Practice writing with the help of AI by going to these sites and working through prompts:

Short Answer Questions

ANSWER 3 of the 4 prompts in 40 minutes:

Question 1: Secondary source(s) Question 2: Primary source Students
(Time period 1200-2001)

Select one: Question 3: No stimulus
(Time period 1200-1750)
or
Question 4: No stimulus
(Time period 1750-2001)

Document Based Question

Use 3 of 7 documents to answer one prompt in 60 minutes

(15 minutes to read & analyze documents, 45 minutes to write)

Time period 1450-2001

DBQ Rubric 2023 Update.pdf

Long Essay Question

Choose one of three prompts to respond to in 40 minutes

Question 1: Time period 1200-1750

Question 2: Time period 1450-1900

Question 3: Time period 1750-2001

LEQ Rubric 2023 Update.pdf

For the DBQ, you can gain a point by including a written analysis of at least TWO documents in your response. There are different acronyms to remember this, but I like HIPP:
 Historical context: What is the situation in which the document was written? What else happened before or while the author created the source?

  Intended audience: Who the document is written to will influence what the document says. If you were supposed to deliver a prepared speech to your teacher, it would sound a WHOLE LOT different than a speech you would prepare for your friends, right?

Point Of View (POV): What is the motivation of the person who wrote it? Not just “who wrote it,” but what BIAS or perspective would the person have? (Note: you shouldn't use the word "biased" if you can help it; use the word "perspective" or "attitude" or some other such word.

Purpose: Why was this document written? What was the goal or hoped-for outcome? 

Pick one of those for each document and "source" the document. Explain why one document was written, the context of another document, and the POV of another. If you do that for ALL the documents, you increase your odds of getting just TWO accurate, which will give you the point! It's important to remember, connect the analysis of your sourcing back to your argument. Don't just say something like "Document two was written by a merchant, who would have wanted to increase his profits, which is why he described the favorable conditions" or something. Add a phrase like "This proves that..." or "This illustrates that..." and then explain how that analysis proves your thesis with that specific document.

PROTIP: When you start Section II (that's the DBQ & LEQ part of the exam), flip the pages PAST the DBQ and write the LEQ first. Spend 15-20 minutes getting 2-3 points on the LEQ and then STOP! 

Flip BACK to the DBQ and analyze the documents (don't forget to HIPP them!) and write your essay until you're out of time. If you do this method, you'll give yourself an extra 15-20 minutes on the DBQ, which will maximize your chances of getting a great response written.

Some useful transition and argument-building words:

Thesis Generator — Needs editing when you finish, but helps craft a decent starter thesis

These videos are for a Composition and Literature class, but are really helpful in getting the basic structure of quality writing down. We will be doing History writing, so it will be a little different, but the mechanics are pretty much the same (with our added focus of going for points on the LEQ and DBQ)