The analysis question An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. Essentially, the question is: What is the meaning and how do we know?

The Way (or at least ONE way) Topic Claim/Direction: _______, _________, and ________ Qualifier (proving, illustrating, etc.) – this points the reader in the direction of your conclusion. Universal Idea – an idea that cannot be “touched” and agreed upon by most people in a society (love, freedom, education, fairness, etc) The WAY does not always have to be in the above order.

The Way Topic Claim/Direction: _______, _________, and ________ Qualifier (to suggest, illustrating, etc.) – this points the reader in the direction of your conclusion. Universal Idea – an idea that cannot be “touched” and agreed upon by most people in a society (love, freedom, education, fairness, etc) In the essay “Trouble in River City”, Bart Chartman uses diction, allusion, and parallelism to illuminate the contradictions and dangers of losing control of local government and, thus, losing local loyalty.

The Way In the essay “Trouble in River City”, Bart Chartman uses diction, allusion, and parallelism to illuminate the contradictions and dangers of losing control of local government and, thus, losing local loyalty. So, essentially… The meaning of this essay is that losing control of local government causes the loss of loyalty. I know this because the writer used diction, allusion, and parallelism in this essay to illustrate it.

The analysis essay You must analyze the language of the piece, which includes: –Rhetorical strategies (Tools that enable a writer to present ideas to an audience effectively, e.g. ethos, logos, pathos) –Stylistic elements (figures of speech, e.g. allusion, metaphor, hyperbole) –Diction (e.g. choice of words, author’s tone) –Syntax (format of the linguistic elements, e.g. sentence length, use of phrases, parallelism)

The purpose of the analysis essay This question determines your facility with reading, understanding, and analyzing challenging texts. It also demonstrates how well you manipulate language to appeal to a mature audience. The level of your writing should reflect your critical thinking.

What is AP looking for in your analysis essay? Connections between analysis and the passage: –When you find an image, identify and connect it to the prompt. –Don’t just list items as you locate them.

What should you do with the analysis prompt? 1.Mark it up! (no highlighters) 2.Spend 1-3 minutes carefully reading the QUESTION. You must know what the question is asking you to do. Once you know what is expected, you will read in a more directed manner. Once you internalize the question, you will be sensitive to those details that will apply to your analysis. Once you know all the facets that must be addressed, you will be able to write a complete essay adhering to the topic.* *Topic adherence, which means sticking to the question, is a key in scoring high on the AP exam.