To: Advanced Placement Language and Composition Students
From: Mr. Larkin and Mr. Williams
Subject: Summer Work for 2017
The primary purpose of the following assignment is to enhance your awareness of and to foster your thinking about
the world around you. During the next school year you will often be called upon to contribute to discussions and to
write essays about philosophical or historical or current controversies. For each of those controversies we will study
how authors use rhetoric, how they use language to achieve their purpose.
What is the assigned summer work for junior-level Advanced Placement English?
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First, read the rhetorical strategies booklet (online or ask Mr. Larkin or Mr. Williams) to familiarize
yourself with the terms and concepts needed to complete this assignment.
Next, read one nonfiction book from the two books listed below that addresses a current controversy.
Section I. Submit the following written work within one word-processed document on Friday, July 14. We
expect you to have read at least half your book by this date, and the following written work should be
from the first half of your chosen book.
 Write a paragraph summarizing what you see to be the author’s central claim. Include a brief
assessment of the strategies used by the author in the first half of the book to make his or her
point. How convincing do you find the author’s argument? (5-7 sentences)
 Choose five quotations from the first half of the book. Then respond to each quote in a 4-6
sentence paragraph. (more details below)
 Within a Method-and-Meaning Chart, analyze five quotations in which rhetorical strategies have
been employed by the author. (more details below)
 This document needs to be emailed to the following email address:
[email protected] by noon on Friday, July 14. You may also submit this half of
the assignment in person at Olathe East High School Room 607 between 10:00 am and 12:00
noon on Friday, July 14.
Section II. Repeat the written steps above for the second half of your book (including another
summary/evaluation). Do not email this second word-processed document; you will submit it along with
the first half of this assignment that you already turned in on July 14 to turnitin.com. Section I & II –
together in ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT- is due Friday, August 18th by midnight on turnitin.com.
Electronic and paper copies of all your writing are required. Bring a paper copy of the assignment to class
on Friday, August 18. The entire assignment (Section I and Section II) in ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT will be
submitted to turnitin.com on Friday, August 18. More information on that will be given then.
A test on your chosen book will be given on Monday, August 21.
Read one of the following nonfiction books:
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Blink: The power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
o Section I: Chapters 1-4
Section II: Chapter 5 - Conclusion
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
o Section I: Chapters 1-4
Section II: Chapters 5-9
Quotation/Responses
Select and type at least five quotations for each half of the book; ellipses may be used for longer quotations. This
will result in a total of at least 10 quotations and responses from the entire book—noting the page number(s)
from which the quotations came in parentheses and writing a brief response to each. Select quotations that are
central to the author’s arguments and quotations that reveal the author’s writing style or methods of
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argumentation. Quotes in this part of the assignment may not overlap with quotes in the M&M Chart. Write a
response (minimum 4-6 sentences) for each quoted passage that demonstrates intellectual engagement with the
text by expressing opinions; speculating, hypothesizing, exploring alternatives to the author’s statements; raising
questions; expressing metaphorical comparisons; exploring multiple possibilities of meaning; considering cultural
and historical nuances and complexities; making warranted and plausible interpretations of ideas, facts, concepts,
and/or arguments; attending to the structure of the text; showing how elements of the work are related and
change; showing aesthetic appreciation of the text; considering linguistic and structural complexities; and/or
evaluating the congruity between the text and your own ideas, experiences, and knowledge.
Method and Meaning Chart
Authors make a living manipulating language to help them achieve their purposes. There is a method to their
madness; we expect you to be able to identify and explain how authors influence readers through effective
rhetoric. Find ten places (5 in Section I, 5 for Section II) where you see the author employing strategies to
effectively construct an argument, to be more convincing, to persuade an audience to agree with her claims. In a
three-column chart, name or describe the strategy, quote it, and explain how it works to convince an audience or
support a claim. The last column—the “meaning” column—should be wider than the other two. Your responses in
this column must be at least 4-6 sentences long to receive full credit. Use the format below.
Method
Ethos, antithesis,
analogy, anecdote,
inflammatory
diction, etc.
& (Quote)
“Insert quote here.” (page #)
These quotes must differ
from selections in the
Quote/Response section.
Meaning
In your 4-6 sentence response, focus on how the device
functions in the paragraph, chapter, or book as a whole.
The information may serve to increase the author’s
credibility. The sentence arrangement may powerfully
and eloquently state an author’s point. An anecdote or
analogy may help to clarify, lighten the mood, illustrate
the logic of an argument, or create an emotional
connection with a person or point that may strike a
reader. Do your best to explain how a particularly
convincing passage worked to convince you.
A note about rhetoric and rhetorical strategies. Simply defined, rhetoric is the art of persuasion—the skill of
manipulating language, for a specific audience, in order to accomplish a targeted purpose. In many instances, it is
helpful for students familiar with literary analysis to think of rhetorical analysis as the same process, but applied
to non-fiction texts. Many syntactical devices are used in both: anaphora, antithesis, chiasmus, parallelism,
repetition, etc. Some figurative language also overlaps: metaphor, analogy, metonymy, personification, etc. There
are some rhetoric-specific strategies that you should look into. Ethos, pathos, and logos are basic terms that help
describe rhetorical situations. A booklet of rhetorical strategies will be placed on the Olathe East website this
summer to aid you in your M&M Chart work.
Section I and II Due Dates.
Your summer assignment is due in two parts on two different due dates. Your work for Section I will be graded as-is,
based on what you email or submit in person on July 14. No opportunity will be given to revise your work when
school starts. To submit Section I in person, enter Olathe East High School between 10:00 am and 12:00 noon on the
north side of the building, through the doors marked “FF”. Take your assignment to Rm 607. Someone will be there
to accept it in person. Turnitin.com information will be given out on the first day of school so that you can submit
Section II (along with Section I in ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT) by midnight on August 18.
Book Descpriptions – These books were selected because they are controversial, and each is written with different
rhetorical strengths and weaknesses. We do not want you to accept what the author writes: we want you to
question the assertions, to consider the evidence, to evaluate the persuasive strategies, to think for yourself. Below
are descriptions of the books, which are excerpted from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist reviews:
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Blink: The power of Thinking without Thinking. Best-selling author Gladwell has a dazzling ability to find commonality in
disparate fields of study. As he displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look at how we make snap judgments—
about people's intentions, the authenticity of a work of art, even military strategy—he can parse for general readers the
intricacies of fascinating but little-known fields like professional food tasting (why does Coke taste different from Pepsi?).
Gladwell's conclusion, after studying how people make instant decisions in a wide range of fields from psychology to police
work, is that we can make better instant judgments by training our mind and senses to focus on the most relevant facts—and
that less input (as long as it's the right input) is better than more. –Tina Bennett, from Publisher’s Weekly
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. In his latest book, Malcolm Gladwell examines and
challenges our concepts of “advantage” and “disadvantage” in a way that may seem intuitive to some and surprising to
others. Beginning with the classic tale of David and Goliath and moving through history with figures such as Lawrence of
Arabia and Martin Luther King Jr., Gladwell shows how, time and again, players labeled “underdog” use that status to their
advantage and prevail through the elements of cunning and surprise. He also shows how certain academic “advantages,”
such as getting into an Ivy League school, have downsides, in that being a “big fish in a small pond” at a less prestigious
school can lead to greater confidence and a better chance of success in later life. Gladwell even promotes the idea of a
“desirable difficulty,” such as dyslexia, a learning disability that causes much frustration for reading students but, at the same
time, may force them to develop better listening and creative problem-solving skills. As usual, Gladwell presents his research
in a fresh and easy-to-understand context. --David Siegfried, from Booklist
A Digression about Reading
Perhaps the most important step you can take toward improving your education is to read widely and deeply. Those students
who have read widely are at a tremendous advantage—in writing, in analysis, in synthesis, in evaluation of texts—over those
who have the ability to read well but have not taken advantage of that skill. The Olathe School District requires summer
reading for Advanced Placement English classes in an effort to encourage students to extend the scope of their reading and
to be better prepared for the Advanced Placement Test, a test you may elect to take in May 2018 for college credit. In
addition to the nonfiction book, consider keeping a journal of the reading you do this summer. In the journal list the titles and
authors of the books you read; a very brief summary of the reading; and a brief encapsulation of your thoughts and reactions
to your reading. This journal or any reading other than what has already been listed is not a requirement but is encouraged.
Are you a reader? Do you read 25 or more books a year in addition to those assigned in school? When you read “light”
fiction, do you cover a page a minute? Do you only read “light” fiction, or have you also begun to read “heavy” books—
literature or nonfiction books on science, political theory, history, art? Do you browse regularly through magazines and
newspapers?
No substitute for extensive reading exists for preparation for college entrance exams, college work, and your profession. The
only way to obtain proficiency in reading is by reading books of all kinds. As you read, you will gather knowledge and develop
your speed and comprehension. Nothing you can do academically will better prepare you for your future than developing a
daily reading habit—a habit that opens worlds of growth, satisfaction, and enjoyment.
How much do you read? Suppose you are an average reader; you read an ordinary book at about 300 words per minute. In
20 minutes, how many words can you read? Six thousand, right? In a week of reading 20 minutes per day, how many words
can you read? That’s 52 times 42,000, a grand total of 2,184,000 words!
Now here comes the hard part. Full-length books usually contain 60,000 to 100,000 words. Say an average book runs about
75,000 words. By reading 20 minutes a day you can read 2,184,000 words in a year, so how many average 75,000-word books
can you read a year?
The answer is a little over 29. Twenty-nine books in a year—before you go to college, you can have read over 50 more books
if you can find 20 minutes a day. The trick is to always have your book on hand, so you are ready if you suddenly find yourself
with some time.
Sustain, revive, or begin your reading habits. Please take the time this summer to read all you can.
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We look forward to reading about and to talking to you about your reading. If you have any questions or
concerns, please do not hesitate to talk to us before the end of the school year. Again, during the summer feel
free to email Mr. Larkin at [email protected] or Mr. Williams at [email protected]
Checklist for Summer Work 2017
_____ Read online document about rhetorical strategies.
_____ Select and read a book from the list on Page One.
_____ Section I  Due Friday, July 14 by noon in one document, emailed to [email protected].
_____ First Half Argument Summary. (5-7 sentences) Restate in a sentence or two the book’s central argument. Then
write about whether or not you are convinced by the first half of the book. What arguments/information got you on the author’s
side? What arguments did you have trouble going along with? Are there any weaknesses so far?
_____ Five well-selected quotations with thoughtful and well-written responses.
_____ Five Method and Meaning Chart Entries with insightful and thorough analysis.
_____ Section II  Due Friday, August 18 (along with Section I in ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT) by midnight on
turnitin.com
_____ Second Half Argument Summary. (5-7 sentences) Restate in a sentence or two the book’s central argument. Then
write about whether or not you are convinced by the second half of the book. What arguments/information got you on the
author’s side? What arguments did you have trouble going along with? How did it compare with the first half of the book?
_____ Five more well-selected quotations with thoughtful and well-written responses.
_____ Five more Method and Meaning Chart Entries with insightful and thorough analysis.
_____ Study for Back-to-School Exam over your Book on Monday, August 21.
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