This short paper is a primary source document analysis aimed at testing your critical analysis abilities and develop the skills necessary to interrogate a source. We will discuss the DBQs in more detail during class. Please analyze (not merely observe) a documentary source, address and meditate on important factors of consideration (author, medium, date of composition, tone, intended audience, etc.), and place the source in its historical moment.
Things to consider: did you address the who/what/when/where/why? Did you address the audience (intended or real) of the source? Did you address why the source is potentially relevant in American history? These are some of the main questions to consider as you analyze your source.
By the end of the DBQ, you should provide a detailed analysis of the document and explain what insights it provides into the time period during which it was composed. This DBQs must be done before the midterm, and is due by 11:59 PM on October 26th. The final DBQ being completed before the final (date TBD), and you must submit the DBQs in order to complete the class. NOTE: Late DBQs without documentation (e.g. a doctor’s note) will receive a subtraction of half a letter grade for every day that the DBQ is late.
Please select any 1 primary source in the American YAWP textbook from the Civil War until the last chapter – choose a time period, subject, or individual who interests you! NOTE: Title your paper with your primary source. In-text citations are fine if you are quoting (ex: (Douglass, paragraph 3)). Do not spend much time on “background” history or contexts covered in class – this paper really should be a focus on the primary source itself.
Length of DBQ: paper must be *at least* 250 words, but can be as long as you think necessary.
