Thoughts About Writing a Quality DBQ

In our DBQ writing, we have started small (thesis + single paragraphs) and are slowly building up. In time, you will be writing DBQs that rival any research paper you have ever written. And in the process, you will become a better writer, historian, and thinker.

Here's a short guide by Peter Pappas that does a good job of showing what graders are looking for in a DBQ:

To receive full credit in a five point rubric the essay will need to:

• thoroughly address all aspects of the task by accurately interpreting the documents plus incorporate outside information related to the documents.
• discuss all aspects of the task and support with accurate facts, examples and details.
• weigh the importance, reliability and validity of the evidence.
• analyze conflicting perspectives presented in the documents. Weave the documents into the body of the essay.
• include a strong introduction and conclusion.

Credit would be reduced if the response:

• did not recognize the reliability, validity, or perspectives of the documents.
• reiterated the content of the documents with little or no use of outside information.
• discussed the documents in a descriptive rather than analytic manner.
• showed little recognition of the tasks, lacked an introduction or conclusion.

source: http://www.edteck.com/dbq/testing/dbq.htm 

For right now, don't worry about intro and conclusion. We are going to concentrate on writing a strong thesis statement and finding support for that statement in the sources. We'll also analyse the validity and value of sources and try to understand what they might be able to tell us about the cultural context from which they arise.