AP Lang and Comp. Independent Reading Assignment
Second Quarter
For this quarter, you will be choosing a book that is a biography or nonfiction. The purpose of
this assignment is for you to become a well-read student with a strong understanding of
language, discourse, and literary techniques. Additionally, the purpose is to broaden your
background in the reading of different styles of writing from different eras. For this quarter’s
reading, you will create response notes on 5 distinct sections of the book, an overall SOAPSTone
analysis, and a 1-2 page Rhetorical Analysis.
DUE: 12-03-2013
Directions: Complete these sections and type your responses.
I. MLA Works Cited for your book.
II. Response Notes:
o Break your book up into 5 sections.
o Choose a passage or quote from each section and discuss the stylistic elements used by the
author.
o Be sure you discuss the structure and techniques the author uses to convey his/her message.
Remember things such as tone, mood, imagery (concrete or not), syntax, sentence structure,
word choice, dialogue, connotation, audience, and purpose. THIS IS NOT A SUMMARY!
III. SOAPSTone analysis:
o Complete 1 SOAPSTone chart for your book
o Answer the Rhetorical analysis questions that go with the chart
IV. 1-2 page Rhetorical Analysis Write a one page (single spaced) analysis paper – an
overview of the
author’s purpose (theme), writing, style, effectiveness, and your overall impression of the book.
Biographies/Autobiographies/ Non-fiction (pick a book from the list)
Angelou, Maya
Baker, Russell
Butler, John
Carnegie, Dale
Carson, Rachel
D’Antonio, Michael
Josephson, Matthew
Keller, Helen
Kermode, Frank
Kipling, Rudyard
Le Shan, Lawerence
McCullough, David
McPhee, John
Gather Together in my Name
Growing Up
The Quest for Becket’s Bones
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Silent Springs
Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire,
and Utopian Dreams
Man’s Search for Meaning
The Autobiography and Other Writings
Gandhi An Autobiography:The Story of My Experiments With
Truth
Edison: A Biography
The Story of My Life
Shakespeare’s Language
Something of Myself
The Psychology of War
John Adams/ or others
Basin and Range (or others)
Schlosser, Eric
Tannen, Deborah
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Talking from 9 To 5 or You Just Don’t Understand
Wall, Jeannette
Wolf, Naomi
Zakaria Fareed
The Glass Castle
Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
The Post American World
Frankel, Victor
Franklin, Ben
Gandhi, Mohandas
S.O.A.P.S. Tone Document Analysis
Speaker
Who is the speaker who produced this piece? What is the their background and why are they
making the points they are making? Is there a bias in what was written? You must be able to cite
evidence from the text that supports your answer. You must “prove” your answer based on the
text.
Occasion
What is the Occasion? In other words, the time and place of the piece. What promoted the author
to write this piece? How do you know from the text? What event led to its publication or
development? It is particularly important t to understand the context that encouraged
the writing to happen.
Audience
Who is the Audience? This refers to the group of readers to whom this piece is directed. The
audience may be one person, a small group or a large group; it may be a certain person or a
certain people. What assumptions can you make about the audience? Is it mixed racial/sex
group? What social class? What political party? Who was the document created for and how do
you know? Are there any words or phrases that are unusual or different? Does the speaker use
language the specific for a unique audience? Does the speaker evoke God? Nation? Liberty?
History? Hell? How do you know? Why is the speaker using this type of language?
Purpose
What is the purpose? Meaning, the reason behind the text. In what ways does he convey this
message? How would you perceive the speaker giving this speech? What is the document
saying? What is the emotional state of the speaker? How is the speaker trying to spark a reaction
in the audience? What words or phrases show the speaker’s tone? How is the document supposed
to make you feel? This helps you examine the argument or it's logic.
Subject
What is the subject of the document? The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text.
How do you know this? How has the subject been selected and presented? And presented by the
author?
Tone
What is the attitude of the speaker based on the text? What is the attitude a writer takes towards
this subject or character: is it serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek,
solemn, objective. How do you know? Where in the text does it support your answer?