Teaching with DBQs: Helping Students Analyze Nonfiction and Visual Texts

Help your students navigate complex texts in history and social studies. This book shows you how to use document-based questions, or DBQs, to build student literacy and critical thinking skills while meeting rigorous state standards and preparing students for AP exams. DBQs can be implemented year-round and can be adjusted to meet your instructional needs. With the helpful advice in this book, you’ll learn how to use DBQs to teach nonfiction and visual texts, including primary and secondary sources, maps, and paintings. You’ll also get ideas for teaching students to examine different points of view and write analytical responses. Topics include:

• Using the SOAPSETone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Evidence and Tone) technique to to analyze visual and nonvisual texts;
• Teaching students to distinguish between primary and secondary sources;
• Working with multiple texts and learning to recognize the relationships between them;
• Formulating DBQs to suit different types of assessment, including short-answer questions, multiple-choice questions, and in-class essay prompts;
• Evaluating student responses and providing constructive feedback.

Kevin Thomas Smith has taught a variety of AP subjects, including AP World History, AP European History, and AP U.S. Government and Politics, and is an AP Reader for the College Board. In 2005 and 2006, the Clay County School Board recognized him as an exemplary teacher. In addition to being a teacher, he conducts workshops on text-based questions for elementary, middle, and high schools in his district.