Analysis Essay
for the AP Language
and Composition Exam
Introduction
Information
Advice
Just what is it?
Students are given prose to analyze:
genres
time periods
Students need to analyze
language
rhetorical strategies
stylistic elements.
What is the Purpose?
 To determine reading, understanding, and analyzing
challenging texts.
 complete text
 To assess how well you communicate a written
analysis of a specific topic
 maturity
 To see the level of writing is a direct reflection of your
critical thinking skills.
 diction, syntax
Rhetorical Strategies
 The tools in your toolbox
identification
comprehension
Purpose
 SOAPSTone
 Other strategies
analyzing writing vs. literature
Stylistic Elements
Diction
Syntax
Structure
Content
Rhetorical Devices
What do they want?
Connections between analysis and the
passage
identify
comprehend
connect purpose
Connect it to the prompt!
Possible questions
 Analyze an author’s view on a specific subject.
 Analyze rhetorical devices used by an author to achieve
his or her purpose.
 Analyze stylistic elements in a passage and their effects.
 Analyze the author’s tone and how the author conveys his
tone.
 Compare and/or contrast two passages with regard to
style, purpose, or tone.
 Analyze the author’s purpose and how he or she
achieves it.
 Analyze some of the ways an author recreates a real or
imagined experience.
 Analyze how an author presents him or herself in the
passage.
 Discuss the intended and/or probable effect of a passage.
Examples of actual questions
 Carefully read the following passage by ___. Then,
paying particular attention to the changing tone within
the passage, write an essay in which you analyze the
techniques the author used to express his attitude
toward ___.
 The passage below is from ___ by ___. Read the
entire passage carefully. Then write an essay
analyzing the rhetorical strategies the author employs
to convey her attitude toward ___.
 Read the following two passages about ___ carefully.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how the
distinctive style of each passage reveals the purpose of
its writer.
What to do?
Be prepared.
Practice!
Anticipate questions when you read a
work.
Keep a list/copy of the questions
Review toolbox
Review handouts.
Keep in mind that MC and PA are related.
What is consistent?
 The task remains consistent
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS.
 The tools remain consistent
 Other factors do not matter:
 Length
 Complexity
 Time
 Author
Recommended process
 Read the prompt twice
Underline
Circle
Notes
 Make sure you know what the prompt is asking
you do to before you proceed.
 Use incidental info in prompt to your advantage
if possible
Read and Annotate the Passage
 Read quickly to get the gist of the passage.
 Underline, circle, highlight areas that stick out
 Reread more slowly
 Look for areas which did not stand out as much
 Skim the high points
 Look back at the prompt
General Tips
Remember, this is writing, not literature
Do not be thrown by complexity of
passage
Become confident with tools
Address the prompt
Do not use “I think,” or “In my opinion”
because it weakens your ideas.
SPECIFIC TIPS
Note time
10-25-5
Annotate before you write
Choose specific strategies to use
Ignore what you do not understand
Focus on what you do know.
Analysis Organization: Thematic
Introduce the text and author
•Summarize or describe
•Give pertinent context
•Provide pertinent biographical details
•Thesis: How the text works and what it means
Analyze the text:
•Identify a theme or pattern
•Use examples from the text
•and appropriate contexts as evidence
•Continue with 2-4 points (or more) as needed
Restate the thesis, relating it to larger (world, text) issues /views:
HOW THE TEXT / AUTHOR WORKS
WHAT IT MEANS!
Analysis Organization: Chunking
Introduce the text and author
Summarize or describe
•Give pertinent context
•Provide pertinent biographical details
•Thesis: How the text works; what it means
Analyze first section of text
•Use examples from the text
•and appropriate contexts as
evidence
Analyze next section of text
•Use examples from the text
•and appropriate contexts as
evidence
Continue sections as needed.
•Use examples from the text
•and appropriate contexts as
evidence
Restate the thesis, relating it to larger (world, text) issues /views:
HOW THE TEXT / AUTHOR WORKS
WHAT IT MEANS!
How is PA related to MC?
 BOTH are Rhetorical Analysis!
 You are looking for the answers to two
basic questions:
WHO is the writer/speaker?
WHAT is the meaning of the passage?
What is the attitude of the
writer/speaker?
HOW does the author convey or reveal
it?
WHAT strategies does he/she use?