Prewriting and Outlining: What caused the Sepoy Rebellion?

BucketingLook over all the documents and organize them into your final buckets. Write bucket labels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the buckets where they belong. Remember, your buckets are going to be your body paragraphs. It is possible that some documents will fir into more than one bucket.

Thesis Development and Road MapOn the chickenfoot below, write your thesis and your road map. Your thesis is always an opinion that answers the DBQ question. The road map is created from your bucket labels and lists the topic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.

DBQ Essay Outline Guide

Use MLA format. Each paragraph should be a minimum of 5 sentences. This includes your conclusion.

Paragraph #1 Grabber: Something interesting to grab readers’ attention Background: What should readers know about your topic before you

begin to make your argument? Restating the question with key terms defined Thesis and road map

Paragraph #2 Topic Sentence/Baby Thesis: What is the subject of your first bucket?

What will you prove in this paragraph? Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Transition: Link this paragraph to your next

Paragraph #3 Topic Sentence/Baby Thesis: What is the subject of your first bucket?

What will you prove in this paragraph? Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Transition: Link this paragraph to your next

Paragraph #4 Topic Sentence/Baby Thesis: What is the subject of your first bucket?

What will you prove in this paragraph? Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Evidence: supporting detail from the documents with citation Analysis/Argument: connect your evidence to the main thesis Transition: Link this paragraph to your next

Paragraph #5 Conclusion: “Although” statement followed by restatement of main

thesis.