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Assignment/Activity Title- DBQ: Religion and Women Vear- Junior

Skill- Writing Portfolio Competency- Critical Thinking

For my second portfolio entry of Junior year, I chose to include my World History Document Based Question
(DBQ) assignment on the role of women in religion. We were given a packet of seven different sources that contracted the
role of women in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in Europe and the Middle East during 600-1400 ceo The sources were a
combination of documents with historical meaning to certain religions; like the Torah, Bible, or Quran; and journaled
reflections of individuals during the time period. Overall, the sources revealed the complex role of women in religion that
exists even today; the contrast between strict, official opinions found in important religious texts and looser opinions
developed in everyday life over time.
Since all of the documents were from the time period of 600-1400 ce, this assignment required us to spend a,
significant amount of time reading and reflecting on the meaning of each text, as the usage of six of the seven documents
was a section of the rubric. After I had developed what I considered an adequate understanding of each piece of writing or
image in the case of document 7, I began drafting my essay. Due to the part of the rubric that required us to include some
sort of compare/contrasting structure and splitting the documents into two or more sections, I had to spend longer on the
pre-writing portion of this essay than is normally required. I believe that this was beneficial, as it required additional
reflection time and a chance for me to collect my thoughts before officially beginning to write. I find that I often prefer to
jump straight into assignments without a formal outline or planning process, and build my papers as I go. Assignments
like a DBQ, that require critical analysis beforehand, teach me the skill of patience in writing.
Another facet of this assignment was the reflection on the usefulness or reliability of each document. Unlike the
other sections of the rubric that just required the inclusion of information and specific examples to support a claim, this
section required me to use my critical thinking skills, why I placed this assignment under that competency. Even though
this part of my paper took the form of a few sentences scattered throughout the larger paragraphs, it allowed me to think
deeper about the context of each document, reminding me that no piece of text exists in a vacuum. To truly understand
history, one must reflect on why certain events occur, and constantly remind oneself that bias impact the complete
knowledge of what is true. As someone who admittedly often likes to complete assignments quickly or just go through
each school day with little reflection, this assignment proved to be another exercise in developing my skepticism, a skill
that will serve me well later in life.
While it is difficult to see the complete impact it will have on my CAP experience, having just turned in my paper,
it is always important to develop my writing skills. More importantly, DBQ writing requires a specific format that is not
intuitive, and it is important to understand the many facets of the rubric required to receive a good grade, like the inclusion
of a comparing/contrasting structure or requesting additional information, two skills not normally written about in school
papers. Directly, this skill will have impact on how I do on the AP exam come May, as DBQ writing is a portion of the
test. Indirectly, requiring students to reflect on the validity of each source is a good example of developing critical
thinking skills, forcing students to think for themselves and come up with reasons for why things are what they are instead
of accepting texts as true. As the second major assignment in world this year, I believe this assignment deserves to be
included in my CAP portfolio because it was a good contrast to what I typically do in the class, or reading the textbook
and memorizing key pieces of information for each quiz. While this assignment may not change my short term habits,
reminders to think critically build up over time, and may remain at the back of my head throughout my life outside of
CAP, forcing me to draw my own conclusions and find my own answers instead of letting others find them for me.

) Date 11/8//7

Date