AP English Language and Composition
Summer Assignment
To: Students taking AP English Language and Composition 2018-2019
From: Mrs. Gingrich, Ms. Kefauver, & Mrs. Schettini Luoma
Re: Course Overview and Summer Assignment
Welcome to AP English Language and Composition at Chesapeake High School. This choice on your part indicates a willingness to challenge yourself. It is our hope that we will profit from spending next year together, while you master college composition.
Our intensive course in the writing of expository, argumentative, and rhetorical prose emphasizes coherent organization, logical progression of thought, and effective use of language. Proficiency in writing can best be attained cumulatively with each assessment reinforcing and extending the skills of the previous one. As a result, the first portion of the course is structured around a sequence of assignments using the various strategies of exposition, description, narration, and structured analysis.
This course will culminate in refining the finer points of argument and persuasive rhetoric. To reach this goal, our literary perspective needs to adjust to the real world of non-fiction and its constructs so that we can concentrate on how authors employ diction, tone, imagery, audience, and purpose.
Summer Assignments:
We are asking you to expand your cultural literacy through this summer assignment by reading ONE of the following works and completing an essay on it:
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain
Concussion, Jeanne Marie Laskas
Outliers : The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell
These books are readily available in most local bookstores or on Amazon.com. E-book versions are also a good option. Many area public libraries also have copies of the books.
We would like you to tackle a topic related to the book in one typed 450-word essay (described on the next page) to be turned in the first day of class.
Summer Assignment Essay:
Directions: Choose the topic below (only ONE) that corresponds with the novel/non-fiction work you selected on the first page. As you write, do not summarize the plot. Instead, focus on appeals, devices, and strategies. Use quotes/refer to specific pages in the book for support! Again, your essay should be approximately 450 words. (Please list your word count at the end of your essay.)
Include parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. (Go to the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) at http://owl.english.purdue.edu to find guidelines for MLA parenthetical citations and Works Cited format.)
Topic 1: (If you choose Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything)
Choose three chapters and explain how the authors use rhetorical strategies (examples, narration, etc.) to develop the argument or claim of each chapter. How do those claims support the book’s overall purpose (note: the authors state the book does not have a “unifying theme”)?
Topic 2: (If you choose As I Lay Dying)
Discuss two or three rhetorical strategies and/or devices (description, narration, etc.) that Faulkner uses to develop how the main character(s) form and shape their own identities.
Topic 3: (If you choose Girl, Interrupted)
Discuss the book’s structure and the author’s use of language, specifically how the author uses tone (sympathy, frustration, etc.) to explain her own mental state.
Topic 4: (If you choose Quiet)
Explain the rhetorical strategies (definition, division & classification, etc.) that Cain uses to define the value of introverts in our society. Also analyze the rhetorical techniques (tone, diction, etc.) she uses to support her argument about individual differences in our culture.
Topic 5: (If you choose Concussion)
Analyze the impact of the role of narration throughout the work. How does Laskas employ strategies such as characterization, conflict, and point of view to advance her purpose?
Topic 6: (If you choose Outliers)
Analyze Gladwell’s unique definition of success. Write an essay that agrees or disagrees with Gladwell’s argument that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires” (Gladwell 151).
If you have questions concerning the course or the assignments, contact us:
Mrs. Gingrich at ngingrich@aacps.org
Ms. Kefauver at ckefauver@aacps.org
Mrs. Schettini Luoma at jschettini@aacps.org
Have a great summer!
*Attached is a version of a RHETORICAL KEYSTONE. You need to become familiar with the terms and their uses.
RHETORICAL KEYSTONE
RHETORICAL APPEALS
Ethos Pathos Logos
MODES OF DISCOURSE
(method a writer uses to have a conversation with a particular reader/ audience)
Exposition Narration Description Argument (Persuasion)
RHETORICAL STRATEGIES
(plan for achieving specific writing purpose)
Example Cause/effect Contrast/comparison Division/classification
Process Description Narration Argument Definition
RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES
(Choices and HOW the author uses rhetorical devices)
These choices revolve around the following:
Diction Syntax
Tone/attitude Organization
Point of View
RHETORICAL DEVICES
(Tools and mechanisms the writer employs to develop the strategy)
Alliteration Hyperbole/exaggeration Parallelism
Allusion Metaphor* Personification*
Analogy* Metonymy/synecdoche* Rhetorical question
Antithesis Onomatopoeia* Simile*
Apostrophe Oxymoron* Understatement/litotes
Epithet*
*=figures of speech
RUBRIC for the AP English Language SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
Use this as a guide for writing your essay. Submit this rubric with your essay on the first day of class!
Score of 5 (50 points)
Shows a thorough understanding of the topic
Addresses all aspects of the task with originality
Richly supports essay with relevant facts, examples, and details from the book, and cites them according to MLA (Cain 47).
Is a well-developed essay, consistently demonstrating a logical and clear plan of organization
Includes a strong introduction and conclusion
The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are accurate
Includes a separate MLA formatted Works Cited Page with minimal errors
Score of 4 (40 points)
Shows a good understanding of the topic
Addresses all aspects of the task
Includes relevant facts, examples, and details from the book. May not support all aspects of the task, but cites most according to MLA (Cain 47).
Is a well-developed essay, demonstrating a logical and clear plan of organization
Includes a good introduction and conclusion
The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are mostly accurate
Includes a separate MLA formatted Works Cited Page with few errors
Score of 3 (30 points)
Presents a satisfactory understanding of the topic
Addresses most aspects of the task or addresses all aspects in a limited way
Is a satisfactorily developed essay, demonstrating a general plan of organization
Uses some facts, examples, and details from the book, with inconsistent MLA citations
Restates the topic in the introduction and concludes with a simple restatement of the idea
The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are somewhat accurate
May include a separate MLA formatted Works Cited Page with some errors
Score of 2 (25 points)
Attempts to address the topic, but uses vague and/or inaccurate information
Is a poorly organized essay lacking focus; uses few facts, examples, and details from the book; and includes information that contains inaccuracies
May not contain MLA citations or Works Cited Page
Has vague or missing introduction and/or conclusion
The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are moderately weak
Score of 1-0 (0 points)
Does not submit an assignment or submits an off-topic assignment.
UPDATED on June 7, 2018
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