<p>Before you assault me I know that this belongs in the AP section, but I seem to get more responses here.</p>
<p>In any case my teacher every once in a while takes us to a computer lab to type up our DBQ's from a prompt we see when we get there. (tries to emulate the ap exam) He gives 7-8 documents for the task.</p>
<p>NO MATTER HOW I write my DBQ's he always gives me a 'B' and provides justification for it. (Sometimes it contrasts from DBQ to DBQ). </p>
<p>So I was wondering what I could do to get an 'A.' </p>
<p>This is the structure I follow when writing DBQ's:
1) I take a position and make that evident in my thesis
2) The intro is mostly my own knowledge and sort of a seigway into the given prompt
3) When writing the body paragraphs I justify my claim which support from my knowledge and 1 or 2 quotes from the documents.
4)I then proceed to explain the quotes
5) I do this multiple times to from paragraphs
6) 10 mins before the period ends I usually form a conclusion which is just a summary </p>
<p>*I have one hour to type the DBQ (this time includes reading the task, looking through the documents, pre-planning and eventual writing and proofreading) </p>
<p>*I tend to use 3 to 4 documents MAX</p>
<p>*Length wise it always comes to be about 2 to 3 pages double spaced size twelve font</p>
<p>SO WHAT CAN I DO TO GET AN A? WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT?</p>
<p>Maybe your teacher is a harsh grader. My teacher is an AP grader, but he grades his classes much more harshly. He’s given one 9 in his entire career. I consistently got 2s on his essays and DBQs and even though I was a pretty awful APUSH student who rarely read and knew nothing about the Vietnam war and onwards, I still got a 4 on the AP.</p>
<p>“High scores will be earned only by essays that both cite key pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period.”</p>
<p>You effectively ignore 50% of the documents, each of which is full of relevant information.</p>
<p>My teacher always told us a good number of documents to use was one more than half. Also, try to really tie everything together and make a strong argument rather than just list reasons again.
One hour seems like a long time for a DBQ if it’s typed. On the real test, you won’t be able to elaborate as much because of the time constraints of writing.</p>
<p>I always used almost all of the documents, and my use of outside information was minimal. Frankly, DBQ’s shouldn’t be difficult because the information is sitting right there in front of you. Plus, as I’ve said before here, if you do well enough on the MC you only need to get 6’s on the essays (very manageable) for a very safe 5.</p>
<p>I only took APWH and not APUSH, but we were allowed to use either (a) all the documents, or (b) all but one of the documents. Anything less than that was deduction of points. I would assume APUSH is similar.</p>
<p>Definately use more documents. Also, my teacher makes it a point to remind us that you should not directly quote the documents. You should only refer to them.</p>
<p>My APUS teacher said that quoting was BAD. The graders basically have the documents memorized. Just give a brief statement on the document then connect that to your own argument. Quoting verbatim is unnecessary. </p>
<p>And try asking your teacher what he expects from an ‘‘A’’ paper.</p>
<p>I never ever quote, its such a waste of time and hand energy. The graders all know the documents already. You can just as easily quickly describe the argument and expand on the point connecting it to the thesis
Try to connect in more outside information, all though some teachers dont really value this</p>