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Advanced Placement (AP)

The DBQ, or document-based-question, is a somewhat unusually-formatted timed essay on the AP History Exams: AP US History, AP European History, and AP World History. Because of its unfamiliarity, many students are at a loss as to how to even prepare, let alone how to write a successful DBQ essay on test day.

Never fear! I, the DBQ wizard and master, have a wealth of preparation strategies for you, as well as advice on how to cram everything you need to cover into your limited DBQ writing time on exam day. When you're done reading this guide, you'll know exactly how to write a DBQ.

For a general overview of the DBQ—what it is, its purpose, its format, etc.—see my article "What is a DBQ?"

Table of Contents

What Should My Study Timeline Be?

Preparing for the DBQ

Establish a Baseline

Foundational Skills

Rubric Breakdown

Take Another Practice DBQ

How Can I Succeed on Test Day?

Reading the Question and Documents

Planning Your Essay

Writing Your Essay

Key Takeaways

What Should My DBQ Study Timeline Be?

Your AP exam study timeline depends on a few things. First, how much time you have to study per week, and how many hours you want to study in total? If you don't have much time per week, start a little earlier; if you will be able to devote a substantial amount of time per week (10-15 hours) to prep, you can wait until later in the year.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the earlier you start studying for your AP test, the less material you will have covered in class. Make sure you continually review older material as the school year goes on to keep things fresh in your mind, but in terms of DBQ prep it probably doesn't make sense to start before February or January at the absolute earliest.

Another factor is how much you need to work on. I recommend you complete a baseline DBQ around early February to see where you need to focus your efforts.

If, for example, you got a six out of seven and missed one point for doing further document analysis, you won't need to spend too much time studying how to write a DBQ. Maybe just do a document analysis exercise every few weeks and check in a couple months later with another timed practice DBQ to make sure you've got it.

However, if you got a two or three out of seven, you'll know you have more work to do, and you'll probably want to devote at least an hour or two every week to honing your skills.

The general flow of your preparation should be: take a practice DBQ, do focused skills practice, take another practice DBQ, do focused skills practice, take another practice DBQ, and so on. How often you take the practice DBQs and how many times you repeat the cycle really depends on how much preparation you need, and how often you want to check your progress. Take practice DBQs often enough that the format stays familiar, but not so much that you've done barely any skills practice in between.

He's ready to start studying!

The general preparation process is to diagnose, practice, test, and repeat. First, you'll figure out what you need to work on by establishing a baseline level for your DBQ skills. Then, you'll practice building skills. Finally, you'll take another DBQ to see how you've improved and what you still need to work on.

In this next section, I'll go over the whole process. First, I'll give guidance on how to establish a baseline. Then I'll go over some basic, foundational essay-writing skills and how to build them. After that I'll break down the DBQ rubric. You'll be acing practice DBQs before you know it!

#1: Establish a Baseline

The first thing you need to do is to establish a baseline— figure out where you are at with respect to your DBQ skills. This will let you know where you need to focus your preparation efforts.

To do this, you will take a timed, practice DBQ and have a trusted teacher or advisor grade it according to the appropriate rubric.

AP US History

For the AP US History DBQ, you'll be given a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time.

A selection of practice questions from the exam can be found online at the College Board, including a DBQ. (Go to page 136 in the linked document for the practice prompt.)

If you've already seen this practice question, perhaps in class, you might use the 2015 DBQ question .

Other available College Board DBQs are going to be in the old format (find them in the "Free-Response Questions" documents). This is fine if you need to use them, but be sure to use the new rubric (which is out of seven points, rather than nine) to grade.

I advise you to save all these links , or even download all the Free Response Questions and the Scoring Guides, for reference because you will be using them again and again for practice.

AP European History

The College Board has provided practice questions for the exam , including a DBQ (see page 200 in the linked document).

If you've already seen this question, the only other questions available through the College Board are in the old format, because the 2016 DBQ is in a new, seven-point format identical to the AP US History exam. Just be sure to use the new DBQ rubric if you want to use any of the old prompts provided by the College Board . (DBQs are in the documents titled "Free-Response Questions.")

I advise you to save all these links (or even download all the Free Response Questions and the Scoring Guides) for reference, because you will be using them again and again for practice.

Who knows—maybe this will be one of your documents!

AP World History

For this exam, you'll be given a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time . As for the other two history exams, the College Board has provided practice questions . See page 166 for the DBQ.

If you've already seen this question, the only other questions available through the College Board are in the old format, because the 2017 World History DBQ is in a new, seven-point format identical to the AP US History and AP European History exams. So be sure to use the new DBQ rubric if you want to use any of the old prompts provided by the College Board . (DBQs are in the documents titled "Free-Response Questions.")

Finding a Trusted Advisor to Look at Your Papers

A history teacher would be a great resource, but if they are not available to you in this capacity, here are some other ideas:

• An English teacher.
• Ask a librarian at your school or public library! If they can't help you, they may be able to direct you to resources who can.
• You could also ask a school guidance counselor to direct you to in-school resources you could use.
• A tutor. This is especially helpful if they are familiar with the test, although even if they aren't, they can still advise—the DBQ is mostly testing academic writing skills under pressure.
• Your parent(s)! Again, ideally your trusted advisor will be familiar with the AP, but if you have used your parents for writing help in the past they can also assist here.
• You might try an older friend who has already taken the exam and did well...although bear in mind that some people are better at doing than scoring and/or explaining!

Can I Prepare For My Baseline?

If you know nothing about the DBQ and you'd like to do a little basic familiarization before you establish your baseline, that's completely fine. There's no point in taking a practice exam if you are going to panic and muddle your way through it; it won't give a useful picture of your skills.

For a basic orientation, check out my article for a basic introduction to the DBQ including DBQ format.

If you want to look at one or two sample essays, see my article for a list of DBQ example essay resources . Keep in mind that you should use a fresh prompt you haven't seen to establish your baseline, though, so if you do look at samples don't use those prompts to set your baseline.

I would also check out this page about the various "task" words associated with AP essay questions . This page was created primarily for the AP European History Long Essay question, but the definitions are still useful for the DBQ on all the history exams, particularly since these are the definitions provided by the College Board.

Once you feel oriented, take your practice exam!

Don't worry if you don't do well on your first practice! That's what studying is for. The point of establishing a baseline is not to make you feel bad, but to empower you to focus your efforts on the areas you need to work on. Even if you need to work on all the areas, that is completely fine and doable! Every skill you need for the DBQ can be built .

In the following section, we'll go over these skills and how to build them for each exam.

You need a stronger foundation than this sand castle.

#2: Develop Foundational Skills

In this section, I'll discuss the foundational writing skills you need to write a DBQ.

I'll start with some general information on crafting an effective thesis , since this is a skill you will need for any DBQ exam (and for your entire academic life). Then, I'll go over outlining essays, with some sample outline ideas for the DBQ. After I'll touch on time management. Finally, I'll briefly discuss how to non-awkwardly integrate information from your documents into your writing.

It sounds like a lot, but not only are these skills vital to your academic career in general, you probably already have the basic building blocks to master them in your arsenal!

Writing An Effective Thesis

Writing a good thesis is a skill you will need to develop for all your DBQs, and for any essay you write, on the AP or otherwise.

Here are some general rules as to what makes a good thesis:

A good thesis does more than just restate the prompt.

Let's say our class prompt is: "Analyze the primary factors that led to the French Revolution."

Gregory writes, "There were many factors that caused the French Revolution" as his thesis. This is not an effective thesis. All it does is vaguely restate the prompt.

A good thesis makes a plausible claim that you can defend in an essay-length piece of writing.

Maybe Karen writes, "Marie Antoinette caused the French Revolution when she said ‘Let them eat cake' because it made people mad."

This is not an effective thesis, either. For one thing, Marie Antoinette never said that. More importantly, how are you going to write an entire essay on how one offhand comment by Marie Antoinette caused the entire Revolution? This is both implausible and overly simplistic.

A good thesis answers the question .

If LaToya writes, "The Reign of Terror led to the ultimate demise of the French Revolution and ultimately paved the way for Napoleon Bonaparte to seize control of France," she may be making a reasonable, defensible claim, but it doesn't answer the question, which is not about what happened after the Revolution, but what caused it!

A good thesis makes it clear where you are going in your essay.

Let's say Juan writes, "The French Revolution, while caused by a variety of political, social, and economic factors, was primarily incited by the emergence of the highly educated Bourgeois class." This thesis provides a mini-roadmap for the entire essay, laying out that Juan is going to discuss the political, social, and economic factors that led to the Revolution, in that order, and that he will argue that the members of the Bourgeois class were the ultimate inciters of the Revolution.

This is a great thesis! It answers the question, makes an overarching point, and provides a clear idea of what the writer is going to discuss in the essay.

To review: a good thesis makes a claim, responds to the prompt, and lays out what you will discuss in your essay.

If you feel like you have trouble telling the difference between a good thesis and a not-so-good one, here are a few resources you can consult:

This site from SUNY Empire has an exercise in choosing the best thesis from several options. It's meant for research papers, but the general rules as to what makes a good thesis apply.

About.com has another exercise in choosing thesis statements specifically for short essays. Note, however, that most of the correct answers here would be "good" thesis statements as opposed to "super" thesis statements.

• This guide from the University of Iowa provides some really helpful tips on writing a thesis for a history paper.

So how do you practice your thesis statement skills for the DBQ?

While you should definitely practice looking at DBQ questions and documents and writing a thesis in response to those, you may also find it useful to write some practice thesis statements in response to the Free-Response Questions. While you won't be taking any documents into account in your argument for the Free-Response Questions, it's good practice on how to construct an effective thesis in general.

You could even try writing multiple thesis statements in response to the same prompt! It is a great exercise to see how you could approach the prompt from different angles. Time yourself for 5-10 minutes to mimic the time pressure of the AP exam.

If possible, have a trusted advisor or friend look over your practice statements and give you feedback. Barring that, looking over the scoring guidelines for old prompts (accessible from the same page on the College Board where past free-response questions can be found) will provide you with useful tips on what might make a good thesis in response to a given prompt.

Once you can write a thesis, you need to be able to support it—that's where outlining comes in!

This is not a good outline.

Outlining and Formatting Your Essay

You may be the greatest document analyst and thesis-writer in the world, but if you don't know how to put it all together in a DBQ essay outline, you won't be able to write a cohesive, high-scoring essay on test day.

A good outline will clearly lay out your thesis and how you are going to support that thesis in your body paragraphs. It will keep your writing organized and prevent you from forgetting anything you want to mention!

For some general tips on writing outlines, this page from Roane State has some useful information. While the general principles of outlining an essay hold, the DBQ format is going to have its own unique outlining considerations.To that end, I've provided some brief sample outlines that will help you hit all the important points.

Sample DBQ Outline

• Introduction
• Thesis. The most important part of your intro!
• Body 1 - contextual information
• Any outside historical/contextual information
• Body 2 - First point
• Documents & analysis that support the first point
• If three body paragraphs: use about three documents, do deeper analysis on two
• Body 3 - Second point
• Documents & analysis that support the second point
• Use about three documents, do deeper analysis on two
• Be sure to mention your outside example if you have not done so yet!
• Body 4 (optional) - Third point
• Documents and analysis that support third point
• Re-state thesis
• Draw a comparison to another time period or situation (synthesis)

Depending on your number of body paragraphs and your main points, you may include different numbers of documents in each paragraph, or switch around where you place your contextual information, your outside example, or your synthesis.

There's no one right way to outline, just so long as each of your body paragraphs has a clear point that you support with documents, and you remember to do a deeper analysis on four documents, bring in outside historical information, and make a comparison to another historical situation or time (you will see these last points further explained in the rubric breakdown).

Of course, all the organizational skills in the world won't help you if you can't write your entire essay in the time allotted. The next section will cover time management skills.

You can be as organized as this library!

Time Management Skills for Essay Writing

Do you know all of your essay-writing skills, but just can't get a DBQ essay together in a 15-minute planning period and 40 minutes of writing?

There could be a few things at play here:

Do you find yourself spending a lot of time staring at a blank paper?

If you feel like you don't know where to start, spend one-two minutes brainstorming as soon as you read the question and the documents. Write anything here—don't censor yourself. No one will look at those notes but you!

After you've brainstormed for a bit, try to organize those thoughts into a thesis, and then into body paragraphs. It's better to start working and change things around than to waste time agonizing that you don't know the perfect thing to say.

Are you too anxious to start writing, or does anxiety distract you in the middle of your writing time? Do you just feel overwhelmed?

Sounds like test anxiety. Lots of people have this. (Including me! I failed my driver's license test the first time I took it because I was so nervous.)

You might talk to a guidance counselor about your anxiety. They will be able to provide advice and direct you to resources you can use.

There are also some valuable test anxiety resources online: try our guide to mindfulness (it's focused on the SAT, but the same concepts apply on any high-pressure test) and check out tips from Minnesota State University , these strategies from TeensHealth , or this plan for reducing anxiety from West Virginia University.

Are you only two thirds of the way through your essay when 40 minutes have passed?

You are probably spending too long on your outline, biting off more than you can chew, or both.

If you find yourself spending 20+ minutes outlining, you need to practice bringing down your outline time. Remember, an outline is just a guide for your essay—it is fine to switch things around as you are writing. It doesn't need to be perfect. To cut down on your outline time, practice just outlining for shorter and shorter time intervals. When you can write one in 20 minutes, bring it down to 18, then down to 16.

You may also be trying to cover too much in your paper. If you have five body paragraphs, you need to scale things back to three. If you are spending twenty minutes writing two paragraphs of contextual information, you need to trim it down to a few relevant sentences. Be mindful of where you are spending a lot of time, and target those areas.

You don't know the problem —you just can't get it done!

If you can't exactly pinpoint what's taking you so long, I advise you to simply practice writing DBQs in less and less time. Start with 20 minutes for your outline and 50 for your essay, (or longer, if you need). Then when you can do it in 20 and 50, move back to 18 minutes and 45 for writing, then to 15 and 40.

You absolutely can learn to manage your time effectively so that you can write a great DBQ in the time allotted. On to the next skill!

Integrating Citations

The final skill that isn't explicitly covered in the rubric, but will make a big difference in your essay quality, is integrating document citations into your essay. In other words, how do you reference the information in the documents in a clear, non-awkward way?

It is usually better to use the author or title of the document to identify a document instead of writing "Document A." So instead of writing "Document A describes the riot as...," you might say, "In Sven Svenson's description of the riot…"

When you quote a document directly without otherwise identifying it, you may want to include a parenthetical citation. For example, you might write, "The strikers were described as ‘valiant and true' by the working class citizens of the city (Document E)."

Now that we've reviewed the essential, foundational skills of the DBQ, I'll move into the rubric breakdowns. We'll discuss each skill the AP graders will be looking for when they score your exam. All of the history exams share a DBQ rubric, so the guidelines are identical.

Don't worry, you won't need a magnifying glass to examine the rubric.

#3: Learn the DBQ Rubric

The DBQ rubric has four sections for a total of seven points.

Part A: Thesis - 2 Points

One point is for having a thesis that works and is historically defensible. This just means that your thesis can be reasonably supported by the documents and historical fact. So please don't make the main point of your essay that JFK was a member of the Illuminati or that Pope Urban II was an alien.

Per the College Board, your thesis needs to be located in your introduction or your conclusion. You've probably been taught to place your thesis in your intro, so stick with what you're used to. Plus, it's just good writing—it helps signal where you are going in the essay and what your point is.

You can receive another point for having a super thesis.

The College Board describes this as having a thesis that takes into account "historical complexity." Historical complexity is really just the idea that historical evidence does not always agree about everything, and that there are reasons for agreement, disagreement, etc.

How will you know whether the historical evidence agrees or disagrees? The documents! Suppose you are responding to a prompt about women's suffrage (suffrage is the right to vote, for those of you who haven't gotten to that unit in class yet):

"Analyze the responses to the women's suffrage movement in the United States."

Included among your documents, you have a letter from a suffragette passionately explaining why she feels women should have the vote, a copy of a suffragette's speech at a women's meeting, a letter from one congressman to another debating the pros and cons of suffrage, and a political cartoon displaying the death of society and the end of the ‘natural' order at the hands of female voters.

A simple but effective thesis might be something like,

"Though ultimately successful, the women's suffrage movement sharply divided the country between those who believed women's suffrage was unnatural and those who believed it was an inherent right of women."

This is good: it answers the question and clearly states the two responses to suffrage that are going to be analyzed in the essay.

A super thesis , however, would take the relationships between the documents (and the people behind the documents!) into account.

It might be something like,

"The dramatic contrast between those who responded in favor of women's suffrage and those who fought against it revealed a fundamental rift in American society centered on the role of women—whether women were ‘naturally' meant to be socially and civilly subordinate to men, or whether they were in fact equals."

This is a "super" thesis because it gets into the specifics of the relationship between historical factors and shows the broader picture —that is, what responses to women's suffrage revealed about the role of women in the United States overall.

It goes beyond just analyzing the specific issues to a "so what"? It doesn't just take a position about history, it tells the reader why they should care . In this case, our super thesis tells us that the reader should care about women's suffrage because the issue reveals a fundamental conflict in America over the position of women in society.

Part B: Document Analysis - 2 Points

One point for using six or seven of the documents in your essay to support your argument. Easy-peasy! However, make sure you aren't just summarizing documents in a list, but are tying them back to the main points of your paragraphs.

It's best to avoid writing things like, "Document A says X, and Document B says Y, and Document C says Z." Instead, you might write something like, "The anonymous author of Document C expresses his support and admiration for the suffragettes but also expresses fear that giving women the right to vote will lead to conflict in the home, highlighting the common fear that women's suffrage would lead to upheaval in women's traditional role in society."

Any summarizing should be connected a point. Essentially, any explanation of what a document says needs to be tied to a "so what?" If it's not clear to you why what you are writing about a document is related to your main point, it's not going to be clear to the AP grader.

You can get an additional point here for doing further analysis on 4 of the documents. This further analysis could be in any of these 4 areas:

Author's point of view - Why does the author think the way that they do? What is their position in society and how does this influence what they are saying?

Author's purpose - Why is the author writing what they are writing? What are they trying to convince their audience of?

Historical context - What broader historical facts are relevant to this document?

Audience - Who is the intended audience for this document? Who is the author addressing or trying to convince?

Be sure to tie any further analysis back to your main argument! And remember, you only have to do this for four documents for full credit, but it's fine to do it for more if you can.

Practicing Document Analysis

So how do you practice document analysis? By analyzing documents!

Luckily for AP test takers everywhere, New York State has an exam called the Regents Exam that has its own DBQ section. Before they write the essay, however, New York students have to answer short answer questions about the documents.

Answering Regents exam DBQ short-answer questions is good practice for basic document analysis. While most of the questions are pretty basic, it's a good warm-up in terms of thinking more deeply about the documents and how to use them. This set of Regent-style DBQs from the Teacher's Project are mostly about US History, but the practice could be good for other tests too.

This prompt from the Morningside center also has some good document comprehensions questions about a US-History based prompt.

Note: While the document short-answer questions are useful for thinking about basic document analysis, I wouldn't advise completing entire Regents exam DBQ essay prompts for practice, because the format and rubric are both somewhat different from the AP.

Your AP history textbook may also have documents with questions that you can use to practice. Flip around in there!

This otter is ready to swim in the waters of the DBQ.

When you want to do a deeper dive on the documents, you can also pull out those old College Board DBQ prompts.

Read the documents carefully. Write down everything that comes to your attention. Do further analysis—author's point of view, purpose, audience, and historical context—on all the documents for practice, even though you will only need to do additional analysis on four on test day. Of course, you might not be able to do all kinds of further analysis on things like maps and graphs, which is fine.

You might also try thinking about how you would arrange those observations in an argument, or even try writing a practice outline! This exercise would combine your thesis and document-analysis skills practice.

When you've analyzed everything you can possibly think of for all the documents, pull up the Scoring Guide for that prompt. It helpfully has an entire list of analysis points for each document.

Consider what they identified that you missed.

Do you seem way off-base in your interpretation? If so, how did it happen?

Part C: Using Evidence Beyond the Documents - 2 Points

Don't be freaked out by the fact that this is two points!

One point is just for context—if you can locate the issue within its broader historical situation. You do need to write several sentences to a paragraph about it, but don't stress; all you really need to know to be able to get this point is information about major historical trends over time, and you will need to know this anyways for the multiple choice section. If the question is about the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, for example, be sure to include some of the general information you know about the Great Depression! Boom. Contextualized.

The other point is for naming a specific, relevant example in your essay that does not appear in the documents.

To practice your outside information skills, pull up your College Board prompts!

Read through the prompt and documents and then write down all of the contextualizing facts and as many specific examples as you can think of.

I advise timing yourself—maybe 5-10 minutes to read the documents and prompt and list your outside knowledge—to imitate the time pressure of the DBQ.

When you've exhausted your knowledge, make sure to fact-check your examples and your contextual information! You don't want to use incorrect information on test day.

If you can't remember any examples or contextual information about that topic, look some up! This will help fill in holes in your knowledge.

Part D: Synthesis - 1 Point

All you need to do for synthesis is relate your argument about this specific time period to a different time period, geographical area, historical movement, etc. It is probably easiest to do this in the conclusion of the essay. If your essay is about the Great Depression, you might relate it to the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

You do need to do more than just mention your synthesis connection. You need to make it meaningful. How are the two things you are comparing similar? What does one reveal about the other? Is there a key difference that highlights something important?

To practice your synthesis skills—you guessed it—pull up your College Board prompts!

• Read through the prompt and documents and then identify what historical connections you could make for your synthesis point. Be sure to write a few words on why the connection is significant!
• A great way to make sure that your synthesis connection makes sense is to explain it to someone else. If you explain what you think the connection is and they get it, you're probably on the right track.
• You can also look at sample responses and the scoring guide for the old prompts to see what other connections students and AP graders made.

That's a wrap on the rubric! Let's move on to skill-building strategy.

I know you're tired, but you can do it!

#5: Take Another Practice DBQ

So, you established a baseline, identified the skills you need to work on, and practiced writing a thesis statement and analyzing documents for hours. What now?

Take another timed, practice DBQ from a prompt you haven't seen before to check how you've improved. Recruit your same trusted advisor to grade your exam and give feedback. After, work on any skills that still need to be honed.

Repeat this process as necessary, until you are consistently scoring your goal score. Then you just need to make sure you maintain your skills until test day by doing an occasional practice DBQ.

Eventually, test day will come—read on for my DBQ-test-taking tips.

How Can I Succeed On DBQ Test Day?

Once you've prepped your brains out, you still have to take the test! I know, I know. But I've got some advice on how to make sure all of your hard work pays off on test day—both some general tips and some specific advice on how to write a DBQ.

#1: General Test-Taking Tips

Most of these are probably tips you've heard before, but they bear repeating:

Get a good night's sleep for the two nights preceding the exam. This will keep your memory sharp!

Eat a good breakfast (and lunch, if the exam is in the afternoon) before the exam with protein and whole grains. This will keep your blood sugar from crashing and making you tired during the exam.

Don't study the night before the exam if you can help it. Instead, do something relaxing. You've been preparing, and you will have an easier time on exam day if you aren't stressed from trying to cram the night before.

This dude knows he needs to get a good night's rest!

#2: DBQ Plan and Strategies

Below I've laid out how to use your time during the DBQ exam. I'll provide tips on reading the question and docs, planning your essay, and writing!

Be sure to keep an eye on the clock throughout so you can track your general progress.

Reading the Question and the Documents: 5-6 min

First thing's first: r ead the question carefully , two or even three times. You may want to circle the task words ("analyze," "describe," "evaluate," "compare") to make sure they stand out.

You could also quickly jot down some contextual information you already know before moving on to the documents, but if you can't remember any right then, move on to the docs and let them jog your memory.

It's fine to have a general idea of a thesis after you read the question, but if you don't, move on to the docs and let them guide you in the right direction.

Next, move on to the documents. Mark them as you read—circle things that seem important, jot thoughts and notes in the margins.

After you've passed over the documents once, you should choose the four documents you are going to analyze more deeply and read them again. You probably won't be analyzing the author's purpose for sources like maps and charts. Good choices are documents in which the author's social or political position and stake in the issue at hand are clear.

Get ready to go down the document rabbit hole.

Planning Your Essay: 9-11 min

Once you've read the question and you have preliminary notes on the documents, it's time to start working on a thesis. If you still aren't sure what to talk about, spend a minute or so brainstorming. Write down themes and concepts that seem important and create a thesis from those. Remember, your thesis needs to answer the question and make a claim!

When you've got a thesis, it's time to work on an outline . Once you've got some appropriate topics for your body paragraphs, use your notes on the documents to populate your outline. Which documents support which ideas? You don't need to use every little thought you had about the document when you read it, but you should be sure to use every document.

Here's three things to make sure of:

Make sure your outline notes where you are going to include your contextual information (often placed in the first body paragraph, but this is up to you), your specific example (likely in one of the body paragraphs), and your synthesis (the conclusion is a good place for this).

Make sure you've also integrated the four documents you are going to further analyze and how to analyze them.

Make sure you use all the documents! I can't stress this enough. Take a quick pass over your outline and the docs and make sure all of the docs appear in your outline.

If you go over the planning time a couple of minutes, it's not the end of the world. This probably just means you have a really thorough outline! But be ready to write pretty fast.

Writing the Essay - 45 min

If you have a good outline, the hard part is out of the way! You just need to make sure you get all of your great ideas down in the test booklet.

Don't get too bogged down in writing a super-exciting introduction. You won't get points for it, so trying to be fancy will just waste time. Spend maybe one or two sentences introducing the issue, then get right to your thesis.

For your body paragraphs, make sure your topic sentences clearly state the point of the paragraph . Then you can get right into your evidence and your document analysis.

As you write, make sure to keep an eye on the time. You want to be a little more than halfway through at the 20-minute mark of the writing period, so you have a couple minutes to go back and edit your essay at the end.

Keep in mind that it's more important to clearly lay out your argument than to use flowery language. Sentences that are shorter and to the point are completely fine.

If you are short on time, the conclusion is the least important part of your essay . Even just one sentence to wrap things up is fine just so long as you've hit all the points you need to (i.e. don't skip your conclusion if you still need to put in your synthesis example).

When you are done, make one last past through your essay. Make sure you included everything that was in your outline and hit all the rubric skills! Then take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back.

You did it!! Have a cupcake to celebrate.

Key Tips for How to Write a DBQ

I realize I've bombarded you with information, so here are the key points to take away:

Remember the drill for prep: establish a baseline, build skills, take another practice DBQ, repeat skill-building as necessary.

Make sure that you know the rubric inside and out so you will remember to hit all the necessary points on test day! It's easy to lose points just for forgetting something like your synthesis point.

On test day, keep yourself on track time-wise !

This may seem like a lot, but you can learn how to ace your DBQ! With a combination of preparation and good test-taking strategy, you will get the score you're aiming for. The more you practice, the more natural it will seem, until every DBQ is a breeze.

What's Next?

If you want more information about the DBQ, see my introductory guide to the DBQ .

Haven't registered for your AP test yet? See our article for help registering for AP exams .

For more on studying for the AP US History exam, check out the best AP US History notes to study with .

Studying for World History? See these AP World History study tips from one of our experts.

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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Irish and German Immigration DBQ

Use this Lesson to i

• Students will compare and contrast the push and pull factors on the substantial numbers of international migrants from Germany and Ireland who settled in the United States between 1830 and 1850.
• Students will practice analyzing primary source documents, grouping documents, and writing a thesis statement as essential skills for the DBQ essay on the AP Exam.

Expand Materials Materials

• Handout A: Primary Source Immigration Activity Student Guide

Expand More Information More Information

This activity is designed for groups of five students. The activity works best if each student only sees their printed primary source. The students should have some background knowledge on the European industrial revolution and its impact on urban growth and immigration in the United States.

This lesson targets the foundational skills of analyzing documents, grouping documents, and constructing a thesis as required of the DBQ essay on the AP exam.

Expand Warmup Warmup

Have the students partner with a neighbor and complete the following: (3 min)

• Share your written description or illustration with your partner. Write a brief reflection in the space provided of what your partner created.
• With your partner, can you find any similarities between your two final products?

Your teacher will have a select number of groups share their similarities. (2 min)

Expand Activities Activities

Give each student a different primary source and direct them to Task 2: Primary Source Exploration.

Allot 10 minutes for this individual exploration. (Do not answer any questions until 4 minutes have passed to give the students ample time to work through their own confusion.)

After 4 minutes, the teacher can circulate around the room and answer document-specific questions.

After each of the five students has shared with the group, they should work collaboratively to complete Task 3: Application – Identify the Pushes and Pulls of Irish and German Immigration chart.

Within each group, have students return to their initial drawings/descriptions of a factory scene in 1850 and discuss any additional details they could add to convey push-pull factors after having analyzed the documents in this lesson.

Expand Wrap Up Wrap Up

Exit Ticket: On the basis of your completed Task 3: Application – Identify the Pushes and Pulls of Irish and German Immigration chart, write a thesis statement responding to this prompt: Describe the various push-pull factors that contributed to Irish and German immigration to the United States between 1840 and 1875. Each student hands their exit ticket in as they leave the class.

Related Resources

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

In our resource history is presented through a series of narratives, primary sources, and point-counterpoint debates that invites students to participate in the ongoing conversation about the American experiment.

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Great Ideas From Readers

Tackling the DBQ: Forming Arguments With History, Literature and Current Events

A history teacher and an English teacher paired New York Times articles with novels and memoirs to prepare students to tackle the document-based question, or DBQ.

By Ileana Sherry and Kate Foster

If you teach high school social studies, you're probably familiar with the document-based question, or DBQ, in which students are asked to analyze a historical issue using primary and secondary sources as evidence.

In this lesson, Ileana Sherry, an English teacher, and Kate Foster, a history teacher, from the International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas, tell us how they used The New York Times to help students tackle the DBQ. Together, Ms. Sherry and Ms. Foster created an interdisciplinary curriculum that taught students how to form arguments and showed them how they can be active participants in shaping history.

Do you teach with The Times? Tell us about it here , or browse our full collection of Reader Ideas .

— The Learning Network

An Interdisciplinary Curriculum That Reflects the World and Our Students’ Lives

To show you how this project came to be, we’ll start with two moments that made us rethink the way we wanted to teach our respective subjects.

The English Perspective: Ileana Sherry

In my first year of teaching, as a culmination of a novel unit on cultural collision, our school took the sophomore class to New Mexico to examine the processes of assimilation and acculturation. The trip was experiential learning at its finest, I thought, allowing students to see the topics and history from our novels in real life.

However, when we returned to campus, two of my Indigenous students, Sewa and Greg, who are Yaqui Natives, had a conversation with me about the failings of the trip: “They teach about Native people like we are history,” Sewa said, “but we are right here.”

Our curriculum had ignored these students’ voices and the voices and concerns of living Indigenous people. Moving forward, I wanted to ensure that the topics we discussed in class weren’t just limited to historical texts or novels.

The History Perspective: Kate Foster

While on a class trip focused on civil rights, my students and I visited the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in Montgomery, Ala. One installation we saw depicted a timeline that showed different forms of racially-relevant legislation in the United States: The laws that were harmful to people of color were at the top of the timeline, and the laws that helped bring justice to people of color were at the bottom.

The students shared how seeing the evidence laid out so clearly made it easy for them to make connections to the past and inspired them to be more passionate about preventing the enactment of other harmful laws in the future.

Since then, I’ve made it a point in my instruction to help students connect the past to the present, and to help them recognize their roles as active participants in the creation of history.

A New Approach

Once we began working together as teachers, we realized we could combine current events, historical evidence, literary texts and argumentative writing to help students connect their lives to the past, the present and their hopes for the future. And The New York Times could provide the resources we needed to bring this ambitious, interdisciplinary unit to life.

One of the skills we hoped to develop in our students was the ability to form and defend arguments, particularly by gathering and evaluating evidence. Not only is this kind of persuasive writing a pivotal skill that helps young people make their way in the world, it’s also an important part of many English and A.P. history curriculums, the writing components of which require students to establish and defend arguments with evidence via the DBQ.

As such, we called this unit The DBQ Project. Using a constructivist thinking model, we asked students to create their own DBQs by compiling documents from different sources to respond to a given prompt, and then invited them to form arguments based on one another’s questions just as they would on the A.P. World History: Modern exam. While this project uses the format of the DBQ, it can be adjusted for other kinds of evidence-based writing.

Connecting Novels to History and Current Events

Introducing Major Themes Through Choice Books

Our first task in making the curriculum more authentic and relevant was to revamp the novel unit on cultural collisions.

We gave students the choice of reading one of three books that focused on characters who were caught between the expectations of multiple cultures: “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ” by Sherman Alexie; “ The Book of the Unknown Americans ” by Cristina Henríquez; and “ Born a Crime ” by Trevor Noah. These three texts represented the cultural diversity of the students we taught, giving them the chance to explore a new perspective or read about experiences similar to their own.

To assist students and their families in choosing the right book for them, we provided the New York Times reviews of each one and invited families to join us in the reading.

Examining What These Issues Look Like Today

Picking the right books was just part of the journey. We still had to show our students that the issues in them were relevant. Sewa’s words — “we are right here” — pushed us to search for resources that would highlight the connections between the novels, their historical roots and current events.

We searched The New York Times and selected current articles that covered relevant topics in each book: reservations in North America for “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” immigration in the United States for “The Book of Unknown Americans,” and the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa for “Born a Crime.”

We added scaffolding, including word banks and guiding questions (What does the text say? Why does this text matter?), to each article and then invited students to read and annotate the one aligned with their book. These articles laid the foundation for rich discussions in which students connected their books to history, current events and the author’s context.

Comparing the books and the articles also opened up our learning to the interdisciplinary discussion of primary and secondary sources. We taught our students how to differentiate primary and secondary documents, examining each text as a primary source document reflecting the concerns and context of the author. We emphasized that novels, memoirs and informative articles help historians tell the stories of the past.

The same process applied to our students: They were not just avid readers in our combined humanities course; they were historians. To develop the skills of a historian, we taught them how to identify the source of different documents and analyze sources to connect the author’s perspective, history and cultural context to the writing.

This is also a skill that is assessed on the A.P. exam in the DBQ essay. The College Board requires students to explain “how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument” for at least three sources.

To practice, we had students write sourcing statements for the books and the Times articles they read using the following template:

In this example, students show their understanding of the point of view of the author of the guest essay “ Why South Africa Can’t Avoid Land Reforms ”:

The DBQ Project

The next step in the curriculum was for students to take the foundational texts and their new understanding of how an author’s background and intent shape that person’s work to come up with and defend their own arguments. This would become The DBQ Project .

Forming the Argument

On the A.P. exam, the DBQ essay presents students with a prompt and several documents that they must use to support their argument. Our aim in the DBQ Project was to flip this process to help students understand how it works and give them larger responsibilities in constructing their own learning. Instead of presenting them with a prompt and documents, we presented them with just a prompt and they compiled the documents to create their own DBQ.

Each group was given a DBQ-style prompt based on the book they chose. For example, if a student read “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” their prompt was: Evaluate the extent to which reservations fostered change in the lives of Native Americans during the 20th and 21st centuries. All the prompts used similar wording and required students to focus on the same skill.

Next, students were tasked with brainstorming as many ways to answer the prompt as possible. We asked them to reference their books, the Times articles and their discussions to come up with answers. We encouraged students not to censor one another to promote the development of as many answers as possible. We met with individual groups to discuss how to determine whether answers were too broad or too narrow and how each may be easier or more difficult to defend.

Using a scaffolded thesis statement sentence stem, students acknowledged a counterargument (to build complexity), stated a claim and then chose three distinct reasons to support it.

Using Evidence to Support Claims

As historians, students needed to prove their claims with evidence. The DBQ Project asked students to find at least two documents that could be used as evidence to support each of the three parts of their claim. We required them to use their books and the New York Times articles as two of their documents. We also discussed diversity in evidence and encouraged students to compile documents from different kinds of reputable sources that represented different points of view and that served different purposes.

One of the parameters we gave students for finding their sources was that they needed to narrow a source document down to its most relevant parts. It wasn’t enough to find an article with a title that vaguely supported their stance; instead, they needed to read through the piece to find the most relevant sentences. Not only did this approach mirror documents on a real DBQ essay, but it also encouraged students to dig deeper and practice uncovering and evaluating sources for useful information.

We asked students to compile their documents and citations in Google Slides. We provided a teacher’s example and a template that included a rubric and instructions in the notes section on each slide. You can see a partial student example at the top of this section.

The End Results

Students presented their slide shows and invited their peers to respond to their document-based question with a claim. This process mimicked the A.P. exam, where students would see a DBQ with fresh eyes and varying levels of background knowledge.

The results varied greatly: Sometimes the student audience created claims that aligned with the presenters’ intentions; other times, the audience crafted entirely unique claims that were also supported by the documents. After creating their own DBQs, students had a better understanding of how documents might connect. This project created a foundation for the rest of the year by showing students both how to find evidence to support their claims and how to create arguments based on the evidence provided.

As students read the selected books and the current events articles in The New York Times, they were able to see their lives reflected and make connections between current issues, history and their own experiences. Students learned that their experiences were also evidence in understanding the trends and patterns in history and present day.

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The Civil War was the greatest crisis that ever happened in the United States and the Federal Government, and created a split in the United States economy. After the war of 1812 the difference between the North and South began to increase. The North began an Industrial system, and the South began a system of Slavery and Plantations. The South’s agricultural society slavery was seen as a need to further growth, but the North’s distinguishing value was freedom. South Carolina almost left the union, because of the constant tariffs on supplies for the South, which they saw little profit from Merchant marine. By bringing in immigrants to the North they created more representation, and the South realized the North had more people causing more separation.

The Legacy Of The Reconstruction Era

The main economic hurdle the country faced was centered in the south. After the war many Southerners were dependant on federal aid subsistence and the emancipation proclamation cost the South $2 billion of it’s capital (Farmer). Furthermore, agriculture had been what maintained southern economy but post-war most farms and plantations were desolate and many of the few railroad tracks that were there before had been destroyed. Historian Charles Beard looks at the war as, “the triumph of the forces of industrialism over plantation agriculture.” However this is not entirely true. While there was some movement towards industry, the south was still primarily agriculturally based and had adopted a system of sharecropping to do so. It took until 1867 for

The Gilded Age And The Industrialization Of The Gilded Age

The end of the Civil War marked a new integration of industry into American society. Following the war, high tariffs were put in place to compensate for the national debt that were created. The increase in tariffs also promoted domestic industries which became more critical in America. A major shift can be seen during this time, known as the Gilded Age, toward a more industrialized society rather than an agricultural one. One major influence toward this industrialized society was the building of the transcontinental railroad which ran from East to West coast. Finished in 1869, the Railroad allowed for more transport which also benefited the rising of big businesses. Regional companies could become national companies and thus changed the way people looked at industrialization. This industrialization affected the working class the most which consisted of the industrial workers and farmers. One would think that the “Gilded Age” would mean prosperity would be felt throughout the economy but the elite 1% of the population had more money than the rest of the population combined. This did not sit well with the working class, especially the industrial workers, who were the ones making the profit for the elites. However, each the farmers and industrial workers had their own way in which they responded to the industrialization of the Gilded Age.

Sectional issues leading up to the Civil War, how the North South and West felt about states rights, tariffs, western land policy, mexican war, secession and how all these linked back to slavery.

The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like

Immigration DBQ Immigrants

Between the years 1861 and 1941 almost 30 million people immigrated from Europe to the United States. Many left for a new life, some left because the crops were dying and they were starving, some came for a job, and lastly people left because of religious persecution. In the 1800s, two of the main contributions of the immigrants in the U. S. were the larger population and different cultures.

Essay on Industrialization After the Civil War

After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.

Compare and Contrast Economic, Social, and Political Developments in the North and South Between 1800-1860.

During 1880 to 1860, The United States of America went through social, political and economic changes, which affected the North and South in different ways.

Big Business and The Robber Barons Essay

The decades after the Civil War rapidly changed the face of the United States. The rapid industrialization of the nation changed us from generally agrarian to the top industrial power in the world. Business tycoons thrived during this time, forging great business empires with the use of trusts and pools. Farmers moved to the cities and into the factories, living off wages and changing the face of the workforce. This rapid industrialization created wide gaps in society, and the government, which had originally taken a hands off approach to business, was forced to step in.

Dbq Essay On Immigration Analysis

Show More Analyze politically, socially and economically to what extent immigration impacted American society from 1865 to 1898. The United States has always been a mixing pot, immigrants from all over the world have been coming with a common goal to better themselves and their families. Nonetheless, immigrants had never had it easy to succeed in a foreign society, the time period 1865 to 1898 was no the exemption. Irish, Russians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Chinese and Bohemians among many other were coming to the union to face prejudices from “true Americans”. Immigration caused a strain in society since the government would not help immigrant at any point under any circumstance, the gap between the rich and the poor grew as immigrants …show more content… Immigrants were not too different from slaves they lived in crowded rooms as is described in document 6 in which an Italian immigrant in New York City lives in a tenement house with more than 80 other people, they did get paid but enough for their work and as is already stated their living conditions were awful. The purpose of the author is to inform the general public on how immigrants were living due to lack of government help and education.This document is another example of the lost of American principles, how can a true American let hardworking men suffer like …show more content… In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion act came into effect, yet in 1844 during the gold rush, Chinese workers risked their lives working in unsafe mines, many times they even walked to their death. In the late 1800s, the government establishes a government agency the Immigration and Naturalization Service to limit the number of immigrants this is one of the first times the government tries to intervene as far as immigration is concerned. The purpose of document seven is to inform its audience of the approaches the government does to help American society better due to the overpopulation of cities due to

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Immigration Dbq

In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, a lot of immigrants left their home base to come to the United States for countless of reasons. One arrangement of settlers was the English foreigners, who were inspired by the stories of the United States and the ideals of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (English Immigration to America, n.d.). The English wanted to be brought from poverty into a place of abundance. Another group of settlers was the Chinese immigrants. They arrived in the United States because of opportunities on the California Gold Rush, the construction of the transcontinental, and abundant agriculture jobs (Wandrei, n.d.). Also, a different group of foreigners arrived from Germany. Germans came to …show more content…

The United States wasn’t as expected for the immigrants, like the Germans. In the early nineteenth century, school boards helped with the Germans, so it was that the German children were instructed in both German and English. As time progressed, Anglo-Americans felt that the spread of the German dialect was un-American and would irritate the American way of life. By demanding that English is the main dialect that ought to win, they made direction laws to tie on this thought in states, such as, Wisconsin, Illinois, Louisiana, and Iowa (Irish and German Immigrants of the Nineteenth, n.d.). By the same token, the Germans weren 't the only foreigners to face issues in the wake of moving to the United States. While working at the mines, Chinese were routinely robbed and were only paid $27 a month while Irish immigrants earned $35 for the same work (Wandrei, n.d.). Many whites likewise started to see the Chinese as crooks, mostly on account of an ascent in the number of Chinese prostitutes. This brought about a progression of laws limiting migration. (Wandrei, …show more content…

In the midst of the 1850s, California society was under a strong effect of hostile to outsider’s act. It was known as the Foreign Miners Tax and the showing viably forced overpowering expense accumulation on the migrant workers. The act also demanded every foreign miner to pay $20 U.S. dollars each month. Due to the heavy amount of taxation, many Chinese miners refused to pay the $20 tax and left the States. The increasing number of Chinese miners leaving the country due to the Foreign Miner’s Tax, the act was then repealed in 1851 (Natasha Rivero, 2010). The law expressed that all immigrants who occupied with mining industry must comply with the tax law. This unfair demonstration brought about a gigantic disobedience from the foreign workers and their restriction was effective. The taxation of the foreign miners was lowered from $20 to $4 each month. Even though the act lowered the amount to $4 per month, many of the Chinese miners were only making approximately $6 a month. If they failed to pay the monthly tax, the Chinese workers were forced to give up their property and personal possessions (Natasha Rivero, 2010). The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first law that omitted a race. It was a law that was set up for a long time because of such a variety of migrants landing in the United States and on the off-chance that they so happened to leave the

Racial Fault Lines Analysis

In order to protect the white working class, racial laws were created and directly targeted towards Chinese immigrants to protect their whiteness. Chapter seven explains the new threat of the arrival of Japanese immigrants in California. During the beginning of the anti-Chinese sentiment and white working-class racism, Japanese immigrants were also under the romanticized belief of

Challenges Faced By Chinese Laborers During Westward Expansion

The Chinese faced major economic deprivation during the time of Westward Expansion, and were continuingly paid less even if their work ethic was better. The Chinese were only paid $26 per month, whereas the Irish were paid $35 per month ("Chinese-American Contribution"). This explains how the Chinese were paid unfairly. They may have been paid less than the Irish is because they were considered to have no political standing, and their opinions did not matter to anyone in the United States. The company need a high amount of workers and they significantly failed by receiving the number they wanted.

The 49ers And The California Ethos

Miners stayed in California, either out of fear and shame of coming back home empty-handed, or out of greed to seek for more gold (Rohrbaugh, 1997, para.16). Rohrbaugh gave the example of a forty-niner who decided not to return home until he brings something with him (Rohrbaugh, 1997,para.16). For the miners’ families, failing to come home with nothing would be both an emotional and a financial issue (Rohrbaugh, 1997, para.17). The decision of returning home turned out to be very complicated. As Rohrbaugh (1997) described, the miners could reward their families by going home, but yet, the issue was more complicated than it appeared.

California Gold Rush Chinese Immigration

The California Gold Rush was amongst one of the many attractions that America offered. However, the Chinese immigrants had many difficulties on their way to following the American Dream. An obstacle they had to overcome was the laws of their imperial monarchy of the time, the Qing dynasty of China. Their rule, which lasted from 1875 to 1908, had opposing views on the working class of China migrating to America and is what postponed immigration for many Chinese people. Those who were able to immigrate were second and third class and often came without much wealth, enduring the poor living conditions on their transportation, with small cabins and terrible food.

Immigrants During The Gilded Age

Most immigrants who came to the U.S had high expectations that they would find wealth but once they arrived they realized their expectations weren’t what they expected. Although, they were disappointed in not finding wealth the conditions in which the U.S was in by the late 1800s were still a lot better than the places they all had left behind to come. The majority of the immigration population anticipation was to find profitable jobs and opportunities. When the large numbers of immigration were migrating to the U.S, it was during the “Gilded Age”, which was the prime time for the country’s expansion of industrialization. This rapid expansion of new industries led to the need of workers which motivated people from other countries to come to

Chinese Exclusion Act Essay Thesis

On May 6, 1882, the Exclusion Act was passed. It was the first law to restrict immigration to the United States. (Chinese Exclusion) It was passed by Congress, and signed by President A. Arthur.

California Gold Rush Essay

Whenever somebody thinks of immigration in the U.S., they think of people coming from different countries but immigration also happens within the country itself. One of the greatest immigrations was to California during the Gold Rush in 1849. Gold was found near Sacramento at Sutter 's Mill as the news of the discovery began to spread people from the east and several thousands from around the world went to California with the hope of striking it rich and bringing tons of gold home. The Gold Rush in California created an economic boom in the Bay Area, a mix of new cultures and a new type of society.

How Did Public Policies Affect German Americans

America is known for its diverse culture and society. It is full of many races and contains various ethnic groups which help shape it and make it what it is. America is a country that was built by immigrants and slaves. The Germans and the Chinese were a part of the immigrants that helped to build the foundations on which the United States stands. The Germans were the first to come to America and the Chinese followed around 150 years later.

Chinese Migration To Australia During Gold Rush

Although the Chinese laborers mined what were generally discarded pits by Europeans, they were also often able to reap success because they were very hard-working. Not only were they able to survive in Australia, but they were also able to keep sending gold back to China, which caused resentment in the European mining industry. In addition, these Chinese laborers were generally poorly educated, had poor hygiene habits, and did not speak English. Their constant lack of contact with whites and their ascetic lifestyle, combined with the bad habits of some of them, these deepened the already existing racial discrimination. Some Chinese scholars would argue that the root cause of the low status of the Chinese in Australia was the failure of the Qing government.

American Urbanization In The 1800s

Urbanization in America Business and industrialization centered on the cities in America like New York, Boston, and Chicago. The increasing number of factories created an immense need for labor which got people in rural areas to move to the city, and bringing immigrants from Europe to the United States. Urbanization changed America in many ways but specifically in a social and economic way leading to today’s America. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, urbanization was increasing at a startling rate.

Annotated Bibliography: The Chinese Exclusion Act

Retrieved http://unitedstateshistorylsa.wikispaces.com/Chinese+Exclusion+Ac Annotation: In the 1850s, many Chinese immigrants moved to America because of the gold and jobs opportunities . In 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act . Which this document stated as that Chinese immigrants would be banned and looking for work for 10 years.

Native Americans In The Gilded Age

Between 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions.

Modern Immigration Research Paper

Overall, immigration in the 1800-1900’s lead to modern forms of immigration, but with

German Immigrants

“Between 1919 and 1933, roughly 430,000 Germans immigrated to the United States” (German Immigration). As a result of the anti-German prejudice now extremely prevalent in the U.S., German immigrants began trying to hide their ethnicity. Many even chose to Americanize their names. At this time of conflict, new immigrants joined in this hopeful attempt to be assimilated, and in doing so, lost some of their German characteristics and traditions (Waves of German Immigrants). As a result, the new generations of German Americans born in the United States easily adapted to and accepted American culture and traditions, being that they were raised as Americans.

Overflow Of Immigration Essay

From 1820 to 1870 approximately 7 ½ million newcomers entered the United States. Nearly all of them came from northern and western Europe. In the mid-1880 's, some states sent negotiators to Europe to lure settlers. Railroad companies did the same thing. The overflow of immigrants started to distress many native

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Related topics.

• United States
• Chinese American
• Immigration to the United States
• German language
• Immigration
• Human migration