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.