PAP/AP English
Handbook
Grades 9-12
Broken Bow High School
PAP/AP English Program
2010-2011
Board of Education Approved 08/02/10
(This page is purposefully left blank.)
Signature Page
The purpose of this handbook is to outline the course descriptions of PAP/AP English
courses at Broken Bow High School and to compile information used throughout the
program so as to minimize the need for duplication. This handbook is also designed to
enable the PAP/AP English teachers to vertically align the curriculum and effectively
team.
I, _________________________________, PAP/AP English student at BBHS,
acknowledge receipt of this handbook and have read and understand the course
descriptions included herein. I understand that this handbook is intended for use only in
the PAP/AP English program and will be used grades 9-12. In the event that this book
is misplaced, damaged, or defaced, I understand that it will cost $5 to replace the book.
Student Signature _________________________________________
Date _______________
I, _________________________________, parent of PAP/AP English student at
BBHS, acknowledge receipt of this handbook and have read and understand the course
descriptions included herein. I understand that this handbook is intended for use only in
the PAP/AP English program and will be used grades 9-12. In the event that this book
is misplaced, damaged, or defaced, I understand that it will cost $5 to replace the book.
Parent Signature _________________________________________
Date _______________
(This page is purposefully left blank.)
Table of Contents
Benefits of the AP Program ............................................................................................. 2
Overview of BBHS PAP/AP English Program ................................................................. 3
How Does the PAP/AP English Class Differ from the Traditional Class? ....................... 7
Why Literature Matters .................................................................................................... 8
BBHS PAP/AP Literature Selections ............................................................................... 9
PAP/AP Works for Outside Reading ............................................................................. 10
Reading Card Assignment ............................................................................................ 17
AP Terminology ............................................................................................................. 18
AP Essay Ingredients .................................................................................................... 33
Suggestions and Tips for AP Essay Questions and Timed Writings ............................. 34
R.E.A.F.I........................................................................................................................ 35
Using Quotes in Essays ................................................................................................ 36
Modern Language Association (MLA) In-Text Citations ................................................ 37
Integrating Quotations ................................................................................................... 38
Synonyms for Said ........................................................................................................ 39
Transitions and Paragraph Hooks ................................................................................. 40
Avoiding Common Writing Errors .................................................................................. 41
Revision Involves Change ............................................................................................. 42
MLA Works Cited and Documentation Formats ............................................................ 43
Generic Scoring Guide for AP Essay Questions ........................................................... 45
Tone Vocabulary ........................................................................................................... 46
DIDLS............................................................................................................................ 48
TPCASTT ...................................................................................................................... 49
SOAPS .......................................................................................................................... 50
The Reading Log ........................................................................................................... 51
Annotating Texts ........................................................................................................... 53
Rules for Literary Analysis ............................................................................................. 55
Theme Statements ........................................................................................................ 56
Point of View ................................................................................................................. 57
The Various “-Isms” of Fiction ....................................................................................... 58
Teaching Archetypes..................................................................................................... 59
Guided Graded Discussion ........................................................................................... 63
Tips for Oral Presentations............................................................................................ 64
Recommended Resources for PAP/AP English Students ............................................. 65
Resources for this Handbook ........................................................................................ 66
Benefits of the Advanced Placement (AP)
Program
For Colleges and Universities:
 It identifies and attracts highly motivated students who have succeeded in rigorous, college-level
courses and demonstrated their ability through demanding national examinations.
 It provides admissions officers with an excellent predictor of student success in college.
 It enables students to diversify and deepen their college curriculum by placing them out of
introductory level college courses to which they have demonstrated competence.
 It improves the articulation of college and high school curricula.
For High Schools:
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It enhances the quality of the curriculum.
It encourages focused efforts in curriculum alignment.
It challenges the academically capable students.
It provides opportunities for the faculty to teach capable, motivated students in demanding
courses.
 It affords rewarding in-service opportunities for motivated faculty members.
 It gives the college-preparatory program a reputation for high quality and standards.
For Students:
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It provides college credit for courses taken in high school.
It develops the analytical and study skills required to succeed in college courses.
It motivates students to undertake more challenging work in both high school and college.
It provides direction in selecting college majors.
It sets students on a more likely path to college graduation, double majors, and graduate school.
Clifford Adelman, noted author and senior research analyst for the U.S. Department of Education,
conducted a long-term study which tracked the educational experiences of a large national sample of
high school students from 10th grade through college. The recently published findings are
significant. Adelman found that students who took challenging courses while in high school had a
much better chance of finding success in college, and particularly, a much higher chance of finishing
a bachelor’s degree than their classmates who chose easier, less demanding classes. Transcript
grades and entrance exam scores were much less significant indicators. In addition, the current
trend among college admissions officers is to give much more weight and consideration to the
courses which students have taken in high school than to admission test scores (ACT, SAT, etc.) and
overall high school grades. In an age of concern over grade inflation and national discussion over the
value of standardized tests, this fact remains clear. Students who have had the opportunity to take
advanced courses while in high school are more likely to find success in the university classroom. It
is a fact which students (and their parents) need to know as they plan their courses of study from 9th
through 12th grade. The Advanced Placement curriculum with its standards of instruction based upon
a national exam and extensive faculty in-service through workshops sponsored by the College Board
can provide the best and most thorough curricula to reach this end.
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Overview of BBHS PAP/AP English
PAP/AP English Course Description:
At the high school level, Pre-Advanced Placement (PAP) and Advanced
Placement (AP) classes serve two purposes: (1) to prepare high school students for
college level work and (2) to allow students to receive college credit based upon
successful performance on the College Board AP Exams following AP English III and
AP English IV.
Pre-Advanced Placement (Pre-AP) classes give the students the opportunity to
practice (at the appropriate level) skills that will enable them to be successful in the AP
classes taken their 11th and 12th grade years. Pre-AP classes will expose students to
the type of expectations and activities required by the AP program. Pre-AP classes lay
the foundation for success not only in the upper level English classes, but also
ultimately in college course work itself. Even though it is not required that a student be
enrolled in PAP classes before their AP classes, it is highly recommended since the AP
teachers have aligned the curriculum. Students enrolling in AP classes will be expected
to perform the skills learned in the previous classes and no remediation or special
allowances will be made for those who did not take the PAP classes. (Students who
are willing to do voluntary assignments to "catch up" may talk to the appropriate
instructor for advice on what they should study.)
Advanced Placement Language and Composition is typically taken the 11th
grade year. There is an emphasis on expository, analytical, and argumentative writing.
In May of each year, students may pay to take the AP Language and Composition
Exam given by College Board. If students score high enough, they may earn college
credit. The needed score and the amount of credit earned are determined by each
university. It is recommended that students research the universities that they wish to
attend to see what is required to receive credit. Since this class is preparing the student
to possibly earn college credit, it is treated as a mini-college class on a high school
campus. According to the information on the College Board website:
Upon completing the AP English Language and Composition course . . .
students should be able to:
• analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining
an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques;
• apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing;
• create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or
personal experience;
• write for a variety of purposes;
• produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that
introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate
evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent
explanations, and clear transitions;
• demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as
well as stylistic maturity in their own writings;
• demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and
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secondary sources;
• move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful
attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and
review;
• write thoughtfully about their own process of composition;
• revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience;
• analyze image as text; and
• evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers.
Advanced Placement Literature and Composition is typically taken the 12th
grade year. There is an emphasis on expository, analytical, and argumentative writing.
In May of each year, students may pay to take the AP Language and Composition
Exam given by College Board. If students score high enough, they may earn college
credit. The needed score and the amount of credit earned are determined by each
university. It is recommended that students research the universities that they wish to
attend to see what is required to receive credit. Since this class is preparing the student
to possibly earn college credit, it is treated as a mini-college class on a high school
campus. According to the information on the College Board website:
[S]tudents in an AP English Literature and Composition course read
actively. The works taught in the course require careful, deliberative
reading. And the approach to analyzing and interpreting the material
involves students in learning how to make careful observations of textual
detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw from
those connections a series of inferences leading to an interpretive
conclusion about a piece of writing’s meaning and value . . . . Writing is an
integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course
and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature
and include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays . . . . The
writing that students produce in the course reinforces their reading. Since
reading and writing stimulate and support one another, they are taught
together in order to underscore both their common and their distinctive
elements. [Two different types of questions are typically included on the
exam:] (1) an analysis of a passage or poem in which students are
required to discuss how particular literary elements or features contribute
to meaning; and (2) an “open’’ question in which students are asked to
select a literary work and discuss its relevant features in relation to the
question provided.
Successful PAP/AP students are typically task oriented, proficient readers who
are able to set priorities with regard to time and responsibilities. Parent support of the
program also plays a key role in the success of these students.
Research has proven that reading comprehension is the best indicator of future
success in upper-level studies and college courses. The only way for that skill to
develop is through consistent practice; therefore, PAP/AP English courses require
students to read many works of literature each year.
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PAP/AP ENGLISH COURSE CRITERION
Entrance Requirements: Students who intend to enroll in the Pre AP/AP English
program must meet or exceed all of the following requirements:
 Students must test at or exceed grade level requirements on the 8th grade CRT
test upon entering high school (score of satisfactory or advanced) AND
 Students must demonstrate appropriate grade- level proficiency in reading,
writing, and grammar AND
 Students must have received an “A” in previous English course OR meet with a
committee which may approve entry based on circumstances, test scores, and
ability. This committee will consist of English teachers, administrator, and a
counselor.
Summer Assignments: All students desiring to enter a PAP/AP English course must
successfully complete the summer reading assignment. The student must receive a
passing score on both the written test given at the beginning of the school year and the
summer project(s) as assigned by the instructor for any material assigned as summer
reading. (Students on probation may have additional requirements to stay in the
program. This could include exercises in grammar, writing, or literature based on the
student’s need.)
Grade Criteria: Students who intend to enroll in the PAP/AP English course should
enroll with the desire to excel and be successful, and they should be well-aware of the
expectations that they must meet. To remain a part of the Advanced Placement
Program, students must maintain at least a C average for each nine weeks term. If a
student receives a D for the nine weeks, they will be placed on probation for the
following nine weeks. If they do not bring the D up to a C, they will be dismissed from
the program. If a student receives an F for the nine weeks, they will be dismissed from
the program and returned to a traditional English class. Failures based on absences
are not exempt from this policy. All decisions can be appealed to the AP committee
consisting of the high school principal, the student's guidance counselor, the current
English teacher, and the English Department Chair. (If the current English teacher and
the Chair is the same person, another teacher from the AP English department may be
asked to serve on the committee.)
The PAP/AP English Course Expectations are as follows:
Late work: PAP/AP courses do not allow credit for late work. If students do not turn in
assignments by the due date and time, they will receive a zero for that assignment.
Retesting: PAP/AP courses do not allow for retesting. Students must be prepared for
every test.
Reading: Students enrolled in PAP/AP courses must complete the summer reading
assignments for that grade level. If a student fails to successfully complete the
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assignments before the first day of class, they will automatically be enrolled in a
traditional English class instead of the PAP or AP class. In addition, students and
parents should know that reading assignments for the school year are both strenuous
and strict.
Academic Dishonesty: The following are types of academic dishonesty that will not be
tolerated. Students are asked to submit their own original work for every assignment.
A. Plagiarism: This occurs when an individual uses another person's ideas,
expressions, or writing as if they were his/her own.
I. Copying Verbatim: This is the most common form and happens when
an individual copies words, expressions, or ideas directly from
another source (ex. book, article, Internet, lab report, friend, etc.)
without giving proper credit to the author.
II. Paraphrasing: An individual borrows written ideas from a source and
rewrites them in his/her own words but does not give credit to the
original author. This can also be done by replacing just a few
words of the original source.
III. Use of an idea: An individual adapts an idea from another source
without giving proper credit. (ex. When a student is asked to write
an original piece such as a short story, they may borrow ideas
from a TV program, video, article, or classmate.)
B. Sharing Ideas During Test Situations: This can be sharing answers on a
take-home exam or a classroom test. It can also be asking/telling other
students what is on a test/quiz.
C. Cheating on Tests, Quizzes, and Homework: This can be bringing answers
into the test room, copying from another student, or using notes or
technology which includes, but is not limited to, Cliffs Notes (or any other
company's notes), Internet, etc.
D. Copying Homework: Getting help on homework often leads to some form
of academic dishonesty. If a student has a question about an assignment,
he or she is encouraged to consult with the teacher.
Academic Dishonesty will result in the following:
First Offense: The student will receive a zero on the assignment with no
opportunity to make up the assignment.
Second Offense: The student will be removed from the Advanced
Placement Program and placed in traditional English classes.
This policy encompasses all four years of high school; therefore, they offenses
will accrue. For example, if a student is caught in some form of academic
dishonesty in their freshman year, it is a first offense. If they are caught again in
their junior year, it is considered a second offense and they will be placed in a
traditional English class.
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How does the PAP/AP English Class Differ
from the Traditional Class?
Class Content:
 Less or no use of the chronological and historical approach to
English, World, and American Literature
 More use of thematic and skill approaches to literature study
 Longer, more challenging research projects, with emphasis on
literary analysis
 Focus on skill areas which directly relate to the kind of thinking
and writing demanded by the national AP exams, such as critical
reading, timed writings, style analysis, and independent novel and
drama study
 A summer reading requirement
To succeed, AP students must:
 Be able to read very well
 Be confident in class discussion and oral expression
 Be able to listen and participate in the thoughtful exchange of ideas
 Take responsibility for reading and writing assignments without
relying on Cliff's Notes, Internet summaries, and other available
resources
 Be able to accept and to offer constructive criticism
 Be able to accept and to offer questions for which there are no
clear answers
 Possess writing abilities which demonstrate control of mechanics,
grammar and usage, organization, diction, and syntax
 Seek out challenges and new concepts
 Possess a respect and regard for literature, composition, and
learning in general
 Be willing to go beyond the minimum requirements of any
assignment
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Why Literature Matters
By Donald G. Smith, Apollo High School, Glendale, AZ
Taken from Excerpts from an article in English Journal, November 1999
Reading literature matters because it makes life livelier, deeper, and occasionally
comprehensible…
1. The escape angle: …literature can remind us that ours is not the only awareness out
there; our isolation is an illusion.
2. The empathy angle: …we often read to find out what happens to people whom we
care…this act of caring exercises the soul and may immunize it against an increasingly
uncaring world.
3. The mirror angle: …reading is a cooperative effort of creation between the writer and
the reader…and what we create can open up heretofore hidden or forgotten recesses,
moving us in new and powerful ways. It can reintroduce us to ourselves.
4. The time machine angle: …reading allows us to converse with the greatest minds in
history…we can take part in the Great Conversation of humanity.
5. The cultural heritage angle: …we are our past and books are the lasting record of the
past. They are a form of immortality wherein past consciousness is resurrected within
our minds; we become the vehicles for its afterlife.
6. The language angle: …we think in words, and our understanding of images is
accomplished through the tools of language. Reading helps us hone our own linguistic
edge, improves the power of our thinking, and delights us with becoming better
craftpersons of thought. Reading makes us potent thinkers.
7. The art angle: …great art endures because it is true and as such contains all the
depth, details, texture, and wholeness that truth entails…Art connects humanity
through archetypes that we all recognize on some level.
8. The lifesaver angle: … literature can warm, motivate, inspire, and instruct.
9. The reading of life angle: … reading teaches us to construct contexts, temporarily
suspend understanding, make and check hypotheses, and closely read the details for
significance.
10. The fear of change angle: …perhaps by consulting with our elders, heeding their
advice, and following their examples we can reestablish some sense of well-being and
equilibrium in something permanent. Our times are in need of their wisdom.
LITERATURE MATTERS BECAUSE IT IS WHO WE ARE. EVERY HUMAN DREAM,
FEAR, HOPE, AND BELIEF IS THERE!
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BBHS PAP/AP Literature Selections
The following is a list of literature by grade level at which it may be taught. It is possible that
not all selections will be covered every year, but the teacher will use this list when designing the
course syllabus and determining course content. In addition, the teacher may select other
literature from AP College Board recommended reading lists and the literary canon. These are in
addition to covering literature in the state-approved, district-adopted literature textbook.
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9th Grade
Animal Farm
Tuesdays with Morrie
A Wrinkle in Time
Locked in Time
Great Expectations
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Anthem by Ayn Rynd
11th Grade
The Great Gatsby
The Scarlet Letter
The Crucible
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Grapes of Wrath
Fast Food Nation
Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
Oedipus Rex
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10th Grade
To Kill a Mockingbird
Julius Caesar
The House on Mango Street
Legends of King Arthur
Antigone
Rebecca
Lord of the Flies
12th Grade
Hamlet
Heart of Darkness
The Canterbury Tales
Beowulf
A Doll’s House
A Tale of Two Cities
The Poisonwood Bible
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PAP/AP Works for Outside Reading
AP English Literature and Composition
Works for Open-Ended Questions 1971-2006
The following list of books indicates the years that these titles have been suggested for the openended question on the AP English Literature and Composition Exam. PAP/AP English students
should choose outside reading selections from this list (excluding any novels that are taught at
their current or any other grade level as indicated on page 9 of the PAP/AP handbook). All
reading selections for a grade must be approved by the current teacher.
Author
General list/No list
Nationality
Title-Listed in Alphabetical Order
Browning, Robert
Eliot, T.S.
Naipaul, V.S.
Ibsen, Henrik
BRITISH
BRITISH
CARRIBEAN
NORWEGIAN
“ My Last Dutchess”
“ The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”
A Bend in the River
A Doll’s House
Hemingway, Ernest
Mistry, Rohinton
Gaines, Ernest K.
Lee, Chang-Rae
Gaines, Ernest K.
McCullars, Carson
Shakespeare, William
Forster, E.M.
Hansberry, Lorraine
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
A Farewell to Arms
A Fine Balance
A Gathering of Old Men
A Gesture Life
A Lesson Before Dying
A Member of the Wedding
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Passage to India
A Raisin in the Sun
Woolf, Virginia
Forster, E.M.
Knowles, John
Williams, Tennessee
Smiley, Jane
Faulkner, William
Eliot, George
Pielmeier, John
Atwood, Margaret
Miller, Arthur
Warren, Robert Penn
McCarthy, Cormac
Bulosan, Carlos
A Room of One’s Own
A Room With a View
A Separate Peace
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Thousand Acres
Absalom, Absalom
Adam Bede
Agnes of God
Alias Grace
All My Sons
All the King’s Men
All the Pretty Horses
America is in the Heart
Dreiser, Theodore
Ibsen, Henrik
Tolstoy, Leo
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
FILIPINO/
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
NORWEGIAN
RUSSIAN
Baldwin, James
Shakespeare, William
Sophocles
AMERICAN
BRITISH
GREEK
Another Country
Anthony and Cleopatra
Antigone
An American Tragedy
An Enemy of the People
Anna Karenina
Exam Years
1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1983, 1984,
1993, 1998
1985
1985, 1993
2003B
1971, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1995,
2002B, 2005
1991, 1999, 2004B
2003B
2000
2004, 2005
1999
1997
1991, 2006
1971, 1977, 1988, 1991, 1992
1987, 1990, 1991, 1992,1994, 1996,
2000
1976
2003B
1982
1991, 1992, 2001
2006
1976, 2000
2006
2000
2000, 2004
1985, 1990
2000, 2002, 2004, 2004B
1996, 2006, 2006B
1995
1982, 1995, 2003
1976, 1980, 1987, 1999, 2001
1980, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2003,
2004B, 2006
1995
1980, 1991, 1993
1979, 1980, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2003,
2005B
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Mailer, Norman
Faulkner, William
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Armies of the Night
As I Lay Dying
Shakespeare, William
Morrison, Toni
BRITISH
AMERICAN
As You Like It
Beloved
Melville, Herman
AMERICAN
Benito Cereno
Melville, Herman
AMERICAN
Billy Budd
Wright, Richard
Dickens, Charles
Anaya, Rudolfo
Ng, Fae M.
Black Boy
Bleak House
Bless me, Ulitima
Bone
Huxley, Aldous
Greene, Graham
Shaw, George Bernard
Voltaire
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
CHINESE/
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
FRENCH
Williams, Tennessee
Atwood, Margaret
Heller, Joseph
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
AMERICAN
Cat on Hot Tin Roof
Cat’s Eye
Catch – 22
Salinger, J.D.
Silko, Leslie Marmon
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Catcher in the Rye
Ceremony
Thoreau, Henry David
Frazier, Charles
Ondaatje, Michael
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
CEYLON/
CANADIAN
RUSSIAN
Civil Disobedience
Cold Mountain
Coming Through Slaughter
SOUTH
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
IRISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
Cry, the Beloved Country
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
SPANISH
CUBAN/
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Desire Under the Elms
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Doctor Faustus
Don Quixote
Dreaming in Cuban
1997, 2003B
2001
1978, 1983, 1993, 2006
1986, 1988, 1994, 2002B, 2003,
2004, 2005
1981
1997
1979, 1986, 1999, 2004
1992, 2001, 2004, 2006
2003B
Dutchman
2003B, 2006B
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
RUSSIAN
GERMAN
East of Eden
Emma
Equus
Ethan Frome
Fathers and Sons
Faust
2006
1996
1992, 1999, 2000, 2001
1980, 1985, 2003, 2005, 2006
1990
2002, 2003
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Paton, Alan
James, Henry
Friel, Brian
Dickens, Charles
Miller, Arthur
O’Neill, Eugene
Tyler, Anne
Marlowe, Christopher
Cervantes, Miguel de
Garcia, Christina
Jones, Leroy (aka. Baraka,
Imamu Amiri)
Steinbeck, John
Austen, Jane
Shaffer, Peter
Wharton, Edith
Turgenev, Ivan
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
von
Brave New World
Brighton Rock
Candida
Candide
Crime and Punishment
Daisy Miller
Dancing at Lughnasa
David Copperfield
Death of a Salesman
1976
1978, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2001,
2004B, 2006, 2006B
1992, 1993, 2005, 2006
1990, 1999, 2001, 2002B, 2003,
2005B
1989
1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1999,
2002, 2004B, 2005
2006
1994, 2000, 2004B
1996, 1997, 2004B, 2005, 2006
2003B
1989, 1993, 2005
1979
1980, 1993
1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004,
2006B
2000, 2002B
1994
1982, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1994, 2001,
2003B, 2004B, 2005
2001
1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001,
2003B, 2005B, 2006
1976
2006B
2001
1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1996,
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2002B,
2003, 2004, 2004B, 2005B
1985, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1996
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Wilson, August
Davies, Robertson
Hemingway, Ernest
Shelley, Mary
Ibsen, Henrik
Baldwin, James
O’Brien, Tim
Dickens, Charles
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
NORWEGIAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
Fences
Fifth Business
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Frankenstein
Ghosts
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Going After Cacciato
Great Expectations
Swift, Jonathan
Shakespeare, William
BRITISH
BRITISH
Gulliver’s Travels
Hamlet
Dickens, Charles
Conrad, Joseph
BRITISH
BRITISH
Hard Times
Heart of Darkness
Ibsen, Henrik
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William
Momaday, N. Scott
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Homer
Alvarez, Julia
Ellison, Ralph
NORWEGIAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
GREEK
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Hedda Gabler
Henry IV
Henry V
House Made of Dawn
House of Seven Gables
Iliad
In the Time of Butterflies
Invisible Man
MacLeish, Archibald
Bronte, Charlotte
AMERICAN
BRITISH
J.B.
Jane Eyre
Mukerjee, Bharati
Jasmine
Wilson, August
Fielding, Henry
Hardy, Thomas
CANADIAN/
AMERICAN
(orig. fr. India)
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William
BRITISH
BRITISH
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Crevecoeur, J. Hector St.
John
Faulkner, William
AMERICAN
Letters from an American Farmer
AMERICAN
Light in August
O’Neill, Eugene
Conrad, Joseph
Golding, Willliam
Erdich, Louise
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Lord Jim
Lord of The Flies
Love Medicine
Aristophanes
Hwang, David Henry
Shakespeare, William
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
NATIVE
AMERICAN
GREEK
AMERICAN
BRITISH
Flaubert, Gustave
FRENCH
Madame Bovary
Joe’s Turner’s Come and Gone
Joseph Andrews
Jude the Obscure
Lysistrata
M. Butterfly
Macbeth
2003, 2005B
2000
2003, 2006
1989, 2000, 2003, 2006
2000, 2002B, 2004, 2004B
1988,1990, 2005
2001, 2006B
1979, 1980, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993,
1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2002B, 2004, 2005B
1987, 1989, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2006B
1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999,
2000
1987, 1990, 1993
1971, 1976, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2002B, 2004,
2004B, 2006B
1979, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005B
1980, 1990, 1993
2002
2006
1989
1980
2005B
1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986,
1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995,
1996, 1997, 2001, 2003B, 2004, 2005
1981, 1994
1978, 1979, 1980, 1988, 1991, 1994,
1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000,
2002B, 2005B
1999
2000, 2004
1991,1993
1971, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1991,
1995, 2004
1982, 1993, 1997, 2005B
1971, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990,
1993, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004,
2004B, 2005, 2006
1976
1971, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985,
1993, 1995, 1999, 2002B, 2003,
2006B
1990, 2003
1977, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2000, 2003
1985, 1992
1995
1987, 1993
1995
1983, 1993, 1999, 2002B, 2003,
2005B
1980, 1985, 2004B, 2005, 2006
12
Main Street
Major Barbara
Man and Superman
Mansfield Park
Master Harold…and the Boys
1987
1979, 1993, 1996, 2004
1981, 1993
1991, 2003B, 2006
2003B
Euripides
Shakespeare, William
Eliot, George
Johnson, Charles
West, Nathaniel
Melville, Herman
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
SOUTH
AFRICAN
GREEK
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Medea
Merchant of Venice
Middlemarch
Middle Passage
Miss Lonelyhearts
Moby Dick
Defoe, Daniel
Cao, Lan
Brecht, Berthold
BRITISH
AMERICAN
GERMAN
Moll Flanders
Monkey Bridge
Mother Courage and her Children
1982, 1992, 1995, 2001, 2003
1985, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003B
1995, 2004, 2005
2006B
1989
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1989,
1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004,
2004B, 2005B, 2006B
1976, 1977, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1995
2000, 2003B
1985, 1987, 2006B
Woolf, Virginia
Shaw, George Bernard
Shakespeare, William
Eliot, T.S.
Cather, Willa
Potok, Chaim
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Much Ado About Nothing
Murder in the Cathedral
My Antonia
My Name is Asher Lev
1994, 2004B, 2005
1987, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2002
1997
1976, 1980, 1985, 1995
1994, 2003B
2003B
Wright, Richard
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
JEWISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Native Son
Lee, Chang-Rae
Orwell, George
Sartre, Jean- Paul
Wilde, Oscar
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Kogowa, Joy
AMERICAN
BRITISH
FRENCH
IRISH
RUSSIAN
CANADIAN
Native Speaker
Nineteen Eighty- Four
No Exit
No specific novel
Notes From the Underground
Obasan
Homer
Sophocles
Steinbeck, John
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
Kesey, Ken
Garcia – Marquez, Gabriel
Cather, Willa
Aeschylus
Shakespeare, William
GREEK
GREEK
AMERICAN
RUSSIAN
AMERICAN
COLUMBIAN
AMERICAN
GREEK
BRITISH
Odyssey
Oedipus Rex
Of Mice and Men
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
One Hundred Years of Solitude
O, Pioneers!
Oresteia
Othello
Dickens, Charles
Wilder, Thornton
Dinesen, Isak
Nabokov, Vladimir
BRITISH
AMERICAN
DANISH
RUSSIAN/
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
NORWEGIAN
FRENCH
BRITISH
FRENCH
Our Mutual Friend
Our Town
Out of Africa
Pale Fire
1979, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1995, 2001,
2004B
1999, 2003B, 2005B
1987, 1994, 2005
1986
1993
1989
1994, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2006B
1986
1977, 1985, 1988, 2000, 2003, 2004
2001
2005
2001
1989, 2004B
2006
1990
1979, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995,
2002, 2003B, 2004B
1990, 1993
1986, 1997
2006
2001
Pamela
Paradise Lost
Peer Gynt
Pere Goriot
Persuasion
Phèdre
1986
1985, 1986
2006B
2002
1990, 1993, 2005
1992, 2003
Lewis, Sinclair
Shaw, George Bernard
Shaw, George Bernard
Austen, Jane
Fugard, Athol
Richardson, Samuel
Milton, John
Ibsen, Henrik
Balzac, Honore de
Austen, Jane
Racine, Jean
13
Pocho
2002
Joyce, James
CHICANO/
AMERICAN
IRISH
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Marshall, Paule
Austen, Jane
Shaw, George Bernard
Doctorow, E. L.
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William
Stoppard, Tom
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
Praisessong for the Widow
Pride and Prejudice
Pygmalion
Ragtime
Remains of the Day
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
Rosencrantz and Guilendstern Are Dead
Shaw, George Bernard
Wideman, John Edgar
Eliot, George
Dreiser, Theodore
Vonnegut, Kurt
Guterson, David
Morrison, Toni
BRITISH
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Saint Joan
Sent for You Yesterday
Silas Marner
Sister Carrie
Slaughterhouse Five
Snow Falling on Cedars
Song of Solomon
Lawrence, D.H.
Morrison, Toni
Atwood, Margaret
Dickens, Charles
Moliere
Hardy, Thomas
Twain, Mark
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
FRENCH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
Sons and Lovers
Sula
Surfacing
Tale of Two Cities
Tartuffe
Tess of the D’ubervilles
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Virgil
Wharton, Edith
James, Henry
Richler, Mordecai
ROMAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
CANDIAN
The Aeneid
The Age of Innocence
The American
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1988,
1996, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2005B
1996
1983, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1997
1992, 1993, 2003B, 2005B
2003
2000, 2003B
1979, 1993
1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2002B
1981, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2004, 2005,
2006B
1995
2003
2002
1987, 2002, 2004
1991, 2004B
2000
1981, 1988, 1995, 2000, 2002B,
2004B, 2005B, 2006B
1977, 1990
1992, 1997, 2002, 2004
2005
1982, 1991, 2004B
1987, 1993
1982,1991, 2003, 2006
1980, 1982, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2005,
2005B, 2006, 2006B
2006B
1997, 2003B, 2005
2005
1994
Johnson, James Weldon
AMERICAN
Chopin, Kate
AMERICAN
The Autobiography of An Ex- Colored
Man
The Awakening
Faulkner, William
Pinter, Harold
Morrison, Toni
Tan, Amy
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Pinter, Harold
Updike, John
Chekov, Anton
Walker, Alice
Churchill, Winston
Miller, Arthur
Tostoy, Leo
Florentine, Dante
Laurence, Margaret
Arnow, Harriet
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
RUSSIAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
RUSSIAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
RUSSIAN
ITALIAN
CANADIAN
AMERICAN
The Bear
The Birthday Party
The Bluest Eye
The Bonesetter's Daughter
The Brothers Karamazov
The Canterbury Tales
The Caretaker
The Centaur
The Cherry Orchard
The Color Purple
The Crisis
The Crucible
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Divine Comedy
The Diviners
The Dollmaker
Villarreal, Jose Antonio
2002, 2005
1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997,
1999, 2002, 2004B
1994, 2006
1989, 1993, 1997
1995
2006
1990
1993, 2006B
1985, 1993
1981
1971, 1977, 2006
1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2005
1976
1971, 1983, 1987, 2004B, 2005
1986
2006B
1995
1991
14
Aeschylus
Camus, Albert
Strindber, August
Hamilton, Alexander (with
James Madison and John
Jay)
Williams, Tennessee
Ford, Ford Madox
Steinbeck, John
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
GREEK
FRENCH
SWEDISH
AMERICAN
The Eumenides
The Fall
The Father
The Federalist
1996
1981
2001
1976
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
The Glass Menagerie
The Good Solider
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
O’Neill, Eugene
Atwood, Margaret
Greene, Graham
Pinter, Harold
Momaday, F. Scott
Wharton, Edith
Wilde, Oscar
Tan, Amy
Sinclair, Upton
Hellman, Lillian
Waugh, Evelyn
Hardy, Thomas
Kafka, Franz
Eliot, George
Moliere
Okada, John
The Hairy Ape
The Handmaiden’s Tale
The Heart of the Matter
The Homecoming
The House Made of Dawn
The House of Mirth
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Joy Luck Club
The Jungle
The Little Foxes
The Loved One
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Metamorphosis
The Mill on the Floss
The Misanthrope
The No- No Boy
Homer
Welty, Eudora
Wilson, August
Wilde, Oscar
Camus, Albert
Synge, John Millington
James, Henry
Greene, Graham
Spark, Muriel
Pope, Alexander
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
IRISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
GERMAN
BRITISH
FRENCH
JAPANESE/
AMERICAN
GREEK
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
IRISH
FRENCH
IRISH
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
1971, 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002
2000
1981, 1985, 1987, 1995, 2003B, 2006
1982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1992,
2002B, 2004, 2004B, 2005B
1989
1992, 1993, 2003B
1971
1978, 1990, 1993
1995
2004B
2002B, 2006B
1997, 2003B
1987
1985
1989, 1993
1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2002B
1978, 1989, 1993
1990, 1992, 2004B
1992
1995
Proulx, Annie
Faulkner, William
Laurence, Margaret
Camus, Albert
Hemingway, Ernest
Shakespeare, William
O’Brien, Tim
Kafka, Franz
James, Henry
Goldsmith, Oliver
Trollope, Anthony
Eliot, T.S.
MacLennan, Hugh
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
CANADIAN
FRENCH
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
GERMAN
AMERICAN
IRISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
CANADIAN
The Shipping News
The Sound and the Fury
The Stone Angel
The Stranger
The Sun Also Rises
The Tempest
The Things They Carried
The Trial
The Turn of the Screw
The Vicar of Wakefield
The Warden
The Wasteland
The Watch That Ends the Night
The Odyssey
The Optimist’s Daughter
The Piano Lesson
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Plague
The Playboy of the Western World
The Portrait of a Lady
The Power and the Glory
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Rape of the Lock
The Scarlet Letter
2006B
1994
1986, 1999, 2002B
2002
2002
2002B
1988, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2003B, 2005
1995
1990
1981, 1993
1971, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1991,
1999, 2002, 2002B, 2004, 2004B,
2005, 2005B, 2006
1997
1986, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2004
1996, 2004B
1979, 1982, 1986, 2004B
1985, 1991, 1995, 2004, 2005
1971, 1978, 1996, 2003B, 2005B
2004
1988, 1993, 2000
1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004
2006
1996
1981, 1993
1992
15
Congreve, William
Ibsen, Henrik
Shakespeare, William
Albee, Edward
Hurston, Zora Neale
BRITISH
NORWEGIAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
The Way of the World
The Wild Duck
The Winter’s Tale
The Zoo Story
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Achebe, Chinua
Woolf, Virginia
Fielding, Henry
Edrich, Louise
Glaspell, Susan
Sterne, Laurence
Shakespeare, William
Gish, Jen
NIGERIAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
CHINESE/
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
BRITISH
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
BRITISH
Things Fall Apart
To the Lighthouse
Tom Jones
Tracks
Trifles
Tristam Shandy
Twelfth Night
Typical American
CHICANO/
AMERICAN
Zoot Suit
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Conrad, Joseph
Jonson, Ben
Beckett, Samuel
James, Henry
Hellman, Lillian
Albee, Edward
Rhys, Jean
Welch, James
O’Connor, Flannery
Kingston, Maxine Hong
Bronte, Emily
Valdez, Luis
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Victory
Volpone
Waiting for Godot
Washington Square
Watch on the Rhine
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Wide Sargasso Sea
Winter in Our Blood
Wise Blood
Woman Warrior
Wuthering Heights
1971
1978
1986, 1989, 1993, 2006
1982, 2001
1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004,
2004B, 2005, 2005B, 2006
1991, 1997, 2003, 2003B
1977, 1986, 1988
1990, 1993, 2000, 2006
2005B
2000
1986
1985, 1993, 1994, 1996
2002, 2003B, 2005, 2005B
1987
1983
1983, 1993
1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 2001
1990, 1993
1987
1988,1996, 2000, 2004
1989, 1992, 2005B
1995
1982, 1989, 1995
1991
1971, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983,
1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1997,
1999, 2001, 2006
1995
16
Reading Card Assignment
Students will maintain a reading card for all of the major works that they read while in PAP/AP
English grades 9-12. Students should be thorough and include as much information as possible,
but should also be original—each student’s card should be different. You will keep this card
collection to review the works of literature that you have read prior to taking the AP exams
during the junior and senior year.
Front of Card:
Name, Class Period
Title:
Author:
Protagonist:
Major Characters: (Names and a few words to identify them)
Point of View:
Setting(s):
Tone (3 words):
Irony: (2 examples with brief explanation)
Symbols: (2 major ones with brief explanation)
Thematic Statement (avoid moralizing)
Explanation of Title:
Memorable Quote: (related to a character or theme, MLA documentation)
Back of Card:
Plot Summary: 175 words, record key elements (inciting incident, rising action,
major conflict, climax, resolution/denouement)
17
AP TERMINOLOGY
Students will be expected to learn the following terminology. These lists are not indicating that
these are the only terms one needs to master the PAP/AP class, but they are some of the most
common terms. Some terms are taught at certain levels, while some are taught/reviewed at all
levels. The number after the word indicates the grade level where the term is generally first
introduced. After that year, the student is expected to know these terms. The study of
terminology is a three-step process: 1) Learn the definition; 2) Identify the device when it
appears in literature, and 3) Be able to discuss the effect or purpose of the device.
Students may use the box on the left to write the definition. They may use the box on the right to
write examples.
Literary Terms
Allegory (9)
Allusion (9)
Anachronism (10)
Ambiguity (11)
Analogy (9)
Anaphora (11)
Anastrophe (11)
18
Anecdote (10)
Aphorism (11)
Apostrophe (11)
Archetype (9)
Asyndeton (11)
Autobiography (9)
Characterization (9)
(Direct v. Indirect)
Chiasmus (11)
Colloquialism (10)
Connotation (10)
Cynicism (12)
19
Deductive Reasoning (11)
Denotation (10)
Detail (9)
Diction (9)
Dynamic character (9)
Ethos (11)
Euphemism (11)
Explication (12)
Fiction/Non-fiction (9)
Fallacy (multiple types) (11)
Figurative language (9)
20
Flashback (10)
Flat character (10)
Foil (9)
Foreshadowing (9)
Frame story (12)
Genre (9)
Hyperbole (9)
Imagery (9)
Inductive Reasoning (11)
Inference (9)
Irony (dramatic, situational,
and verbal) (9)
21
Jargon (10)
Litotes (12)
Logos (11)
Lyric (9)
Metaphor (9)
Metonymy (11)
Mood (10)
Narrator (9)
Oxymoron (9)
Parable (9)
Paradox (9)
22
Parallelism (9)
Parody (12)
Pathos (11)
Personification (9)
Point of view (1st person, 3rd
person, omniscient,
objective) (9)
Polysyndeton (11)
Prose (9)
Refutation (11)
Repetition (9)
Rhetoric (11)
Rhetorical Devices (11)
23
Rhetorical question (9)
Round character (9)
Sarcasm (9)
Satire (9)
Setting (9)
Simile (9)
Soliloquy (9)
Static character (9)
Stereotype (12)
Stream of consciousness
(12)
Style (10)
24
Syllogism (11)
Symbolism (9)
Synecdoche (11)
Theme (9)
Thesis (9)
Tone (9)
Understatement
(12)
Unity (11)
Wit (12)
25
Metrical Terms
Alliteration (9)
Anapest (12)
Assonance (9)
Ballad (10)
Blank verse (9)
Ceasura (12)
Cinquain (12)
Consonance (10)
Couplet (9)
Dactyl (12)
Elegy (12)
26
End-stopped (9)
Enjambment (12)
Epic (9)
Free verse (9)
Heptastich (12)
Heroic couplet (12)
Hexameter (12)
Iamb (9)
Internal rhyme (12)
Meter (9)
Octave (12)
27
Ode (12)
Onomatopoeia (9)
Pentameter (9)
Quatrain (10)
Rhyme scheme (9)
Sestet (12)
Sonnet (9)
Spondee (12)
Stanza (9)
Tercet (12)
Terza rima (12)
28
Tetrameter (12)
Trochee (12)
Grammatical Terms
Antecedent (9)
Clause (9)
Ellipsis (11)
Modifier (9)
Phrase (9)
Subject complement (9)
Subordinate clause (10)
Syntax (10)
29
Terms for Essay Section
Attitude (9)
Commentary (10)
Concrete detail (9)
Devices (9)
Excerpt (9)
Literary Elements (9)
Persuasive essay (9)
Support/Qualify/Refute (9)
30
Types of Writing: Many of these can take the form of a short story, novel, or essay. You
may use the left box to write a definition and the right box to list examples.
Comedy (12)
Descriptive Essay (10)
Drama (9)
Exposition (10)
Fantasy (10)
Farce (12)
Fiction (9)
Framework Story (12)
Genre (9)
Narration (9)
Nonfiction (9)
Novel (9)
Parody (12)
Persuasion (10)
Prose (9)
31
Satire (9)
Science Fiction (12)
Short Story (9)
Tragedy (10)
32
JUST INGREDIENTSNOT A FORMULA!
[For AP Essays]
INTRODUCTION
[TTAA*PPS*]
T-Title and Author
T-Topic of Prompt
A-Attitude (tone; in verb or adjective form)
T+A+because=Thesis
A-Audience (non-fiction only)
*P-point of view
*P-purpose
*S-structure of the piece
(*only when applicable)
2+ sentences
CONCLUSION
[ARCCBE]
ARCCBE-
BODY PARAGRAPHS
[TADEQIT]
T- Topic of section/part
A- Attitude
T+A+because=topic sentence
D- Device/Characteristic
E- Explain how device works in section,
purpose
Q- Quotes/Examples
I- Interpretation and Anlaysis
T- Tie it back to the attitude
Author’s lesson
Reader’s learning, specific and global
Character’s learning
Connections
Biases revealed
Ending of the work
2+sentences
M. L. Mosier-AP English
33
Suggestions for Development of AP Essay








Address the prompt thoroughly
Give a brief introduction with thesis idea
Demonstrate knowledge of the text
Show mature expression with vocabulary and structure with college level skill and clarity
Stay on-topic throughout
Demonstrate a sense of movement toward a conclusion (transitions)
Provide a clincher
Use creative thinking
Tips for Timed Writing
1. Read the prompt carefully.


Identify the abstract concept that is the focus of the prompt.
Identify any concrete device(s) the prompt specifies or suggests you use.
2. Read the passage for understanding.


Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why questions if necessary.
Keep the prompt in mind when you read.
3. Reread and mark the passage.


Focus on concrete devices that create the abstract.
Jot notes in the margins as you read. These notes may be all of the prewriting you have time
to do.
4. Your thesis should directly reflect the prompt.


Do not be afraid to state the obvious.
Be clear as to the approach that you are taking and the concepts that you intend to prove.
5. Focus on your commentary.


Your insight and understanding of the literature, as well as how you make the connections
called for in the prompt are what the grader will look for.
Be sure to organize your ideas logically.
6. Your conclusion must be worth reading.



Do not just repeat with your have already said.
Your conclusion should reflect an understanding of the passage and the question.
Use a thematic statement but avoid moralizing and absolute words.
Note: When responding to an open-ended prompt, be sure to choose a novel that is of literary merit and that you
thoroughly understand. Be sure to address all parts of the prompt and to plan out your response before beginning to
write. Remember that the works offered as suggestions are surely good choices for your response. Also, remember
that you should not merely retell the story but rather explain the relevance to the open-ended prompt.
34
R.E.A.F.I.
This process is done in the following order.
I
As you complete each step, write the corresponding letter at the top of your composition.
Imagery:
When writing, try to use imagery (language that appeals to the 5 senses) to help the reader get a getter idea
of what you are talking about and/or your feelings about your topic. Circle the words that appeal to the
senses. If there are no circles, add some imagery to your writing. Caution: Do not go overboard to the
extent that it changes your voice.
F
Figurative Language and Figures of Speech:
Look for places that you can use figurative language such as: simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, alliteration,
and personification.
Also, look for places to add relevant and genuine quotes or proverbs as support of your idea(s). Consider
ideas from your list of familiar phrases.
Put a box around any figurative language you have used or quotes/phrases you used that do not come
directly from the literature. If you have no boxes, consider adding at least one form of figurative language.
A
ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS:
Adjectives provide vivid description of the nouns (people, places or things) that you use in your paper.
 Using your red pen, underline nouns that you can describe. Then, with your red pen insert
adjectives for those nouns.
Adverbs provide description of verbs.
Still using your red pen, double underline verbs that you can better describe. Then, with your red pen,
insert adverbs for those verbs.
E
ELABORATION:
Elaboration is a technique that mature writers use to add length and depth.
Choose something from your composition that you feel you can add more details about.
Place a box to the left of that place and in that box write a couple more sentences to elaborate on that
idea.
R
RATIOCINATION:
Ratiocination is a process of self-editing and improving your composition. Do this with the intent to
improve what you have already written!
1. Using a pencil, circle the first word of every sentence.
 Be sure the 1st word of every sentence is capitalized!
 Look for repeating words (They, There, I) that need to be changed.
 Using your transitions hot sheet, add transition words or phrases in places that have
abrupt shifts.
 Be sure that introductory phrases and transition words have commas and are used
correctly.
2. Alternate between your orange and yellow highlighter to underline each sentence of your
composition. (Don’t forget to include the sentences on your Post-it note.)

Analyze your sentence lengths for variation. (Shorten or lengthen some sentences
as necessary.)

Look for proper punctuation between clauses and at the end of sentences.
3. Use a pink highlighter to highlight words that need to be checked for spelling with the dictionary.
Check spelling for them and correct those words that are misspelled.
4. Use your blue pen to circle “be” verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been).
 Count the number of “be” verbs that you find. Try to get rid of at least half of them by
changing them to active verbs. If they are in a quote, then leave them.
 In some instances you may also want to add additional adverbs for description.
The post-it note under R#2 is the one the student uses to write sentences for elaboration. These will be inserted in
the paper.
35
Using Quotes in Essays
When used properly, quotations strengthen the concrete detail of your essay. The following
guidelines can help you set up your quotations within your own commentary.
TRANSITION, LEAD-IN, QUOTE (TLQ)
TRANSITION
Always begin your concrete detail sentences with transitions
For example
In addition,
Furthermore,
LEAD-IN
These orient your reader and help your sentence to flow smoothly. After the transition, mention
the speaker and situation.
 For example, after Scout pummels Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard, she
says, “…
 In addition, while spending Christmas at Finch Landing, Francis tells Scout “…
 Furthermore, when Scout and Jem are walking home from the pageant, “…
QUOTES
May be direct dialogue, indirect dialogue, or narration (author’s description)
 For example, after Scout pummels Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard, she
says, “He made me start off on the wrong foot” (27).
 In addition, while spending Christmas at Finch Landing, Francis tells Scout that
Atticus is “ruinin’the family” (87).
 Furthermore, when Scout and Jem are walking home from the pageant, they hear
a man, “running toward [them] with no child’s steps” (264).
36
MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA) IN-TEXT CITATIONS
Standard format: double quotation mark/quoted material/double quotation mark/left
parenthesis/page number/right parenthesis/period
For example, when Jem and Scout are building their snowman, they “[cannot] wait for
Atticus to come home for dinner” (71).
If the quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, put it inside the last
quotation mark and put a period after the page citation.
For example, while discussing the group of men who want to hang Tom Robinson before
the trial begins, Atticus says, “Every mob in every little Southern town is always made up
of people you know—doesn’t say much for them, does it?” (160).
Use brackets when you alter words from the original quotation.
Actual text: Atticus “went to the court reporter and said something, nodded to Mr.
Gilmer, and then went to Tom Robinson and whispered something to him” (214).
Your quote: For example, before leaving the courtroom Atticus “[goes] to the court
reporter and [says] something, [nods] to Mr. Gilmer, and then [goes] to Tom Robinson
and [whispers] something to him” (214).
Reminders:
1. Never put periods or commas immediately before the closing quotation mark.
2. Never write pg./p./pp., etc. inside the parentheses. The only thing that can appear inside
the parentheses are Arabic numbers.
3. Never put only the first quotation mark at the end of a line or the last quotation mark at
the beginning of a line by itself.
4. Use a variety of transition words and sentence structures.
37
Integrating Quotations
In your reading response essays, it is best to integrate quoted material smoothly into your sentence structure.
Incorrect: In “The Chrysanthemums,” we are presented with a character who is stifled by her environment. “On
every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (489). In such claustrophobic
surroundings it is not surprising that Elisa has few creative and emotional outlets. “Her face was eager and mature
and handsome, even her work with the scissors was over-eager, overpowerful” (489).
Correct: In “The Chrysanthemums,” we are presented with a character who is stifled by her “closed-off”
environment. Even the sky above “sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a close pot” (489). In
such claustrophobic surroundings it is not surprising that Elisa has few creative and emotional outlets. Her only
source of fulfillment and passion is her ability to “stick anything in the ground and make it grow” (490).
Other Quoting Tips:
 If you leave out words or phrases in the middle of a quote, use an ellipses mark. Use brackets to insert changes in a
quote that will make it fit your sentence structure smoothly. Example: Elisa becomes more interested when the
peddler tells her of a “lady down the road [who] has got…nearly every kind of flower but no chrysanthemums” (492).
 If your quote is longer than three lines, block indent it (10 spaces from left margin, no quotation marks). Long quotes
should be used sparingly, especially in short papers. They are most often introduced with a complete sentence
followed by a colon.
 After quoting (especially long quotes), comment on the quote by connecting it to your ideas. A good trick is to pick up
some of the language from the quote in the sentence that follows it.
 It is generally not a good idea to put quotes in the first sentence of a body paragraph (where the topic sentence should
be). Quotes should be used as supporting evidence and thus should be placed towards the middle of the paragraph.
Sample Sentences Using Assertions, Data Sentences, and Quotations:
 Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure. “Gatsby turned out all right at the end,” according to Nick (176).
 For Nick, who remarks Gatsby “turned out all right,” the hero deserves respect but perhaps does not inspire great
admiration (176).
 “I know you blame me,” Mrs. Compson tells Jason (47). Is she expressing her own sense of guilt?
 Vivian hates the knights for scorning her, and she dreams of achieving glory by destroying Merlin’s: “I have made his
glory mine” (390).
 Cassio represents not only a political but also a personal threat to Iago: “He hath a daily beauty in his life/That makes
me ugly…” (5, 1, 19-20).
 Satan’s motion is many things’ he “rides” through the air, “rattles”, and later explodes, “wanders and hovers” like a fire
(63, 65, 293).
38
SYNONYMS FOR SAID
The following is a list of words to be used instead of always relying on said. However, they
cannot all be used in every instance. You need to know the meaning of the word to know the
context in which it can be used.
acknowledged
added
admitted
addressed
admonished
advised
advocated
affirmed
agreed
alleged
announced
answered
argued
articulated
asked
assented
asserted
assured
attested
atoned
averted
avowed
babbled
bantered
bawled
begged
bemoaned
berated
bet
blurted
boasted
bragged
broached
bugged
cajoled
called
carped
cautioned
challenged
chatted
cheered
chuckled
cited
claimed
coaxed
conceded
confessed
contradicted
corrected
counseled
countered
cried
croaked
crowed
dared
decided
declaimed
declared
decreed
delivered
demanded
denied
denounced
described
dictated
directed
disclosed
disrupted
divulged
drawled
droned
elaborated
ended
entreated
enumerated
enunciated
equivocated
espoused
estimated
exclaimed
exhorted
explained
expostulated
faltered
fretted
fumed
gasped
giggled
granted
greeted
grinned
groaned
grumbled
haggled
hesitated
hinted
imparted
implied
imposed
indicated
inferred
informed
inquired
insinuated
insisted
interjected
interrogated
jeered
jested
lamented
laughed
lectured
lied
maintained
mentioned
mimicked
moaned
mocked
mumbled
murmured
muttered
nagged
named
narrated
needled
noted
objected
observed
offered
orated
ordered
outlined
owned
panted
petitioned
pleaded
pointed out
pontificated
praised
prayed
preached
presented
proclaimed
proffered
projected
pronounced
proposed
protested
proved
queried
questioned
quibbled
quipped
quizzed
quoted
ranted
reasoned
rebuked
rebutted
recited
recounted
refuted
regretted
reiterated
rejoiced
rejoined
related
remarked
reminded
renounced
repeated
reported
replied
reprimanded
requested
responded
resumed
retorted
revealed
roared
ruled
sassed
scoffed
scolded
scowled
shouted
sighed
simpered
smiled
smirked
snapped
sneered
snickered
speculated
sputtered
squelched
stammered
stated
stipulated
stormed
stuttered
suggested
supposed
swore
talked
taunted
tempted
theorized
vocalized
volunteered
wailed
wept
whispered
wondered
yelled
39
Transitions and Paragraph Hooks
Transitions and paragraph hooks are connections between writing units that signal relationships
between ideas and convey the unity of the entire piece.
TRANSITIONS
Addition signals: one, first of all, second, the third reason, also, next, another, and, in addition, moreover,
furthermore, finally, last of all, again, additionally, besides, likewise, as well, along with
Time signals: first, then, next, after, as, before, while, meanwhile, soon, now, during, finally, until, today,
tomorrow, next week, yesterday, afterward, immediately, as soon as, when
Space signals: next to, across, on the opposite side, to the left, to the right, above, below, nearby, against,
along, around, beneath, between, in back of, in front of, near, off, onto, on top of, outside, over, throughout,
under
Change of direction signals: but, however, yet, in contrast, although, otherwise, still, on the contrary, on
the other hand, even though
Illustration signals: for example, for instance, specifically, as an illustration, once, such as, in other words,
that is, put in another way
Conclusion signals: therefore, consequently, thus, then, as a result, in summary, to conclude, last of all,
finally, all in all
Emphasis signals: again, to repeat, for this reason, truly, in fact
PARAGRAPH HOOKS/CONNECTIONS
Repeated words: repeating key words can help tie a paragraph or longer writing together
Pronouns: using pronouns to take the place of words or ideas can help you avoid needless repetition
Synonyms: using synonyms for some words can increase variety and interest and help the reader move
from one step in the thought of the paper to another
NOTE: Transitions, when used sparingly and accurately, add to the overall polished effect of your writing.
However, the overuse or incorrect use of transitions can create an artificial or “’canned” effect and can also
create confusion in your readers. Be familiar with the expressions, but in addition, become more aware of
the ways in which published writers employ transition to accomplish their ends.
40
AVOIDING COMMON WRITING ERRORS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
Write in active, not passive, voice (e.g., The information confused the student instead of The student was
confused by the information).
Punctuate compound sentences correctly to avoid comma splices and run-ons.
Avoid contractions. Then you will never confuse the contraction it’s (meaning it is or it has) with the
possessive pronoun its (e.g., The dog wagged its tail).
Avoid announcing your intentions (This report will examine; In this paper I will argue).
Develop your paragraphs. One or two sentences cannot form a developed paragraph.
Vary your sentence pattern by combining sentences to create a balance of complex, simple, and compound
patterns.
Avoid opening your paper with a “dictionary definition” and ending your paragraphs with a “concluding”
sentence.
Avoid the excessive use of the expletives there is; there are; there would have been.
Avoid redundant rhetoric (separate out; focus in on; exact same).
Eliminate empty phrases: in today’s society (in today’s anything); hopefully; in my opinion; due to the fact
Replace the words he/she or him/her with a plural subject if appropriate: Students realize they must develop
solid study habits replaces A student realizes he/she must develop solid study habits.
Avoid the use of this, that, which, and similar pronouns to cover more than one specific antecedent (the
noun or pronoun that the pronoun refers to).
Avoid faulty predication or faulty pronoun reference: This is when; The reason is because; In the book it
says…
Avoid shifting voice: The speech students learned that you had to prepare carefully to hold an audience’s
attention.
Distinguish subjective from objective forms of pronoun case; he/him; she/her; they/them; we/us; etc.
Refer to a usage glossary to avoid using who’s for whose; affect for effect; loose for lose; to for too;
presently for currently; etc.
Place quotation marks outside commas and periods; generally place them inside semicolons.
Adhere to the “10 percent rule” when writing introductions and conclusions. That is, your introduction as
well as your conclusion should each measure around 10 percent of the length of the entire paper.
Underline or italicize only that portion of a title you borrow from another author.
Avoid the use of the verb feel when you think or believe (e.g., The character feels like he needs to get
revenge. The character believes that is acceptable usage. )
Refer to an author’s full name only when is it initially used; thereafter, use last name only and with few
exceptions, never with a title such as Dr. or Ms. (Doctor Johnson replaces Samuel Johnson, a notable
exception.)
Indent four lines or more of quoted material without the use of quotation marks because indention in itself
is the “signpost” to your reader that you have borrowed the information. Use a single quotation mark,
however, to indicate a speaker within the indented citation.
Introduce long quotations with a colon and always offer some analysis or commentary (not summary)
before or after the introduction of a quotation.
Underline or italicize those works that are long enough to be published separately. They include television
sitcoms, movies, epic poems, and music albums.
Space ellipses correctly, space/period/space/period/space/period ( . . . )
Use brackets to reflect a change in capitalization if different from the text you are quoting: John Kennedy’s
philosophy was to ‘[a]sk what you can do for your country.’
Stay in literary or historical present tense when “in the text”: As Shakespeare characterizes him, Hamlet is
(not was) a tragic figure.
Spell out all numbers ten and below. Always spell any number if it is the first word of the sentence.
Distinguish the narrator’s or speaker’s voice from the author’s when you analyze literary works (for poetry,
the speaker’s voice replaces the narrator’s).
Avoid using a quotation as a thesis statement or topic sentence.
Avoid using an ellipsis to indicate an omission from the beginning of a quotation.
Reserve the term quote as a verb, the term quotation as a noun (She wants to quote one portion of the
quotation).
41
Revision Involves Changes
Adding
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
completely new thoughts
the other side of an issue
explanation of thoughts and ideas
examples, illustrations
a specific audience
a clarifying metaphor or analogy
specific details
vivid, fresh adjectives and adverbs
Deleting
• irrelevant passages, no matter how fond you are of them
• broad descriptions and vague generalizations which prevent in-depth discussion of a sharply focused
topic
• weak beginnings
• pointless details
• lifeless, taking-up-space words and phrases
Substituting
•
•
•
•
•
•
one purpose for another (e.g. a primarily informative piece changes to a primarily entertaining one)
one tone for another
one point of view for another
one form of discourse for another (e.g., expressive prose changes to poetry)
words with greater precision
strong verbs, colorful expressions
Rearranging
•
•
•
•
major points in least-to-most-significant order
a striking sentence or idea to be used in the introduction or conclusion
paragraphs into a chronological sequence
items in a series
42
MLA Works Cited and Documentation Formats
ALL ENTRIES ON THE WORKS CITED PAGE SHOULD BE ALPHABETIZED BY THE
FIRST LETTER OF THE AUTHOR'S LAST NAME OR THE TITLE IF THE PUBLICATION
DOES NOT HAVE AN AUTHOR.)
[Book]
Ruiz, Ramon Eduardo. Triumphs and Tragedies: A History of the Mexican People. New York:
Norton, 1992.
[Book-Two or three authors]
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the
Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979.
[Book-Editor]
Nabokov, Peter, ed. Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from
Prophecy to the Present. New York: Viking-Penguin, 1991.
[Book-Editors]
Pryor, Karen, and Kenneth S. Norris, eds. Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles.
Berkley: U of California P, 1991.
[Encyclopedia]
“Mandarin.” The Encyclopedia Americana. 1993 ed.
[Periodicals – Non-Scholarly – Printed every week to two weeks]
Carahan, Frances. “What a World!” Early American Life. April 1992: 2-4.
Smith, Shelley. “Baseball’s Forgotten Pioneers.” Sports Illustrated. 30 Mar. 1992: 72.
[Periodicals –Scholarly – Generally printed once a month or maybe even 4 times a year]
Use the volume number after the name of the publication. If only an issue number is
given, use the issue number in place of the volume number. Do not use both issue and
volume number.
Trumpener, Katie, “Memories Carved in Granite: Great War Memorials and Everyday Life.”
PMLA 115 (2000): 1096-103.
43
[Work in an Anthology]
Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun.” Black Theater: A Twentieth-Century Collection of
the Work of Its Best Playwrights. Ed. Lindsay Patterson. New York: Dodd, 1971. 221276.
“Of Mice and Men.” Literature and Its Times. Vol 3. Eds. Joyce Moss and George Wilson.
Detroit: Gale, 1997. 269-276.
[Internet Resource]
Doe, John. “Food in Medieval Times.” Yahoo, 15 Nov. 1999.
<http://www.medievaltimes.food/food.html>.
[Gale Group Online]
Spilka, Mark. “Of George and Lennie and Curley’s Wife: Sweet Violence in Steinbeck’s Eden.”
In Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2. Summer 1974, 169-179. Exploring Novels.
Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Student Resource Center. Farmington Hills: Gale
Group, Dec. 2000.
[Film]
The Grapes of Wrath. Dir. John Ford. Perf. John Carradine, Jane Darwell, and Henry Fonda.
Writer. Nunnally Johnson. Twentieth-Century-Fox, 1940.
Use the following format(s) to document a quote or paraphrase from a source when writing
your paper.
According to John Doe, the food of the Medieval period often included spices that were obtained
through trade with Asia (2).
The food of the Medieval period “often included spices that were obtained through trade with
Asia” (Doe 2).
Critic John Hubbard calls Tess “a woman of character (64).” Hubbard goes on to say that ….
44
Generic Scoring Guide for AP Essay Questions
9-8
7-6
5
4-3
2-1
0
Superior papers specific in their references, cogent in their definitions, and free of plot
summary that is not relevant to the question. These essays need not be without flaws,
but they demonstrate the writer's ability to discuss a prompt with insight and
understanding and to control a wide range of the elements of effective composition. At
all times, they stay focused on the question and the thesis. These papers reflect stylistic
flair and in-depth and original concrete supporting details.
These papers are less thorough, less perceptive or less specific than 9-8 papers. These
essays are well-written but with less maturity and control than the top papers.
They demonstrate the writer's ability to analyze a literary work, but they reveal a more
limited understanding than do the papers in the 9-8 range. Generally, 6 essays present a
less sophisticated analysis and less consistent command of the elements of effective
writing than essays scored 7.
Safe and "plastic," superficiality characterizes these essays. Discussion of meaning
may be pedestrian, mechanical, or inadequately related to the chosen details. Typically,
these essays reveal simplistic thinking and/or immature writing. They usually
demonstrate inconsistent control over the elements of composition and are not as well
conceived, organized, or developed as the upper-half papers. On the other hand, the
writing is sufficient to convey the writer's ideas and stays focused on the prompt.
Discussion is likely to be unpersuasive, perfunctory, underdeveloped or misguided. The
meaning they deduce may be inaccurate or insubstantial and not clearly related to the
question. Part of the question may be omitted altogether. The writing may convey
the writer's ideas, but it reveals weak control over such elements as diction, organization,
syntax, or grammar. Typically, these essays contain significant misinterpretations of
the question of the work they discuss; they may also contain little, if any, supporting
evidence, and practice paraphrase and plot summary at the expense of analysis.
These essays compound the weaknesses of essays in the 4-3 range and are frequently
unacceptably brief. They are poorly written on several counts, including many
distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. Although the writer may have made
some effort to answer the question, the views presented have little clarity or coherence.
This score is reserved for essays that make no more than a reference to the task, those
that are off-topic, and for a blank sheet.
45
Tone Vocabulary
Like the tone of a speaker’s voice, the tone of a work of literature expresses the writer’s feelings. To
determine the tone of a passage, ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is the subject of the passage? Who is its intended audience?
2. What are the most important words in the passage? What connotations do these words have?
3. What feelings are generated by the images of the passage?
4. Are there any hints that the speaker or narrator does not really mean everything he or she says? If any jokes
are made, are they lighthearted or bitter?
5. If the narrator were speaking aloud, what would the tone of his or her voice be?
Positive Tone/Attitude Words
Amiable
Amused
Appreciative
Authoritative
Benevolent
Brave
Calm
Cheerful
Cheery
Compassionate
Complimentary
Confident
Consoling
Content
Dreamy
Ecstatic
Elated
Elevated
Encouraging
Energetic
Enthusiastic
Excited
Exuberant
Fanciful
Friendly
Happy
Hopeful
Impassioned
Jovial
Joyful
Jubilant
Lighthearted
Loving
Optimistic
Passionate
Peaceful
Playful
Pleasant
Proud
Relaxed
Reverent
Romantic
Soothing
Surprised
Sweet
Sympathetic
Vibrant
Whimsical
Furious
Harsh
Haughty
Hateful
Hurtful
Indignant
Inflammatory
Insulting
Irritated
Manipulative
Obnoxious
Outraged
Passive
Quarrelsome
Shameful
Smooth
Snooty
Superficial
Surly
Testy
Threatening
Tired
Uninterested
Wrathful
Mock-heroic
Mocking
Mock-serious
Patronizing
Pompous
Quizzical
Ridiculing
Sad
Sarcastic
Sardonic
Satiric
Scornful
Sharp
Silly
Taunting
Teasing
Whimsical
Wry
Negative Tone/Attitude Words
Accusing
Aggravated
Agitated
Angry
Apathetic
Arrogant
Artificial
Audacious
Belligerent
Bitter
Boring
Brash
Childish
Choleric
Coarse
Cold
Condemnatory
Condescending
Contradictory
Critical
Desperate
Disappointed
Disgruntled
Disgusted
Disinterested
Facetious
Humor-Irony-Sarcasm Tone/Attitude Words
Amused
Bantering
Bitter
Caustic
Comical
Condescending
Contemptuous
Critical
Cynical
Disdainful
Droll
Facetious
Flippant
Giddy
Humorous
Insolent
Ironic
Irreverent
Joking
Malicious
46
Sorrow-Fear-Worry Tone/Attitude Words
Aggravated
Agitated
Anxious
Apologetic
Apprehensive
Concerned
Confused
Dejected
Depressed
Despairing
Disturbed
Embarrassed
Fearful
Foreboding
Gloomy
Grave
Hollow
Hopeless
Horrific
Melancholy
Miserable
Morose
Mournful
Nervous
Numb
Ominous
Paranoid
Pessimistic
Pitiful
Poignant
Regretful
Remorseful
Resigned
Sad
Serious
Sober
Solemn
Somber
Staid
Upset
Intimate
Judgmental
Learned
Loud
Lyrical
Matter-of-fact
Meditative
Nostalgic
Objective
Obsequious
Patriotic
Persuasive
Pleading
Pretentious
Provocative
Questioning
Reflective
Reminiscent
Resigned
Restrained
Seductive
Sentimental
Serious
Shocking
Sincere
Unemotional
Urgent
Vexed
Wistful
Zealous
Neutral Tone/Attitude Words
Admonitory
Allusive
Apathetic
Authoritative
Baffled
Callous
Candid
Ceremonial
Clinical
Consoling
Contemplative
Conventional
Detached
Didactic
Disbelieving
Dramatic
Earnest
Expectant
Factual
Fervent
Formal
Forthright
Frivolous
Haughty
Histrionic
Humble
Incredulous
Informative
Inquisitive
Instructive
Language Words-Used to describe the force or quality of the entire piece
Like word choice, the language of a passage has control over tone. Consider language to be the entire
body of words used in a text, not simply isolated bits of diction, imagery, or detail. For example, an invitation to a
graduation might use formal language, whereas a biology text would use scientific and clinical language.
Different from tone, these words describe the force or quality of the diction, images, and details AS A
WHOLE. These words qualify how the work is written.
Artificial
Bombastic
Colloquial
Concrete
Connotative
Cultured
Detached
Emotional
Esoteric
Euphemistic
Exact
Figurative
Formal
Grotesque
Homespun
Idiomatic
Informal
Insipid
Jargon
Learned
Literal
Moralistic
Obscure
Obtuse
Ordinary
Pedantic
Picturesque
Plain
Poetic
Precise
Pretentious
Provincial
Scholarly
Sensuous
Simple
Slang
Symbolic
Trite
Vulgar
47
DIDLS: The key to unlocking tone in a piece of literature is through
the following elements: diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax.
D
(Diction)
Choose unusual and/or effective words from the
passage. Evaluate the connotations of the words
and write synonyms for each.
Then, decide what the word choice suggests about
the character’s or narrator’s demeanor.
I
(Images)
Cite examples of imagery from the passage.
Identify the sense appealed to and interpret the
meaning.
D
(Details)
List facts or the sequence of events from the
passage. Comment on why this order is used. You
can also comment on why certain details seem to be
left out.
L
(Language)
Determine the type of language used (formal,
informal, clinical, jargon, literal, vulgar, artificial,
sensuous, concrete, precise, pedantic, etc.). Cite
examples. Then explain what the author's purpose
was in using this type of language. What was the
effect?
S
(Syntax)
How does sentence structure reveal the character’s
attitude?
48
Using TPCASTT for Analysis of Poetry
T
P
C
Title
What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the
title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?
Paraphrase
Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?
Connotation
What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart below.
Form
Diction
Imagery
Point of View
Details
Allusions
Symbolism
Figurative Language
Other Devices
(antithesis, apostrophe, sound
devices, irony, oxymoron,
paradox, pun, sarcasm,
understatement)
A
S
T
T
Attitude
What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others,
and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about
the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?
Shifts
Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? Look for time and place,
keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence
structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and
meaning?
Title
Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall
interpretation of the poem?
Theme
List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme.
The theme must be written in a complete sentence.
49
SOAPS
A Method for Reading and Understanding Text
Rhetoric is the art of adapting the ideas, structure, and style of a piece of writing to the
audience, occasion, and purpose for which the discourse is written. Since the writer
uses this method in developing a piece of writing, the reader can, in turn, use it for
analyzing the text. Reading for SOAPS facilitates the kind of critical thinking that leads
to the writing of essays whose purpose is to argue or to evaluate.
S
SUBJECT
This is the general topic, content, and ideas
contained in the text. Be able to state the subject
in a short phrase.
O
A
OCCASION
This is the time and place of a piece; it is important
to understand the context that encouraged the
writing to happen.
AUDIENCE
P
S
PURPOSE
This is the group of readers to whom the piece is
directed. It may be one person, a small group, or a
large group; it may be a certain person or a certain
people; an understanding of the characteristics of
the audience leads to a higher level of
understanding.
This is the reason behind the text. Without a grasp
of purpose, it is impossible to examine the
argument or logic of the piece.
SPEAKER
This is the voice that tells the story; the author may
be the speaker. In a non-fiction article, if it is
carefully planned and structured, it is within that
plan and structure that meaning is discovered.
50
The Reading Log
(a.k.a. Reading Response Journal/Dialectical Journal/Double-Entry Journal)
A reading log is an effective way to keep a record of your reading responses-positive or negative,
sure or unsure. It offers a change to respond personally, to ask questions, wonder, predict, or
reflect on the characters, events, literary elements, or language of a text. Do not summarize!
Instead, record your textual observations.
Instructions for keeping a reading log are as follows:
 Use notebook paper (one-side only) or you may type it
 Must have two columns (divide the page in 1/2)
 Title the column on the left “Quotations from the Text”
 Title the column on the right “Commentary/Responses to the Text”
Responses may start:
 “The imagery reveals…”
 “The setting gives the effect of…”
 “The author seems to feel…”
 “The tone of this part is…”
 “The character(s) feel(s)…”
 “This is ironic because…”
 “The detail seems effective/out of place/important because…”
 “An interesting word/phrase/sentence/thought is…”
 “This reminds me of…”
 “Something I notice/appreciate/don’t appreciate/wonder about is…”
 Or you may start with something else you feel is appropriate
 Generally each response should be 3-5 sentences and should include your analysis of the
literary techniques present in the quotations, the author’s attitude, purpose or tone, and
relation to personal experience.
 Show me that you have read the entire book by responding to the novel from the first to the
last page. You must have a total of 20 entries (or at least one per chapter-which ever is
more).
 Make sure that you note the page number for the quotes.
Your journal will be used to determine your comprehension of the text. Be sure that your
responses are thorough and that you complete the journal for all chapters of the book.
Please remember that these logs are not meant to be personal diaries. They are meant to be read
by others and should relate only to the assigned material. You will be sharing your journals in
class, so keep this in mind as you write. When sharing, you will have the opportunity to confirm,
clarify, and modify your responses through discussion. You will also find that your journals can
be helpful in writing literary analysis of the text.
51
Bless Me, Ultima Reading Log
Quotations from the Text
1. “She took my hand and I felt the power
of whirlwind sweep around me. Her
eyes swept the surrounding hills and
through them I saw for the first time
the wild beauty of our hills and the
magic of the green river. My nostrils
quivered as I felt the song of the
mockingbirds and the drone of the
grasshoppers mingle with the pulse of
the earth” (12).
2.
Commentary/Responses to the Text
1. The imagery reveals Tony’s sense of the
earth around him. As Ultima touches
his hand, he is drawn into what seems to
be a new and wondrous universe. This
powerful experience makes Tony think
that Ultima knows his fate and that they
will be close. It can be inferred that
their relationship will be a significant
part of the novel.
2.
To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Log
Quotations from the Text
1. “ ‘He might have hurt me a little,’
Atticus conceded, ‘but son, you’ll
understand folks a little better when
you’re older. A mob’s always made up
of people, no matter what. Mr.
Cunningham was part of a mob last
night, but he was still a man…So, it
took an eight-year-old child to bring
‘em to their senses didn’t it?’” (159160).
2.
Commentary/Responses to the Text
1. The tone here is matter-of-fact. Atticus
admits that Mr. Cunningham could have
harmed him, but he explains that Mr.
Cunningham’s actions were not entirely
his own; he was influenced by the crowd
as is common for many people. It takes
Scout recognizing him and talking to
him to make Mr. Cunningham realize
that what he is doing is wrong.
2.
Remember, Reading Logs Should:
 Be thoughtful, insightful, and original
 Show understanding of the characters, setting, themes, and the WORK AS A WHOLE
 Be thorough and complete
o Each commentary entry must be 3-5 sentences and written in the present tense
o Quotations should feature proper punctuation and the page reference in
parentheses as above
52
Annotating Texts
ANNOTATING simply means marking the page as you read with comments and/or
notes.
The principle reason you should annotate your books is to aid in understanding. When
important passages occur, mark them so that they can be easily located when it comes
time to write an essay or respond to the book. Marking key ideas will enable you to discuss
the reading with more support, evidence, and/or proof than if you rely on memory. Since
books are considered school property, if you wish to annotate them, try using post-it
notes. These can be written on with your important comments and removed when you turn
the book in; however, these annotation skills are very important as you write AP essays.
As you read passages, annotate as you go so you do not have to completely reread the text
to find your examples.
ANNOTATING MAY INCLUDE:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Highlighting key words, phrases, or sentences
Writing questions or comments in the margins
Bracketing important ideas or passages
Connecting ideas with lines or arrows
Highlighting passages that are important to understanding the work
Circling or highlighting words that are unfamiliar
SPECIFIC ITEMS FOR ANNOTATION MIGHT INCLUDE:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Character description
Literary elements (symbolism, theme, foreshadowing, etc.)
Figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, etc.)
Plot elements (setting, mood, conflict, etc.)
Diction (effective or unusual word choice)
Vocabulary words
HOW TO ANNOTATE A TEXT:
UNDERLINING-This stands out from the page and allows you to scan a page quickly for
information. Be careful not to mark too much—if everything is marked, then nothing becomes
important!
BRACKETS [ ]-If several lines seem important, place a bracket around the passage, then highlight
or underline only key phrases within the bracketed area. This will draw attention to the passage
without cluttering it with too many highlighted or underlined sentences.
53
ASTERISKS *-This indicates something unusual, special, or important. Multiple asterisks indicate
a stronger degree of importance.
MARGINAL NOTES- Making notes in the margin allows you to: ask questions, label literary
elements, summarize critical elements, explain ideas, make a comment, and/or identify characters.
PRACTICE:
The following passage is taken from Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Read the passage carefully
making annotations as you read. Remember you may highlight/underline, use brackets and/or
asterisks, and make notes in the margins.
“The lime-green of spring came one night and touched the river trees. Dark
buds appeared on branches, and it seemed that the same sleeping sap that
fed them began to churn through my brothers. I sensed their restlessness,
and I began to understand why the blood of spring is called the bad blood.
It was bad not because if brought growth, that was good, but because it
raised from dark interiors the restless, wild urges that lay sleeping all
winter. It revealed hidden desires to the light of the new warm sun.” (65)
54
RULES FOR LITERARY ANALYSIS
THE NEVER RULES
х Never use plot summary.
х Never use “no-no” words. (a lot, very, really, a bunch,
abbreviations, etc.)
х Never address the author by first name, or as Mrs., Ms., Miss, or Mr.
х Never rate the author’s work or style (by saying “He does an
excellent job of portraying the theme.” Or “The book is wonderful.”)
х Never explain the technique that you are writing about (like “Irony is expecting
one thing to happen and the opposite occurring.”)
THE ALWAYS RULES




Always have a strong thesis.
Always put quotations around the title of a poem or short story.
Always underline the title of a novel or book.
Always refer to the author by his/her full name or last name
only.
 Always use quotations as concrete details (CDs) whenever
possible.
 Always avoid use of “be” verbs.
 Always make the conclusion worth reading by including new insightful
analysis, connection to another similar work of literature, and an interesting, yet
relevant, ending (a quote if possible).
55
Theme Statements
Complete the following sentence using the instructions below:
[Title] is a novel/short story/poem/essay about ____________________________________.
It shows that ______________________________________________________________.
1. Place a single word or a short phrase (an abstract idea or concept) in the first blank. Then
explain the truth about human condition as it relates to the work.
2. Your completion of the sentence should show insight into the issues in the novel. You
should ask yourself: “What is the book really about?”
3. Do not complete the sentence with plot summary. Do not just tell what happens in the
story.
Ex 1:
Ex 2:
Ex 3:
Huck Finn is a book about the horrors of slavery and the denigration of
human beings.
Huck Finn is a book about one person’s ethical stand against the immoral
practices of society.
Huck Finn is a book about the hypocrisy of religion.
The length of the sentence is up to you, but it must be only one
sentence. You may choose to write a lengthy statement or a short
one, but insightfulness is key!
Abstract Ideas and Concepts to Consider:
Alienation
Ambition
Appearance v. reality
Custom/tradition
Betrayal
Bureaucracy
Chance/Fate/Luck
Children
Courage/cowardice
Cruelty/violence
Defeat/failure
Despair/discontent/disillusionment
Domination/suppression
Dreams/fantasies
Duty
Education/school
Escape
Exile
Faith/loss of faith
Falsity/pretense
Family/parenthood
Free will/will power
Games/contests/sports
Greed
Guilt
Heaven/paradise/utopia
Home
Initiation
Illusion
Innocence
Instinct
Journey
Law/justice
Loneliness
Loyalty
Materialism
Memory
Mobs
Music/dance
Mysterious/stranger
Persistence/perseverance
Patriotism
Poverty
Prejudice
Prophecy
Reason
Repentance
Resistance/rebellion
Revenge/retribution
Ritual/ceremony
Scapegoat/victim
Social status
Supernatural/time/eternity
War
Women/feminism
56
POINT OF VIEW
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
What is the dominant point of view from which the story is told? Does
the point of view create irony? How?
If told in first-person, does the narrator seem reliable? Why or why not?
If told in third person, is the narrator omniscient? If so, is the
omniscience overall or limited to one character?
How does the point of view accomplish the author’s purpose? How
does the point of view contribute to meaning? Is there anything
unusual about this point of view?
Does the point of view shift at any point? What is the purpose of the
shift?
How would the story change if told in a different point of view?
57
The Various “-Isms” of Fiction
In discussing literature, critics often use terms such as realistic, romantic, naturalistic,
impressionistic, and expressionistic. The terms are so elastic that definitions are elusive. Each
suggests a characteristic cluster of traits.
Romanticism










Emphasizes emotion, imagination, and individualism
Values the ideal and transcends the real
Stresses subjectivity, love of nature, and the solitary life
Idealizes spontaneity, freedom, and rural life
Values awe, mystery, and sometime mysticism
Associates human moods with moods of nature
Displays fascination with the past
Espouses individual freedom and human rights
Often associated with youthful idealism and emotionalism
At its worst becomes self-indulgent and sentimental







Values the actual
Opposes idealism
Stresses the here and now striving for an accurate portrayal of life as it is
Focuses on ordinary people in ordinary situations
Explores characters’ problems and conflicts, often stressing ethical issues
Also emphasizes the individual, but is pragmatic
Implications shift with philosophical changes in what is considered “real”
(Nathanial Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, and the American Transcendentalists)
Realism
(Mark Twain and Henry James)
Naturalism







An outgrowth of realism
Stresses biological and socioeconomic determinism
Values underlying scientific principles
Presents life as a brutal struggle to survive
Somber and pessimistic
Atmosphere is often sordid and violent
Characters tend to be ordinary people motivated by animalistic drives, responding to internal and
external forces they neither can control nor understand
(Stephen Crane)
Impressionism




Derives from 19th century French impressionist painters who were especially interested in uses of
light to suggest subjective impressions of reality
Stresses the perceptual responses of the audience
Focuses on the inner life and perceptions of a single character, usually in a single passing moment
Highly selective details combine to suggest fleeting impressions
(Virginia Woolf and some James Joyce works)
Expressionism






Term borrowed from art criticism
Uses distortion and fantasy to eternalize emotions and moods, especially experiences of
disorientation and imbalance
Transcends life as it appears to be, using symbols and abstractions to present life as it feels
De-emphasizes the individual
Freely disregards formal rules to suit the author’s purpose
Emphasizes the unreal, often nightmarish actions and atmosphere
(Franz Kafka)
Note: More often, critics describe a work as being more or less realistic or romantic.
58
Teaching Archetypes
CHARACTERS
The Hero
The Scapegoat
The Devil Figure
The Initiates
The Mentors
The Friendly Beast
The Creature of
Nightmare
Loyal Retainers
Star-Crossed
Lovers
Young Man from
the Provinces
Hunting Group of
Companions
The Outcast
59
The Woman Figure
Earthmother:
Temptress:
Platonic Ideal:
Unfaithful Wife:
Damsel in Distress:
SITUATIONS
Creation
Death and Rebirth
The Quest
The Task
The Initiation
The Journey
The Fall
Escape from Time
60
Nature vs. The
Mechanistic World
Battle of Good and
Evil
The Unhealable
Wound
The Ritual
The Magic Weapon
SYMBOLS AND ASSOCIATIONS
Light-Darkness
Water-Desert
The Sea
Rivers
Heaven-Hell
Sun
Colors
Red
Green
Black
White
Circle
61
Wind and Breath
Ship
Garden
Innate Wisdom v.
Educated Stupidity
Supernatural
Intervention
Fire vs. Ice
62
GUIDED GRADED DISCUSSION
STUDENT GUIDELINES:
•
The purpose of the graded discussion is to promote the intelligent exchange of ideas and to
develop the skills that make that exchange happen.
•
The discussion is effective because it is based on common courtesy and thoughtful, mature
interaction among peers.
•
The discussion begins with the student facilitator offering his/her personal observation on
the subject at hand. He/she might read a quote or refer to a page and its content.
•
Another student then responds to the idea opened by the facilitator. There will be no handraising or verbal calling out for the ‘floor’.
•
The next student simply responds, and this continues with other students responding in turn.
No two people may speak at the same time. It is the job of the facilitator to remind
discussion members of this as necessary.
•
After three or four points have been made on one question, the facilitator should direct the
discussion to another question, and he/she should encourage the flow of discussion and
prevent back-and-forth exchanges between two students. The focus should be kept on the
material under consideration. New ideas should be generated by a quote or a direct
reference to the text.
•
It is the student’s responsibility to join the discussion and to participate. However, if the
discussion stops, the facilitator may call upon someone who has not yet spoken.
•
Students should avoid belittling comments or argumentative remarks.
•
Total points will be awarded based upon the quantity and quality of responses during the
class period. Side conversations and inappropriate interruptions will result in a deduction
of points.
63
TIPS FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS
When you are invited to present material to a group, whether it be within the classroom setting, a workrelated environment, or any situation in which you will be evaluated on your performance, here are a few
commonsense tips:
1. Do not ever chew gum, candy, or anything else during a presentation.
2. Avoid jewelry or clothing which could distract your audience’s attention from your material and your
delivery. A conservative appearance is best, unless the subject of the presentation itself calls for a
special uniform or costume.
3. Never wear a cap or hat unless it is part of a costume needed for your presentation.
4. Keep your hands away from your face and hair. Hold your hands at your side, in a relaxed posture,
or lightly place your hands at the edge of the podium.
5. Stand up straight. Do not lean against the podium or appear to be supporting your weight against
it.
6. Maintain as much eye contact with your audience as possible, although it is all right to glance at
notes frequently and as needed.
7. As you plan your presentation, keep the requirements and time limitations in mind. Practice several
times and commit as much of your presentation to memory as possible.
As a member of the audience, keep in mind that your classmate or co-worker deserves your full attention.
You would like to have everyone’s full attention and respect when it is your turn to present.
Giving full attention to a speaker includes:
 LOOKING AT HIM/HER AND MAINTAINING A COMFORTABLE LEVEL OF EYE CONTACT
 SITTING AS STILL AS POSSIBLE
 APPEARING TO LISTEN AND OFFERING SOME KIND OF NON-VERBAL
ENCOURAGEMENT
Giving full attention to a speaker does not include:
х TURNING THE PAGES OF A MAGAZINE OR BOOK
х SHUFFLING THROUGH A STACK OF PAPERS OR A NOTEBOOK
х WHISPERING TO THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU
х DIGGING AROUND IN YOUR PURSE OR BOOKBAG
х SLEEPING OR GIVING THE IMPRESSION OF TOTAL BOREDOM
х GAZING OUT OF THE WINDOW OR ANYWHERE BESIDES AT THE SPEAKER
If you must leave the room during oral presentations, try to wait until one speaker has finished and leave
before the next speaker begins. It is extremely distracting to a speaker to have a member of the audience
stand and walk around in the room when he or she is trying to concentrate on the delivery of the material.
Obviously, emergency situations do arise, so if you must leave, be as discreet and quiet as possible.
64
Recommended Resources for
PAP/AP English Students
These resources are listed using MLA documentation and are thus in alphabetical order by
author and not organized by order of recommendation.
Casson, Allan. Advanced Placement: English Literature and Composition Preparation Guide.
Cliffs: Lincoln, 1993.
Murphy, Barbara and Estelle Rankin. 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language. McGraw-Hill:
New York, 2002.
Murphy, Barbara and Estelle Rankin. 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Literature. McGraw-Hill:
New York, 2002.
Swovelin, Barbara V. Advanced Placement: English Language and Composition Preparation
Guide. Cliffs: Lincoln, 1993.
Students will also find it useful to obtain their own copy of each of the following:
 Major novels taught in class,
 A dictionary of allusions,
 A current MLA handbook, and
 A handbook of literary terms
Note: Many of these items can often be obtained from used bookstores!
65
Resources for this Handbook
This handbook was adapted and edited by the English Department at BBHS. It relies mainly on
the handbook compiled by Mary Lynn Mosier from Van Vleck High School. Many thanks go to
Ms. Mosier for her permission to adapt her school's handbook. The following resources were
also used in the development of this handbook
Crest, Catherine Bartlett. Teacher’s Guide—AP English Literature and Composition. College
Board, 1999.
McIntire, Debra. Introduction Materials: Summer Institute for Advanced Placement Literature
and Composition. 2002.
Potts, Mary Jo. Teacher’s Guide—AP English Language and Composition. College Board,
1998.
Roe, Mary Lynn. PAP/AP English Handbook Van Vleck High School. 2004.
Schaffer, Jane. Teaching the Multiparagraph Essay. Jane Schaffer Publications, 1995.
Student Handbook: Advanced Placement English Program. Yukon High School, 2001.
The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English, 2nd ed. College Board, 2002.
66