or evidence This understanding must be part of the argument, not merely a phrase or reference.

(From AP history long essay question (LEQ) rubric (6 points). (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2023, from http://www.sultztonianinstitute.com/uploads/7/8/5/5/7855396/leq-rubric.pdf ) 

SAQ: Requirements

• An SAQ (Short answer question) allows students to show their knowledge to answer questions from key concepts through a few sentences.
• Does not require a thesis statement.
• Does require complete sentences.
• Usually broken into parts A,B, and C, but sometimes one section might ask two questions (for example, part A might ask two questions and B will ask one) but there will always be three questions asked. 
• There is limited space to answer, so be careful not to overwrite!
• At least half of the questions will include a reference of some sort (ex: photos, charts, graphs) that could be primary or secondary.
• 40 minutes in total to answer all SAQs.

SAQ: Scoring

• Each part of the SAQ is worth 1 point, therefore there are 9 possible points to earn.
• Worth 20% of overall grade (most students who get a 5 get at least 7/9 points on the SAQ).
• Considered “rough drafts” (grammatical errors will not count against you).
• Points are earned through historical accuracy, quality of explanations, and depth of description that answer the question. 
• Remember points are only earned on AP exams. If you do not know something the worst thing you could do is not answer. ANSWER EVERYTHING!

SAQ Outline Example

• The Neolithic Revolution has been seen by many historians as the biggest cause of the early advent of civilizations.
• a)  Identify and explain ONE argument that supports the assertion above.
• b)  Identify and explain ONE argument that refutes the assertion above.
• c)  Explain which is more useful, (a) or (b), in evaluating the assertion above.

Scoring Guide for the above question

●  One point for ​identifying​ and explaining​ one argument that supports the Neolithic Revolution being the biggest cause of the early advent of civilizations. .

• ●  One point for ​identifying​ and explaining​ one argument that refutes (disproves) the idea that the Neolithic Revolution was the biggest cause of the early advent of civilizations.
• ●  One point for ​explaining ​which argument, (a) or (b), is more useful in evaluating the assertion that the Neolithic Revolution was the biggest cause of the early advent of civilizations.

(Birdville ISD / Overview. (n.d.). from https://www.birdvilleschools.net/ ) 

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How to Write a DBQ

A DBQ essay is an assigned task which tests a student’s analyzation and understanding skills. They also test a student in thinking outside the box. These skills are essential for success in gaining this academic qualification. In this article from EssayPro — professional essay writers team, we will talk about how to write a DBQ, we will go through the DBQ format, and show you a DBQ example.

What Is a DBQ?

Many students may prosper: “What is a DBQ?”. Long story short, DBQ Essay or “Document Based Question” is an assigned academic paper which is part of the AP U.S. History exam (APUSH) set by the United States College Board. It requires a student’s knowledge of a certain topic with evidence from around 3 to 16 reliable sources. Understanding the APUSH DBQ and its outline is essential for success in the exam, itself.

DBQ Outline

We understand that learning how to write a DBQ essay can be difficult for beginners. This is why our professional writers have listed the DBQ format for your own reference while preparing for the exam. Like all essays, this involves an introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion.

Introduction

• An introductory sentence to hook your audience.
• State the background of the topic. Using a source relating to a historical occurrence or historical figure can be helpful at this time.
• Describe the claims made in your paper which can be supported by the evidence.
• Create a brief description of the evidence that will be included in the body paragraphs.
• Write a paragraph which talks about how the DBQ essay question will be answered.

Body Paragraph 1

• Include the strongest argument. This should be linked to the thesis statement. Read our example of thesis statement .
• Include an analysis of the references which relate to the strongest argument.
• Write a statement which concludes the analysis in a different point of view. Include a link to the thesis.
• Write a transition sentence to the next body paragraph.

Body Paragraph 2

• Include a reasonable argument which links to the thesis, and the first argument in the previous body paragraph.

Body Paragraph 3

• Include a reasonable argument which links to the thesis, and the second argument in the previous body paragraph.
• Write a transition sentence to the conclusion.
• Create a summarizing argument of the whole paper.
• Include the main points or important information in the sources.
• Create a concluding sentence or question which challenges the point of view that argues against these sources.

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How to Write a DBQ: Step-By-Step Instructions

For some students, writing a DBQ essay may be hard. Not to worry. Our easy-to-read step-by-step instructions talk about the essential points which includes how to write a DBQ thesis, analyzation, time-management and proofreading your work. It is always important to write your paper in accordance to the DBQ outline for achieving the success you’re capable of.

The DBQ involves:

• Planning: 15 Minutes
• Writing: 2 hours and 45 Minutes
• Proofreading: 10 Minutes

Time management is essential for a successful grade in this form of examination. The general DBQ outline states that the duration is 3 hours and 15 minutes. Spend around 15 minutes planning, 2 hours and 45 minutes writing, and 10 minutes proofreading. Follow these easy-to-read step-by-step instructions to learn how to write a DBQ thesis, body and conclusion successfully.

Step 1: Planning (15 Minutes)

During the exam, it is important to study the provided sources. The exam is 3 hours, so 15 minutes for planning is a reasonable approach. During this time, analyze all of the important key-points from the sources provided. Then, take a note of all of the key points, and write them under the titles; introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion.

Step 2: Introduction (5 Minutes)

First impressions count. Keep the introduction short and brief. Don’t go straight into answering the question in this part of the paper. For a successful introduction, write a brief summary of the overall paper. It is also important to include an introductory sentence.

Step 3: Thesis (20 Minutes)

This form of essay requires a separate 3 paragraphs for the DBQ thesis. Describe the claims made in your paper which can be supported by the evidence. The second paragraph should include a description of the paper. The third paragraph should include how you’re going to answer the question.

• The key difference with other essays is that the thesis plays an important role in the DBQ structure.
• The APUSH DBQ thesis should not be two sentences long.
• The thesis should be written with act least 2 or 3 paragraphs long.

Step 4: Body (2 Hours and 16 Minutes)

Write well-structured, categorized paragraphs. Each paragraph should include one point. Avoid mixing ideas in the paragraphs. Include your answer to the assigned question with the provided documents. It is also important to read between the lines. Each paragraph should link to the thesis.

Step 5: Conclusion (10 Minutes)

The final part of your paper. The conclusion plays a vital role in persuading your audience. A poorly written conclusion means a skeptical audience. For well-written conclusion, summarize the entire paper. Link the conclusion to the thesis. Answer the question in a concluding sentence, “the big idea”.

Step 6: Proofreading (10 Minutes)

Spend around 10 minutes proofreading your work at the end of the exam. It is important to proofread your work to make sure it does not contain any grammatical mistakes. Any writing errors can lower one’s grade. Please make sure that the body paragraphs answer the question and link to the thesis, this is the most important part of the paper.

Writing Tips to Success with Your DBQ Essay

Understand: Before writing, make sure that you understand the sources and the essay question. Duration: Remember that the exam duration is 3 hours and 15 minutes. Study: Practice how to write a DBQ before the actual exam. Identify: Find the key-points from the sources to include in your essay.

Read Between the Lines: Don’t just write about what you read, but write about what the passages imply. Read all Documents: Make sure you have read all of the sources, prior to writing the paper. Read the Outline: Following the DBQ essay outline is essential for understanding how to structure the paper during the exam. Categorize: Put each point into categories. This will come in useful for writing the body paragraphs. Write the Author’s Opinion: Show an understanding of the writer’s point of view. Write a Temporary DBQ Thesis on your Notes: Doing so will assist you during the paper writing. Follow DBQ Examples: Following a DBQ essay example, while studying, is an excellent way to get a feel for this form of assignment.

DBQ Example

Do you need more help? Following a sample DBQ essay can be very useful for preparation. Usually, when practicing for exams, students commonly refer to an example for understanding the DBQ structure, and other revision purposes. Click on the button to open our DBQ example from one of our professional writers. Feel free to use it as a reference when learning how to write a DBQ.

The Great War and the second ordeal of conflict in Europe, played a fundamental in the increase of the rights for women. During the second world war, the British government encouraged house-wives to do the work of what was primarily traditional for men to do.Such as growing crops and butchering animals, which was generally considered to be“men’s work”. One of the slogans was “dig for victory”. The reason for this was for people to take care of themselves during the difficult times of rationing.

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Following steps and outlines for custom writing is a great way to learn how to write a DBQ essay. As well as writing tips. Time management is vital for the positive result. Following our advice will enable you to get a good grade by learning how to write a good DBQ. Because learning the DBQ format is essential. Practice is very important for any form of examination. Otherwise, one could not do as well as his or her potential allows him or her to do so.

You might be interested in information about this type of essay, such as the definition essay .

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is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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