They Say, I SayTips for Writing Your DBQ and any Other Academic Essay

IntroductionWhen you write an academic

essay, you are entering a "conversation" that has been going on before you came and will continue after you leave. Think of this like an ongoing intellectual party at a big house with many people clustered in circles discussing and arguing. You:

Enter1. Listen to what others say (read)2. Understand their views/beliefs

(synthesize)3. Decide what you believe (think)4. Add to the conversation with

your own claim that either agrees or disagrees with theirs (write)

LeaveYou have the choice to:

1. Agree and add examples2. Disagree and explain why3. Agree with part of their claim,

disagree with part, and explain and elaborate.

“THEY SAY”Templates for how to introduce what

Templates1. ______________ has suggested that

__________________.2. In his/her recent work,

_______________________ has offered/noted/argued/espoused that _________________________.

3. In his/her article "______________________," ______________________ insists/states/asserts that _________________________.

Practice with Document EThe Role of Quinine (from World History: Modern Times, author Jackson

Speilvogal)Before, 1850, the fear of disease was a major factor in keeping Europeans from moving into Africa. Especially frightening was malaria, an often fatal disease spread by parasites. Malaria is especially devastating in tropical and subtropical regions, which offer good conditions for breeding the mosquitoes that carry and spread the malaria parasites.By 1850, European doctors had learned how to treat malaria with quinine, a drug that greatly reduced the death rate from the disease. Quinine is a bitter drug obtained from the bark of the cinchona tree, which is native to the slopes of the Andes in South America. The Indians of Peru were the first people to use the bark of the cinchona tree to treat malaria.The Dutch took the cinchona tree and began to grow it in the East Indies. The East Indies eventually became the chief source of quinine. With the use of quinine and other medicines, Euopeans felt more secure about moving into Africa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 90 percent of African lands were under the control of the European powers. A drug found in the bark of Latin American trees, which were then grown in Asia, had been used by Europeans to make possible their conquest of Africa.

ExampleIn an article from World History:

Modern Times “The Role of Quinine,” Jackson Speilvogal states that the discovery of quinine gave Europeans the proper armor against malaria allowing them to colonize 90% of Africa.

“I SAY”Templates for introducing

If you agree:I acknowledge/support/admire

___________________'s assertion/claim/position for ____________________ reasons.

I agree that __________________________ because my experience with _______________________ confirms it.

If you disagree:I refute/reject/repudiate

_____________________'s position/claim/assertion because ___________________________.

I think _____________________ is mistake because ________________________.

By focusing on _______________________, ________________________ overlooks the deeper issue of _________________.

If you agree with some parts, but not allI’m of two minds about X’s claim

that___________. On one hand, I agree that_____________. On the other hand, I’m not sure if ___________________.

Although I disagree with much of what _____________________ says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that ___________________.

Practice with this claimIn an article from World History:

Modern Times “The Role of Quinine,” Jackson Speilvogal states that the discovery of quinine allows Europeans to successfully colonize 90% of Africa.

Example + Connection to ThesisI support Speilvogal’s assertion for a

multitude of reasons. Prior to imperialism, Europeans died time and time again from malaria. With the discovery of quinine, Europeans were able to successfully battle the disease and colonize Africa. They neglected to share the quinine with the Africans and only used it to their advantage making imperialism ultimately beneficial for Europeans, but detrimental to the Africans.

THE ART OF QUOTING

Don’t be a Hit-and-Run QuoterMany people drop quotations in

the text and then move on to the next sentence without any explanation like a driver from a car accident in which the driver speeds away without taking any responsibility.

Example of a “Hit-and-Run” Quote Using Document D (from ED Morel’s Black Man’s Burden)

“What the partial occupation of his soil by the white man has failed to ; …what the [machine gun] and the rife, the slave gang, labour in the bowels of the earth and the lash, have failed to do; what imported measles, smallpox, and syphilis have failed to do; whatever the overseas slave trade failed to do; the power of modern capitalistic exploitation, assisted by modern engines of destruction, may yet succeed in accomplishing…Thus the African is really helpless against the material gods of the white man, as embodied in the trinity of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation, and militarism.”

E.D. Morel eloquently talks about the Black Man’s Burden. “Thus the African is really helpless against the material gods of the white man, as embodied in the trinity of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation, and militarism.” I think he is right. Another point Morel makes…

Templates for Introducing QuotationsX states, “not all steriods should

be banned from sports.”As the prominent philosopher X

puts it, “__________.”According to X, “_____________”In her book, _________, X

maintains that “_____________”X complicates matters further

when she writes, “____________”

Introducing Quotes from a NovelPROVIDE CONTEXT FOR QUOTEIn the scene where_____________, (state

character’s name) says, “______________.”

In response to (insert a character’s name or a situation), (insert character’s name) says, “____________.”

When (explain scene in the novel), (author’s name) writes, “_____________.”

Try using a template to explain this quote“[h]e felt a relief within as a

hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth” (147).

ExampleIn the scene where the

missionaries come to the village of Mbanta and explain Christianity to the villagers, Nwoye “…felt a relief within as a hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth” (147).

Templates for Explaining QuotesBasically, X is warning that

__________________________.In other words, X believes

__________________.In making this comment, X urges us to

_________________. X is corroborating the age-old adage

that___________________X’s point is that _________________.The essence of X’s argument is that

____________________.

Using templates to explain the previous quote + connection to thesis In the scene where the missionaries come to the

village of Mbanta and explain Christianity to the villagers, Nwoye “…felt a relief within as a hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth” (147). Achebe’s point in writing this section is that while the other villages might question the seemingly strange religion of Christianity, Nwoye embraces it. This new religion fills voids created by the Igbo religion. In this quote, Achebe says that for Nwoye life was a “dry palate of panting earth” and Christianity offers “drops of frozen rain” offering much needed relief. This shows the beneficial effects of imperialism on colonized people who questioned their way of life prior to imperialism.