Olathe North AP English III
Summer Reading Assignment 2016
Due August 18, 2016
Summer reading assignment overview:
1. Rhetorical Terms (Part A): Study the Rhetorical Terms in Part A, and be prepared to take a quiz over the terms,
definitions, and examples within the first few days of school.
2. Choice Book (Part B): Read one of the choice nonfiction books listed in Part B and complete both of the following:
a. Annotations: While you read your selected book, annotate (either on sticky notes or in the text if you own it) the
text as you do a close reading. You will write an argument essay over your choice book within the first few days of
school, so be sure your annotations reflect a thoughtful reading of your book.
b. Dialectical Journals: Follow directions in Part B to complete 10 dialectical journal entries over your chosen
nonfiction book. You will turn in your dialectical journals to turnitin.com on the first day of school, so bring in an
ELECTRONIC COPY (saved on your flash drive).
Summer Contact Information: If you have questions, please feel free to contact either of the Junior AP teachers at the
following email addresses:
Mrs. Brooks – [email protected]
Ms. Runde – [email protected]
Part A: Rhetorical Terms Guide
For this portion of the assignment, you will study 20 rhetorical terms that we will reference and add to throughout the school
year. Although it is not a requirement, you might choose to create flashcards on Quizlet or otherwise to help you study. Within
the first week back, you will take a test requiring you to match the following 20 rhetorical terms with their definitions and an
example. (The example may or may not be the one listed below.) Please study the following terms:
TROPES (the meaning is altered from the usual or expected):
term
1.
analogy
2.
situational irony
3.
4.
hyperbole
litotes
5.
juxtaposition
6.
allusion
definition
Compares two things, which are alike in
several respects, for the purpose of
explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or
difficult idea or object by showing how the
idea or object is similar to some familiar one.
A mode of expression through events
conveying a reality different from and
usually opposite to appearance or
expectation.
A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement.
A special form of understatement in which
we affirm something by negating its
contrary.
A poetic and rhetorical device in which
normally unassociated ideas, words, or
phrases are placed next to one another for
the purpose of comparison, often creating
an effect of surprise and wit.
An indirect reference to a well-known
person, place, event, literary work, or work
of art. (usually conveying a meaning
beyond the literal)
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example
“Tom was as nervous the day of his
wedding as he was on their first date.”
“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.” (Coleridge)
“Man, we’ve been in this class FOREVER!”
"She's not a bad cook." (meaning that she's
quite a good cook)
“His words were both fearful and
reassuring.”
“My neighbor is never seen coming out of
his house; he is Boo Radley.” (Boo Radley is
a character from To Kill a Mockingbird;
suggests the neighbor is a harmless recluse.)
7.
synecdoche
8.
metonymy
9.
oxymoron
10. paradox
11. euphemism
12. connotation
A form of metaphor in which a part of
something is used to stand for the whole
thing.
A figure of speech in which the name of one
object is substituted for that of another
closely associated with it.
A two-word figure of speech that combines
two opposing or contradictory ideas.
A statement that seems contradictory or
absurd but that expresses the truth.
A device where being indirect replaces
directness to avoid unpleasantness.
The set of associations that occur to people
when they hear or read a word.
“He got a new set of wheels.” (set of wheels
= car)
People often say “the White House” to refer
to the president and his administration.
Examples: jumbo shrimp, dry ice, freezer
burn
“Deep down he’s really very shallow.”
“Her uncle passed away.” (instead of
“died”)
When people hear the word “gourmet,”
they think of an expensive delicacy.
SCHEMES (syntax or word order is altered from the original):
term
13. parallelism /
parallel structure
14. epanalepsis
15. epistrophe
16. anastrophe
(sentence inversion)
17. asyndeton
18. polysyndeton
19. anaphora
20. ellipses
definition
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of
related words, phrases, or clauses.
The repetition at the end of a clause of the
word that occurred at the beginning of the
clause; it tends to make the sentence or clause
in which it occurs stand apart from its
surroundings.
The repetition of the same word or group of
words at the ends of successive clauses; it sets
up a pronounced rhythm and gains a special
emphasis both by repeating the word and by
putting the word in the final position.
Involves constructing a sentence so the
predicate comes before the subject.
A deliberate omission of conjunctions in a
series of related clauses; it speeds the pace of
the sentence.
The deliberate use of many conjunctions for
special emphasis—to highlight quantity or
mass of detail or to create a flowing,
continuous sentence pattern; it slows the pace
of the sentence.
The repetition of the same word or group of
words at the beginning of successive clauses; it
helps to establish a strong rhythm and
produces a powerful emotional effect.
The deliberate omission of a word or words
which are readily implied by the context; it
creates an elegant or daring economy of
words.
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example
“Singing a song or writing a poem is joyous.”
"He is noticeable for nothing in the world except for
the markedness by which he is noticeable for
nothing.”—Edgar Allan Poe
“Unfortunately, it would have been easy to
love her; it was much harder to know, for
honor’s sake, that he could not love
what he so wished to love.”
Among the weeds were a few wildflowers.
I saw the mountain; I climbed the mountain; I
conquered the mountain
The meal was amazing—my mother had cooked turkey
and dressing and green peas and fruit salad and mashed
potatoes smothered with gravy and toasty white rolls
with honey and pumpkin pie.
We will pursue him into the mountains; we will pursue
him into the desert; we will pursue him down valleys
and into canyons; we will pursue him to the ends of the
earth.
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
~Alexander Pope
(“is” is omitted, but implied)
Part B: Choice Nonfiction Book with Annotations and Dialectical Journals
Choose one of the following books to read:





Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell
Nickel and Dimed: on (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
While reading, you will need to complete two tasks:
1.
Annotate your book while reading:
Use small sticky notes to mark the important parts of the text that you think you
will need to remember and think about as you prepare for the argument essay. Annotating simply means marking the page as you
read with comments and/or notes. The principle reason you should annotate what you read is to aid in understanding. Annotating
is also a way of encouraging you to slow down and read a passage closely, so that it will make you a better reader.
Annotating may include:

Highlighting key words, phrases, or sentences

Writing questions or comments in the margins

Bracketing important ideas or passages

Connecting ideas with lines or arrows

Highlighting passages that are important to understanding the work

Asking questions, making comments—talking back to the text.
2.
Complete 10 Dialectical Journals: Using the annotations you’ve made in your book, compose two, typed journal entries
for each of the topics listed below. Your quotations should come from throughout the book, not just select sections.

Remember to cite your quotations appropriately.

You will BRING your finished journals on a FLASHDRIVE to be submitted to turnitin.com the first day of school. In addition
to receiving a grade for the quality of your journals, you will be using the information you collect to help you write an inclass essay the first week of class.

Each typed entry must include in-depth commentary and reflect a thoughtful reading of the text. Discuss the significance of
the quotation. For example, how do you think this quote contributes to the meaning of the book as a whole? What do you
think the author is saying about the situation, about society, about life, etc.? How does the author make this point?

Although the quality of the response is more valuable than the quantity, a thoughtful response should be no shorter than 50
words in length. If you are selecting your quotations wisely, you should have no problem composing an in-depth response of
this length.
Topics for Dialectical Journals
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
The author’s credibility and background
Do you think this author has the authority or experience to speak about this issue? What are the author's credentials? What
might bias the author's argument?
The author’s tone
What is the author’s tone? Does it change throughout the book? How does he/she manipulate tone to serve his/her purpose?
The author’s intended audience
Who is the intended audience for this book? How does the author tailor his/her argument to suit the intended audience?
Claims
Identify where the author is conveying his/her claims. Discuss the effectiveness of each argument. How are these ideas
conveyed? Is the author stating it directly or indirectly? Is the argument convincing? Why or why not?
Purpose
Now that you have identified the author’s primary and/or minor claims, what seems to be his/her overall purpose? What does
he/she want to show us, and what does he/she want us to do after having read the book?
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SAMPLE DIALECTICAL JOURNAL ENTRIES over Columbine by Dave Cullen
Details you should notice about the quotation example below:
Details you should notice about the commentary below:
1. Title: identifies which topic is being discussed.
2. The quotation is accurately taken from the text, with no
errors.
3. The quotation is properly cited with the author and page
number in parentheses and is correctly punctuated.
1. The first sentence gives the reader context. What is going on in the
passage selected?
2. Quotations are embedded into the text as a part of the
commentary.
3. The commentary is more than just a personal reaction to the text. It
describes the tone and how it is used in the text.
A. The author’s credibility and background
Commentary:
"It was seven years before they discovered that they arrived at
St. Anthony’s in completely different mind-sets” (Cullen 80).
This sentence shows that Cullen spoke extensively with first-hand
witnesses of the events described in the novel. Here, he describes the
“completely different mind-sets” of an injured boy’s parents upon
arriving at a hospital after the shooting. In order to obtain such minute
details about the situation unraveling in the novel, the author must
have spent countless hours interviewing and speaking with these
parents. Therefore, Cullen is certainly a reliable source.
B. The author’s tone
Commentary:
“The brain is saturated with blood, so gunshots tend to unleash
a flood. As fluid builds, oxygen is depleted and the pool cuts off
fresh supplies” (Cullen 81).
C. The author’s intended audience
“The Texas Seven had escaped a maximum-security facility and
embarked on a crime spree. The ringleader was serving eighteen
life sentences―he had nothing left to lose” (Cullen 316).
D. Claims
“Emily and Bree knew Cassie never got a chance to speak…
Audio of the murders was played for families, but withheld from
the public as too gruesome. Emily and Bree waited for the truth
to come out” (Cullen 229).
Cullen has a much more serious/ deliberate tone here as compared to
the majority of the book. The tone is conveyed through the use of
larger, more formal words such as “saturated” and “depleted.” This
contrasts lighter, more playful parts of the novel that heavily rely on
the use of slang and profanity. The result of the tone conveyed is that
the injuries and deaths caused by the shooting are given the proper
level of severity.
Commentary:
As the author provides a multitude of details about the Texas Seven, it
can be implied that the audience is not expected to be familiar with
the gang. Because these men were called “The Texas Seven” and had
“escaped a maximum-security facility,” it can be inferred that those
who lived through the time period in which the gang was at large
would remember their crimes. Therefore, the intended readers are
those who were either not alive to see these events unravel or else
were too young to remember it.
Commentary:
Cullen is arguing here that the lack of information given to the public is
what ultimately led to the circulation of completely inaccurate
information. Often times the media never gave witnesses “a chance to
speak” in order to rebuke their lies. Consequently, false information
continued to spread for years. This novel, however, gave witnesses a
chance to be heard and to set the story straight.
E. Purpose
Commentary:
“…kids felt as if their identities had been stolen. ‘Columbine’
was the name of a tragedy now. Their school was a symbol of
mass murder” (Cullen 272).
Here, Cullen reveals his purpose for writing the novel by showing the
impact the media had on the students of Columbine. By saying their
school had become “a symbol of mass murder,” he demonstrates how
the media took a situation that was already negative for students and
made it even worse. For this reason, Cullen writes the novel to expose
myths about the school and show that it was no different from any
other high school.
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