Prose Analysis Essay for the AP Language and Composition Exam Introduction Information Advice

Just what is “IT”? In the prose analysis essay, Students are presented with a prose passage that can be drawn from various genres and time periods (but mostly from non-fiction). Students are asked to analyze the language, including rhetorical strategies and stylistic elements.

What is the Purpose? The College Board wants to determine your facility with reading, understanding, and analyzing challenging texts. They also want to asses how well you manipulate language to communicate a written analysis of a specific topic to a mature audience. In short, they want to see that your level of writing is a direct reflection of your critical thinking skills.

Rhetorical Strategies Description Narration Examples Comparison/Contrast Process Analysis Classification Argument

Stylistic Elements Diction Syntax Structure Content Rhetorical Devices (see Vocabulary)

What do they WANT? AP is looking for connections between your analysis and the passage… For example, if you find an image in a piece, you must identify it, connect it to the prompt AND then connect it to the attitude, purpose, or main idea of the passage/author.

What kinds of questions? Analyze an author’s view on a specific subject. Analyze rhetorical devices used by an author to achieve his or her purpose. Analyze stylistic elements in a passage and their effects. Analyze the author’s tone and how the author conveys his tone. Compare and/or contrast two passages with regard to style, purpose, or tone. Analyze the author’s purpose and how he or she achieves it. Analyze some of the ways an author recreates a real or imagined experience. Analyze how an author presents him or herself in the passage. Discuss the intended and/or probable effect of a passage.

Can you give me examples of actual questions? Carefully read the following passage by ___. Then, paying particular attention to the changing tone within the passage, write an essay in which you analyze the techniques the author used to express his attitude toward ___. The passage below is from ___ by ___. Read the entire passage carefully. Then write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies the author employs to convey her attitude toward ___. Read the following two passages about ___ carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the distinctive style of each passage reveals the purpose of its writer.

What to do? Be prepared to write an essay based on any of these prompts. Practice! Anticipate questions when you read a work. Keep a list/copy of the questions discussed and/or written on in class. Review handouts. Keep in mind that MC and PA are related.

One constant: No matter the length, complexity, time, or or author of the passage, The task remains consistent—RHETORICAL ANALYSIS. The source will change….BUT THE TOOLS REMAIN THE SAME. Therefore, Knowledge of the terms and processes is CRUCIAL.

The PROCESS -- PROMPT READ THE PROMPT TWICE. “WORK” The PROMPT by underlining, highlighting, coding, or circling the key words and making notes. Make sure you know what the prompt is asking you do to before you proceed. Sometimes the incidental data in the prompt can prove helpful to beginning your essay….

Read and Annotate the Passage 1. Read quickly to get the gist of the passage. 2. Reread slowly, highlighting, noting, coding, etc.—work our your own system. 3. Skim the high points to make sure you have caught the full impact of the passage.

WRITING THE ESSAY Rhetorical Vocabulary Tone/Style/Syntax Power Verbs STUDY AND USE SOAPStone, Rhetorical Framework, Reading Journals Use Handouts Use this PPT. Also, use any other handouts available Rhetorical Vocabulary Tone/Style/Syntax Power Verbs Etc.

GENERAL TIPS: DO NOT BE OVERCONFIDENT But, on the other hand, Do not be thrown by the complexity of the passage. YOU choose the strategies, remember? THEREFORE, BE SURE TO ADDRESS THE PROMPT and then RESPOND TO THE PARTS OF THE PASSAGE YOU DO UNDERSTAND!

SPECIFIC TIPS: NOTE THE TIME YOU STARTED IN THE MARGIN AND THE TIME YOU MUST FINISH. YOU MUST ANNOTATE AND TAKE NOTES before you write. CHOOSE SPECIFIC strategies to use as soon as you can. Ignore what you do not understand Focus on what you do know.

Analysis Organization: Thematic Introduce the text and author Summarize or describe Give pertinent context Provide pertinent biographical details Thesis: How the text works; what it means Analyze the text: Identify a theme or pattern Use examples from the text and appropriate contexts as evidence Continue with 2-4 points (or more) as needed Restate the thesis, relating it to larger (world, text) issues /views: HOW THE TEXT / AUTHOR WORKS WHAT IT MEANS!

Analysis Organization: Chunking Introduce the text and author Summarize or describe Give pertinent context Provide pertinent biographical details Thesis: How the text works; what it means Analyze first section of text Use examples from the text and appropriate contexts as evidence Analyze next section of text Use examples from the text and appropriate contexts as evidence Continue sections as needed. Use examples from the text and appropriate contexts as evidence Restate the thesis, relating it to larger (world, text) issues /views: HOW THE TEXT / AUTHOR WORKS WHAT IT MEANS!

How is PA related to MC? BOTH are Rhetorical Analysis! You are looking for the answers to two basic questions: WHO is the writer/speaker? WHAT is the meaning of the passage? What is the attitude of the writer/speaker? HOW does the author convey or reveal it? WHAT strategies does he/she use?