DBQ

The long term assignment for the first semester in my World History Class has been a DBQ. A DBQ is a project which tons of research must be done to even hope of getting a average grade. The research that has to be done in a DBQ is not the regular google your subject and click on a few of the first links that you see on google, this research involves primary sources from books and the internet.

Primary sources are very difficult to find. I was lucky, my topic was the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and Southeast Asia and I did two projects on this topic and read a few books about it last year. Other kids, however, were not. I cannot count the times where I have gotten text messages or IM’s from friends talking about how impossible it is to find a primary source on there topic. Those are the kids that I feel bad for.

DBQ’s obviously have some purpose and they really would not be very difficult if all kids did not wait until the last minute to begin the project. Numerous people that I have talked to in the past couple of days have told me that they had not even looked at there topic and some of them did not even have the five sources required in the project. Teachers always say to start early and not procrasinate, but do they really think that we would listen to that?

DBQ are commonly known to teachers as Primary Source based Projects, however, students have another name for them, hell.