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kotzin
The Internet as an Opportunity for Students to Create Their Own Document-Based Question
Daniel Kotzin
Beth Tfiloh Dahan High School, Baltimore, Maryland
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THE DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION (DBQ) is an integral part of the United
States History Advanced Placement Exam, and is required as part
of an exam that also includes answering two general "free response"
essays and a multiple choice question section. For the DBQ, students
are given a question about a specific time period in American history,
and then a series of documents relating to that time period and
the topic of the question. The documents usually include a variety
of sources, such as speeches, quantitative material, letters, diaries,
pictures, and cartoons. Students are asked to use both the documents
and their knowledge of the period to answer the question within
a one-hour time frame. Assessment is based on the student's ability
to synthesize and analyze the documents in relation to the question
as well as to incorporate outside knowledge. |
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While the time period of the DBQ for the AP exam is announced to teachers ahead of time, teaching the skills for answering the DBQ question is often a challenge for AP United States history teachers. Many students face the DBQ with dread. They find it much more difficult than the standard essay question because it requires a different level of historical analysis. I often see students struggle with the DBQ because of a tendency to go through and explain each document rather than look at the documents collectively within the context of the question being asked. Preparation for the DBQ is not only a means to enable students to do well on the AP Exam, it also teaches them how to do the work of historians. Having students work on DBQs, therefore, need not be limited to the AP classroom. Students in non-AP high school history classes and college-level United States history survey courses would also benefit from practice taking DBQ-type exams because doing so would teach them how to write coherent historical essays through the analysis of documents in combination with their own knowledge of the subject. |
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In order to enable students to fully conceptualize how to answer a DBQ, I have assigned students the project of creating their own DBQ and then answering it as part of a unit test. This exercise not only offers students another perspective on a DBQ, but they enjoy the process of collecting documents, organizing them, and creating the actual question. While there are potential pitfalls in having students create their own DBQ, with the proper guidance and supervision it can be a very educational experience, helping them to develop research skills and--in the process--learn how to analyze documents.1 |
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The Civil War is an excellent area of history for students to create their own DBQs. In addition to being a subject that interests students, there are also a myriad of sub-topics within the Civil War that students can focus on, ranging from military and political history, to women's history and African-American history. On a practical level, by the time the class has reached the Civil War in the curriculum, students have had the opportunity to take several practice DBQs so that they are at least familiar with the general format and what is expected in a DBQ essay. Moreover, the availability of primary documents on the Civil War, particularly on the World Wide Web, is limitless. With so much available, the teacher has the option, especially if his or her students are adept at using the internet, of letting students find their own documents by exploring the wide variety of Civil War web sites. However, in order to structure and focus the project, and to utilize time more effectively, I have required students to find all of their documents at the "Valley of the Shadow" web site, which can be found at http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow. |
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The "Valley of the Shadow" web site looks at two communities directly involved in the Civil War: Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Though the designers are clearly encouraging users to follow the comparative methodology that the site is based upon, it provides a user-friendly framework for students to explore a range of issues related to the war.2 In addition, the primary sources available on this web site are quite vast. There is a newspaper section where students can find, through a topic index, articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as women, politics, religion, and daily life, to name just a few. Clicking on "Politics" in Franklin County, for example, produces a series of article summaries from which students can then click to get the full text of a particular article. One article listed, dated 6 May 1862, for example, is an editorial about changes in political sentiments among local residents. The "Letters and Diaries" section has entries written by soldiers from these counties as well as by women who lived in these counties. There is also substantial statistical information available, including the 1860 census for both counties and soldier dossiers which detail in varying degrees the military careers of soldiers from both counties. Also available on the web site are Civil War primary documents not specific to the two counties. The "Images" section has cartoons and drawings from national newspapers as well as numerous photographs taken during the Civil War. As in the newspaper section, there is a topic index that makes it easy to navigate. In the "Official Records" section students can find first hand accounts of battles and military strategy, including reports written by officers and generals. |
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Before introducing the project assignment or even the "Valley of the Shadow" web site itself, I make sure that students have a firm understanding of the Civil War. Only after students have read about the Civil War in the textbook and we have spent several class periods discussing the war, do I lead students to the web site. In order to ensure that students use it effectively and efficiently, I give them an assignment intended to familiarize them with it. After reading short introductory essays about Franklin and Augusta Counties available on the web site, students are given very specific tasks to learn how to use the web site. I ask them, for example, to read the diary of Rachel Cormany for July 1863 and then explain, based on her entries, how women experienced the Civil War. I also ask them to look at soldiers' dossiers for men who deserted and then to explain, from the clues given in the records, why men deserted. These exercises I find to be extremely important because, having learned how to use the web site, students will find the subsequent search for documents less time consuming. The exercises also provide an opportunity for class discussions on local history before getting to the actual project. |
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The instruction sheet I give students for the project is quite detailed (see appendix). As students are creating their own question and document pack, it is important that they clearly understand what is expected of them because, when they later write answers to the question they create, only half their grade will be based on their essay. One fourth will be based on the quality of the question itself, and another quarter on the quality of their documents. As for the substance of the DBQ question, I explain that it can either be comparative, which follows the North-South county framework of the web site, or it can focus on one county. In the latter case, the question must require an answer that spans the full length of the war. In addition, the question must be phrased in such a way that it requires an answer that uses local history to make larger historical interpretations about the Civil War in general. I provide examples of various types of questions from other topics we have already covered. For many students, the most challenging aspect of the project is creating the actual question, particularly the phrasing of it. I therefore encourage students to begin by choosing an aspect of the Civil War they find interesting, and then forming a tentative historical question, one that they know they can always change or rephrase. Most student DBQs have tended to fall under four general thematic categories: the role of women, the experience of African-Americans, the experience of soldiers, and life on the home front. |
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Once they have a topic and perhaps the phrasing of a general question, students begin the search for documents. Students are required to have between eight and twelve documents in their pack, and I encourage them to concentrate on primary texts using documents from newspapers, letters, diaries, and military reports. They are allowed no more than two images. I give extra credit for those able to use statistics.3 The arrangement of the documents in the pack is also described in their assignment sheet. As on an actual DBQ, each document must be labeled with its source and they must be arranged either chronologically or in a way that makes historical sense. Since no document can be more than two paragraphs, students are encouraged to cut excerpts from the documents they use. As a class, we look at the document packs of DBQs students have taken during the year and discuss how they are arranged. |
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I give students three class periods to prepare their DBQ. If extra time is needed, the work must be done at home. The class time is necessary for me to properly supervise students as they search the site and construct their DBQ. I have the advantage of teaching at a small private day school in Baltimore that is responsively integrating technology into the classroom. Because, in addition to having laptops available for classroom use, all students are required to have computers at home, I have the luxury of limiting class time to three days and of asking students to complete the assignment at home. Though many teachers do not have such an advantage, a project of this kind should be completed in five or six class sessions. |
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My students have tended to begin their search for documents in either the letter/diary section or the newspaper section. When students first find a document that directly applies to their general topic, they get very excited. One of the reasons I believe this assignment is educationally useful is the interest in history it inspires. I had one student, for example, who chose to focus on the role of Southern women during the Civil War. When she came across several newspaper articles praising women for spying on Union soldiers, she shouted out with enthusiasm. To learn that women had been spies during the Civil War was both novel and fascinating to her! |
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In addition to the interest the assignment inspires, students learn to appreciate the process by which a DBQ is created. They begin to understand the relationship between the question and each document as well as the relationship the documents have with each other. For many students, part of the challenge is selecting which part of a long document is most relevant. Forcing students to limit a document to no more than two paragraphs teaches them how to read analytically so as to select the part of a document which will most aid in answering the question. With some topics, in addition, there are so many relavent documents that students must learn how to be selective. Students dealing with the general topic of soldiers' experiences have a myriad of sources, and with so much available they must learn to look for patterns and differences which focus most sharply on their chosen aspect of the story. All of these challenges are important for student learning, but most significantly the exercise helps alleviate some of the problems students have with analyzing documents when writing essays in response to DBQs. Prior to using this exercise I have often found students paying little attention to the source citation at the bottom of each DBQ document. The experience of selecting and arranging their own documents themselves helps students recognize the importance of identifying the source of a document to fully understand its significance in terms of the question being asked. |
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Because I require students to include visual materials, they also learn how to analyze photographs and cartoons. A popular topic among students is African-American soldiers in the Union Army. Here students have a rich array of photographs available that are very revealing. While some photographs present African-Americans as servants, others show Black regiments armed and in uniform. This is an example of how a series of differing images emerges as students examine and then select material for their DBQ. So potent is this experience that I have found that their search for text documents is sometimes even informed by the images they select. |
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The richness of resources on this web site completely alters the conception of the Civil War which many students bring to high school United States history classes. It is no longer just a lot of battles and the abolition of slavery. Learning about the many other variables involved, and the contrasting historical interpretations, is both challenging and exciting for them. For example, in my classes many of my students have focused their DBQ question on Northern white attitudes towards African Americans. Two examples clearly demonstrate how students were able to explore this issue. Both students dealt with Union solders' attitudes towards African-Americans and emancipation, but in different ways. One student had a very clear and straightforward question: "During the Civil War, to what extent was there racism in the Union army?" The documents this student chose, which including poetry, letters, diary entries, and cartoons, presented a contradictory picture of soldier attitudes towards African-Americans. The first document was a poem calling for the death of slavery. The following document, however, was a letter that refers to African-Americans as "niggers," and states that white soldiers would refuse to fight along side a new regiment of African-Americans. The two cartoons included were equally contradictory. One shows African-Americans fighting heroically while the other shows them running rather than fighting. A more sophisticated student-made DBQ also dealt with this issue, but in the form of an evaluatory question: "'Northern citizens active in the Union cause had a primary goal of freeing African American slaves.' Using Franklin County as an example, assess the validity of this statement. Be sure to identify the attitude of Northern soldiers toward African-Americans in your answer." The student then included a variety of diary entries and letters presenting different points of view on emancipation, written both before and after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and written by both soldiers and civilians. Also included was a striking cartoon of a wounded African-American soldier shaking hands with a wounded white solder. When these students ultimately wrote answers to their DBQs, the latter student wrote an excellent essay, discussing both the mixed attitudes towards blacks as well as the evolution of sympathy based on first-hand contact. The former, in contrast, discussed the ambivalence of Union solders towards blacks; they supported emancipation, but were unsure how co-existence would work. |
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Through researching the "Valley of the Shadow" web site, these students learned about the Civil War in a unique way. Teachers can pass out primary documents for students to examine the voices of people who lived through the Civil War, but nothing can compare to students discovering those voices themselves. But even more than that, in this assignment students had to take those voices and construct a document narrative from which they would later write their DBQ essay. What emerges from the two document packs cited above, for instance, are varying and contradictory attitudes about the Civil War and African-Americans. These are just two examples of many excellent DBQ packs and essays written by my students. Not all students, however, were so successful. Some become very frustrated with this and other computer-based assignments I have used, either because of their lack of experience using computers or because of technical difficulties they have had with the school's laptop computers. In my experience, while history honors students may be relatively homogeneous in terms of their academic ability, they are often heterogeneous when it comes to their computer skills, and thus individual student performance on computer assignments such as this is, in part, sometimes dictated by their computer competency. While in the assignment described here I spend one full class lesson going through the web site with the students, for some in the class this was not sufficient. In such cases, I found it necessary to spend extra time with the students, usually after school. These are issues I believe history teachers should be aware of when thinking of integrating technology into the classroom. In addition, the availability of functioning high-speed computers for students to have access to, along with supporting technical staff, is an important consideration, at least for this assignment. |
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Computer problems aside, a more pertinent issue is the specific problems students have had in creating their DBQ. During the class periods allotted for the web search, I try to give as much individual attention as possible in a class of sixteen to twenty students. The most common question asked is about the relevance of a particular document to the DBQ question posed. As a result, once students have several documents, they often begin rephrasing or narrowing their DBQ question; they shape their question around their documents. I encourage this process for it enables students to look at several elements in the assignment: the relation between the documents and the question as well as how they will eventually answer the question. As they shape their question and gather their documents, they are continually learning how to think historically, to ask a historical question and find a way of answering it. I have also found myself working individually with students to shorten their documents. Some of the documents on the "Valley of the Shadow" web site, particularly the letters and diaries, are so rich with meaty material that students have difficulty cutting them down to a length appropriate for a DBQ. While many students immediately recognize the one or two paragraphs that are directly relevant to their topic, others need more direction. |
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In spite of these issues, I believe this assignment prepares students for the DBQ on the day of the AP exam. Even with the weaker students, I have seen a dramatic improvement in students' ability to answer the DBQ subsequent to this assignment. The activity of creating a question, selecting documents, and arranging documents teaches students the process behind creating a DBQ. Having done this assignment, students learn to see the DBQ from a different perspective: not just as a question with a list of documents, but as a historical question which must be answered by analysis of the documents as a whole as well as individually. Students also understand that, just as they constructed DBQs to tell a complex story, so must they answer the DBQ in a way that recognizes and addresses the complexity of the historical topic of that particular DBQ. |
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But in addition to preparing students for the DBQ, this assignment has other educational values, and I believe would be an invaluable exercise for non-AP courses, both at the high school and college level. The authors of the National Standards for History have recently stated that "no aspect of historical thinking is as exciting to students or as productive of their growth in historical thinking as 'doing history.'"4 Having students prepare their own DBQ using a web site such as the "Valley of the Shadow" teaches students how to think historically: how to examine a historical event, ask a historical question, and find evidence to answer it. More than that, they enjoy the process and get excited about history. |
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Appendix
Assignment: Creating a Civil War DBQ
The DBQ will be part of the next unit test. For this assignment,
you will create your own DBQ on the Civil War using the Valley
of the Shadow web page http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow.
On the day of the test, you will answer your own DBQ. You will
bring in your DBQ question and documents. You will answer the
question in a blue book and hand all of it in together.
Requirements
1. The Question: Your question must be one
that requires an answer that uses both the documents chosen and
brings in outside knowledge from the reading and/or class discussion.
The question must either be comparative (between North/South)
or require an answer that spans from 1861-1865. The question must
also require an answer that makes a general thesis statement about
the Civil War using Franklin County and/or Augusta County as examples.
The question will be worth 25 points and
be graded on the extent to which it fulfills these requirements
and on the level of difficulty.
2. The Documents: You must have between 8-12
documents as part of your DBQ. The majority of your documents
should be text from reports, newspapers, letters, and/or diaries.
No one document in your DBQ should be more than two paragraphs,
but feel free to cut paragraph excerpts from the sources you use.
You must also use at least one image or at least one statistic,
but no more than two. Each document must have a label that cites
where the document is from. For example, if you are using the
Diary of Rachel Cormany, you would do the following: From the
Diary of Rachel Cormany, July 2, 1963
Your document selection will be worth
25 points and be graded on how well your documents are related
to the question, how well they would help answer the question,
and the variety of types of documents you use. The statistical
document is the most difficult to create, and therefore if you
create one, it will be worth up to 5 extra credit points.
3. Your Answer: You will be expected to use
both the documents and outside information in your answer. You
will be graded the same way the other DBQ answers were graded.
The answer will be worth 50 points.
Notes
1 I used this exercise
in my classroom before I discovered that William Kellogg also
suggests that students create their own DBQ in preparation for
the U.S. History AP exam. See William O. Kellogg, Barron's
How to Prepare for the AP United States History Advanced Placement
Examination, 6th edition. (Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational
Series, Inc., 2000), 34-40. However, while Kellogg provides a
good model for how to create a DBQ, he does not provide clear
guidelines for students to go about it. I believe than any effort
by students to create their own DBQ must be within a structured
environment.
2 For a review of
the Valley of the Shadow web site, see Michael O'Malley and Roy
Rosenzweig, "Brave New World or Blind Alley? American History
on the World Wide Web," Journal of American History 84
(June 1997), 132-155.
3 I have found that
while the statistical information on the site is invaluable, it
is extremely complicated and time consuming to gather properly
without spending a large amount of class time showing students
how to gather them.
4 National Center
for History in the Schools, National Standards for History:
Basic Edition (Los Angeles: National Center for History in
the Schools, 1996), 67.
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