PrewritingHelping you write a better response to an AP

prompt

A thesis must…be conciseinclude a “why”be arguableanswer prompt

Body paragraphsMust be organized organicallyMust NOT be organized by device

Language of promptRhetorical devices

Are more than just rhetorical appeals like pathos, logos and ethos

Look for repetition, rhetorical questions, parallelism, paradox or analogy (to start!)

ToneIs the author or speaker’s attitudeIs the author’s feelings about the topicYou must analyze language in order to

determine toneLook at word choice: connotations, loaded

languageLook for irony, hyperbole, repetition

Point of viewUsually 1st person (narrator is part of story)

or 3rd person (narrator is outside of story).3rd person can be omniscient (knows

everything about what everyone is thinking) or limited (knows everything about what some people are thinking)

Can be free indirect speech: third person narration that takes on some of the characteristics of 1st person narration (Austen employs this)

POVIf a prompt asks you to focus on POV, it is

usually because POV is interesting and important.

Look for shifts in POV.Consider why the author chose this POV.

What is gained? What is lost? How does it achieve author’s purpose?

“Theme for English B” promptWrite an essay in which you analyze how the

poem’s tone, point of view and rhetorical devices reveal the speaker’s changing attitude towards the assignment. Develop your essay with specific references to the poem’s text.

ExampleLangston Hughes expresses a changing

attitude in thepoem as it progresses from one of simple

observation toone that expresses how what he writes will be

looked atdifferently. He expresses that he is still

American andlives a normal life despite being labeled black.

(46)What’s wrong?WordyBuries prompt’s language in verbiageNot specific

Fixed it!In his poem “Theme for English B,” Langston

Hughes’stone changes from dubious to assertive as he

reflectsupon his writing assignment. (21)1. Concise!2. Includes title of poem!3. Specific (describes the tone)!4. Arguable!5. Uses prompt’s language (change, tone,

assignment)!

ExampleIn “Theme for English B,” Hughes employs

rhetoricaldevices, first person point of view, and tonal

shifts toenhance the speaker’s progress from

dubiousness of thevalue of his instructor’s homework to

realization of thereciprocity of such an assignment. (40)What’s wrong?1. Wordy!!2. “employs” is almost as bad as “uses”

Fixed itIn “Theme for English B,” Hughes’s rhetorical

questions, first person point of view, and tonal shifts

revealthe speaker’s attitude as it changes from

playfuldubiousness to wry acceptance. (29)

Song of Solomon promptRead the passage carefully. Then write an

essay in whichyou analyze Michael-Mary Graham’s

character asMorrison develops it through such literary

techniquesas tone, point of view, and language.

ExampleMorrison uses bombastic language, interjected

by briefmoments of practicality, to use Michael-Mary

Graham’sown perspective to depict her as an artistic

phonydeluded within the world. (27)What’s wrong?1. OMG! “Use” is in there twice!2. Wordy and unclear3. Could better reflect prompt

Fixed itMorrison’s bombastic language contrasts with

her morereasoned narration, and the resulting irony

makes itclear that Michael-Mary Graham is an artistic

phony. (23)1. Much more clear!2. Less wordy!

ExampleToni Morrison incorporates irony and

hyperbole as wellas free indirect point of view to satirize thepretentiousness of certain writers. (21)What’s wrong?1. It’s not wordy!2. It uses prompt’s language!3. But why say “certain writers” when, in fact,

it is Michael-Mary Graham she is satirizing?

ExampleIn Toni Morrison’s passage from Song of Solomon, shedisplays Michael-Mary Graham’s character in a

negative,self-centered, and inconsiderate light in order to furthercommunicate the overarching theme of the primevalstrength of spoken language. (35)What’s wrong?1. Does not answer prompt! It’s a good idea usually to

relate part to whole, but for this prompt you have only the passage.

2. Too wordy

Fixed itIn Toni Morrison’s passage from Song of

Solomon, theironic tone and loaded language reveal

Michael-MaryGraham’s character to be self-centered andinconsiderate. (23)

ExampleMichael-Mary Graham is a socialite who poses as a poet.Her concerns include appearances and her ownimportance, not her art. She is published, whichprovides her with followers to impress. Her own highopinion of herself fuels her need to appear importantand impress everyone, but does not accept competition.

(51)What’s wrong?1. Quite wordy2. So what? Where’s the argument?3. Does not address the prompt4. Would make good topic sentences for body paragraphs!

You fix itMichael-Mary Graham is a socialite who poses as apoet. Her concerns include appearances and her

ownimportance, not her art. She is published, whichprovides her with followers to impress. Her own

highopinion of herself fuels her need to appear

importantand impress everyone, but does not accept

competition. (51)

For compare/contrastWhen asked to compare and contrast,

remember that because one text uses devices x, y and z does not mean that the second text uses the same devices.

Look at the poem’s overall meaning and how the author achieves that meaning regardless of the devices involved.

Answer the prompt! What, specifically, is it asking for?

Compare/contrastDO NOT bounce back and forth between

poems/prose in your analysis.DO NOT write paragraphs about poem A’s

diction/syntax/tone and then write paragraphs about poem B’s diction/syntax/tone.

DO analyze one poem organically, and then Analyze the other poem organically with

reference to the first

Compare/contrastYour thesis and conclusion should bring the poem’s

together.Example of introduction:Both Poem A and Poem B present autumn as atransitional moment , but they differ in theirappreciation of this time. (short and to the point)Example of conclusion:While both poems discuss autumn, their interpretations

are different. The first speaker sees autumn as a positive time for change, while the second sees it as the melancholy

harbinger of death. (short and to the point again)