DBQs & Primary Source Sets
Document-based questions put real historical sources in front of students and ask them to think like historians. These DBQ and primary-source sets pair excerpted documents — speeches, letters, engravings, official acts, and data tables — with guiding questions and a writing prompt that asks students to build an argument from evidence. Each set is classroom-ready: the documents are trimmed to a usable length, the questions scaffold from sourcing to corroboration, and a teacher key explains how the pieces fit together and where to cut if you're short on time. They print on standard US Letter paper and work for a single class period or a multi-day source-analysis unit. Sets are anchored to topics in the existing history catalog, so they slot into units you already teach. US History sets are up first; world history and religion and cultural history follow as the collection grows.
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US History
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on the road to American independence, built around one arguable question: Were the colonists defending old rights, or claiming new ones?
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on Black Americans in the American Revolution, built around one arguable question: Which side offered Black Americans the better chance at freedom, the Patriots or the British?
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on the framing and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, built around one arguable question: Was the Constitution ratified on its merits, or on a promise?
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on the Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolution, December 25, 1776 to January 3, 1777: the crossing of the Delaware, the Battle of Trenton, and the Battle of Princeton. It is built around one arguable question: How did these ten days change the war, and was the bigger change on the battlefield or in people's minds?
Civics & Current Issues
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on artificial intelligence and fairness, built around one arguable question: Should facial recognition technology be used if it is not equally accurate for everyone?
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on commercial spaceflight, built around one arguable question: Should private companies lead space exploration?
A complete document-based question (DBQ) packet on self-driving technology, built around one arguable question: Are self-driving cars ready for our roads?