AP WORLD HISTORY

FREE RESPONSE ESSAY TYPES AND DESCRIPTIONS

Part A: Document-Based Essay Question (DBQ)

(Much like Gwinnett County Gateway exam!)

          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 on other documents used in the exercise. Thus the fullest under-standing of any particular document emerges only when that document is viewed within the wider context of the entire series. 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, which may help illuminate the specifics of the question. 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, candidates 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 as a whole. What is desired is a unified essay that integrates analysis of documents with treatment of the topic.  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 not necessary that every document be cited in the essay, but strong essays will use all of the documents. In no case should documents simply be cited and summarized; 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, bias, 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 bias or 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 as a source.  Students will be asked to explain the need for additional documents to answer the question more completely, or they may also be asked to discuss what points of view are missing from the set of documents.

          The DBQ focuses on historical skills within a world history framework.  Students will need to place documents chronologically, culturally, and thematically and demonstrate knowledge of how to use and access sources, but 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 four to ten and of sufficient length to encourage comparisons, contrasts, and analyses.                      

          Comparative topics on the major themes will provide one of the focuses of the DBQs, including comparative questions about different societies in situations of mutual contact.

Part B: Change-Over-Time Essay

          This essay question deals specifically with change over time (covering at least one of the periods in the course outline) and is focused on large global issues such as technology, trade, culture, migrations, and biological developments.  The question may concentrate on one cultural area or several.  Students may have the opportunity to choose different cases for illustration.

Part C: Comparative Essay

          This essay is comparative over a wide set of issues  for example, how societies handle technology, or social structure, or religion. This question focuses on developments in at least two societies: interacting with each other or with the major themes or events (e.g., culture, trade, technology, migrations).