Advanced Placement Language and Composition
How to do a Major Works Data Card
For this assignment, you will need a 5x7 index card. A list of what needs to be on the
card is below:
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Title / Author
2-3 sentence summary
Characters – List the major characters or people (or minor characters that have a
significant effect) and identify each character or person’s role in the book.
Conflicts – Remember that a conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. All
novels and plays have the basic conflicts (man vs. man, man vs. himself, etc.) We
are looking for you to be more specific. An example for Of Mice and Men could
be: Steinbeck explores the conflict between man’s need for security with man’s
need for dreams. List two to three conflicts.
Themes – Remember that a theme is a complete sentence that reflects a
message from the book about life or human nature. List two or three themes.
Time period – You should have two or three facts about the time period in which
the book is written. Knowing what is going on in the author’s world at the time
he/she wrote the text gives us great insight into the themes, characters, and
conflicts.
Style – Describe the writer’s style. Be specific in your comments about syntax,
choice of diction, type of imagery, tone, and motifs.
Significance of setting – WHY does the author choose to set the story where it is
set? How does setting affect characters, mood, conflict, etc.? Also, be sure to
pay attention to setting changes.
Putting all of this information on a note card will be a tight squeeze. Think about how
you want to word things so you can be as specific yet concise as possible. What you will
end up with are the absolute essentials to remember about that text.