The Short-Answer Question: Answer, Evidence, Explain

The shape of the task

Each SAQ has three parts, (a) (b) (c), each worth one point, and the whole section is worth 20% of the exam. There is no thesis, no introduction and no conclusion. A part is scored on whether it does the job the verb demands — nothing else.

Read the verb first:

• Identify / Describe — state a specific development and give enough detail that a reader who knew nothing could picture it. Two sentences.
• Explain — give a because. A statement of what happened without a mechanism does not earn an explain point.
• Explain how / Explain the extent — you must connect two things, or take a position on how far something is true.

The ACE paragraph

1. A — Answer. Repeat the words of the prompt and answer it in the first sentence. Do not warm up.
2. C — Cite. One piece of specific evidence: a name, an act, a year, a place.
3. E — Explain. One sentence beginning because or which meant that, linking the evidence back to the answer.

Three to five sentences per part. Around ten minutes for the whole question. Writing more does not earn more, and it costs you the DBQ.

The secondary-source part

Many SAQs open with a short passage from a historian. Part (a) usually asks you to describe that historian's argument — meaning the claim, not the topic. Part (b) then asks for evidence that supports it and part (c) for evidence that undermines it. Your own opinion of who is right earns nothing; what earns points is correctly located evidence on each side.