AP Language & Composition
Required Reading 2011-2012
How to Read Literature Like a Professor By Thomas Foster
The Color of Water by James McBride
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Robert Lee & Jerome Lawrence
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
AP Language & Composition, English III
Summer Reading & Assignments
Table of Contents
Required Summer Reading & Assignments………………………………..
Prompts for Summer Reading Essays………………………………………
How to Write an Argument Essay…………………………………………..
AP Essay Scoring Categories………………………………………………..
Help with Formatting Parenthetical Citations………………………………
p. 1
p. 2
p. 3
p. 4
p. 5
Required Reading: As a prerequisite for this course, you will be required to read three books.
You will also be required to write three, well-developed argument essays, based on assigned
prompts. Format for these essays, as well as the AP Scoring Categories, can be found below.
Title/Author
Assignment
Tupelo’s Community-Wide Reading Initiative:
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Not required for course, but
students may receive extra credit
for participating in communitywide initiative & completing the
“Lessons Learned” activity (found
on TPSD website)
Required for AP Lang & Comp (prepare to begin course
with this text):
The Color of Water by James McBride
Argument Essay, based on prompt
(due 2nd day of course)
Two choice books (choose from the list below;
descriptions can be found at the end of this document):
-Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner
-Reading Lolita in Tehran by Nafisi
-Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
-Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
-A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Argument Essays, based on prompt
(due 2nd day of course)
Format for Three Required Essays:
-All work should be hand-written and submitted in a black & white composition notebook.
-For each essay, you are required to write a rough draft. The rough draft should come first
and should include visible revisions (have a friend look over it, or you may self-edit). Then,
write your final draft.
-Be sure that each essay is labeled with the title & rough/final draft (Example: Freakonomics Final Draft)
-Each essay should be approximately 500 words and should have quotes from the text to
support your claims (be sure to include parenthetical citations for all quotes…see last page of
this document for details on parenthetical citations).
AP Language & Composition
Prompts for Argument Essays
The Color of Water by James McBride
Argument Prompt: One of the major themes in James McBride’s The Color of Water is the author’s
search for his racial/cultural identity. Some argue that McBride’s experiences with this are different from
his mother, Ruth’s. Others argue their experiences were the same. Read the text with this in mind,
annotating for information pertaining specifically to the shaping of each character’s identity. Then, make
a claim about McBride’s and his mother’s journeys towards identity. Are they similar? In what ways?
Or are they different? Support your claim with at least three examples from the text; being sure to cite
your examples (see MLA citation guidelines on pg. 7 of this document).
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Argument Prompt: In Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner use anecdotes full of
statistical research to explore cause and effect relationships. A unifying theme is Levitt and Dubner’s
claim that “conventional wisdom is often wrong.” Based on evidence found in the text, support or refute
this claim. Be sure to cite at least three examples from the book (see MLA citation guidelines on pg. 7 of
this document).
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Nafisi
Argument Prompt: In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Dr. Nafisi’s question on the first day of class was:
“What should fiction accomplish? Why should anyone read at all?” Make a claim about the purpose of
reading, supporting your claim with evidence from the text as well as from personal experience. Be sure
to cite at least three examples from the book (see MLA citation guidelines on pg. 7 of this document).
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Argument Prompt: In Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, readers get a glimpse into Krakauer’s “survival guilt.”
Is Krakauer’s survival guilt derived simply from the fact that he lived through the tragedy, or is he
reflecting on his personal responsibility in the tragedy that occurred? Support your answer with at least
three references to the text (see MLA citation guidelines on pg. 7 of this document).
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Argument Prompt: In Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, she writes, “A majority of
North Americans do understand, at some level, that our food choices are politically charged,” says
Kingsolver, “affecting arenas from rural culture to international oil cartels and global climate change.”
Make a claim about the extent to which politics affects America’s food production and consumption.
Support your claim with at least three examples from the text, as well as your own experiences (see MLA
citation guidelines on pg. 7 of this document).
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Argument Prompt: Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, discusses the “grip that wilderness has on the
American imagination.” We see this enthusiasm about the American wilderness in Bill Bryson’s A Walk
in the Woods. Bryson’s goal, at the beginning of the text, is to hike the entirety of the Appalachian Trail;
however, as the book progresses, Bryson has to periodically readdress this goal. At one point, he writes,
“If we couldn’t walk the whole trail, we also didn’t have to.” What do you think about this? Was it
necessary for Bryson to accomplish his goal, or was it not? Support your claim with evidence from the
text (cite at least three direct quotes) (see MLA citation guidelines on pg. 7 of this document).
What is ARGUMENT?
An argument is an attempt to discover the “truth.” An argument offers good reasoning and
evidence to convince an audience to accept the “truth” established. An argument also
considers other perspective on the issue, offers facts that support the reasoning, and predicts/
evaluates the consequences of accepting the argument. An argument is different from a simple
persuasive essay. Persuasive pieces use personal, emotional, or moral appeals to convince an
audience to adopt a particular point of view. Persuasive pieces blend facts and emotions to make
its case, relying more on opinion than information from the text. To write a strong argument, be
sure to depend specifically on evidence from the texts read, instead of emotional reactions to the
text. Facts make your argument strong!
Format for the Classical Argument (often labeled the Ciceronian Argument)
I. Introduction (CLAIM)
• Engages the audience’s interest
• States the issue (anecdote, concrete example or image)
• Provides necessary background information
• Defines pertinent terms
• States the writer’s position on the issue (claim)
III. Confirmation (EVIDENCE)
• Provides reasons and evidence for the writer’s claims (backing)
• May employ logical, ethical, or emotional appeals (strongest arguments rely heavily
on logical appeals)
• May incorporate other modes of discourse as proof (comparison/contrast, causal
analysis, definition, classification)
III. Refutation or concession (also called the “Yes...but” technique. EXAMPLE: “Yes, it’s
true that forcing a uniform policy could be viewed by some as the eradication of students’
individuality, but when students do not have to focus on what they or others are wearing, they
will have more time to devote to academic and extracurricular endeavors that will further their
individuality…”)
• Acknowledges opposing views
• Refutes those views
• Demonstrates that writer’s claims are more valid
IV. Conclusion
• Brings the argument to a close
• Restates (but does not simply repeat) the claim
• May provide a new appeal to need or values
• May offer final supportive commentary
• ** Good technique: Voices a final plea for audience to take action or change thinking
• Refrains from merely repeating information or statements
AP Scoring Categories
A (8-9)
All the requirements of B-level essay are in evidence, but with a greater degree of effort,
analytical insight and writing sophistication. The essay balances generalizations with specific
illustrative details with considerable skill, maintains coherence through thoughtful transitions
from one point to another, goes beyond mere structural integrity to establish a voice through
which the analysis is maintained, and is engaging and enjoyable to read. Furthermore, the essay
is unusually insightful and shows an uncommon sensitivity to the language and ideas of the text,
especially as language and ideas relate to each other.
B (6-7)
The essay is well-written and constitutes evidence of thoughtful interaction with the text. That
evidence is displayed through some or all of the following:
• A claim is thoroughly established near the beginning of the essay.
• The claim is supported with relevant evidence from the text and cited correctly.
C (5)
The essay aspires to reach all of the requirements of the B-level essay (see above), but falls short
by no more than two of the following: 1) writing about the text superficially; 2) not providing
enough textual substantiation for your assertions; 3) not clearly connecting the evidence to the
assertions in a meaningful way, thus causing confusion; 4) writing about plot at the expense of
rhetorical analysis; and 5) writing sloppily or poorly.
F (1-4)
The entry falls short of the requirements of the B-level essay (see above) by more than two of the
deficiencies explained above (see the !C" level entry), or with one or more of those deficiencies
with an unusual degree of severity.
MLA Parenthetical Citations Helpsheet
A parenthetical citation must be included when the writer quotes directly from a
text. Be prepared to do this often, as you will always be required to support your
ideas with evidence from reading.
!Ultimately, MLA parenthetical citations offer two pieces of VITAL information for the
reader:
1.
The Author’s Name
2. The Page Number
!Why would the reader need this info?
•
If he or she wants to reference a source you used, your parenthetical citation would lead them to
your Works Cited page, which would give him/her all the information he/she needs to locate your
source!
Example Citations:
Introducing author at the beginning of sentence: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was
marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
OR
No author in sentence: Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings” (Wordsworth 263).
Tips for Formatting Parenthetical Citations:
•
Always introduce your quote or incorporate it into your writing. Here are some ways
you may do this:
o
According to the author,
o
The author illustrates this point by writing,
o
As illustrated in this study,
o
Smith’s article suggests,
!Biggest Issues in Parenthetical Citations? PUNCTUATION!
•
Punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and semicolons, should appear AFTER
the parenthetical citation.
•
Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks
ONLY if they are part of the original quoted passage.
•
Look at the examples below. Notice the information within the parentheses (author and
page number). Do not include any other punctuation (like commas) between the
author’s name and the page number.
Example:
According to some, dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184), though others
disagree.