Document Based Questions. A bit of help plz?
Before we write the essay, what we had to do was first fill out a chart with two columns for each doc. For the 1st column, it asks us “Why is the point of view important? Is the speaker important? What does it tell you about the MEANING of the doc.? ”
And for the 2nd column: “How does the doc help you answer the question? In what ways does the doc identify and evaluate the positive and negative aspects of [Roman] society?”
that’s where it loses me. could anyone who has gone through this explain to me what exactly we should fill in the charts in words easier to comprehend? they talk martian! they write it in words like these on purpose so i wont get anything.
Favorite Answer
For the second column you need to identify reference points where it is made clear what the point of view of the person is- for example if the writer talks of “the barbarians” you can assume that he/she isn’t. “In what ways” are usually things like naming and describing different classes within the document, identifying roles and positions in society.. using the relationships active and passive explained in the document. These will always be partial, so this can be mentiond in “how does it help,” this would normally be answered by saying things like “it helps by identifying…” there is likely to be a lot of ~”however”
Points of view will exagerate one aspect and increase its significance: for instance a higher class person looking at equality in his/her own society is likely to emphasise the personal aspects of the lower classes that keep people poor, whereas the lower classes emphasise lack of opportunity…
Unfortunately the 3rd question on column one, as to what the “meaning” of any document is, is impossible to answer. Usually knowing who they are when writing something helps us understand whyit was written and what for. this is usually “the meaning” of the document is.
However “the meaning” of any document is never simply what it was written for. What is “the meaning” of the rights of man or of MLK’s I hacve a dream speech – this is why the question is impossible to answer from an abstract point of view!
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