THE AP ESSAYS AP Language and Composition

Details to remember ◦1. Remember the Scorers are buried in student essays that are mind-numbing and repetitive. They are just hoping to get that one brilliant piece of writing that breaks the monotony and is a pleasure to read. ◦2. These Scorers are not judging your work in relation to some ideal standard of what a “perfect” essay should be. They are trained to score your essays in relation to the rubric. ◦Prompts will ask you to “defend” (agree with), “challenge” (disagree with), or “qualify” (agree or disagree, but only in certain defined circumstances).

How to secure a better score. Make sure to: ◦ Understand your task (Prompt) and maintain a laser focus on it. ◦ Demonstrate depth of thought instead of simply taking the prompt at face value. ◦Give precise explanation of how you understand the terms (examples: justice, education, etc.) as it’s used in the prompt and how you intend to discuss it. ◦Take a definite position on the prompt topic, argue it convincingly. Use strong, relevant evidence to support the position. ◦Plan your writing 2-4 minutes. Organize your points. ◦Express your ideas with style and sophistication. ◦Write in paragraph format. Not one long paragraph.

THE RHETORICAL ESSAY

Analysis Essay You get a prose passage to analyze. ◦In the Rhetorical analysis passage, what is the writer’s purpose? What techniques make that purpose clear and effective? In which order should you explain them? ◦In this essay you also need to take a position, “This is the author’s purpose, these are the three or four most important techniques the author uses to achieve that purpose, and this is how each technique makes the purpose more effective

Analysis Essay You get a prose passage to analyze. ◦The passage will be drawn from various genres and time periods. ◦Look for three main things: ◦An understanding of the author’s intended purpose. ◦The ability to identify the chief rhetorical strategies used to achieve that purpose effectively. ◦An analysis of how those strategies contribute to the development and effectiveness of the writer’s argument. ◦It involves the analysis of language, including rhetorical strategies and stylistic elements. ◦The College Board wants to determine your facility with reading, understanding, and analyzing challenging texts. They also want to access how well you manipulate language to communicate your written analysis of a specific topic to a mature audience. ◦You writing should be a direct reflection of your critical thinking.

What is rhetoric? ◦An umbrella term for all of the strategies, modes, and devices a writer can employ to allow the reader to easily accept and understand his or her point of view. ◦Prose is divided into: (also called Modes of Discourse) ◦Exposition – illustrates a point ◦Narration – tells a story ◦Description – creates a sensory image ◦Argumentation – takes a position on an issue and defends it

Rhetorical Strategies ◦1. Examples: used to support or illustrate a topic. ◦Need to indicate: purpose, one or various examples, and type of organizational pattern. ◦2. Contrast/ Comparison: subject by subject – Subject A is discussed in its entirety and is followed by a full discussion of Subject B; or point by point. ◦Need to indicate: purpose, items being compared or contrasted, pattern development is opposing or alternating and organization: subject to subject, point by point or combination. ◦3. Cause and effect: establishes a relationship B is the result of A. It can emphasize the cause or the effect or can treat both equally. It can detail a single cause with many effects or several causes with a single effect or any combination. Can use: facts, statistics, authorities, anecdotes, cases, real or imagined scenarios ◦4. Classification: separates items into major categories and details the characteristics of each group. ◦5. Process: “how to” do some thing or how something is done. It can give instructions or inform the reader. Is in chronological order, leads from beginning to end through the process. Will define any necessary terms.

THE ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

The Argumentative Essay You get a prompt. ◦What position do you want to take about the topic presented for the argumentative essay. What evidence from your own experiences or reading could you use to support your position? How can you make your argument persuasive?

THE SYNTHESIS ESSAY

The Synthesis Essay ◦Exactly what do you want to conclude about the topic of the synthesis prompt? ◦Which three sources best support the points you want to make? ◦In which order should you incorporate them? ◦Does one of the sources present a significant opposing argument that you should mention and then refute?

Purpose of the Synthesis Essay ◦How well can the student: ◦1. Read critically ◦2. understand texts ◦3. Analyze texts ◦4. Develop a position on a given topic. ◦5. Support a position on a given topic. ◦6. Support a position with appropriate evidence from outside sources ◦7. Incorporate outside sources into the texts of the essay ◦8. Cite sources used in the essay

The synthesis essay is a chance to demonstrate ◦Your ability to a develop a “researched idea” using not only your personal viewpoint, but also the viewpoints of others. This essay becomes a reflection of your critical reading, thinking and writing skills. ◦Here you write an expository essay, you develop your thesis and support it with specific examples from appropriate sources. You develop this essay through analysis, compare and contrast or cause and effect. ◦Or you can present an argument. You take a position on the topic and support it with appropriate outside sources, while indicating the weaknesses of other viewpoints.

Timing and Planning the Synthesis Essay ◦1. Wisely use the allotted time, prewriting 15 minutes, of reading time. ◦Read all three of the prompts ◦Deconstruct each one ◦Read and annotate each of the given texts related to the synthesis prompt. ◦Decide how you will address the synthesis prompt. ◦2. Be aware of the timing of writing your essay. ◦5-6 go back to texts and decide which you will use in your essay ◦8-10 planning the support of your position ◦20 minutes writing the essay ◦3-4 minutes checking the minimum number of sources and correctly citing each of them. ◦3 minutes for proofreading

Developing your synthesis essay ◦1. Jot down notes on how will you present your material. ◦2. Jot down the sources you will use ◦3. Start your opening paragraph: refer specifically to the prompt, (do not just rewrite it) and introduction. Don’t forget to wake up the essay scorer with your AGS. ◦4. Clearly state your position on the given topic. Are you supporting, opposing or qualifying. ◦5. Plan the body- What points will you make? What evidence/ support will you use that supports your 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th point. Don’t forget to cite the sources. ◦6. The conclusion- should not be a summary, or repetition. You need final remarks a reworded thesis and a connection to your AGS. Have that reader want to reflect or take action on your view.

Having a Conversation with your sources Synthesis Essay ◦You need to weave the three sources into your own discussion of the prompt, using them to support and develop the position you have chosen to take. ◦Imagine the creators of your chosen sources are sitting together in a living room discussing the topic of the prompt. Now you walk in and join the conversation. ◦You would respond to the comments, build on them, use them to enrich your own views. You would add something to the discussion and they would add something to your own understanding of the topic. Then, if you had a conversation with each author individually, you would try to understand the author’s position and add your own ideas to the discussion.

Vocabulary to know: ◦UnderstatementEuphemism ◦SynecdocheEpigraph ◦SatireAntithesis ◦OxymoronCacophony ◦MotifAllegory ◦Metonymy ◦Invective ◦Epigraph

Works Cited Hartzell, Richard, Princeton review staff. Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam Penguin Random House. US Murphy, Barbara L., Rankin, Estelle M. 5 steps to a 5: AP English Language McGraw Hill Education, US Shea, Renee H., Lawrence Scanlon, Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition. Second Edition Bedford/ St. Martins. New York