Primary Source Materials & Document Based Questions

Primary Source Materials & Document Based Questions
An Internet Hotlist on Document Based Questions

created by Paula Goldstein
Nassau BOCES

Introduction
Don't depend on someone else's interpretation of a document. Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. Listen to speeches and hear for yourself, who said what.

Document based questions (DBQs) are a major focus in schools today. To be answered correctly, students must be adept at analyzing and synthesizing the information provided. They must be able to write coherent and logical essays. This site is meant to provide students with resources to develop the skills needed to effectively respond to DBQs.

The Internet Resources

Getting the Message Out - National Campaign Materials from 1840-1860. Includes, text, images, songs and interactive maps.

Primary Source Materials

Ad* Access - John W. Harlman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History - The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment 'Library 2000' Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers. and magazines between 1911 and 1955.
Archiving Early America - Historic documents from 18th century America.
Battle Lines: Letters from America's Wars - Online exhibition of letters and audio, features correspondence from over 200 years of American conflict - from the Revolution to the war in Iraq.
Civil War Documents - Includes diaries, letters and personal documents.
Classic TV Ads - 'Just commercials...really old ones.'
Cornell University Library - Digital Collections - Collections include: A.D. White Collection of Architectural Photographs, Archives of the College of Beterinary Medicine:Historical Photographs Collection, Beautiful Birds: Masterpieces from the Hill Ornithology Collection and much more.
Digitized Primary American History Sources - Links to libraries, universities and other repositories of digitized sources.
Dr. Seuss Went to War - A catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss.
EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents for Western Europe - Selected transcriptions, facsimiles and translations for Western Europe, from Andorra to Vatican City.
Explore The Amazing World of Early America - Links to newspapers, magazines, letters, documents, maps and portraits.
EyeWitness - History Through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It - Links to documents, images and audio files for varied time periods, including: The Ancient World, Middle Ages, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Also categories for topics including: The American Civil War, The Old West and World Wars I and II.
Eyewitness Accounts - Eyewitness accounts of historical events.
Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt - A selection of FDR's fireside chats, from 1933 to 1944.
Gopher Menu - Primary source texts related to history.
Historical Recipes of Different Cultures - Included are Medieval and Anglo Saxon recipes, Medieval European recipes and Antique Roman dishes from an old Roman cookbook.
History of Ireland - Primary Documents - The site provides links (some of them annotated) to primary documents on Irish history.
Holocaust Photos - Graphic images from the holocaust.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook - Included are full text sources as well as commentaries.
Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War - Letters written by Newton Scott, a Private from Company A, of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunters from October 1862 through August 1865.
Letters, Diaries, Reminiscences, and Manuscripts of New York Soldiers and Nurses - Civil War letters and diaries written by soldiers and nurses from New York.
MC322: International Law and Organizations - Primary sources including charters, agreements and statutes, acts and treaties.
Museum of Tolerance Online - Special Collections - Documents related to World War II and the Holocaust, in German, English, Hebrew and Polish.
NYPL Digital Schomburg - Images of African Americans from the 19th Century - Search for images from categories including the Civil War, Politics, Education and Religion.
New Deal Network - A research and teaching resource devoted to the bublic works and arts projects of the New Deal, with a database of photographs, political cartoons and texts (speeches, letters and other historical documents fromt the New Deal.)
On-Line Nineteenth Century Documents - View official documents, letters and diaries, illustrations, song sheets and miscellaneous documents from the civil war era.
Online Gallery - Turning the Pages - This British Library's site allows you to leaf through 15 great works including the First Atlas of Europe, The History of England in Jane Austen's own hand and the Original Alice by Lewis Carroll
Ourdocuments.gov - Explore 100 milestone documents of American History. Also links to teacher tools and tips for integrating the site into the classroom.
Photographic Archives - Map of Middle East with links to archive photographs.
Photographs of the American West 1861-1912 - Select audiovisual records from the National Archives and Records Administration.
Photographs of the Great Depression - Images divided into categories such as: Migrant Workers, Farms for Sale, Unemployed, Breadlines and Soup Kitchens, etc.
Popular Songs in American History - Tunes(midi files), lyrics, information and historical background of American folk and traditional music.
Powers of Persuasion - Poster Art from World War II.
Primary Sources and Activities - This page contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections.
Repositories of Primary Sources - A listing of over 4000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Near East.
Science Service Historical Image Collection - A Smithsonian collection that represents twentieth-century scientific research consisting of images and original captions as they appeared in period publications. A 40 year random sample of innovation and invention is provided; which is specific to the subject of electricity.
Selected Images of Ellis Island and Immigration, ca 18880-1920 - Images from the Library of Congress'Prints and Photographs Division.
Spy Letters of the American Revolution - From the Collections of the Clements Library - Letters, stories about the spies and links to more information.
TeachersFirst.com - Original Documents - Key documents and collections of original text documents dealing with American History.
Texts - Primary source documents and transcripts from the Magna Carta to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I have a dream' speech.
The 1900's - America's news and lifestyle headlines from 1900 to 1999 ...plus a century of sound, including songs, speeches, and radio/television broadcasts.
The American Colonist's Library - A Treasury of Primary Documents - Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History - An invaluable collection of historical works which contributed to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals.
The American Memory - The Library of Congress' Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
The American Museum of Photography - The face of slavery and other early images of African Americans.
The Authentic History Center - A collection of authentic primary history sources from American culture, from colonial days through to the 1990s. Included are text and audio documents such as: letters, diaries, political cartoons, and speeches speeches.
The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School - Documents in law, history and diplomacy.
The History Place - Child Labor in America 1908-1912 - Photographs, and the original photo captions, of Lewis W. Hine.
The National Archives Experience - Digital Vaults - Build your own online collection; keep a running list of things you have seen; take a Pathways Challange; search for records; create your own movie or poster
The Qumran Library - Fragments and translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The University of Oklahoma Law Center - A Chronology of US Historical Documents.
The World War I Document Archive - Links to treaties, official papers, personal reminiscences and images categorized by topic and by year.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections & Archives - The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives’ online catalog provides a means for searching and retrieving information for collections in its current holdings.
Voices of the Twentieth Century - Sound clips include Robert E. Peary describes planting the American flag at the North Pole and a radio reporter giving an eyewitness account of the the Allied invasion of Europe.
WW1 Memoirs & Rembrances - Links to letters, articles, interviews and books from the period of the first world war.

Document Based Questions

'Been Here So Long' - A lesson for generating a student-created Document Based Question.
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy - A primary source document lesson for High School students.
AP Advanced Placement Program - Study Skills: Improving Your Writing Skills - Suggestions for writing a good response to a Document-Based question (DBQ) or free-response essay question.
DBQ Project Page - DBQs created by high school students.
DBQ/Teaching with Documents - A site with links to sample DBQs, resources and guides to writing and answering DBQs.
Document - Based Questions aka DBQs - Links to description, samples, lesson plans, assessment and primary sources.
Document Based Question: Berlin Wall - DBQ for high school grades.
Document Based Question: Erie Canal - Fourth grade DBQ created for the Bethpage School District.
Document Based Question: Origins of the Cold War - DBQ for high school grades.
Document Based Questions - A selection of sample essays and essay questions, using the new testing formats, to help meet the new NYS standards for Social Studies, maintained by Scott McAuley.
Document Based Questions DBQs Dos and Don'ts - Strategies for succsessfully answering a DBQ, and links to 3 past A.P. DBQs: Women's Rights 1890-1925; Jeffersonians and Strict Constructionism and Colonial Attitudes Prior to the American Revolution.
Guide to the New Standards - Minding Their DBQs - New York Teacher's tips to help students master Document-Based Questions.
New York Teacher - Minding Their DBQs - An article with tips to help students cope with document-based questions.
Primary Source of the Month - CyberBee's monthly selection varies to provide a range of documents for students to examine.
Student Created Document Based Questions - To teach students how to ask, answer and evaluate higher level of thinking questions, for grades 2-4, and for the middle school.
Taking the DBQ - Hints and strategies for taking the DBQ.
The City of Washington at Lincoln's Death - A primary source document exercise, sponsored by the Smithsonian.
The Revolution of 1989 In Germany - A DBQ for use in Advanced Placement European History, with links to the documents, analysis of the documents, and a rubric for assessing the student's response.
Yorkers Document Based Questions - DBQs designed to prepare 4th and 5th grade students for the New York State assessment. Documents are available for downloading.
Yorkers Document-Based Questions - Designed for use in the 4th-5th grade classrooms, including documents, scaffolding and essay questions on 4 topics.

Assessments

Analyzing the Grade 5 Social Studies Assessment - Identifies skills students need and suggests activities and resources to support these skills.
Developing Assessments - A Guide to Multiple Choice, Constructed Response,Thematic Essays, and DBQ Items.
Document Based Questions - Developing Assessments - A Guide to Multiple Choice, Constructed Response,Thematic Essays, and DBQ Items.
Practice Scoring Guide for Document Based Questions - A rubric from: U.S. History: Preparing for the A.P.Exam, AMSCO Publishers, 1998.
State Assessment - General information and exam schedules are given, along with pdf versions of the new and revised assessments.

General Resources

The Document Based Question - Tips and guidelines for addressing DBQs.
DBQ Suggestions - Documents with prompt questions to guide interpretation.
DBQ's Hints & Helps - Tips to help students respond successfully to a DBQ.
Document Analysis Worksheets - Designed and developed by the Education Staff of the National Archives and Records Administration. Includes worksheets for written documents, photos, posters, maps, cartoons, artifacts, sound recordings and motion pictures.
Guide to the New Standards - NYSUT's guide for teachers and parents with information and tips for helping students meet the new standards and master DBQs.
History Firsthand - Primary Source Research in Elementary School - Designed to provide students with experiences that will help them develop and understanding and appreciation of primary sources. Includes units, lesson plans and assessments.
History in the Raw - National Archives article about the importance of using primary sources with students.
How To Read A 200-Year-Old Document and Other FAQs - Information about interpretating 18th century documents.
Lesson Framework - A framework to help you use primary sources throughout your teaching.
New York State - Social Studies - Document-Based Questions(DBQ) - Homepage of 2 online courses: Course I is about using historical records in the classroom. Course II discusses the process and procedures for developing DBQs and rating them, as well as how they relate to the learning standards, and strategies for preparing students to respond effectively .
PoliticalCartoons.com - Teachers Guide and Lesson Plans for using editorial cartoons as a teaching tool in Social Sciences, Art, Journalism and English at all levels.
Read Primary Source Documents - Rationale and suggested questions for using primary source documents.
Student Worksheets - Links to worksheets for analyzing cartoons, photographs, posters, written documents and other primary sources.
The Big Picture - Puzzle sets that challengeyou with four or five jigsaw puzzles made from images found in the American Memory collections. As each puzzle in the set is completed, a new puzzle will appear...until you have completed all of the puzzles in that set. You will then have a chance to use what you have learned to discover the Big Picture...the theme the images in the set have in common.
Using Pictures in Lessons - NCRTEC provides lesson plans to provide ideas about how to use pictures and other graphic resources effectively in your classroom.
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom - Suggestions for using a variety of primary sources (tombstones, uniforms,images, art, music, statistics, cookbooks and advertising to name a few)to enhance your social studies curriculum.
Using Primary Sources on the Web - This brief guide is designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate the internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online.
You Be the Historian - Look at objects and documents that people left behind to determine how they lived. (4th grade)

Constructed Response Questions

Common Mistakes in Constructed Response Items - Gives samples and solutions with explanations.
Constructed Response Questions - Four sample constructed response questions.
Constructed Response and DBQs in the Grade 4 & 5 Curriculum - Topics include the Bill of Rights, Branches of Government and Immigration.
Constructed Response on Immigration - Two samples of constructed response questions related to immigration.
Constructed Response on New Deal - Constructed response questions focused on charts about the New Deal.
MAP Constructed Response Items - Central Region Missouri Assessment Program's Collection of Constructed Response Items,listed by Grade (K-12), Theme, and subject area.
Rubric for Constructed-Response Writing Item - From the Utah Core Assessment Series - Secondary Language Arts Test.
What is a Constructed Response? - Defines and gives samples.

Content by Paula Goldstein, pgoldste@mail.nasboces.org
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listdocumentpa.html
Last revised Wed Sep 2 22:10:00 US/Pacific 2009