Document-Based Question (DBQ) Project Page
Updated March 8, 2007

This project is intended to get students actively previewing and reviewing themes and time periods in U. S. History while coming to a better appreciation for how document-based questions work.

Beginning with the projects done in the 2002-2003 year, the DBQs will be organized around themes in U. S. History rather than on the 50-year time periods pre-released by the College Board. Suggested themes are included near the end of the Project Instructions.

There are two ways that this project can be used:

  1. As an extra credit option. In this case, students need to choose a small group to work with and check with me as to a topic and timeline for completing the project. The project instructions will need some adapting for this use.

  2. As an assignment for the whole group. This is usually a third quarter project. If students have written DBQs as extra credit options prior to doing this, I may restrict the topic options to "balance" the DBQs so that they cover a wide range of themes.

Project Instructions

The following are completed student DBQs from previous years.