Download 1/4 Aim: Improving your democracy DBQ

1/4 Aim: Improving your democracy DBQ
• Intro
• Thesis – Should take a stand one way or the other
• Athens had many democratic characteristics, yet it had debt slavery at one
time and women could not participate.
• Athens had many democratic characteristics, yet it was not truly a democracy
due to the fact that….
• Although Athens made an attempt at reforming society to make it more
democratic, it was still too limited in its views on citizenship as well as overall
participation among all social classes to be considered a true democracy.
• Missing Voice
• you must explain HOW hearing from that person would help! You must
explain THE NEED! For example, hearing from a person of the lower class
would help us better understand the extent to which they actually participated
in the democracy because it is believed that they allowed the upper class
members of society to participate in their stead.
•Hearing from women and slaves would not help us better understand the
extent to which Athens was a democracy b/c we already know they were not
citizens and could not participate!
• “Hearing from women, slaves, and lower class people would better help us
understand the extent of Athenian democracy…” No! Do one at a time!
1/4 Aim: Improving your democracy DBQ
• Body Paragraphs
• Topic Sentence – should reflect your grouping! For
example: “Athens had many elements which made it a
democratic society.” Don’t start with information from the
document!
• Groupings – you cannot have a group of 1 document. 1
document wasn’t qualify as a group. ALL DOCUMENTS
MUST BE GROUPED – don’t use document info in your intro
or conclusion!
• Citations –
• According to Aristotle, a democracy is a form of
government in which all citizens, rich and poor,
participate (doc 3).
1/4 Aim: Improving your democracy DBQ
• Body Paragraphs
• Analysis – you must analyze the documents, not simply list
information from them. Explain HOW the information in the
documents support your thesis. For example: Ostracism was present
in ancient Athens with the intent of ridding the society of Tyrants
(doc 1 ). This show that Athenians sought to maintain the democracy by
voting out anybody who was believed to threaten it. In addition, it
shows the presence of voting in Athenian society.
• The purpose of point of view is to identify whether a source is
exaggerated, biased, or skewed in some way.
• Point of View – you must state who the author is. You should then
explain what they are saying. Then, you MUST explain why they are
saying what they are saying. This is based on who they are! Use SOAP
to help you analyze! For example: This document should be
approached with causing because Pericles was the leader of Athens and
was speaking to the citizens at a funeral for fallen soldiers during the
Peloponnesian war. He may exaggerate the greatness of the
government , as leaders often do, to create a sense of pride in the city
state and make the families believe their loved ones did not die in vain .
1/4 Aim: Improving your democracy DBQ
• Other issues:
• Don’t refer to “the documents” or “the sources” – “some of the
documents show that it was democratic, and some show that it
wasn’t.” THIS IS YOUR ARGUMENT!
• Don’t ask questions ; “Was Athens really a democracy?”
• You must use ALL of the documents!
• Don’t “lump” documents – “Prior to the reforms of Solon, the poor
were enslaved through debt to the rich (docs 2 and 3).”
• Write in the past tense.
• Don’t quote directly from the documents! Paraphrase!
• Find other ways of saying “things” and “a lot.”
• Take yourself out of the essay!! “I would like to hear from…”
• You don’t need to write “In conclusion.”
• For a take home essay, begin your intro with some background info
(not your thesis) and always write a conclusion.