SQUEEZING DOCUMENTS:
Close Reading of Primary Sources

1. Introduction: DBQs, EQs, and the Four Questions (15 minutes)

   Document-based questions (DBQs) are not complex. They are exactly what they seem to be: inquiries framed by us, the teachers, directing students into and through primary sources for the purposes of research, analysis, investigation - for learning. They focus tightly on a single document or a small related group of documents, examining those sources from the inside out. DBQs ask the student to use the historian's skills and tools to parse the document closely for meaning, significance, nuance, mood, attitude, style. They challenge the researcher to really dig into every word, every image, every sound, every shadow, and then report on what they have found.

   DBQs can be used in relative isolation from other sources and situations. Initially, we start with the specific and then move to the general by beginning with a narrow focus and then moving into a broader perspective. In the next stage, we ask the student to place the document(s) in their historical context. We are working inside-out, beginning with the end in mind.

   The types of documents that might be included as historical sources include:

   • Public records
   • Diaries and letters
   • Art, literature, and music
   • Charts and graphs
   • Maps
   • Speeches
   • News articles
   • Interviews
   • Photographs
   • Political cartoons

   Essential Questions (EQs) help us in this process of inquiry. You are all familiar with the Essential Question. You use it every day in every class you teach. It is the question that leads your students to critical thinking about central themes, concepts, ideas, issues, and trends. It is no less important to identify and use EQs - in fact, it is vital - when leading students in their analysis of documents online as it is to use them in the conventional classroom.

   Every question developed and posed in the process of querying a document will not be an Essential Question. I find, rather, that the opposite is true: the teacher should lead and guide the student to asking the EQ by posing, well, non-essential questions. But this does not, however, diminish the importance of the non-essential, or leading questions. The student is not likely to get to the point where she asks the EQs unless the teacher has done a good job of guiding her there with the leading questions.

   Finally, there are the Four Questions that are useful for querying any document:

   • Who is the author?
   • Who is the audience?
   • What is the immediate reason that the document was created?
   • How does the student/researcher/historian use and interpret the document?

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2. The Lesson Plan (45 minutes)
   1. In groups, go to Jackie Steals Home and work through the lesson plan, as students would. Be the teacher as you go along, also, taking notes of the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson plan, recording how you would change it to run with your own students with your own resources. Use the tools above as you do this, pointing out whether the lesson plan satisfies the posing of DBQs, EQs, and the Four Questions.

   2. Share your findings with your colleagues. Limit: 5 minutes per group. Critique the lesson plan, the documents chosen, the use of the documents, and whatever else you consider relevant.

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3. The Documents (50 minutes)
   In new groups, analyze the following documents, and be prepared to report out on the following issues: What is a "good" document? What is a "bad" document? List the attributes that separate a "bad" document from a "good" one. Also list the software or equipment that you will need to use the documents (Flash; Shockwave; RealPlayer; headphones; QuickTime, etc.). Create the criteria for evaluating them. Do you need to add to the basic Four Questions (for instance, with a How question)? Can you help students through a difficult document, for example, Rickey's long speech: numbering the [44] paragraphs? Do not forget the ultimate consumers here-the students, not the teachers.
   1. Examples for group 1: (text documents)
      • Letter from Helen Keller to Alexander Graham Bell, February 19, 1907
      • $200 reward

   2. For group 2 (photographs):
      • Harvard University Team, 1904
      • [African American baseball players of Morris Brown College, with boy and another man standing at door, Atlanta, Georgia].
      • "The Maine base ball club"

   3. For group 3 (maps):
      • North America divided into its III principall [sic] parts.
      • Virginia, Marylandia et Carolina in America septentrionali Britannorum industria excultæ repræsentatæ â Ioh. Bapt. Homann.
      • Oceania

   4. For group 4 (posters):
      • By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

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4. Wrap Up (15 minutes)
   Groups report out on the documents that they have analyzed. What are some do's and don'ts when selecting documents? How do DBQs, EQs, and 4Qs contribute to a good lesson plan?