AP Literature Timed Writings
Timed Writing 101
Make a plan.
Write directly on the prompt and make notes in the margins as you read. Focus on a system such as the DIDLS acronym: diction, imagery, details, language, and sentence structure. Make sure you read the prompt and selection each time.
Begin quickly and directly.
Start strong by answer the question directly in the first paragraph. Repeat the question at the beginning of your response, but ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Use paragraphs and topic sentences.
Indent each new paragraph and start each paragraph with a topic sentence that focuses on the purpose of the paragraph.
Use quotations and explain them.
Make use of pertinent references from the text. Use specific quotations to back up your assertions. However, you must explain quotes clearly and demonstrate how they are relevant to the question. Long quotes without explanation bogs down the essay and can give the undesirable impression that the student is trying to fill up space rather than answer the prompt.
Create variety.
Short, choppy sentences without variety indicate a student who has little background in grammar and style, perhaps someone who has read and written minimally. Use transitions! Just imagine children making the same tower or castle each time they played with blocks. They soon would become bored. Likewise, both writers and readers get bored when everything is formulaic, lacking some individual pizzazz.
Find the right word.
Use literary terms to your advantage! Use “diction,” not “word choice.” Use specific adjectives (not good/bad or positive/negative).
Read some example prompts.
Make a plan.
Write directly on the prompt and make notes in the margins as you read. Focus on a system such as the DIDLS acronym: diction, imagery, details, language, and sentence structure. Make sure you read the prompt and selection each time.
Begin quickly and directly.
Start strong by answer the question directly in the first paragraph. Repeat the question at the beginning of your response, but ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Use paragraphs and topic sentences.
Indent each new paragraph and start each paragraph with a topic sentence that focuses on the purpose of the paragraph.
Use quotations and explain them.
Make use of pertinent references from the text. Use specific quotations to back up your assertions. However, you must explain quotes clearly and demonstrate how they are relevant to the question. Long quotes without explanation bogs down the essay and can give the undesirable impression that the student is trying to fill up space rather than answer the prompt.
Create variety.
Short, choppy sentences without variety indicate a student who has little background in grammar and style, perhaps someone who has read and written minimally. Use transitions! Just imagine children making the same tower or castle each time they played with blocks. They soon would become bored. Likewise, both writers and readers get bored when everything is formulaic, lacking some individual pizzazz.
Find the right word.
Use literary terms to your advantage! Use “diction,” not “word choice.” Use specific adjectives (not good/bad or positive/negative).
Read some example prompts.
Writing Introductions
(Adapted from Mrs. Carter, Chapin High School)
Writing Introductions:
Example Prompt and Responses:
Example Introduction for Mark Antony Prompt:
Notes about topic sentences:
Be careful about beginning topic sentences with time words that could trap you into summary. Make sure your topic sentences state the point you are making in the body paragraphs and that the rest of the paragraph elaborates and expands your thoughts about that point.
Writing Introductions:
- Make sure that you address the title and author.
- Make sure that your answer addresses all parts of the prompt.
- Make sure that your introduction (both contextual sentences and your thesis) contain SPECIFIC DETAILS (ADJECTIVES and short phrases).
Example Prompt and Responses:
- Prompt: "Read the following speech carefully. Analyze Antony’s use of rhetorical devices and the degree to which he fulfills his purpose."
- Weak Thesis: In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony gives a speech that is very important.
- Good Thesis: In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony delivers a eulogythat emotionally sways the crowd to mutiny.
Example Introduction for Mark Antony Prompt:
- In the climatic Act 3 of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Mark Antony delivers a eulogy for the assassinated title character and his friend, Julius Caesar. Though eulogies are meant to praise the lives of the dead, which Antony does, the purpose of this eulogy is to raise a rebellion against the conspirators who murdered Caesar. Antony’s effective use of rhetorical devices allows him to deliver a speech that persuades the audience to mutiny.
Notes about topic sentences:
Be careful about beginning topic sentences with time words that could trap you into summary. Make sure your topic sentences state the point you are making in the body paragraphs and that the rest of the paragraph elaborates and expands your thoughts about that point.
- Be careful --> At the beginning of the speech…
- Be careful --> After...
Thesis Statements
A good AP Lit thesis…
- tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. When dealing with AP Literature, a good thesis might follow a basic formula of: “In the [story, novel, poem, excerpt, etc.] the author utilizes [probably some literary devices] to show the reader _________________________.”
- in other words, it will answer two questions: 1) How is meaning made, and 2) So what?
- is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
- directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
- makes a claim that others might dispute.
- is usually a single sentence, but can definitely be longer. If you’re trying to convey a complex idea, it may take two or three sentences to do so, and that’s ok!
- typically falls at the end of the introduction and is the most specific sentence of that paragraph. Introductions tend to flow well when the start with a broad topic and move towards a specific thesis. This is a guideline, not a rule.
Sample Thesis Patterns
In (title of work), (author) (illustrates, shows) (adjective) (aspect).
Pro Tip:
Some of you seem to find your footing during the writing process and your essay takes form after you've already written your introduction. Obviously, you want to avoid this when possible. However, if you can’t, consider landing with a repetition of your new more specific thesis in the first sentence of your conclusion. You can then backtrack and adjust the thesis in your introduction if you need to, but take the time to make sure that it continues to flow with the rest of your paper.
- >>>Example: In “Barn Burning,” William Faulkner shows the characters Sardie and Abner Snopes in a genuine struggle for their identity.
- In (title of work), (author) uses (one aspect) to (define, strengthen, illustrate) the (element of work).
>>>Example: In “Youth,” Joseph Conrad uses foreshadowing to strengthen the plot. - In (title of work), (author) uses (an important part of work) as a unifying device for (one element), (another element), and (another element). NOTE: The number of elements can vary from one to four.
>>>Example: In “Youth,” Joseph Conrad uses the sea as a unifying device for setting, structure and theme. - (Author) develops the character of (character’s name) in (literary work) through what he/she does, what he/she says, what other people say to or about him/her.
>>>Example: Langston Hughes develops the character of Semple in “Ways and Means”… - In (title of work), (author) uses (literary device) to (accomplish, develop, illustrate, strengthen) (element of work).
>>>Example: In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses the symbolism of the stranger, the clock, and the seventh room to develop the theme of death. - (Author) (shows, develops, illustrates) the theme of __________ in the (play, poem, story).
>>>Example: Flannery O’Connor illustrates the theme of the effect of the selfishness of the grandmother upon the family in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” - (Author) develops his character(s) in (title of work) through his/her use of language.
>>>Example: John Updike develops his characters in “A & P” through his use of figurative language.
Pro Tip:
Some of you seem to find your footing during the writing process and your essay takes form after you've already written your introduction. Obviously, you want to avoid this when possible. However, if you can’t, consider landing with a repetition of your new more specific thesis in the first sentence of your conclusion. You can then backtrack and adjust the thesis in your introduction if you need to, but take the time to make sure that it continues to flow with the rest of your paper.
Integrating Quotes
You should include 1-3 quotes or examples per body paragraph. Make sure you properly integrate your quotes into the essay. Then explain how this example contributes to your thesis or argument.
An introducing phrase or orienter plus the quotation:
An assertion of your own and a colon plus the quotation:
An assertion of your own with quoted material worked in:
- In this poem it is creation, not a hypothetical creator, that is supremely awesome. [argument sentence]. The speaker asks, "What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?" [data sentence; orienter before quote]
- Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure. [argument sentence] "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" (176), according to Nick. [data sentence; orienter after quote]
- "I know you blame me," Mrs. Compson tells Jason (47). [data sentence; orienter after quote] Is she expressing her own sense of guilt? [argument sentence]
An assertion of your own and a colon plus the quotation:
- Vivian hates the knights for scorning her, and she dreams of achieving glory by destroying Merlin's: "I have made his glory mine" (390).
- Fitzgerald gives Nick a muted tribute to the hero: "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" (176).
- Cassio represents not only a political but also a personal threat to Iago: "He hath a daily beauty in his life / That makes me ugly . . ." (5.1.19-20).
An assertion of your own with quoted material worked in:
- For Nick, who remarks that Gatsby "turned out all right" (176), the hero deserves respect but perhaps does not inspire great admiration.
- Satan's motion is many things; he "rides" through the air (63), "rattles" (65), and later explodes, "wanders and hovers" like a fire (293).
- Even according to Cleopatra, Mark Antony's "duty" is to the Roman state.
Resources
Close Reading Handout |
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Tone Words |
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Rubric |
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Sentence Stems for Analysis |
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