The sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in February 1898 is a natural subject for a document-based question. It offers newspaper headlines, official statements, political cartoons, and later investigations that students can compare. Traxel's account of how the press covered the crisis gives teachers useful background for building the document set. The challenge is that student responses tend to cluster around the same two or three arguments, which makes careful scoring harder than it looks.

A DBQ rewards students for using documents as evidence, not for summarizing each one in order. Many students march through the packet, describing Document A, then Document B, and never build an argument that connects them. Graders need a way to spot this quickly, because it affects nearly every scoring category. Deciding in advance what counts as using a document versus merely mentioning it helps keep scores consistent across the whole class.

Teachers should also decide how to handle outside evidence. Students who have read about the war may bring in details such as the Teller Amendment or the role of Cuban insurgents that are not in the packet. Those details can strengthen an essay, but only if they are connected to the argument. A short note on the rubric clarifying how outside information is credited prevents disputes and rewards students who read beyond the assigned documents.

Scoring Document Use and Sourcing

Sourcing is the skill that separates strong DBQ essays from average ones. A student who writes that a newspaper headline blamed Spain should also consider who wrote it, what the paper sold, and how the editor benefited from selling a crisis. Without that step, the document is treated as a fact instead of a perspective. Rubrics should reward students who explain how point of view, purpose, or audience affects the reliability of a source.

• Uses at least four documents to support a clear argument about the causes of war
• Explains the point of view or purpose of at least two sources
• Groups documents by theme rather than discussing them one at a time
• Includes one piece of outside evidence that extends the argument
• Addresses a counterclaim, such as the role of economic interests or humanitarian concern

Handling Thesis and Contextualization

Many DBQ theses on this topic are too broad, such as saying that newspapers played a big role in starting the war. A stronger thesis weighs the press against other causes, perhaps arguing that newspapers amplified public anger that already existed because of reports from Cuba. Graders can ask a simple question to test any thesis: could a reasonable person disagree with this? If the answer is no, the claim needs more work.

Contextualization should place the Maine incident inside the longer story of the Cuban independence struggle and American interest in the Caribbean. Students who start the essay at the explosion miss the buildup, including the harsh Spanish policies that drew sympathy in the United States. Teachers can reward even a brief paragraph that connects the event to earlier developments. This is a skill that transfers directly to AP exams and to any history writing.

Giving Feedback That Students Will Use

The most helpful feedback on a DBQ identifies where a student stopped short of analysis. A comment like "you describe the cartoon but do not say what it suggests about public opinion" points to the exact move needed. Compare that with "analyze more," which students rarely know how to act on. Writing comments of the first type for every essay takes time, so many teachers build a bank of common comments and personalize as needed.

AI grading tools can draft comments tied to each rubric row and flag essays where document use looks thin. A teacher still reads the work, but starts from a structured first pass rather than a blank page. This is especially useful during heavy grading weeks when several sections submit at once. The goal is not to remove the teacher from the process but to make sure the feedback students receive is specific, consistent, and returned while it still matters.

Calibrating Before You Grade

Before scoring the full set, pull five essays that represent a range of quality and score them against the rubric. If a colleague teaches the same unit, compare results and talk through any differences. These conversations quickly reveal where the rubric language is vague, such as what counts as a complex understanding of the topic. Adjusting the wording before grading begins saves far more time than revising scores afterward.

Share anchor examples with students as well. A strong paragraph that uses two documents to build one claim about the press, shown next to a weaker one that describes each source separately, makes the abstract rubric concrete. Students can then revise with a clear target in mind. Over the course of a unit, this kind of transparency reduces grade disputes and improves the quality of the writing that arrives on the due date.