ap world history document based question essay example

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How to Write the Document Based Question (DBQ)

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What is the document based question, steps to writing an effective dbq, how do ap scores affect my college chances.

If you’re taking a history AP exam, you’ll likely encounter the Document Based Question (DBQ). This essay question constitutes a significant portion of your exam, so it’s important that you have a good grasp on how best to approach the DBQ. In this post, we’ll cover what exactly a document based question is, and how to answer it successfully.

A Document Based Question (DBQ) is a measure of the skills you learned in your AP classes in regard to recalling history and analyzing related documents. These documents can be primary or secondary sources, and your responses are expected to be in the form of an essay. Your ability to relate the context of documents to concepts beyond the given text and creating meaningful connections between all your sources will help demonstrate your skills as a knowledgeable writer.

The number of documents for a DBQ varies from exam to exam, but typically will fall between five to seven documents. The following AP exams will require you to write a DBQ:

AP U.S. History

AP European History

AP World History

We’ve listed the formats for each exam below, and keep in mind that the number of documents is prone to changing from year to year:

• Up to seven Documents
• One hour recommended time (includes 15-minute reading period)
• Up to seven Documents 
• 25% of total exam score

With that in mind, let’s jump right into how to craft a strong DBQ response!

We’ve summarized how to write an effective DBQ into the following five steps:

1. Read the prompt first

Though you may be tempted to jump into the documents right away, it’s very important that you first look at what exactly the prompt is asking for. This way, when you eventually look at the documents, your focus will be narrower. A DBQ tests your reading comprehension and analysis skills more than the content itself, making it very important to understand your prompt thoroughly.

2. Skim the document titles

Each document will contain vital information regarding the context, and it’s important to scout key words regarding dates, authors, and anything pertaining to the general sense of what the documents are about. Skimming through your documents like this could save time and allow you to form a more structurally sound thesis.

Let’s take a look at the following graph and figure out how to skim the figure:

This document was in a real exam from the AP World History free response questions in 2019. It’s important to pay attention to data provided and what context can be drawn from it. In this case, we’re provided with a graph that displays the life expectancy of a country in relation to the GDP per capita of said country. Being able to skim this graph and notice the common trends in the data points could provide convenient information into the context of the document, without any further intensive reading. 

For example, seeing how countries with a GDP below 4,000 to 5,000 have lower life expectancies already gives us a potential correlation between the two factors. We can use this information to start formulating a thesis, depending on what the prompt is specifically asking for.

Remember, just skim! Don’t worry about reading the entire document yet; this strategy can keep you calm and level-headed before tackling the rest of the document. Methods like this can make acing the AP World History DBQ less intimidating! 

3. Formulate a tentative thesis

A thesis is a statement that should be proved and discussed upon. It’s important to have a strong thesis as the foundation of your DBQ, as it guides the rest of your response in relation to the context. Understanding the difference between weak and strong theses will be imperative to your success, so here is an example of a weak thesis:

“The Cold War originated from some scenarios of conflict between Soviets and some groups of oppressors.” 

Such a thesis can be considered weak for its lack of specificity, focal point, and usability as a constructive tool to write further detail on the subject. This thesis does not take a clear stance or communicate to the reader what the essay will specifically focus on. Here’s how the same thesis can be restructured to be stronger and more useful:

“The Cold War originated from tense diplomatic conflicts relating to propaganda and conspiratorial warfare between the United States and the Soviet Union.”

The information that’s been included into the second thesis about the two groups involved with the Cold War gives you more room to build a structured essay response. In relation to the rubric/grading schema for this DBQ, forming a structurally sound thesis or claim is one of the seven attainable points. Being able to contextualize, analyze, and reason off of this thesis alone could provide for two to four points – this means that five out of seven of your points revolve around your thesis, so make sure that it’s strong! Doing all of this in your fifteen minute reading period is crucial as once this is set, writing your actual response will be much easier!

4. Actively read the documents

Simply reading a document doesn’t normally suffice for creating a well-written and comprehensive response. You should focus on implementing your active reading skills, as this will make a huge difference as to how efficient you are during your work process. 

Active reading refers to reading with an intention to grab key words and fragments of important information, usually gone about by highlighting and separating important phrases. Annotations, underlining, and circling are all great ways to filter out important information from irrelevant text in the documents. 

An example of where you might find important information via active reading is the description. Circle important names or dates to contextualize the document. If you still can’t find contextual value from the title, that’s totally fine! Just scope out the rest of the document in relevance to your thesis – that is, pinpoint the specific information or text that best supports your argument. Finding one or two solid points of interest from one document is usually enough to write about and expand upon within your essay. 

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5. Make an Outline 

If you like outlines, making one before writing your essay might prove helpful, just be aware of the time limit and act accordingly. 

Start with your introduction, then work on the rest of your essay. This way, you can make sure your thesis is clear and strong, and it will help the graders form a clear view on what the general consensus of your paper is. Make sure to include evidence with your thesis within each paragraph and cite only relevant information, otherwise your citations could come across as filler as opposed to useful content. Every commentary or point you make should be tied in some way to the documents.

Format each body paragraph and organize your essay in a way that makes sense to you! The graders aren’t really looking at the structure of your essay; rather, they want to see that you analyzed the documents in a way that is supportive of your essay. As long as you have content from the documents which prove your thesis, the order or manner in which you present them doesn’t matter too much. What’s more important is that your essay is clear and comprehensive. As you write practice DBQs, try having someone else read your essays to make sure that the format is easy to follow.

Keep all these key details in mind as you construct your own DBQ response, and you’re well on your way to writing an effective essay!

Your chances of admission are actually not really impacted by your AP scores; however, the AP classes you take are more important than the exam scores themselves, meaning the impact of your AP scores isn’t as big as you think . 

Instead, focusing on the AP classes on your transcript and the relevance of those classes to your future major is more impactful. For a further detailed understanding of the role AP classes play in regards to your college admissions, use CollegeVine’s free Admissions Calculator , which takes into account your GPA, standardized test scores, and more. 

Additional Information

To dive deeper into DBQs, AP classes, and learning how to tackle each exam check out other resources at CollegeVine:

• Acing the Document Based Question on the AP US History Exam
• Acing the AP World History Document Based Question
• Ultimate Guide to the AP U.S. History Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP European History Exam
• Ultimate Guide to the AP World History Exam

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Unit 4 DBQ (The Columbian Exchange)

4 min read • november 16, 2021

AP World Document-Based Question on The Columbian Exchange

👋 Welcome to the AP World Unit 4 DBQ (The Columbian Exchange) . These are longer questions, so you'll want to grab some paper and a pencil, or open up a blank page on your computer.

⚠️  (Unfortunately, we don't have an Answers Guide or Rubric for this question, but it can give you an idea of how a DBQ for Unit 4 might look on the exam.)

⏱ The AP World exam has a mixture of free-response questions and allotted times. For these types of questions, there will be 1 DBQ, and you will be given 60 minutes to complete it. It is suggested that you spend 15 minutes to read the documents and spend 45 minutes to draft your response .

• 🤔 Need a quick refresher of the unit as a whole? Check out the Unit 4 Overview .
• 😩 Getting stumped halfway through answering? Look through all of the available Unit 4 Resources .
• 🤝 Prefer to study with other students working on the same topic? Join a group in Hours .

Write an essay that:

Provides historical contextualization to start your essay

Has a historically defensible thesis

Uses at least 6 of the 7 documents

Supports thesis with relevant, paraphrased evidence from the documents

Takes into account the sources of at least 3 of the documents

Provides at least ONE piece of evidence beyond the documents to support your argument

Addresses complexity through a nuanced understanding of the documents, extended analysis of POV, Purpose, or Historical Situation

Analyze the effects of the Columbian Exchange on Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Document 1 (Goldberg, Map )

Image courtesy of YouTube

Document 2 (Rees)

Source : The Columbian Exchange, March 31st, 2006, Lauren Rees.

Exchanging crops proved to be a far more intricate, involved process that could have been imagined at the time. Remarkably, the peoples of the Americas realized that crops with higher caloric values could not only feed more people, but also allowed people to work harder because they were more energized. This led to an adoption of American crops by the European peasants, that changed entire cuisines in various cultures. An important crop in Europe was potatoes, as they could be left in the ground until they were ready to be eaten, and allowed many Europeans to evade tax collections, as tax collectors did not go as far as dig up not yet harvested crops.

Animals were also a key part of the Columbian Exchange. Horses, pigs, sheep, and cattle were all European animals that flourished rapidly in the Americas. The horse was an important animal as it helped in battle...and led to faster transportation.

Document 3 (Cowley)

Source : The Great Disease Migration, Geoffrey Cowley, Newsweek, Fall, 1991.

The disaster began almost as soon as Columbus arrived, fueled mainly by smallpox and measles. Smallpox-the disease that so ravaged Tenochtitlan on the eve of Cortes’ final siege-was a particularly efficient killer. Alfred Crosby, author of “The Columbian Exchange” likens its effect on American history to “that of the Black Death on the history of the Old World”. Smallpox made its American debut in 1519, when it struck the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo, killing up to half of the indigenous population. From there, outbreaks spread across the Antilles island, onto the Mexican mainland, through the Isthmus of Panama and into South America.

Document 4 ( Illustration )

Source : Unknown

Document 5 (de las Casas)

Source : Bartolome de las Casas (A young priest who participated in the conquest of Cuba, and transcribed Columbus’ journal)

…(the Spaniards) grew more conceited every day and after awhile, refused to walk any distance…(they) rode on the backs of Indians if they were in a hurry, or were carried on hammocks by Indians running in relays, (They) thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and cutting off slices of them to test the sharpness of their blades…

They (the Indians) suffered and died in the mines and other labors in desperate silence, knowing not a soul in the world to whom they could turn for help…

(In 1508) there were 60,000 people living on this island (Hispaniola), including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself, writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness, can hardly believe it.

Document 6 (Whitcomb)

Source : Merrick Whitcomb, ed., “The Gold of the Indies 1559”, the University of Pennsylvania.

From New Spain are obtained gold, silver, and other things. One fifth of all profits go to the King. Great quantities of gold and silver used to be out in the open; with all of it gone, now gold and silver have to be mined.

The work is hard and the Spaniards are not willing to do the work. Natives, who have become Christians are not allowed to be forced to do the work because the Emperor freed them. So now, it is necessary to acquire negro slaves (enslaved Africans), who are brought from the coasts of Africa. Their masters are making them work too hard and giving them too little to eat, they fall sick, and the greater part of them die...

Document 7 (Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Graph )

Source: Voyages, the Atlantic Slave Trade Database

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