Transcript DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION

DOCUMENT BASED
QUESTION
THE FACTS
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Total suggested time- ONE HOUR
– 15 minutes prep
– 45 writing
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SUGGESTED LENGTH
– 3-5 pages
THE STRATEGY
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Step one- read the question searching
for catch words and categories.
– Circle catch words
– Look for any given categories, if not present
establish at LEAST TWO of your own.
– Quickly write down any facts you remember
concerning the question (place them in the
proper category)
THE STRATEGY
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SAMPLE 1– In what ways did the French and Indian War
(1754-1763) alter the political, economic and
ideological relations between Britain and its
American colonies?
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Circle catch words
Identify categories and on the side of your paper
write them down
Quickly list all possible facts and identify the
category where they belong
The Strategy
• Political
– Proclamation
of 1763
• Economic
– Navigation
Acts
• Ideological
– End of
salutary
neglect
THE STRATEGY
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Step Two- Create your thesis
– Write it before looking at documents
– Follow the same rules as a thesis for an
essay question
THE STRATEGY
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Step Three- Analyze the documents
– Remember
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They are in chronological order
Use a majority of the documents
Remember they are designed to bring you to
conclusions and often show both sides of an
argument
Analyzing Documents
• Information v Inference
– Look for anything that
may tip off the document
if you are unsure of its
purpose
– Write any outside
information that might
be associated with the
document next to it.
– Decide which thesis
category it best fits into
Analyzing Documents
• Information v Inference
– Call for colonial unity
– Benjamin Franklin’s
proposal
– Protect against French
threat
– Provide for home rule
• Decision in McCullough v Maryland (1819)
Has Congress the power to incorporate a
bank?... In discussing this question, the council
for the state of Maryland have deemed it of
some importance, in the construction of the
Constitution, to consider that instrument not as
emanating from the people but as the act of
sovereign an independent states. The powers of
the general government, it has been said, are
delegated by the states, who alone are truly
sovereign; and must be exercised in
subordination to the states, who alone possess
the supreme dominion. It would be difficult to
sustain this proposition.
INFERENCE- what’s not written
• Information
– Maryland believes the
Constitution is subject
to state power
– Maryland argues that
central government
power is subject to the
states
• Inference
– Congress has the
power to charter a
bank
– John Marshall
– Argues that the
Constitution
represents the people
not the states
– Strengthens power of
Central government
• Candidate Warren G. Harding (Oct 1920)
– I oppose the League not because I fail to
understand what… ‘we are being let in for,’
but because I believe I understand precisely
what we are being let in for.
– I do not want to clarify these obligations; I
want to turn my back on them. It is not
interpretation, but rejection that I am seeking.
My position is that the present League strikes
a deadly blow at our constitutional integrity
and surrenders to a dangerous extent our
independence of action.
Document usage
• In the essay use a
parenthetical note to
show document
usage (DOC A)
• Use the inferences as
your material to link to
the thesis
• DO NOT QUOTE or
USE EXCERPTS
FROM DOCUMENTS
• Use a majority of the
documents and a
considerable amount
of outside information