Question

Whats a concise format for writing a DBQ and most importantly an FRQ for (A.P) U.S History.
Ex. Prompt they gave:
"Throughout it's history, the US has been a land of refuge and opportunity for immigrants." Assess the validity of the statement in the view of the experience of the Irish in the nineteenth century urban northeast.

**Note:
I don't want you to write it for me but where exactly do I start? What research first off??

Answer 1

Do you want to understand the format or the prompt specifically?

Answer 2

Well, a DBQ (document-based question) will supply you at least ten direct 'documents' from perspectives of people of the time period the prompt refers to. Ideally, you will group these different perspectives into three subtopics - these can be things like, ex: economic, ideological, social factors. You will want to use one more than half the total number of documents in order to get the most amount of points. Your thesis should take a stance, and be comprehensive and analytical while tying in ideas from your documents. You want to discuss POV when discussing the documents as proof of an idea in your body paragraphs.
... If that was the prompt (above)
A sample thesis could be like : Irish settlers in the northeast felt different based upon their economic class, social standing, and religion, which was impacted by .. etc. It just needs to feel dynamic.
In your 3 body paragraphs, you would focus and discuss the 3 topics from the thesis and add POV when talking about specific documents. Like, for ex:
' As a lower-class Irish woman who would have suffered hardship from her migration, Mrs. Marie feels that .. ' Explain WHY someone feels the way they do. And be careful because some POVs are deliberately sarcastic to try and trick you, ie stated meaning is different from actual. Make sure to have at least 3 POV explanations in your essay.
Your conclusion should reiterate some of your ideas, and it can be short.

Answer 3

A FRQ (free response question) is different in that you are just given a prompt. But about the same thing goes - though you are given much more flexibility in what you can do.

"Throughout it's history, the US has been a land of refuge and opportunity for immigrants." Assess the validity of the statement in the view of the experience of the Irish in the nineteenth century urban northeast.

Though often for an FRQ they'll ask you to discuss a more general idea, like the causes of the Protestant Reformation or something like that. You come up with 3 topics/causes/whatever for each body paragraph, have a thesis that unites those things, and a reiterating conclusion paragraph.

It is important to note that you have 45-35 minutes on these (DBQ and FRQ each) and that they're on-demand, so you can't go back and research things - your only resource is what's in your brain. ;)

Answer 4

I would start by formulating different stances/causes/topics/etc you would like to discuss in your essay, research them more (since I assume this is part of an open assignment), and go from there.

Good luck :)

Answer 5

wow thats alot of writing