Reminders on how to set up/write a COMP and DBQ…
COMP
- Make sure you are answering the question!!!
- make sure your thesis has a similarity and a difference
- make sure your thesis is not too specific yet not too vague that it doesn’t tell the reader you know the topic
- your similarity and difference body paragraphs should include ALL of the topics in the question
- your direct comparison should begin as “One way to compare ____________________ and ______________ is…”
- make sure your direct comparison includes a similarity and a difference
- make sure your direct comparison is not too specific yet not to vague
- start your 2 analyzing sentences as “One reason for the similarity/difference in this comparison is…” and give evidence
- remember: historical evidence is the “textbook” fact that you are using to prove you know some history
Set Up Your Paper:
I. Intro w/ thesis at the end
II. Body with similarities
III. Body with differences
IV. Direct comparison sentence, Analyzing sentence for similarity, analyzing sentence for difference
V. Conclusion (short and sweet!!)
DBQ
- Make sure you are answering the question!!!
- group docs into PERSIA chart
- make sure every doc is included in at least one group you end up choosing
- make sure you analyze POV (using SOAPS formula and being sure to asses if it is reliable or not) for 1 doc within each chosen group
- start your POV sentence as “The point of view for (subject) is…. (doc #). This is/is not a reliable source because…”
- make sure to mention 1 extra doc you would like to see and why it would be useful for each chosen group (DO NOT use a map as an extra doc!!!)
- make sure your thesis statement is not too specific, not to vague and mentions the 3 groups you will be using as body paragraphs
- if you have more than 4 docs in a group it is OK if you want to split that body paragraph into two paragraphs
- remember not to just mention the docs in the body…you have to demonstrate understanding of the doc for full credit!!
- Remember to use parenthetical citation for your docs, not “In Doc 1…” or “As seen in Doc 2…”
Set Up Your Paper:
I. Intro w/ thesis at end
II. Body w/ 1st PERSIA group, POV of 1 doc within group, 1 extra doc you would like to see for this group
III. Body w/ 2nd PERSIA group, POV of 1 doc within group, 1 extra doc you would like to see for this group
IV. Body w/ 3rd PERSIA group, POV of 1 doc within group, 1 extra doc you would like to see for this group
V. Conclusion (short and sweet!)
Remember to write CLEARLY as neither essay can be graded if it cannot be read!