2008 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE RESPONSE QUESTIONS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
SECTION II
TOTAL TIME – 2 HOURS
QUESTION 1
(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
This question requires you to synthesize a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay.
When you synthesize sources you refer to them to develop your position and cite them accurately.
Your argument should be central; the sources should support this argument. Avoid merely summarizing sources.
Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations.
Introduction
There has always been a debate on whether Coke or Pepsi is better. Both have similar products within the soda industry and have been completing for control of the market. People are often very picky about which they prefer.
Assignment
Read the following sources (including the introductory information) carefully. Then write an essay in which you develop a position on whether Pepsi or Coke is better regarding the drink and the company. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.
You may refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in the parentheses.
Source A (Coca-Cola Website)
Source B ( Colin Fernandez )
Source C ( Pesticides )
Source D ( Anna White )
Source E ( killercoke.org
)
Source F ( Bucella )

Coca-Cola. "Strategic Vision." 10 June 2008
<http://www.coca-cola.com /template1/index.jsp?locale=en_US>
Strategic Vision
We are committed to serving and supporting sustainable communities because our business succeeds where communities thrive. Together with our bottling partners, our business partners and members of the communities where we operate, The Coca-Cola Company works to identify and address existing and emerging social and environmental issues, as well as potential solutions
Join the Coke Side of Life™, where you help make good things happen. Where people come together to support their community. Where promising students can receive scholarships. And where environmental programs are benefiting the planet. These are just a few of the things you've helped accomplish over the years
Taken from the Coca-Cola website: http://www.coca-cola.com/template1/index.jsp?locale=en_US

Fernandez, Colin. "Diet Coke to drop additive in DNA damage fear." 26
May 2008. 13 June 2008 <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-
1021820/Diet-Coke-drop-additive-DNA-damage-fear.html>.
By Colin Fernandez
Last updated at 12:52 AM on 26th May 2008
Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.
Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.
Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.
By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.
The company plans to remove it from its other products as soon as possible, but said that at present it had not found a satisfactory alternative to replace the additive in some soft drinks with a higher juice content, including Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Oasis. The chemical is not used in regular Coke.
While sodium benzoate occurs naturally in some fruits, it is used in greater strengths by the soft drinks industry.
But research by Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology at Sheffield University, found that the additive could switch off parts of DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living creatures, that could be linked to cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's disease.
However, the Government-backed Committee on Mutagenicity has dismissed the research.
It argues that while sodium benzoate has been shown to be harmful to yeast cells, human cells are stronger.
Research by Southampton University found that sodium benzoate was one of seven additives - the six others are food colours - hat can lead to hyperactivity in children.
The Food Standards Agency has called for the six colours to be withdrawn from products but not sodium benzoate.
The Daily Mail has campaigned for a ban on harmful additives.
A Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We are continuously listening to our consumers' thoughts about ingredients."

"Pepsi, Coke contain pesticides: CSE." 4 August 2003. 13 June 2008
<http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/05pepsicoke.htm >.
August 05, 2003 15:14 IST
Last Updated: August 05, 2003 17:02 IST
Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, a nongovernment organisation on Tuesday claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by two multi national companies -- PepsiCo and Coke -- also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.
"12 major cold drink brands sold in Delhi and around contain a deadly cocktail of pesticide residues," Centre for Science and Environment said in New Delhi.
Officials of both PepsiCo and Coke declined to comment on the tests saying the two companies will be holding a joint press conference later.
According to the tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos.
The PML team involved in the tests was Dr H B Mathur, Dr Sapna Johnson and Avinash Kumar.
Three samples each of the 12 brands purchased from markets across the city, analysed in April-
August and found to contain pesticides residues are Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Mirinda orange, Mirinda Lemon, Blue Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca Cola, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thumbs Up.
Mathur said these pesticides included potent carcinogens which can cause cancers and reduce bone mineral density.
Both Pepsi and Coca Cola had almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues.
In all PepsiCo brands, total pesticides on an average were 0.0180 mg/litre, 36 times higher than the EEC limit of total pesticides at 0.0005 mg/l.
In Coca Cola brands they averaged at 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC limit.
Coca Cola and PepsiCo brands sold in the United States were also tested and found not to contain pesticides.
Narain, however, said in India, these companies cannot be taken to court since the norms that regulate manufacturing of cold drinks here are a "meaningless maze."

White, Anna. "Coke and Pepsi are going to school." January 1999. 13 June
2008 < http://www.essentialaction.org/spotlight/CokeSchool.html>.
Since last year, the two giant beverage companies have engaged in a frenzied rush to sign deals with public school districts that give them exclusive beverage selling rights in schools, plus an array of special marketing opportunities.
In the process, the cola companies have expanded their presence and role in public schools, far beyond the athletic scoreboards and vending machines which have been commonplace for decades.
School districts, many crippled by massive budget cuts or referendum failures, see exclusive rights cola deals as a quick and easy means of tapping new financial resources. On the surface, the proposed “partnerships” sound benign. They promise big bucks, lots of up-front cash and a wide selection of “amenities,” ranging from new athletic scoreboards to computer software programs, without the hassle of involving a single taxpayer. Plus, proponents note, everyone gets thirsty.
“Kids and teachers who spend hour after hour after hour in school get thirsty,” says Coca-Cola spokesperson Scott Jacobson. “Every time they consume a beverage brought from home it’s a lost revenue opportunity for the school. So it’s kind of a ‘win win win.’ It’s good for us. Good for people who are thirsty who want our products. Good for schools.”
Critics agree the deals are very good for Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsico, but they argue that the beverage companies’ efforts to brand the “next generation” of soft-drinkers comes at the expense of students’ allowances, nutrition and school curricula.
Many school districts, say the growing legion of critics of cola-ized classrooms, do not consider or care about the distinction between “facilitating education” and “increasing commercialism” and its implications for redefining educational spaces. After signing exclusive cola deals, many school districts find themselves devoting valuable administrative time to their management, taking on the role of soda promoter and accepting advertising they had not realized was part of the deal. But hefty up-front money is an effective bribe to stick to the contract; few school districts are willing to dissolve contracts if it means returning money already pocketed.

White, Anna. " Coke can’t hide its crimes in Colombia.” 12 June 2008
< killercoke.org>.
Isidro Segundo Gil, an employee at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia, was killed at his workplace by paramilitary thugs. His children, now living in hiding with relatives, understand all too well why their homeland is known as "a country where union work is like carrying a tombstone on your back."
Minutes after the thugs showed up at the Carepa plant gate, they fired 10 shots at Gil, a member of the union executive board, mortally wounding him. An hour later, another union leader was kidnapped at his home. That evening, a building that housed the union's offices, equipment and records was set ablaze.
The next day, a heavily armed group returned to the plant, called the workers together and told them if they didn't quit the union by 4 p.m., they, too, would be killed. Resignation forms were prepared in advance by Coca-Cola's plant manager, who had a history of socializing with the paramilitaries and had earlier "given (them) an order to carry out the task of destroying the union," the lawsuit says.
Fearing for their lives, union members at Carepa resigned en masse and fled the area. The company broke off contract negotiations, the paramilitaries camped outside the plant gate for the next two months, and the union was crushed. Experienced workers who made about $380 a month were replaced by new hires earning minimum wage ($130 a month).
Coke tries to have it both ways: tightly controlling the manufacture and distribution of its products overseas and collecting the profits, but denying any responsibility to workers. But the
Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1789, may hold the key to securing justice for foreign victims of corporate abuses.
Javier Correa, president of Sinaltrainal, adds: "We want justice. We want people to know the truth about what is going on in Colombia against Coke workers. Now that you know, will you please help us?" killercoke.org aided by SINALTRAINAL (National Union of Food Industry Workers)

Bucella. " 'This one? That's for injuries sustained during the Cola Wars ." 10
June 2008 <http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/pepsi.asp>.