Document+Based+Questions

Document Based Questions are structured activities that allow students the opportunity to think and act like historians. This creates an opportunity for students to explore history instead of being told about it. The process engages students and guides them in understanding events in history. These documents not only help learners but they also help in teaching essential skills in social studies. Some of the skills that Document Based Questions enhance are critical thinking, content area reading, interpretation of maps, graphs, charts tables and images, and expository writing. Expository writing is a hard skill to learn and through DBQs students are able to practice with scaffolds. An awesome way to collaborate is to work with a communications teacher to benefit all participants. Who better to work with than the writing teacher!? All DBQs follow a similar structure. In general there are three parts:
 * 1) Background knowledge:
 * This part of the DBQ gives a general description of the necessary background information necessary to answer a historical question.


 * 1) Scaffolded primary source documents:
 * This part of the DBQ is essential. There are generally 8-10 documents included to analyze. The types of documents vary in format, such as images, charts and text (limited to 5-8 lines of reading). The analysis is driven by guiding questions. The questions help students to understand the documents and shows how the document is related to the posed question. This usually takes a minimum of one class period to complete.


 * 1) Learners essay:
 * This part of the DBQ is learner driven. All learners write a clear response the posed question including a thesis, introductory paragraph, supporting paragraph and a concluding paragraph. Learners need to use the documents to support main ideas in there answer to the question. The evaluation of documents should be evident in their writing. The documents that were used need to be cited. This citation can include parenthetical citation or in text mentioning "Document 5 states..."

There is a lot out there that will assist in creating Document Based Questions as well as finding already made ones as well. The following site ( [] ) is a guide for high school students in creating Document Based Questions. Another site that is mentioned in education journals is ( [] ), this site provides some DBQs as well as some advice about how to scaffold documents around a question. Creating these does seem to be somewhat of an art form, but possible. The following site ( [] ) provides links to DBQs and┬á sites related to it. Assessing Document Based Questions takes some time. Make sure that feedback is provided. It will be through the feedback that students will improve. Using a rubric is how DBQs are assessed. There are an abundant of rubrics available through a google search but there is a rubric that is attached to the end of the module that can be used to assess student responses. The rubric is utilized to assess the essay portion of the DBQ the first part is the documents and their scaffolded questions. The questions assessment can be graded with a rubric as well. The scaffolded questions can also be assessed by the amount of effort in evaluation as well as the level detail in explaining the document.



Primary Sources
Places to find Primary sources related to content areas **__General__**
 * []
 * This site provides collection pieces from many periods of American History and allow for easy searching features.


 * []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Is a collection of Newspapers and Newspaper directories as early as 1690. Search dates for important events.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A Chronological list of documents related to specific year periods.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[|http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/index.htm]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A list of various documents including state of the Union addresses starting with Washington.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A site provided by University of Virginia which allows browsing of census information. The site allows for the customizing of searchable content.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This site provided oral and first hand accounts of major events in history. It is organized my date.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Primary source legal documents from colonization to present.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A collection of excerpts from various events in US history. The focus is on Virginia but the site showcases how to do excerpts for use in the classroom rather than full readings.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This Site is an amazing source in searching for specific topics in American History.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">AMAZING site! This site chronicles American History through eyewitness accounts. A great compilation of sources in one place.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**__Colonial era__**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A Collection of documents chronicling the early year of American History.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**__Revolution__**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A site of various resources provided by Gilder Leherman institute that cover the American Revolution. The site has various sources detailing the policies and events during colonists battle for freedom.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**__Constitution__**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A complete site for primary source documents about the constitution. Guides are available to help with understanding the documents as a whole

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">┬á <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Expansion**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A site that displays various primary sources as well as methods of how to use them in the classroom.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Includes flash timeline of exploration by Lewis and Clark. Includes various informational pieces about the expansion west. Does not have many primary sources but is a good informational page.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A collection of lesson plans with primary sources about Westward expansion (3 large lessons)


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A collection of lessons incorporating primary sources from Lewis and Clark.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Slavery in America**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Historical Readings selections about the history of slavery in America. This site groups the documents thematically.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Provides slave narratives and images to readers depicting life of slaves in the south.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This site provides various primary sources about slavery by both racial groups.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">The site has a large collection of slave narratives that are available to read. The site is hard to navigate but is the only site that has an extensive collection.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Civil War**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">You will need to refine the search, but this site provides many different sources about events, people and policies during the Civil War.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">An extensive list of primary source documents for the time period of the Civil War.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">An amazing site of many valid primary sources of varying types. This site provides full length documents instead of excerpts so the documents might have to be adjusted for effectiveness in the classroom.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This site has sources of items that affected the Civil War. It has unique sound recordings of a Civil War veteran. The site takes a unique approach to the documents available about the Civil War.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A site of Civil War weapons and other images and documents which could be used as primary sources.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Reconstruction**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A collection of sources that identify how the Civil War affected different parts of American Culture. This site focuses on Kentucky but much of the information can be used to generalize for much of the south.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This site has mostly acts created during the reconstruction era. There are some other types of sources available.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This is a very unique site in that it provides sources from two different viewpoints a northern and southern. It chronicles the start of the Civil War through Reconstruction.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">This site by PBS has a few primary sources but has an amazing interface that covers many topics of the era of Reconstruction after the Civil War.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Industrial Revolution**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A collection of primary sources about the industrial revolution ranging from images to documents.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A neat collection of primary sources grouped by topic. Includes information on the Haymarket affair and the labor relations act.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A subject divided primary source collection created for the classroom. The sites are separated into two topics for research.

<span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">┬á <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">**Progressives**
 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A small collection of the progressive era documents with its focus on students.┬á The site┬á source selection is covers many different aspects of progressive society.


 * <span style="color: #428ab5; font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[|http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tr11c.html#prog]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">A varied collection of sources of images, political cartoons and documents about the progressive era. The site is set up with thumbnail images of the content available.