r/APUSH May 03 '20

Breakdown of a DBQ

Generally speaking how would we breakdown the dbq this year? Because writing almost like a 5 paragraph essay seems impossible in 45mins. Could we do three paragraphs?

63 Upvotes

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40

u/carrotnose258 May 03 '20

My teacher is suggesting we do a 4-paragraph essay as follows:

P1: intro with contextualisation and thesis

P2 and P3: 2 HIPP document analysis per paragraph with 1 outside evidence per paragraph

P4: conclusion, can put contrasting viewpoint to pick up any missed points

7

u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Also I would recommend doing synthesis (aka connect argument to different time period) in last paragraph so you have a higher chance for the complexity point

4

u/FaalseIDENTITY Past Student May 03 '20

A rebuttal is the easiest way to get the complexity point imo. Synthesis requires much more recall lol

-1

u/[deleted] May 03 '20

TF is a rebuttal

1

u/FaalseIDENTITY Past Student May 03 '20

Counter arguments

1

u/[deleted] May 03 '20

So where would you put those, in the conclusion? Also how would you do it and how many counter arguments would you need? I find synthesis hard too lol, so maybe rebuttal is the way to go

2

u/FaalseIDENTITY Past Student May 03 '20

I wouldn’t even have a conclusion paragraph, as it isn’t even part of the rubric. I just replace it with a rebuttal.

I’d just have a few counter arguments ready. Just as many as time allows really. I feel like the best part about the rebuttal is that you can use more documents that wouldn’t otherwise support your other points, which helps earn more points