dbqrubric

DBQ Rubric

Taken from the College Board's World History Course Description Guide

Part A: Document-Based Essay Question (DBQ)

The primary purpose of the document-based essay question is not to test students’ prior knowledge of subject matter, but rather to evaluate their ability to formulate and support an answer from documentary evidence. It is assumed students have taken the course and understand the broader world historical context. Documents are chosen on the basis of both the information they convey about the topic and the perspective that they offer. Designed to test skills analogous to those of the historian at work on source materials, the document-based exercise differs from the task of actual historians mainly in the time available for analysis and the prearranged selection of the documents. There is no single “correct” answer; instead, various approaches and responses are possible, depending on the students’ ability to understand the documents and ultimately to judge their significance.

In writing the essay, students may find it useful to consider the following points. The document-based question is an exercise in both analysis and synthesis. It requires that students first read and analyze the documents individually and then plan and construct an appropriate response to the essay question based on their interpretation of the documentary evidence. The student's interpretation must group documents to show analysis of the different content and points of view. What is required is a clear thesis statement and an analysis of documents that fully address the question.

Specific mention of individual documents should always occur within the framework of the overall topic, serving to substantiate and illustrate points made in the essay. It is expected that students will use all of the documents. In no case should documents simply be cited and summarized in a list; reference to the documentary material must always be closely tied to the essay question. Evidence from the documents should be utilized both to construct and to illustrate responses. Students should cite documents by naming the author and/or by naming the document number.

There are no irrelevant or deliberately misleading documents. Every document is related to the question and should be used by students in the preparation of their responses. Critical judgment is essential in responding to a document-based question.

Awareness of the documents’ sources and their authors’ points of view requires students to demonstrate the analytic skills of understanding context, point of view, and frame of reference. Students should pay attention to both internal evidence (the content and tone of each document in relation to the others) and external evidence (identification of author, purpose or intended audience, and the date when each document was written).

Thus a student reading critically may group or juxtapose documents in a variety of ways (for instance, according to their ideas or points of view); suggest reasons for similarities or differences in perspective among the documents; and identify possible inconsistencies within documents.

As part of the DBQ exercise, students are expected to use their analytical and historical skills in addressing the set of documents. Students will be asked to explain the need for an additional type of document(s) to answer the question more completely, and this may involve discussing what relevant points of view are missing from the set of documents. The explanation of at least on additional source must show the student's recognition of the limitation of the documents given and the reality of the types of sources available from the past. Students may be asked to make comparisons or discuss change over time as part of the DBQ exercise.

The DBQ focuses on historical skills within a world history framework. Students may group documents chronologically, culturally, and thematically, as appropriate, to demonstrate their ability to analyze sources, but they are not expected to have particular knowledge of every document’s author or topic or include knowledge outside of the documents in order to receive the highest score. The number of documents will be 4 to 10 and of sufficient length to encourage comparisons, contrasts, and analyses.

Below is the generic scoring guide for the DBQ.

Generic Core-Scoring Guide for AP World History Document-Based Question

BASIC CORE -Historical skills and knowledgerequired to show competence- 7 Points

1. Has acceptable thesis. 1

2. Addresses all of the documents and demonstrates understanding of all or all but one 1

3. Supports thesis with appropriate evidence from all or all but one document. 2

(Supports thesis with appropriate evidence from all but two documents.) (1)

4. Analyzes point of view in at least two documents. 1

5. Analyzes documents by grouping them in two or three ways, depending on the question. 1

6. Identifies and explains the need for one type of appropriate additional document or source. 1

EXPANDED CORE - Historical skills and knowledge required to show excellence 0–2Points

Expands beyond basic core of 1–7 points. A student must earn 7points in the basic core area before earning points in the expanded core area.

Examples:

•Has a clear, analytical, and comprehensive thesis.

•Shows careful and insightful analysis of the documents.

•Uses documents persuasively as evidence.

•Analyzes point of view in most or all documents.

•Analyzes the documents in additional ways— groupings, comparisons, syntheses.

•Brings in relevant “outside” historical content.

•Explains why additional types of document(s) or sources are needed.

TOTAL 9

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Essay Rubrics

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