Basics of Writing in AP Literature

1
Basics of Writing in AP Literature

• This is your one-stop shop for putting this paper
  together. Use it as you need it, but make sure
  you use it! Ignorance is NOT bliss.

2
Table of Contents

• Paper Basics
• The Prompt
• Theme
• Thesis statement
• Topic Sentence Review
• CEW
• ICE
• Integrating Quotes (a must read)
• Example paragraph
• Introductions and Conclusions

3
Basics

• Have a proper heading Your name, AP English
  12-hour, teachers name, due date. THIS IS NOT A
  HEADER. Upper left corner of paper.
• Have a header in the UPPER RIGHT HAND corner of
  page (last name and page number) Dont know how
  to do this? Ask! YOU WILL NEED TO INSERT A
  HEADER. IT WILL SHOW UP ON EVERY PAGE.
• 12 point font, double-spaced, 1 margins,
  readable font (Times New Roman or Calibri are
  standard)
• Title should be simple and point to thesis
  directly or indirectly
• Your paper will have several paragraphs and
  should be about 3-4 pages long.
• Include author and title in the introduction
  short story titles go in quotation marks.
• Back to Table of Contents

4
Choose ONE prompt

• Your thesis should make it clear WHICH prompt you
  are answering.
• Throughout your analysis you will make use of the
  critical literary vocabulary.
• On the following slides, I have given you
  questions to consider as you put your paper
  together.

5
Prompt A

• Prompt A In the story Recitatif by Toni
  Morrison, Twyla and Roberta, casual friends who
  encounter each other five times throughout the
  story, confront some difficult socio-political
  truths. Read the story carefully. Then write a
  well-developed essay in which you analyze how
  Morrison portrays these two characters and their
  complex relationship as friends. You may wish to
  consider such literary devices as narrative
  perspective (point of view) and selection of
  detail.
•  
• How would you characterize their friendship?
  What makes it complicated and why?
• What is Morrison trying to accomplish through
  this friendship? Why? What is she trying to get
  at?
• How does the POV help establish what we
  understand about the characters? What selection
  of details are given to us (or not given to us)
  because of the POV. Why does this matter? What
  is Morrison up to with these choices?
• Through these relationships, what is her message
  for the reader?

6
Prompt B

• Prompt B The story Recitatif by Toni Morrison
  chronicles the relationship between two women
  one black, one white through the social changes
  of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s. Analyze
  how Morrison uses elements such as point of view,
  selection of detail, dialogue, and
  characterization to make a social commentary.
• How would you characterize their friendship?
  What makes it complicated and why?
• What is Morrison trying to accomplish through
  these encounters? Why? What is she trying to
  get at?
• How is the POV helping establish what we
  understand about the characters? What selection
  of details are given to us (or not given to us)
  because of the POV. Why does this matter? What
  is Morrison up to with these choices?
• Through these characters, what is Morrisons
  social commentary? Consider the things that the
  characters say and do throughout the short story.
  
• Back to Table of Contents

7
Theme ideas

• Theme is not a word. It is a universal truth
  that the whole story supports. It is a full
  statement.
• It is not an absolute, but a generalization.
• Once you have gone through your short story, you
  should have a few messages to consider for your
  paper. These will be incorporated in the so
  what? and tie back to the prompt. This is what
  Morrison is trying to get at. See next slide for
  some examples.

8
Example Themes for Story of an Hour

• These could all be ideas that Chopin is getting
  at. These would show up in my paper. All?
  Some? A few? An overarching idea will show up
  as part of your thesis.
• Women need an identity to call their own. Living
  a life for someone else is not fulfilling enough.
• While marriage can benefit a person, it loses its
  appeal if a person has to forget who they are in
  the process.
• Sometimes true freedom comes during the greatest
  crisis. (a little cliché)
• A person doesnt realize how suffocated she is
  until it is too late.
• When the moment presents itself, a woman must be
  able to stand on her own two feet.
• Societys expectations an play a role in a
  womans oppression and her inability to be her
  own person.
• True fulfillment is sometimes found is letting go
  of all that is familiar and comfortable.
• Back to Table of Contents

9
Rules for a Thesis

• A thesis is never a question.
• A thesis is never a list.
• The thesis must advance an argument.
• A thesis should never be vague, combative or
  confrontational. Avoid being seen as moralistic
  and judgmental.
• An effective thesis has a definable, arguable
  claim. Say to yourself, Perhaps what the author
  says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to
  read further to see how the author argues this
  claim.
• A thesis should be as clear and specific as
  possible. Avoid overused, general terms, and
  abstractions.
• Cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.
• Is not a topic Is not a fact Is an opinion.

10
An Effective Thesis

• It is the MAIN claim. All topic sentences point
  back to it.
• Has two parts.
• Should declare what will be argued. This is what
  the author is getting at. This will be an
  overarching theme idea.
• Should telegraph how you plan to argue. What
  big ideas from the s.s. will you advance in your
  paper.
• Could declare the particular support to be used
  to uphold the claim. (The list kind of thesis.)

11
Example for Story of an HourPrompt A

• In Kate Chopins Story of an Hour, the author
  uses Louises complicated relationship with her
  husband to highlight a womans struggle between
  being the dutiful wife and a free thinking
  individual who must know who she is in order to
  be a complete person.
• In Kate Chopins Story of an Hour, Chopin uses
  the death of Louises husband and her new found
  freedom to highlight the complexities of marriage
  and the need to know oneself.

12
Another variation Prompt B

• Through her characterization of Louise Mallard in
  Story of an Hour and Louises reaction to her
  husbands death, Kate Chopins argues for the
  need for a woman to be an individual.
• In Kate Chopins Story of an Hour, Louises
  ironic reaction to her husbands death and
  miraculous return highlight societys
  oppressive expectations of women.

13
Thesis Statement Websites

• UNC
• Indiana University
• Northwestern
• Purdue
• If these links dont work, just Google
  writing a good thesis statement and you will
  find these sites.
• You must be in View Show mode to get to the
  links
• Back to Table of Contents

14
Basics of a Topic Sentence

• 1. It fits the size of the assignment.
• 2. It states a single main point or position
  related to the thesis.
• 3. It is specific.
• 4. It is an idea you can show, explain, or prove.
• 5. It is a forceful statement written with
  confidence.
• 6. It is NOT a summary of the short story. It
  broadcasts something you will prove with
  evidence. It is a mini CLAIM!

15
Examples topic sentences A Story of an Hour

• Upon hearing the news of her husbands death,
  Louise puts on the airs of a dutiful wife which
  at first makes her look like a woman who is truly
  devastated at the loss of her husband.
• However, this dutiful wife begins to have
  stirrings about what life will be like as a free
  woman showing her deep-rooted desire to be her
  own person.
• The struggle between what she was and what she
  could be is seen when she questions her feelings
  for her husband, but then quickly embraces her
  new found freedom, allowing her voice to be heard
  for the first time. She finally gets a handle of
  what she wants for life.
• Though Louise joyfully embraces her new life, the
  story ends with a twist that symbolizes her
  unwillingness to be trapped in a marriage that is
  suffocating her.
• These would be revised to fit my thesis
  statement. Notice none are a summary. Back to
  Table of Contents

16
CEW

• Claim or Thesis (your topic sentences all go back
  to proving your thesis think of these as mini
  claims)
• Opinion, not fact
• Debatable
• Provable (Reasonable)
• Evidence
• From the text
• Specific (needs to say something that supports
  the claim)
• You must cite your source even if you paraphrase
  or quote directly you must cite your source (See
  power point for ICE information.
• Warrant
• Explanation answers the so what?
• How and why evidence proves the claim (thesis)
• Ties back to your thesis/theme (the overall
  meaning of the work)
• Must explain all the connections in your head.
• Pretend you are explaining to someone who has
  never read the book.
• Key to a good warrant Re-use key phrases from
  the claim and evidence.

17
What to notice Claim (topic sentence)

• In Meeting at Night by Robert Browning, his
  vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes
  the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous
  between two young lovers. The visual and auditory
  imagery helps the reader envision the night as
  dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two
  lines of the poem set up what the night looks
  like The gray sea and the long black land/And
  the yellow half-moon large and low. The reader
  can see the water gleaming under the light of a
  large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this
  image helps the reader feel as though they are
  watching this scene unfold as they themselves are
  standing on the beach, the long black land.
  These images are important because they are meant
  to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and
  romance. The next lines help the reader hear and
  see the ocean And the startled little waves
  that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.
  The reader can see the movement of the waves as
  they leap, and the word startled connotes that
  the waves are frightened by something, giving the
  reader the sense that the waves are short and
  choppy as they hit the shoreline.

18
What to notice Evidence

• In Meeting at Night by Robert Browning, his
  vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes
  the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous
  between two young lovers. The visual and auditory
  imagery helps the reader envision the night as
  dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two
  lines of the poem set up what the night looks
  like The gray sea and the long black land/And
  the yellow half-moon large and low. The reader
  can see the water gleaming under the light of a
  large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this
  image helps the reader feel as though they are
  watching this scene unfold as they themselves are
  standing on the beach, the long black land.
  These images are important because they are meant
  to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and
  romance. The next lines help the reader hear and
  see the ocean And the startled little waves
  that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.
  The reader can see the movement of the waves as
  they leap, and the word startled connotes that
  the waves are frightened by something, giving the
  reader the sense that the waves are short and
  choppy as they hit the shoreline.

19
What to notice Warrant

• In Meeting at Night by Robert Browning, his
  vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes
  the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous
  between two young lovers. The visual and auditory
  imagery helps the reader envision the night as
  dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two
  lines of the poem set up what the night looks
  like The gray sea and the long black land/And
  the yellow half-moon large and low. The reader
  can see the water gleaming under the light of a
  large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this
  image helps the reader feel as though they are
  watching this scene unfold as they themselves are
  standing on the beach, the long black land.
  These images are important because they are meant
  to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and
  romance. The next lines help the reader hear and
  see the ocean And the startled little waves
  that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.
  The reader can see the movement of the waves as
  they leap, and the word startled connotes that
  the waves are frightened by something, giving the
  reader the sense that the waves are short and
  choppy as they hit the shoreline and that the
  lovers have surprised even the water as they
  boldly meet at night.
• Back to Table of Contents

20
ICE

• Make sure to see the section on integrating
  quotes and evidence. It will help vary up your
  sentences and ideas.

21
(I)ntroduce

• Introduce the evidence smoothly According to the
  author, the night
• No matter what, dont orphan evidence, a direct
  quote or paraphrase. You must some how set it
  up. I strongly encourage you to read the slides
  on Incorporating Quotes.
• This will not be a part of your claim. This will
  be part of our evidence that comes AFTER the
  claim.

22
(C)ite

• For this paper you will simply add the page
  number at the end of any sentence that contains
  evidence (direct quote or paraphrase).
• For example
• When Louise finally realizes that her life is her
  own, the reader is witness to her first words,
  Free! Free! Free! (2).
• Notice the page number in the parenthesis ( ).
• Notice the PERIOD on the OUTSIDE of the ( ).
• Notice nothing else goes in the ( ).
• This will be enough for this assignment. You
  must indicate page numbers when using evidence.

23
Explain

• Explanation how this piece of evidence helps
  prove your thesis. This is the warrant in CEW.
  This is the so what? This is the heart of the
  analysis. Here you should use key words from the
  prompt that tie back to technique.
• Back to Table of Contents

24
Writing Incorporating Quotes Effectively

• Mini-Lesson
• Back to Table of Contents
• Back to ICE

25
Reason Is Important

• Does the quote strongly support your point or
  argument?
• Is it something that can't be paraphrased or
  summarized effectively in your own words?

26
Reason Is Important

• Quotes work when you cant say it any better and
  the authors words convey the idea best.
• Jane Smith, a clinical psychologist, claims that
  cats are better than other pets because "cats are
  an alien race come to earth, and have much to
  teach us about our place in the universe" (111).
• In that example, an exact quote works well
  because the information is specific and new.

27

• A word about paraphrasing
• Use it when your own words will be sufficient.
• A paraphrase is changing all the words or
  rearranging the order of the words to say the
  same thing, but in your voice. It is about the
  same length.
• If there are 4 or more words in a row from the
  original then you MUST use quotation marks. You
  are not paraphrasing. You are PLAGARIZING.
• You must still cite the page number when you
  paraphrase.

28
Punctuation Is Important
To avoid confusing your readers, punctuate
quotations correctly, and work them smoothly into
your writing.

• Punctuation shows your readers
• which words are yours
• which words you have quoted

29
Punctuating Brief Quotations

• Quoting a Sentence or Sentences

Gene begins to reveal his internal war with Finny
when he says, What was I doing up here anyway?
Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things
like this? (5).
Notice how my words (Gene begins to reveal his
internal war with Finny when he says) lead into
the quote I have chosen to use.
30
Punctuating Brief Quotations

• Quoting a Fragment

Jack is not able to kill the piglet during their
first attempt at hunting for food because of the
enormity of the knife descending and cutting into
the living flesh because of the unbearable
blood (31).
Again, notice how my words lead into the quote.
31
Quoting A Quotation
Ron said, Dad yelled, No way!
Golding writes, Jack seized the conch. Ralphs
right of course. There isnt a snake-thing. But
if there was a snake wed hunt it and kill it.
(36).
Just like Leper in A Separate Peace, my brother
Shaun said, You always were a savage
underneath.
32
Quotations with Omissions
(Using ellipses)
According to Gene, the faculty at Devon treated
the boys differently during the summer session
because we reminded them of what peace was like
of lives which were not bound up with
destruction (10).
Use ellipses when words are omitted from the
quotation.
33
Quotations with Brief Insertions
(Using brackets)
It is evident that Finny believes in the war
before his fall from the tree because he tells
Gene, Im wearing this his pink shirt as an
emblem. We havent got a flag, we cant float
Old Glory proudly out the window. So Im going to
wear this, as an emblem (11).
Use brackets when you are inserting your own
words into a quote in order to make the meaning
of the quote more clear.
34
Quoting Poetry A Single Line
Caesar is obviously crushed by Brutus disloyalty
when he states Et tu, Brutè? Then fall Caesar
(III.i.78).
Set off the quoted verse from your written prose
by using a colon.
For a single line of poetry, use quotation marks.
Include the line number of the verse followed by
a period. If from a play, include the Act, scene,
and line number.
35
Quoting Poetry Two or Three Lines
We know the conspirators feel that they have
acted in the best interest of Rome when Cinna
cries, Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! / Run
hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets
(III.i.78-79).
Use quotation marks.
Separate the lines of the quoted verse with a
slash / and a space on each side.
Include the line numbers of the verses followed
by a period. If from a play, include Act, scene,
and line number.
36
Quoting Poetry More Than Three Lines
Antony uses the rhetorical devices of repetition
and irony in his speech to the plebeians Come
I to speak in Caesars funeral. He was my
friend, faithful and just to me But Brutus
says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an
honorable man. He hath brought many captives
home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general
coffers fill Did this in Caesar seem
ambitious? (86-92)
Block indent 10 spaces (tab twice) and do not use
quotation marks or slashes.
Include the line numbers of the verses preceded
by a period.
37
How To Integrate Quotations

• When you are using brief quotations, you must
  integrate them--

work them smoothly into your sentences
and
show their relevance to your ideas.
38
How To Integrate Quotations

• Use TIE to smoothly integrate quotes into text
• T tag
• I    introduce
• E   embed

39
How To Integrate Quotations

• T tag
• "You brute.  You brute," Holden mutters as he
  leaves the compound where he and Ameera have
  spent many happy hours.
•  
• "Secretly, of course--I was all for the Burmese,"
  Orwell confides.

40
How To Integrate Quotations

• I    introduce
• As Holden leaves the compound where he and Ameera
  have spent many happy hours, he mutters, "You
  brute.  You brute."
•  
• Orwell confided he "was all for the Burmese." 

41
How To Integrate Quotations

• E   embed
• Holden mutters, "You brute.  You brute," as he
  leaves the compound where he and Ameera have
  spent many happy hours.
• Orwell was "all for the Burmese" and hated
  working as an agent of the British Empire in
  Burma.

42
Not Integrated Avoid this!

• Brinker becomes disillusioned with the war, and
  Ralph becomes disillusioned with the glory of
  being chief. He found himself understanding the
  wearisomness of this life, where every path was
  an improvisation and a considerable part of ones
  walking life was spent watching ones feet (76).

43
Integrated Do this!

• In the same way that Brinker becomes
  disillusioned with the war, Ralph begins to feel
  a sense of disillusionment toward the glory of
  being chief. Goldings narrator begins to allude
  to Ralphs waning enjoyment of being the leader
  on the island when he states, He found himself
  understanding the wearisomness of this life,
  where every path was an improvisation and a
  considerable part of ones walking life was spent
  watching ones feet (76).

44
Integrated

• Introduce quotations using varied wording.
• According to Jane Doe, "..."
• As Jane Doe goes on to explain, "..."
• Characterized by John Doe, the society is "..."
• As one critic points out, "..."
• John Doe believes that "..."
• Jane Doe claims that "..."
• In the words of John Doe, "..."
• Possible verbs for use in the introduction of
  quotations
• acknowledges, adds, admits, affirms, agrees,
  argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments,
  compares, confirms, contends, declares,
  demonstrates, denies, disputes, emphasizes,
  endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists,
  notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes,
  rejects, reports, responds, states, suggests,
  thinks, underlines, writes

45
Methods For Inserting Brief Quotations
Final Position
For several reasons, all of them, all except
Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to
themselves these Maginot Lines against an enemy
they thought they saw across the frontier (123).
Beginning Position
Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the
darkness of mans heart, and the fall through the
air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (202),
declares Goldings narrator at the end of his
novel.
46
Methods For Inserting Brief Quotations
Middle Position
In the same way William Goldings novel has been
considered a body of work that speaks to the
tragedy of the human condition, John Knowles A
Separate Peace can be considered a work of
literature that shines a light into the dark
recesses of the human heart.
47
Interrupted

• As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,
  proclaims King Lear, They kill us for their
  sport" (King Lear IV.i.40-44). This proclamation
  by an old king who has just realized that
  everything he once held dear-- territory and
  power has been stripped from him by his own
  flesh and blood daughters Regan and Goneril is
  said to have inspired the title of William
  Goldings Nobel Prize winning novel, Lord of the
  Flies.

48
Long Quotations

• Long quotations should be set off from the text.
  Usually "set off" text is preceded by a colon
• George Orwell had a difficult time acting as a
  police officer in Lower Burma .  As demonstrated
  in the following excerpt from Shooting an
  Elephant, he was frustrated by his conflicting
  need to maintain law and order while remaining
  faithful to the idea that the Burmese had the
  right to be free
• All this was perplexing and upsetting.  For at
  that time I had already made up my mind that
  imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I
  chucked up my job and got out of it the Better. 
  Theoretically--and secretly, of course--I was all
  for the Burmese and all against their
  oppressors, the British. (Orwell)
• Back to Table of Contents

49
Example Paragraph this would be one in a bigger
paper

• THESIS In Kate Chopins Story of an Hour,
  Chopin uses the death of Louises husband and her
  new found freedom to highlight the complexities
  of marriage and the need to know oneself.
• Upon hearing the news of her husbands death,
  Louise puts on the airs of a dutiful wife which
  at first makes her look like a woman who is truly
  devastated at the loss of her husband. As Louise
  was afflicted with heart trouble, her sister
  Josephine and Richards take great care to be
  gentle in breaking the news of her husbands
  death, and Louise responds not with a paralyzed
  inability to accept its significance but with
  sudden, wild abandonment, sobbing in her
  sister's arms (1). Right away, Chopin
  establishes Louise as a loyal wife, naturally
  devastated by her husbands death. This public
  display of emotion, while somewhat vulgar,
  conforms to societys and readers expectations
  for grieving widows. We expect Louise to be
  distraught. However, after she has left Richards
  and Josephine for the privacy of her bedroom,
  Louises reaction becomes more complex. Chopin
  takes us further into Louises private grief,
  using the third person limited point of view to
  show how Louises reflections on her husbands
  death and its implications might affect her.
  Chopin writes, Louise was pressed down by a
  physical exhaustion that haunted her body and
  seemed to reach into her soul quite motionless,
  except for when a sob came up into her throat and
  shook her (1). Chopins characterization of
  Louises private reaction to the death is more
  personal, more inwardly emotional. Mr. Mallards
  death has touched something deep in Louises
  soul, and in the privacy of her room and her
  individual thoughts, Louises character and her
  relationship to her husband become more complex
  and muddled. Back to Table of Contents

50
Introductory Paragraphs have three main purposes

• to capture the readers attention, making him/her
  want to read the essay
• to set the larger context for the essay begin
  the paragraph with broad statements and end with
  specifics. This includes mentioning the author(s)
  and title(s) by name
• show the plan for the rest of the paper through
  the thesis sentence. Remember that the thesis has
  the TOPIC, PLAN OF ORGANIZATION, and SIGNIFICANCE
  (so what)
• Thesis statement is the LAST sentence of your
  introduction.

51
When writing an introduction paragraph, follow
ANT

• Attention getter
• Necessary information
• Thesis statement

52
Attention getter get the readers attention.

• With a dramatic incident
• With a contrast
• By telling a story an anecdote
• By setting the scene
• With a question or problem
• With a description
• With a brief historical background (if
  applicable)
• With unusual facts and figures
• With a quotation/epigram
• With a definition
• With an idea to be refuted
•  
• Whichever method you decide to use, make sure the
  attention-getter is relevant to the topic of your
  paper and not distraction Here is an example of
  a distracting introductory paragraph from a
  newspaper article

53
Necessary information when writing about
literature

• Authors full name (use authors full name the
  first time only. After that, use only the
  authors last name).
• Title of story in quotation marks if a short
  story or poem title italicized if a novel, play,
  or epic poem.
• Brief plot summary in two to five sentences
  briefly highlight the major action of the story
  that is relevant to your paper.

54
Thesis

• Your thesis should consist of a statement (never
  a question) that identifies the topic, plan of
  organization, and significance for the essay (the
  so what?).

55
Conclusions

• Dont
• Simply restate thesis
• Bring in new arguments
• End with what the technique is doing
• Summarize the story or your paper or the prompt
• Get long-winded or repetitive. Keep it to a
  paragraph
• Do
• Say something thought provoking. So what!?
• Tie it to real world applications
• Leave the reader with something to think about
• Make your voice strong here
• End strongly!

56
Example Back to Table Contents