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AP Argument essay prompts

3/23/2015

 
Next week you’ll spend a class period responding / writing to an AP Lang argument prompt. Below are some sample prompts to give you taste of what tomorrow’s prompt may look like.

TIPS
  • The following prompts ask you to respond with a convincing argument. First, determine how you will respond (your thesis – will you defend, challenge, or qualify?).
  • Then read the prompt again and determine what “available means” you would use to support your thesis.
  • You’ll notice that the prompts that follow correspond loosely with the six essays we’ve recently read. Remember that as your argue, you can use “all available means of persuasion” to respond, including anything you’ve read, in addition to personal experiences and other observations.
ECONOMY

Financial independence is the goal of most people as they enter adulthood. Being certain that there will be enough money for the necessities of life—food and shelter—is the key to this independence. In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf talks about gaining her financial independence via the death of an aunt, who left her five hundred pounds per year for life. From that point on, Woolf no longer had to think about how she would earn a living and could devote herself freely to writing anything she felt like, regardless of its promise of monetary return. She describes her state of mind in the days prior to receiving word of her legacy as being filled with “the poison of fear and bitterness” in that she was required “always to be doing work that one did not wish to do, and to do it like a slave, flattering and fawning.”

Is it better to have a legacy — a regular income that comes to you without work — or is it better to have to work for a living? Using compelling supporting evidence, defend, challenge, or qualify Woolf’s position that income from a legacy brings not only financial freedom but intellectual freedom as well.

NATURE

In paragraph 19 of the excerpt from Silent Spring (pp. 888–94), Rachel Carson writes, “Along with the possibility of the extinction of mankind by nuclear war, the central problem of our age has therefore become the contamination of man’s total environment with such substances of incredible potential for harm—substances that accumulate in the tissues of plants and animals and even penetrate the germ cells to shatter or alter the very material of heredity upon which the shape of the future depends.” Write an essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify the validity of that statement.

GENDER / STEREOTYPE

In paragraph 6 of her essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman” (pp. 546–51), Judith Ortiz Cofer makes the following statement:

Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereotypes — for example, that of the Hispanic woman as the “Hot Tamale” or sexual firebrand. It is a one-dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have des- ignated “sizzling” and “smoldering” as the adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America.

Write an argument explaining whether you agree or disagree with this assertion as it applies to the media today. You may work with Cofer’s example of Latin American women, or you may choose another group (e.g., African Americans, older people, people from the Middle East) to consider in terms of stereotypes that the media promotes. Support your opinion with evidence from your experience, observation, or reading.

SPORTS

Yesterday, the medical journal Neurology published a study suggesting that professional football players are four times more likely to die from the Alzheimer’s disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) than the general population. This is just the most recent addition to a growing body of evidence linking football to neurodegenerative disease. . . .

. . . [I]n local youth football leagues, . . . children as young as eight years old practice up to six hours a week in full pads.

— KENDRA GAGNON, PEDIATRIC PHYSICAL THERAPIST

Football in America is part of the everyday lives of millions of fans; in the NFL alone, football is a $9 billion industry. More and more evidence supports the fact that football simply cannot be made safer with better helmets or different rules. Some have suggested that football be regulated more firmly by government agencies; still others have suggested that we begin the process of dismantling pro football since the game is just too dangerous.

Take a position on football in American family life, and discuss the pros and cons that parents might consider when deciding whether or not to involve their children in the sport. In a fully developed essay, weigh the various sides of the issue and draw conclusions.

CULTURE

Matador.com, a Web site devoted to global travel and culture, recently featured an article on eight inventions that create global culture: shortboards (for surfing), food trucks, music samplers (MPCs), digital cameras, skateboards, DJ mixers, spray paint (for graffiti), and the Internet. David Miller, the writer of the piece, says, “This is how culture mixes. It is driven by the youth.”

Do you agree with Miller’s view? Defend, challenge, or qualify Miller’s statement. You may want to include one or more of the inventions he has cited, or think of some of your own to support your position. Develop your essay fully, paying close attention to supporting your argument in a convincing manner.

POLITICS

In paragraph 7 of “Shooting an Elephant” (pp. 1100–1105), George Orwell observes that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys,” and that “[h]e wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” Consider the implications of these statements concerning human nature. Write an essay in which you support, refute, or qualify Orwell’s paradox and metaphor. Refer to your reading, knowledge, or experience to support your argument.

Reading Groups

3/4/2015

 
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In groups, choose three of the following essays to read. Essays can be found in your textbook.

  1. Excerpt from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (nature, environment)
  2. “High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” by David Denby (popular culture)
  3. “There is No Unmarked Woman” by Deborah Tannen (gender)
  4. Excerpt from Serving Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich (social class, economics)
  5. “Offensive Play” by Malcolm Gladwell (sports)
  6. “The Empire Fights Back” by Chinua Achebe (politics)
Follow the schedule below.

Day 1        Meet in groups, decide on essays, begin reading essay 1, finish for HW
Day 2       Discuss essay 1 / Complete Graff or SOAPSTone for essay 1
Day 3       Finish discussing essay 1 / Begin reading essay 2, finish for HW
Day 4       Discuss essay 2 / Complete Graff or SOAPSTone for essay 2
Day 5       Finish discussing essay 2 / Begin reading essay 3, finish for HW
Day 6       Discuss essay 3 / Complete Graff or SOAPSTone for essay 3
Day 7       Finish discussing essay 3


IN GROUPS
Discuss the following questions (you may want to take notes so you can use them to type up your individual reflections)
  • What is the main purpose of the essay?
  • Comment on the essay’s overall arrangement. Describe and then evaluate.
  • What points most stood out to you while you were reading? Why?
  • Which parts of the essay were most effective? Why?  Consider both content AND form/style.
  • What can you take away from this essay re: effective writing?
As a group, complete a Graff template for each article or SOAPSTone analysis (you’ll turn these in at the end).

ON YOUR OWNEach student will submit a typed, 1-page personal response/reflection on each article.  Your response may begin with a quick 1-2 sentence summary of the article (a modified, “livelier” Graff template), followed by your response to and analysis of specific points that the writer makes in the essay.

Your reflections will be due on TBA (my suggestion would be to type up your reflections each night you finish discussing the essay in class).


Anthology Project

3/4/2015

 
Over the next month, you’ll research a topic of your choice. This topic may be broad or specific—regardless, you may find it helpful to think of your topic in terms of a central question (or questions) you want to pursue. What are you curious about? What have you noticed about the world around you? What have you always wondered but never had the time or opportunity to pursue?  Well, now is that opportunity.

Eventually, this research will culminate into an essay, and by essay, I mean essay in its original, perhaps truest form

The word essay is about an attempt, a trial, a way to “test the quality of” some idea. With this in mind, an essay is less about proving something to be true, and more about weighing evidence and then exploring the ways in which something may be true. Your essay should be less about choosing a side and more about looking at a question from many sides.

Consider this essay to be the culminating work of your year here in AP Lang. Let’s begin!

Choose a topic
Choose a topic or area of research that will sustain you over the course of the next few months. How to decide?

  • Choose something you’re already interested in or passionate about. Writing will allow you to explore that passion with a depth you may have not have had an opportunity to do before.
  • Choose something you may know very little about. Perhaps you’ve been wondering about something, but you’ve never had the time or opportunity to pursue that wondering. Now can be that time.


SUBMIT YOUR TOPIC HERE.

Research Anthology
  • Compile at least 8 sources on your research topic. At least 4 of your sources must be full-length essays (not blog posts). The remaining sources may be audio or visual (for example, TED talk, podcast episodes, infographic, etc.).  The essays should be attractively printed out in their entirety.  The visuals must be printed so they are clear and complete.
  • Select your essays from a variety of respected sources.  If you have questions about the merits of the source, you must bring a copy of the specific piece you would like to include to your teacher for approval.  Make your requests at least two weeks before your deadline.  Editorials and blog posts do not count as full-length essays.  Look for “feature” articles in magazines like Time Magazine or The Atlantic and full-length articles in newspapers (consider the major essays in your textbook as examples). A general rule of thumb is to choose essays that are at least 3-4 “magazine” pages in length.
  • Speaking of your textbook… don’t forget your textbook. You are highly encouraged to pull at least one of your sources from it, if applicable.  Oh, and go to the library and browse their magazine selection. You never know what you might find.
Don’t forget to look through your Weekly Annotated Readings folder from earlier this year, too!

And books! Consider using a chapter or excerpt from a book as one of your sources. Books sources, I’ve found, can be the most useful.

Click here for a Pinterest board of ideas for sources (then click on the “Get More out of Google” image later in this post to learn how to make the most of those sources).
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Check out this link to help you use Google more effectively,

  • Introduction: Introduce each piece of writing with a brief biography of the writer (including the writer’s publishing history and any awards received) and any background for the source (when and where it was originally published as well as any reprints.  For example, “Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog” was originally published in Harper’s in December, 2004 and reprinted in The Best American Essays 2005, Houghton Mifflin.). This introduction should comprise a brief paragraph.
  • Summary: Summarize the source’s major points, quoting the text throughout. In your summary, review the source’s various claims and the evidence used to support them. You do not need to cover all the source’s claims, just the ones that you find most compelling, especially as they relate to your central research question(s) and why this claim/evidence may be important.Note: This is not a rhetorical analysis. You may use a Graff template to help you organize your thoughts or as part of your summary, but it is neither required nor necessarily suggested. This summary should be about 250-300-ish words, perhaps more, depending on the length or complexity of your source.
  • Include a table of contents.
  • Include a bibliography of all references used (including information used for the biographical material).  Use MLA format.
  • Give your anthology a clever title.
  • Bind your anthology attractively in this order:
    1. cover page (with title of anthology, your name, teacher’s name, course name, and date)
    2. table of contents
    3. sources (with introductory material at the beginning of each piece and the summary/reflection at the end)
    4. bibliography
Please Note: In lieu of a physical anthology, you may also create an online anthology using a webpage (such as your own WordPress site), or an e-anthology (pdf) on USB drive, CD or DVD.  See me if you have more questions.

Submit your complete anthology on April 7 (see note below).

NOTE: You must submit at least one source for your anthology by Wednesday, March 4, for a grade and to ensure some feedback from your teacher.  Include all required components to your sample as outlined above (introduction, article, then summary, with MLA citation at end).  Then after the sample is assessed and returned, include it—with any needed revisions—with your completed anthology.

The EssayMore details about your essay will follow, but here are the basics: 1800-2500 words, formatted in “magazine” style. Minimum five sources cited, including at least one primary source interview.

The TalkAfter you complete your final essay, you’ll present your work to the class in a brief talk to the class, approximately 7-8 minutes in length. More details to follow.

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