AP Language and Composition

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Below: Overview of the whole test!

INTEGRATING SOURCES INTO YOUR BODY PARAGRAPHS

Below: 21 minute walk through of the Electoral College Synthesis Prompt. Your objective for this practice is WRITING A THESIS. Tomorrow we will start with everyone reading their THESIS STATEMENT.
1. open a doc
2. track ANNOTATING THE PROMPT
3. track READING THE SOURCES
4. WRITE YOUR THESIS. 

Each quarter you are expected to WRITE  6 WRITERS NOTEBOOKS. YOU MAY CHOOSE AMONG AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PROMPTS. Writers notebooks should be 500 words, unless stipulated. Sometimes I will require a prompt, such as a timed writing. Below are just some of the many prompts you may choose to fulfill this part of the course. 

Recommended Quarterly Readings
Quarterly Readings Writers Notebook
Try an Essay Writing Experiment
125 persuasive essay topics 
Open Letter Writers Notebook
terrific example of an Open Letter WN
Describe the Street Where You Grew Up
Write a One ACT Play
Collective Voice Writer's Notebook 
Thoughts on the Descriptive Essay 
How To Write Good 
Best Comic Ever Writer's Notebook 
Try these writer's block breakers from world authors!
 The America Library of Poetry Contest
Poetry Projects

everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, and scared

Dave Eggers's best writing advice

And. Be Creative. Reach. Explore. Discover. Write a Univolic. 

50 Word Stories
Good News Bad News
Surreal Definition Generator
Haiku Shmaiku
Cartoon Caption Contest
Balderdash
Random Word Associations
Outlier
Tzara's Hat

College Application essay starter and Links
A a risk sample essay
ORead These Prompts and Sample Essays!
College and Grad School Samples 
College App Essay corner at Teen Ink
I dare you to try these from U of Chicago
How to Conquer the College Application Essay
7 Samples and Commentary

LINK TO FRQS and SAMPLES
You may tackle any FRQ for a Writers Notebook

Rhetorical Analysis of Sample Writers Notebook
1. How many sentences in the first paragraph?
2. Highlight the THESIS of the essay.
3. Discuss how the writer generates the argument from A POSITION OF STRENGTH. What are the principles that make the foundation for a strong argument?
4. Highlight SEVEN signal phrases.
5. Draw a line indicating the SHIFT in the essay.
6. The paragraph on p.3 "The USPS must..."
Write a sentence that describes the function EACH SENTENCE performs in the entire paragraph.
for example:
-- "The first sentence transitions from essay's thesis to explain necessary effective changes.
--

The Writer's notebook is the place where the writer goes to work. Start with a prompt, an idea, a spark. We often write in class. Following the first pass of the draft, revise and polish as best you can for the submitted and graded writer's notebook. Students are required to complete 6 every quarter. May this be the place where you experiment and explore, then revise into a submittable piece.

Just copy and paste your essay and bam! the Hemingway Editor identifies common weaknesses, such as unnecessary adverbs or lack of clarity. 

Here's Mr. G's practice essay from the above video. Be sure to follow comments on the side.

FRQ2 2005- 2019. Read. Read. Read. 

1. Below: a must watch intro on the FRQ2: The Rhetorical Situation

2. Below: Getting the Sophistication Point on FRQ2. Watch 5:00-10:00. This is what we talked about with Gandhi, but with the 2014 prompt. You'll see the difference between intros that do and do not get the S-point. 

3. Below: Start at the 9:00 mark. Discussion of 4-level and S-point COMMENTARY. a. State example b. Explain example c. Analyze for writer d. Analyze for audience e. Describe how the choice is persuasive
per the 2014 FRQ2 Adams Letter

4. Below: Attacking the FRQ2: The Thatcher Eulogy. Also, 20:00-40:00, a discussion of the elements of the RHETORICAL SITUATION

5. Below: On writing a GOOD and GREAT Intro, on Albright. Start at 9:24. 

6. Below: Which Strategies should I Choose???
Mrs. Emily takes you through how to use your examples to frame an argument. Start at 6:15

7.  Below: Guided practice: reading the 2008 Geek FRQ2 for a LINE OF REASONING
-Rhetorical Situation
-Main Idea of Writer
-Claims/Evidence
-SHIFT!
-Organization Patterns

8. Below How to Write Commentary in FRQ2: Start at 6:00-- a close look at the difference between getting a 2 and a 3 in row b. Then an example of a 3 and a 2, using the Gandhi FRQ2. Be sure to see 24:30-29:00

9. Below: Walk through an intro for an RA of Bush's post 9/11. Sample intro provided. See 16:00 "As a reader, I'm grateful that the student is not writing They use many devices to achieve their purpose. OR They used pathos logos and ethos to get their message across. 

10. On writing Sophisticated Conclusions: 

TO GET THE SOPHISTICATION POINT
DO:   GO  deep with analysis--see 8SP examples!
DONT just analyze each rhetorical choice in isolation.
DO: THINK THE RHETORICAL STRATEGY --aim to  discuss how the choices all build upon one another
DON'T: device treasure hunt.  
DO: identify 3 choices that build into a larger strategy
IN YOUR CONCLUSION
DO: 3-5 sentences
DONT: 1-2 sentences
DO: In Summary, include one of the following:
-larger significance, i.e. make connections/explain implications
-compelling image
-connect to introduction/line of reasoning
DON'T: merely restate

This Boy's Life Reading Questions

Some Writers Notebook Options
1. 2018 Q 3
2. Botstein SAT Hoax and Fraud
3. Gladwell's How David Beats Goliath
4.  Rowling Analysis
5. Letter of Recommendation
6. The Quarterly Reading Writers Notebook. 

Also, check out this APQ2, and sample rhetorical analysis paragraphs
Extra Credit Toward the Test on Rhetorical Terms

Elizabeth Kolberts Big Score

Malcolm Gladwell's How David Beats Goliath

WN 2: David and Goliath Reading Questions

Malcolm Gladwell's Getting in

Here's an effective rhetorical analysis paragraph on a passage from MLK's I Have a Dream

Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

1. AP Q2 Writers Notebook Part I
2. An Open Letter to People or Entities Unlikely to Respond
4.  Rogerian Argument I.M.O.C
5. Windmills Tampa Scoring
6. Quarterly Reading READING!
7. AP Q3 2017: Artifice

The Citizens United Synthesis Question

The CU Source Page

Sample MLA paper annotated

Citizens United Frees Political Speech
Citizens United Impact over the last 9 years
Dark Money on the Rise  
The CU Disaster That Never Happened (WSJ)
Corporations Spend More Than Taxpayers
The Nature of a Corporation as Basis for Argument by John Hasnas on Ebsco 
The Story of Citizens United(youtube) 
What You Probably Haven't Heard about Citizens United(youtube) 
What is Citizens United: An Introduction

The Gender Pay Gap Synthesis Question

Martin Luther King Jr, Old Major, and John Lennon: a rhetorical analysis write's notebook. 

4th Quarter Checklist:
1. Cole Essay/AP LIT Sample
2.  King, Old Major, Lennon
3.  The Practice Test
4.  The Test, 
5.  WN 5: Tell a Before or After Story
6.  Graduation Speech/WN 6

Income Inequality Debate
1. Read the following sources. 
2. Write a 150 word source summary for EACH. See Source Summary Guidelines
3. Write a 500  word essay that develops a position on the notion of the US becoming an oligarchy.  
Teixiera - Politcal Inequality = Economic Inequality
Skocpol - Organize to Re-democratize Nation
Stimson - Don't Underestimate Power of Public
Winship - Few Disagreements Between Classes

The Migration Policy Institute
The Case For Amnesty
The Case Against Amnesty
More Argument For Amnesty
More Arguments Against Amnesty

Notes on FRQ3 from the midterm:
Do: start with a hook--a general statement that welcomes your reader.
Do: include in your thesis 3 GENERAL CONCEPTS that will create your LINE OF REASONING.
DON'T: get into your argument/body in your introduction.  Some people are doing this. They jump out of the gate thinking they have to get into the argument. The main thing for your introduction is to get to the THESIS. Sure, you should have a hook, or a pleasing and smooth transition into your thesis for context. But save the in depth development of your argument for the body.  

DO: write a thesis with GENERAL qualities of your argument--the three pillars of the roof of your argument.
 "Disney is overrated because it is CROWDED, SUPERFICIAL, and OVERPRICED. "

as opposed to
DON'T:
"Disney is a an overrated place on account of everytime I've been there there were lines for everything that took hours to get through, the hamburgers and fries were way expensive, and everything was fake. "

OR
DO:
"Top sheets are overrated because they are useless, inconvenient, and cumbersome.

DON'T:
"Top sheets are overrated because they never provide any comfort or heat because they're so thin and they always wind up down at the bottom of the bed in a messy clump, and they're hard to make the bed with."  

Do: Consider an 8 sentence body paragraph--see examples in Knight tutorial.  Sure enough, in Ruthie's terrific practice test, she uses an 8 sentence paragraph--this allows her to argue her point in depth, to explore "tensions and complexities," that earn you sophistication.

Don't forget:
•Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.
•Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning.
•Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
•Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument

Below: getting the 4 points for Row B in the FRQ3. Best 11 minutes on FRQ3 you'll see, from a secret ops Restin Rater. 

PRACTICE EXAM 5/8/2020 Lewes, aka George Eliot

A discussion of the FRQ3 with my pal and super scorer Regan Killakey

Course Overview and Methods 2019-2020
Rhetorical Strategies Handbook. 
Another Rhetorical Devices Handbook.
Literary Terms and Devices
Recommended Quarterly Readings

AP Lang tests 2002-2019
Sample FRQ # 3, 2003-2017
Types of Multiple Choice Questions

Tutorials, Study Guides, and Easy Scoring Calculator at AP Pass 
AP Lang Know The Enemy
Mr. G's Multiple Choice Primer 
How to Read Critically 
AP Test Formats for ALL disciplines 
Six Steps to the Synthesis Question 
Rhetorical Strategies Handbook

The Skills Breakdown of the AP Lang Exam:

• FRQ2 Skill UNIT 1 : Explain how writers' choices reflect the components of the rhetorical situation.
  • Skill 1.A: Identify and describe components of the rhetorical situation - the exigence, audience, purpose, context, and message.
  • Skill 1.B: Explain how an argument demonstrates understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.
• FRQ3 Skill UNIT 2: Make strategic choices in a text to address a rhetorical situation.
  • Skill 2.A: Write introductions and conclusions appropriate to the purpose and context of the rhetorical situation.
    
• FRQ2/3 Skill UNIT 3: Identify and describe the claims and evidence of an argument.
  • Skill 3.A: Identify and explain claims and evidence within an argument.
  • Skill 3.B: Identify and describe the overarching thesis of an argument, and any indication it provides of the argument's structure.
  • Skill 3.C: Explain ways claims are qualified through modifiers, counterarguments, and alternative perspectives.
• FRQ3 Skill UNIT 4: Analyze and select evidence to develop and refine a claim.
  • Skill 4.A: Develop paragraphs comprised of a claim and evidence that supports the claim.
  • Skill 4.B: Write a thesis statement that requires proof or defense and that may preview the structure of the argument.
  • Skill 4.C: Qualify a claim using modifiers, counterarguments, or alternative perspectives.
• FRQ2 Skill UNIT 5: Describe the reasoning, organization, and development of an argument.
  • Skill 5.A: Describe the line of reasoning and explain whether it supports an argument's overarching thesis.
  • Skill 5.B: Explain how the organization of a text creates unity and coherence and reflects a line of reasoning.
  • Skill 5.C: Recognize and explain the use of methods of development to accomplish a purpose.
• FRQ3 Skill UNIT 6: Use organization and commentary to illuminate the line of reasoning in an argument.
  • Skill 6.A: Develop a line of reasoning and commentary that explains it throughout an argument.
  • Skill 6.B: Use transitional elements to guide the reader through the line of reasoning of an argument.
  • Skill 6.C: Use appropriate methods of development to advance an argument.
• FRQ2 Skill UNIT 7: Explain how writers' stylistic choices contribute to the purpose of an argument.
  • Skill 7.A: Explain how word choice, comparisons, and syntax contribute to the specific tone or style of a text.
  • Skill 7.B: Explain how writers create, combine, and place independent and dependent clauses to show relationships between and among ideas.
  • Skill 7.C: Explain how grammar and mechanics contribute to the clarity and effectiveness of an argument.