How to Approach AP Lit. Essays

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How to Approach AP Lit. Essays
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Prose/ Poetry Essay

• Work the prompt be sure you clearly understand
  what the prompt is asking you to do
• Take 5-10 minutes to read and annotate the poem.
  Annotations should help establish patterns and
  point out literary elements/techniques and poetic
  devices

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Poetry Essay

• Develop a thematic statement that gets at the
  heart of the poems message.
• Consider What techniques/elements does the poet
  use to convey this message? ?THESIS (i.e.
  Robert Frosts use of imagery, symbolism, and
  tone illustrate mans simultaneous fear and
  acceptance of death.)

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Prose/Poetry Essay

• Remember You must use quotes as supporting
  evidence!
• Structure for integrating quotes I-Q-E
• Introduce the quote with background, context,
  your own assertion.
• Quote the poem directly.
• Explain the quotes significance in relation to
  your thesis

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Essay 3 Free-Response

• Based on a literary work of your choice (you do
  not have to use the suggested works in the list).
• Carefully read the prompt! It may ask you to
  analyze techniques or it may be TOPICAL.
• Example of a topical promptA recurring theme in
  literature is the classic war between passion and
  responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a
  love, a desire for revenge, a determination to
  redress a wrong, or some other emotion may
  conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work
  in which a character confronts the demands of a
  private passion that conflicts with his or her
  responsibilities. In a well-written essay show
  clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects
  upon the character, and its significance to the
  work.

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Essay 3 Free-Response

• Begin with a thematic statement that is clearly
  related to the prompt but is not a simple
  restatement. Get right into the meat of your
  argument.

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Essay 3 Free-Response

• If the prompt is topical, organize by topics
  indicated within the prompt.
• If the prompt asks you to analyze elements or
  techniques, organize accordingly.

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Write a working thesis/thematic statement

• What will you prove in your essay?
• Avoid simply restating the prompt.
• Instead, attempt a thematic statement that gets
  at the heart of what the work is saying.

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Put the prompt into your own words

• Ask yourself What this prompt is asking you to
  do/analyze? Underline key words or separate
  questions or tasks within this prompt if it is
  multi-fold.
• Rewrite your answer to this question next to the
  prompt in your own words.
• Avoid using words that are in the original prompt
  unless it is absolutely necessary.

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Developing a few thematic statements

• 3 x 3 exercise
• Summarize your story in THREE sentences!
• Rather than stating events, focus on the
  universal truths the author seems to be unveiling
  through the actions of the story

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DONT DO
Minnie kills husband. Men seek evidence. Women hide evidence. This summary follows the correct structure of a 3x3 literary summary, but it fails to get at the deeper issues of a text. It states the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story A Jury of Her Peers. Apathy strangles devotion. Tidiness uncovers truth. Sympathy chokes justice. OR Unpredicted fate evolves. Curiosity unearths reality. Empathy conceals truth. OR Guilt consumes women. Curiosity unveils evidence. Lost hearts saved. This summary not only follows the correct structure, but it unveils the thematic truths that the story conveys.
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Write your 3x3 literary analysis
Will Use May Use Will NOT Use
complete sentences effective word order strong words, especially verbs and adjectives abstract nouns contractions using is proper nouns/names repeated words to be verbs pronouns (It, he, she).. clichés a, an, the
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Some things to remember when writing a thematic
statement

• Topic vs Theme A topic is a subject of a work
  (love, war, race, innocence, violence) A theme
  is what the author has to say about that topic.
• What is the major topic illuminated/illustrated
  in your work of literature?
• What is the author trying to say about this
  topic?
• You can follow the steps on how to write a
  thematic statement from the handout we used
  during our poetry unit.

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How will you prove your thematic/thesis statement
is true?

• Brainstorm proof!
• Consider how the author utilizes literary
  elements or techniques to illustrate his/her
  beliefs. You may need to consider the direction
  of the prompt here (some prompts say to focus on
  a symbol, character, etc.)
• Consider the interrelatedness of some of these
  literary elements or techniques. (An authors
  tone/attitude is often revealed through diction,
  character choices or motivations, etc.)
• Shift your language in how you discuss literary
  elements

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Critical Lens AP Style
Through William Goldings use of characterization, he shows his belief that mankind is inherently evil. Characterization (Who tell me right away!) Tone (attitude /his belief briefly describe in an adjective or two) Theme (nature of man clearly stated) Golding conveys his cynical, pessimistic belief of mankinds inherent evil through his characterization of Jack, a jealous, blood-thirsty young boy. Characterization (Jack jealous, blood-thirsty young boy) Tone (Goldings cynical, pessimistic belief) Theme (nature of man)
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Decide which elements/techniques BEST support
your thematic statement(s)

• Characterization
• Conflict
• Tone
• Setting
• Diction
• Syntax
• Structure
• Point of View
• Foreshadowing/Flashback
• Symbolism
• Figurative Language
• Etc...

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Support

• Once youve decided which elements or techniques
  you will analyze in your essay, you will gather
  and organize your supporting evidence.
• You should organize your body paragraphs by topic
  (literary elements supporting claims in relation
  to thematic statement or prompt etc)

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Within each body paragraph Orientation, Claims,
Evidence, Commentary

• Start with a topic sentence that previews what
  will come in this paragraph.
• Offer the reader an orientation to your idea who
  is speaking (it may be the narrator), to whom,
  what is the context?
• Make an insightful claim about something in the
  text that fits the prompt.
• Present the evidence from the textoften you will
  need more than one piece to support your claim.
  Shoot for three
• Your evidence may be a phrase
• It may be a passage
• It may be purposeful summary.
• Follow each piece of evidence with a minimum of
  two sentences of your own commentary and
  analysis of how the evidence supports your claim
  and the question you are answering.

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Basic Organizational Structure

• Introduction
• Thematic/Thesis Statement, Preview Supporting
  Arguments
• Do not make broad generalizations about the
  nature of literature or how literary elements
  ADD DEPTH
• Say much in few words. Five to six sentences
  should suffice.

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Basic Organizational Structure

• Body Paragraphs Start with a topic sentence
  (introduce the key idea of that paragraph)
• Orient the reader by providing context
• Claim-Support-Analysis
• Provide a balance of YOUR IDEAS and supporting
  textual evidence
• Use transitions

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Conclusion

• FIRST Summary Statement look at your thesis
  statement again and rework it in a new way. Avoid
  repeating key words and phrases from the thesis
  statement because you don't want the summary
  statement to sound boring or repetitive. Using a
  thesaurus is a good way to find new, interesting
  words.
• LAST Clincher Statement also referred to as the
  closer, is your last opportunity to connect with
  the reader. One way to make the most of this
  moment is to return to the technique you used for
  your grabber. Click on each type to read
  examples.
• Anecdote.
• Make a prediction or recommendation based on the
  analysis youve offered
• Ask a final rhetorical question.
• Use a new (but relevant) quotation or refer back
  to the opening prompt.
• Continue the original description of a character,
  setting, or object, but in a way that gives a
  sense of finality or encourages the reader to
  continue thinking about the subject.

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General Tips

• Mention the Title (full lengthunderlined, short
  worksquotation marks) and Author in the Intro
• Use strong action verbs avoid forms of To Be
  (is, are, will be, was, were has been, etc)
• Use strong adjectives but avoid adverbs (what is
  the difference between a character who is
  deceptive and one who is EXTREMELY deceptive or
  VERY deceptive? Does it matter?) This will help
  reduce wordiness.
• Transition between and within paragraphs. Use a
  variety of transition types (chronological
  indicators, repeating word order, jumping off a
  previous idea, etc)
• Be concise. Say as much as you can in as few
  words as you can.
• Aim for clarity in your writing. Taking 10
  minutes to pre-write will help give your essay a
  clear focus.
• Use any leftover time to edit! Put one line
  through anything you do not want to be read.
  Avoid scribble .

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Sample Essay

• In small groups, read the provided essays and
  give each a score based on the AP Rubric.
  Indicate the score on the provided post-it notes.