DBQ Style Sheet - Quote, Paraphrase, and Reference documents.

DBQ Style Sheet - Quote, Paraphrase, and Reference documents.
How to Quote and Paraphrase from a document.
Document A: Source: Martin Luther King, “Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom.” Ebony, October
21, 1961.
Along with the march as a weapon for change in our nonviolent arsenal must be listed the boycott.
Basic to the philosophy of nonviolence is the refusal to cooperate with evil. There is nothing quite so
effective as a refusal to cooperate economically with the forces and institutions which perpetuate evil in
our communities.
In the past six months simply by refusing to purchase products from companies which do not hire
Negroes in meaningful numbers and in all job categories, the Ministers of Chicago under SCLC’s
Operation Breadbasket have increased the income of the Negro community by more than two million
dollars annually...This is nonviolence at its peak of power, when it cuts into the profit margin of a
business in order to bring about a more just distribution of jobs and opportunities for Negro wage earners
and consumers.
Sample quote from Document A:
True to Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence, he advocated the use of the boycott claiming that, “there is
nothing quite so effective as a refusal to cooperate economically with the forces and institutions which
perpetuate evil” (Doc.A).
Sample quote from Document A -leaving words out:
Dr. King was able to point to the boycott as an effective nonviolent means of protest by showing that, “in
the past six months...(the boycott) increased the income of the Negro community by more than two
million dollars annually” (Doc.A).
Sample paraphrase from Document A:
Dr. King believed that the boycott was an effective tool against economic discrimination (Doc.A).
Sample long quote (over three lines) from Document A (single space and indent from
both margins):
Dr. King advocated the use of the boycott as an effective nonviolent response to discrimination in the workplace.
He pointed to the fact that the boycott has proven to be successful when he said that,
In the past six months simply by refusing to purchase products from companies which do not hire
Negroes in meaningful numbers and in all job categories, the Ministers of Chicago under SCLC’s
Operation Breadbasket have increased the income of the Negro community by more than two
million dollars annually (Doc.A).
How to Reference a document in DBQ
Document B: Source: Niles N. Carpenter, “Immigrants and Their Children,” U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Monograph No.7 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1927), 324-25.
Sample reference to Document B
The United States had a constant stream of immigrants since 1820, but the decade that saw the largest number of
immigrants coming to the United States was from 1900 to 1910 when 8.2 million people left their countries and
moved to America (Doc.B).
What to reference in a DBQ
•
Material that is directly quoted.
•
Ideas taken from other people's ideas even though you write them in your own words.
•
Information taken from diagrams, statistics, figures, and the like.
DBQ Style Sheet - Sample Outline
I. Introduction
A.
Grabber sentence - grab your reader’s attention at the beginning of your essay
B.
Background information - who, what, where, when...establish reference points for your
reader. It is in your background information that you may want to define the parameters of
the question.
C.
Thesis - this is your answer tot he question in one sentence. Make this clear so that the
reader knows exactly where you stand.
D.
Road map - this should let the reader know what issues you will cover in order to prove
your thesis.
II.III.IV. Body Paragraph (for a five paragraph essay you will have three body paragraphs) Each body
paragraph includes the following aspects.
A.
Topic sentence - this sentence tells your reader the issue that will be covered in this
paragraph. Your topic sentence may refer back to your thesis.
B.
Argument 1 that supports your thesis.
C.
Specific evidence that proves argument 1.
D.
Argument 2 that supports your thesis.
E.
Specific evidence that proves argument 2.
F.
Argument 3 that supports your thesis.
G.
Specific evidence that proves argument 3.
H.
Clincher sentence that wraps up the paragraph (may refer to the thesis) or a transition that
also gives the reader a sense of the issue that you will cover next.
V. Conclusion
A.
Main arguments that support your thesis (do not repeat yourself)
B.
Explain the significance of your thesis
C.
You may want to end your essay with a look to the future and what your thesis means in
today’s world.
DBQ Style Sheet - Tips
•
Do not use the following words unless absolutely appropriate:
I
You
Me
We
Us
Our
My
I’m
Keep the essay in the 3rd person. For example: DO NOT write, “I believe that immigration is a positive
force in this country.” Instead write, “Immigration is a positive force in this country.”
•
Be consistent with your tenses - keep the whole essay in the past tense or in the present tense
when appropriate. Do not switch between the two.
•
Avoid asking questions in your essay. This can be appropriate at times, but generally it is
considered unsophisticated writing.
•
Do not begin sentences with the following words:
Which
Because
And
In conclusion
First of all
At times these words may be appropriate, but generally they are not.
•
Avoid slang - keep your essay formal.
•
Avoid clichés - sayings that are all too familiar (ie. “desperate times call for desperate measures”).
They cheapen your writing.