Souderton Area High School English Department
AP Composition Course Syllabus
Week 1: Heuristics
Readings in textbook: “What is Rhetoric?”; “What and How to Write When You Have
No Time to Write”; “How I Write”
Excerpt from A Problem Solving Approach to Writing
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Heuristics Essay: Write a 3-5 page paper on a topic of your choice
using one or more heuristics.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Choose a topic and write a thesis statement using each of the heuristics.
Discuss the value of using heuristics in essay organization.
Week 2: Speech writing; Schemes and Tropes
Readings in textbook: “I Have a Dream”; “Letter to Fanny Brawne”; “Editorial: Is
There a Santa Claus?”
Excerpt from Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Speech: Write a 3-5 page speech on a topic of your choice.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Write an example of each of the schemes and tropes found in the excerpt from
Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student.
Week 3: Montaigne and the Essay
Reading: “Black Widow” by Gordon Grice; excerpts from Montaigne’s essays
Objective multiple choice test on reading
Essay Assignment: Write a 3-5 page chronological essay, the type that Montaigne
pioneered in the sixteenth century.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Lecture on Montaigne’s influence based on Paul Heilker’s book The Essay.
Discuss the style and content of Montaigne’s essays.
Week 4: Argumentation
Readings in textbook: “Obstacles to Clear Thinking”; “Introduction to Logic”; “A
Modest Proposal”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Ironic Essay: Write a 3-5 page ironic essay, the type that Swift
created in his essay “A Modest Proposal.”
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Discuss and analyze induction, deduction, logic, logical fallacies and the
syllogism.
Week 5: Narration
Readings in textbook: “How to Write a Narration”; “The Red Candle”; “Shame”; “The
Odour of Cheese”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Narrative Essay: Write a 3-5 page narrative essay on the topic of
your choice.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Discuss pacing of narrative and analyze how sample narratives are paced.
Week 6: Description
Readings in textbook: “How to Write a Description”; “The Deception of Hitler”; “Once
More to the Lake”; “Hell”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Descriptive Essay: Write a 3-5 page essay in which you describe
something of your choice.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Analyze the rhetorical devices used in a descriptive essay (i.e. allusion,
comparison/contrast, anecdote)
Week 7: Process Analysis
Readings in textbook: “How to Write a Process Analysis”; “Sharks”; “An Open
Window on my Private World”; “Some of us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Process Analysis Essay: Write a 3-5 page process analysis essay, or
an essay containing a process analysis that constitutes a significant portion of the paper.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Analyze subject, purpose, steps, new information (and the contribution of the
process analysis to the essay as a whole) of several process analysis essays.
Week 8: Examples
Readings in textbook: “How to Write With Examples”; “The Buck Stops Where?”; “A
Diarist on Diarists”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Researched, argumentative Essay: Write a 3-5 page essay,
“entering a conversation,” by using examples analyzed and synthesized from research to
support a thesis. Sources must be cited using MLA style.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Choose and research a topic. Find five scholarly articles that deal in some way
with that topic. These articles must be carefully chosen from quality sources, and those
sources must be properly documented. In an annotated bibliography, summarize how
each article addresses the topic, and evaluate the quality of each source. Then, participate
in class discussion of the idea of essay as conversation to which you will you add your
voice and perspective.
Week 9: Mid-term examination
Students take a released AP Composition examination.
Week 10: Definition
Readings in textbook: “How to Write A Definition”; “Kitsch”; “Cystic Fibrosis”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Definition Essay: Write a 3-5 page essay in which you define a
word.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: In order to understand the complexity of words so that one may define them,
brainstorm various words in different grammatical categories. Discuss and analyze how
description, example, and comparison/contrast can be effectively used to define a term.
Week 11: Comparison/Contrast
Readings in textbook: “How to Write A Comparison/Contrast”; from “Conservatism
and Liberalism”; “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”; “Bricklayer’s Boy”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Comparison/Contrast essay: Write a 3-5 page paper in which you
compare and contrast two things.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Analyze a debate regarding differing political perspectives. Discuss methods
of organizing a comparison/contrast essay.
Week 12: Division and Classification
Readings in textbook: “How to Write A Division and Classification”; “Thinking as a
Hobby”; “Kinds of Discipline”; “The Idols”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Division and Classification essay: Write a 3-5 page essay in which
you divide and classify a subject of your choice into at least three smaller units.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Discuss the nature of division and classification in several essays. Discuss
methods of successful division and classification (i.e. make categories mutually
exclusive, divide by a single principle)
Week 13: Causal Analysis
Readings in textbook: “How to Write A Causal Analysis”; “Why Tigers Become Maneaters”; “Books”; “Why I Went to the Woods”
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Causal Analysis Essay: Write a 3-5 page paper in which you
analyze the something’s cause.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Discuss the nature of division and classification in several essays. Discuss
methods of successful division and classification (i.e. make categories mutually
exclusive, divide by a single principle)
Week 14: Visual Rhetoric
Readings: “Rhetorical Analysis of a Magazine Advertisement” from Classical Rhetoric
for the Modern Student
Objective multiple choice test on readings
Essay Assignment: Select three advertisements and write for each a one page analysis
of the use of visual rhetoric and what messages are conveyed.
Essay Analysis Assignment: Choose an essayist from the list and write a 1-2 page
analysis of the essay’s content and style. Include a brief section of biographical
information about the author.
Content: Discuss the elements of rhetoric as they apply to a visual advertisement.
Discuss how ads convey subtle messages that appeal to readers’ desires.
Weeks 15-16: Final Examination
For the final examination, students will write an essay between ten and twelve
pages that supports an original idea in a creative and thoughtful manner. Students will
present their essays before the class focusing on the content, structure and style of their
papers. Students will be required to “defend their thesis” as students and the teacher pose
questions regarding the style and content of their paper.