AP English 11
English Language and Composition
Summer Assignment 2014
If you have any questions regarding this assignment, contact Ms. Osborne
([email protected]). Please note: mails are checked periodically during the summer.
Please do not wait until the end of the summer to ask questions.
AP English Language and Composition will focus on preparing you for the AP Language and
Composition exam as well as for AP Literature and Composition (Senior AP English) and
college-level courses. The AP exams are given each May and provide an opportunity
for students to earn three or more hours of college English credit (depending on the
student’s exam score and the standards/policy of the individual college/university).
Make sure you complete the ENTIRE summer project AND make sure you complete
the project with the quality and integrity expected of an AP student (i.e. do not cheat
or give minimal responses)
Step 1:
1. Purchase and read the book On Writing Well by William Zinsser
(ISBN # 0-06-089154-8 OR ISBN # 978-0-06-089154-1).
2. Read all of Part 1 and 2 (or chapters 1-10) of Zinsser’s book.
3. For Parts 3 & 4 of Zinsser’s book, choose two chapters from these eight chapters
(Ch. 11, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25).
a. ALL of them are worth reading, but you only need to choose 2 from the 8
listed (after you have read the first 10 chapters).
Step 2:
1. While reading On Writing Well, take careful Cornell-style notes by chapter (12
chapters total), including your comments and questions on what you have read
a. (STRONG RECOMMENDATION - minimum 1 page of notes per chapter).
For Cornell notes explanation and example – go to
http://coe.jmu.edu/LearningToolbox/cornellnotes.html OR
http://www.freewebs.com/lanzbom/cornellnotes.pdf
b. Use the key notes section to include your individual comments and questions
about the material.
Step 3:
1. Choose and read ONE (1) piece of writing from the list provided at the end of the
directions.
 You only need to choose ONE (1) piece, either a speech, an essay, or letter, from
the list.
 THE LIST IS POSTED BELOW, FOLLOWING THE ASSIGNMENT
INSTRUCTIONS.
Step 4:
1. Based on the piece you chose, read, and analyzed; respond to the following argument
questions.
2. Type your answers making sure the purpose/topic of your response is clear for each
numbered item (in other words, restate the question as part of your answer).
3. You are ONLY being asked to do this for ONE (1) piece of writing, so be as specific and
detailed as possible in your responses (approximately 3-5 sentences minimum per
response). Defend your answers with evidence from your reading. Always explain
the how/why.
4. When possible and appropriate, use evidence/quotes from the piece to illustrate or
defend your response
Argument Questions:
1. What is the SUBJECT or topic of your piece?
2. What is the OCCASION (social and historical context) of when and why your piece was
written?
3. Who is the intended primary AUDIENCE for your piece (and don’t say “anyone who
can read” or “everyone” or any similar broad over-generalization)?
4. What is the PURPOSE of your piece? Why did the author write it? What is his or her
intent or goal in writing it? What is the intended lesson/message of the piece?
5. Who is the SPEAKER or narrator of the piece (and don’t say “the author”)? What type
of person is he/she?
6. What is the TONE of the piece? Cite two specific examples of how the author creates
this tone. Be specific, clear, and descriptive (for example: sarcastic, somber, impassioned,
pedantic, mocking, etc.).
7. A speech, essay, or letter will each revolve around a central argument or point that the
speaker/author is presenting and defending. Identify and list the primary argument from
the piece you chose to read.
8. Was the author successful and effective in conveying his message or argument? How so
and why OR how not so and why not? (What does the author do IN the piece to
achieve the goals OF the piece?)
9. Based on your Zinsser reading, what did this author do well? Be specific and refer to
elements and skills that Zinsser presents (You should quote or reference both
Zinsser and your piece’s author to help clarify).
10. Based on your Zinsser reading, what were this author’s weaknesses? What did he/she
NOT do well? Be specific and refer to elements and skills that Zinsser presents (you
should quote or reference both Zinsser and your piece’s author to help clarify) Do not
say “nothing” or any similar statement of blind adoration for the piece or the author.
11. Looking at the argument you identified in question #7, do you agree, partially agree, or
disagree with author/speaker’s stance? List your reasons and be specific (use examples to
illustrate if possible). In what way do you agree, partially agree, or disagree? Why do you
agree, partially agree, or disagree?
12. If you were to write an argument essay on this piece, what would your introductory
paragraph and thesis statement be for the following prompt?
Evaluate the author’s argument of your chosen piece and
write an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement setting
up a well-developed essay that reveals your own stance on the issue of your
chosen piece (agree, partially agree, or disagree) in comparison to the
author/speaker’s stance.
13. Write an introductory paragraph WITH a thesis statement (see the following
samples of good and bad thesis statements to guide you as you compose your own - the
thesis statements have been bolded for clarification)
Samples of Introductory Paragraphs
GOOD INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS AND THESIS STATEMENTS
When the planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the whole of the United
States of America fell under an intense spell called fear. The American people were ready to
give up their own privacy to be protected from other possible dangers. When President Bush
passed the national Security Act, it represented the extent to which people favored being under
surveillance and being safe rather than being free from the constant stare of the government’s
eyes. As H.L. Mencken, a social critic, wrote, “the average man does not want to be free.
He simply wants to be safe,” he encompasses the human psyche in contemporary society
that favors safety over freedom on the surface but strives to be freed from the chains of
society.
------------------------------------Our world is constantly wrought with the concept that certainty can allow one to achieve
all of one’s desires, dreams, and destinies. But this ever-present idea is utterly misleading. One
cannot rely on certainty because nothing is truly certain. Everything that we hold to be true
hasn’t been proven wrong, but who is to say that it couldn’t be. There is no predetermined
power that states if one is so completely transfixed and certain, they will be able to conquer all
that believes otherwise. Doubt, in many ways, can be a comfort. Doubt is what allows us to
question and challenge those certainties. Without doubt, our society would be merely an
impenetrable reality in which certainty and ingenuity would be disregarded. Certainty is a
safety blanket that covers the possible truths underneath.
BAD INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS AND THESIS STATEMENTS
Having freedom in our lives can also mean that there are risks involved in making
decisions and choosing what we want to do in our everyday lives. These risks involved can keep
a person from doing what he or she truly desires, since there are consequences that follow in
every decision. What H.L. Mencken wrote about how average man does not want to be
free, but safe, applies to the society that we live in. We see it when making decisions, worry
about what others may think, and work to fulfill what others’ want.
[This is a “bad” example because the essay writer does not express his own clear
argument/view. He simply says it “applies to the society we live in” which is not a statement of
agreement, disagreement or even partial agreement.]
------------------------------------I believe that if you are certain that you can achieve something, and then you should not
doubt yourself. The quote by William Lyon Phelps means to me that if you are certain you can
do anything, then you can, no matter what others believe. I agree with this quote completely
because if you have absolute confidence in yourself, you have no reason to doubt your
abilities.
[This is a “bad” thesis because the essay writer does not express his own clear argument;
instead, he relies on the quote and simply says he agrees with it.]
READING LIST
These readings can be found on the internet, and most are in PDF format.
LEGEND: ESY = essay LTR = letter JRNL = journal SPCH = speech
1. Abbey, Edward: The Right to Arms ESY
2. Adams, Abigail: Letter to Her Daughter from the New White House LTR
3. Anthony, Susan B.: Women's Right to Vote SPCH
4. Bear, Luther Standing: What the Indians Means. ESY
5. Benet, Stephan Vincent: A Creed for Americans SPCH
6. Bush, George W.: 9/11 Address SPCH
7. Chesnut, Mary: Civil War JRNL/ESY
8. Christopher Columbus: Journal OF the First Voyage to America JRNL/ESY
9. Cooper, James Fenimore: Notions Of The Americans ESY
10. De Vaca, Cabeza: A Journey through Texas JRNL/ESY
11. DeCrevecouer, Jean: Letter From and American Farmer LTR
12. Dillard, Annie: The Writing Life LTR
13. Douglass, Frederick: Independence Day Speech at Rochester SPCH
14. Dove, Rita: For the Love of Books ESY
15. Earl of Spencer’s: “Eulogy for Princess Diana SPCH
16. Edelman, Marian Wright: A Family Legacy ESY
17. Elizabeth, Queen: Farewell to Diana SPCH
18. Frazier, Ian: Coyote vs. Acme ESY
19. Frost, Robert: Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech SPCH
20. Faludi, Susan: Blame it on Feminism ESY
21. Fulgham, Robert: All I need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten ESY COLLECTION
22. Hester, General: Address to His Troops on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor SPCH
23. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki: A Tapestry of Hope ESY
24. Joliffe, David: Pre Paring for The 2007 Synthesis Question: Six Moves Toward Success
ESY
25. Joseph, Chief: I will Fight No More Forever SPCH
26. Kennedy, John F.: Inaugural Address SPCH
27. Lee, Robert E.: Letter to His Son LTR
28. Lewis, Meriwether: Crossing the Great Divide. JRNL/ESY
29. Lincoln, Abraham: The Gettysburg Address SPCH
30. Lincoln, Abraham: Emancipation Proclamation SPCH
31. Lutz, William: Weasel Words the Art of Saying Nothing at All ESY
32. Miller, Arthur: On Social Plays ESY
33. O’Connor, Flannery: The Fiction Writer and his Country ESY
34. Pipher, Mary: Saplings in the Storm JRNL/ESY
35. Poe, Edgar Allen: the Philosophy of Composition ESY
36. Pound, Ezra: A Few Don’t by an Imagiste ESY
37. President Obama: Inaugural Speech and Commemoration of the NAACP SPCH
38. Purinton, Edward: Big Ideas from big Business ESY
39. Roosevelt, Franklin D.: Petition to Wage War on Japan SPCH
40. Roosevelt, Franklin D.: Post Pearl Harbor attack SPCH
41. Roosevelt, Theodore: Duties of American Citizenship SPCH
42. World: The End of Society? ESY
43. Tan, Amy: Mother Tongue ESY
44. The Metamorphosis of the Everyday ESY
45. Truth, Sojourner’s: An Account of an Experience with Discrimination ESY
46. Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Significance of the Frontier in American History ESY
47. Twain, Mark: American Language and Slang as it is Slung ESY
48. Twain, Mark: Two Ways of Seeing a River ESY (autobiography excerpt)
49. Weiner, Robert: Pro Bono Work Still Valued ESY
50. Welty, Eudora: Becoming a Writer ESY
51. Winkle, Rip Van: from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick ESY
52. Wu, John: Making and Unmaking the Model Minority ESY
53. X, Malcolm: Coming to an Awareness of Language ESY