Essay Boot Camp
AP language/composition
Welcome to Essay Boot Camp. This camp will build your knowledge of structure, help
you find your voice, and assist you in becoming all that you can be. Each of these essays
will be Journal Entries that are numbered as Journal #1-7. The due dates are listed next
to the main structure of the essay. You must choose one of the topics underneath each
essay structure. Each journal essay is worth 10 points on the due date. When we have
completed the boot camp and you have become all the writer you can be, I will choose
one journal that you will turn in for polished paper credit (90 points).
Journal #1 – October 19 – Classification/Division – sorting things/ideas into groups,
to clarify a pattern or to persuade readers that one group is superior to others.
1. Write an essay in which you classify the teachers you have had into several
distinct categories and make a judgment about the relative effectiveness of the
individuals in each group. Give each category a name and be sure your essay has
a thesis statement.
2. What styles of dress do you observe on your high school campus? Establish four
or five distinct categories and classify students on the basis of how they dress.
Give each group a descriptive title.
Journal #2 – October 26 – Process – how to…
1. Imagine you have encountered a visitor from another country who is not familiar
with a social ritual you take for granted. Try to outline the steps involved in each
ritual – for instance, choosing sides for a game.
2. Explain how a certain ritual or ceremony is conducted in your religion. Make
sure someone of another faith will be able to understand the process and include
a thesis statement that explains why the ritual is important to you.
Journal #3 – November 2 – Exemplification – using examples to make a general or
abstract concept more concrete.
1. Write an essay in which you establish that you are an optimistic or a pessimistic
person. Use two or three examples to support your point.
2. Using your family and friends as examples, write an essay in which you suggest
some of the positive or negative characteristics of Americans.
Journal #4 – November 9– Description – giving an impression of a subject filtered
through your experience/emotion.
1. Select an object that you are familiar with and write an abstract description of it.
Don’t tell us what it is until the last sentence.
Journal #5 – November 16 – Definition – identify the main qualities of the subject;
what it is and what it is not.
1. Define an abstract term – for example, stubbornness, courage, fear, etc. – by
making it concrete.
Journal #6– November 23 – Cause and Effect – why something happened or what it
caused to happen.
1. Consider the effects or possible effect of one of these scientific developments on
your life or the lives of your family and friends: genetic engineering, the Internet,
space exploration, human cloning. Consider negative as well as positive effects.
2. How do you account for the popularity of one of the following phenomena:
shopping malls, fast food, rap music, soap operas, tabloids like the National
Enquirer or Star magazine? Write an essay in which you consider remote as well
as immediate causes for the success of the phenomenon you choose.
Journal #7 – November 30 – Comparison/Contrast – understanding through
identifying similarities and differences.
1. Write an essay in which you compare any two groups that have divergent values:
vegetarians and meat eaters; smokers and nonsmokers; liberals and
conservatives, etc.