AP ENGLISH TEST 2

What is a thesis statement?

- a claim: an assertion of the truth about something - a one or two sentence summary of a paper's main point - an unproved statement which is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn

What is NOT a thesis statement?

- a subject - a question - a statement of fact - a statement of intent

What are some things you can do when annotating?

- circle unfamiliar words - identify main ideas: thesis statements and topic sentences - identify words, phrases, or sentences that appeal to you or that confuse you - look for figures of speech, tropes, schemes, imagery, and/or details - identify contradictory phrases - jot down questions or comments about the text

Which forms of writing does not require a thesis statement?

- description - narration - business documents

What are some things you can do while annotating?

- identifying main ideas — thesis statements and topic sentences - identifying words, phrases, or sentences that appeal to you, that seem important, or that you don't understand - look for figures of speech, imagery, and striking details - ask questions or comment on what you have read

What is an objective/descriptive thesis statement?

- makes a claim about how things are or how they are usually done - does NOT deal with values, morals, ethics, or opinion

What does an assertive/prescriptive thesis statement do?

- makes claims about how things should be - states the point your paper is trying to prove - gives realistic suggestions for how to improve or correct a given topic

What are two types of thesis statements?

- objective thesis, sometimes referred to as descriptive - assertive thesis, sometimes referred to as prescriptive

What does an effective thesis statement contain?

- one main point - a blueprint for the essay

What do we take into account while close reading?

- the context of the situation - more subtle elements such as body language, facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice

What two categories can style be divided into?

- tropes = use of diction - schemes = use of syntax

From where does the term "thesis statement" come from?

Theseus, a mythical hero of Ancient Greece, found his way out of the Cretan Labyrinth by following a thread so he could defeat the Minotaur

Does all writing require a thesis statement?

No

Why must a thesis statement be well-supported?

No matter how well-constructed and thoughtful your thesis statement is, it is only effective when supported by evidence

Instead of a thesis statement, what does most descriptive writing rely on?

a dominant impression

What is assertion?

a positive statement, directly expressed, that presents a position with which readers could realistically disagree

What is annotation?

a process of note taking in the text or on post-it notes in the margin of the text - it is the process of recording your inner discussion with the text

What does close reading require?

a return to the rhetorical triangle - these elements held establish ethos, pathos, and logos with the audience

What should most academic writing contain?

a sentence that states the controlling idea of the essay, the central message

What is a dialectical journal (double-entry notebook)?

a visual representation of the conversation between you and the text. It is a powerful meta cognitive tool, a tool that requires students to think about their own thinking process

What type of process is close reading?

an instinctive process that we undertake daily

What is another close reading technique?

annotating

personification

attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea

What does Dialectal Journals allow a reader to do?

break the text up into smaller chunks which allows for greater analysis of the diction and syntax employed within the text

allusion

brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art

How can we better understand a text?

by examining its sentence structure, vocabulary, imagery, and figurative language

What is important to do when you support your close analysis essay?

cite the text, weaving quotes into your essay and explaining each example with at least two sentences of analysis or commentary

What is one way to show the reader your plan?

create a thesis with a topic part and a comment part

What is the first part in creating a close analysis essay?

creating a thesis statement, which can help you stay focused

What is close reading about?

identifying techniques and strategies (diction and syntactical choices), but also understand how these choices help to achieve the author's overall purpose

Which form of writing requires objective/descriptive thesis?

information writing Side note: rather than give an opinion, informative writing educated on a topic

What do readers want to notice in regards to syntax?

interesting constructions like parallelism, juxtaposition, and antithesis, along with sentence types such as compound, complex, periodic, cumulative, and imperative. (We might also look at the pacing of a piece of work)

What do readers look for when discussing an author's diction?

interesting or powerful vocabulary, and figures of speech like metaphors, similes, personification, and hyperbole

inversion

inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

What must you be careful about when writing your thesis statement?

it must not be too broad or just a summary; it's not too narrow or just your personal opinion

How does understanding style help you as a reader?

it provides insight into the choices the author makes at the diction and syntax levels

Writing about close reading reverses the process of close reading. What is the new process?

it starts with the deeper understanding and then supporting that understanding by addressing the "smaller details," via the words used

What are periodic sentences?

moving toward something important

anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines

alliteration

repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence

antimetabole

repetition of words in reverse order

periodic sentence

sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

What does the style of a written piece contribute to?

the meaning, purpose, and effect of a text, whether it is written, oral, or visual

What is close reading?

the process of analyzing a text at the diction level to develop a greater understanding

In short stories, novels, memoirs and other narrative writing, what is an example or illustration of the author's point?

the story

What is the central message/thesis statement?

the string that guides the reader from the introductory paragraph, through the supporting ones, to the conclusion

What do the elements (sentence structure, vocabulary, imagery, and figurative language) make up?

the style of the written piece and help us to discover layers of meaning

What is the rule of 3?

things that come in 3's are proven to be more appealing

How can we as readers organize our thoughts about a specific text?

use a graphic organizer to systematically look at short passages from a longer text

zeugma

use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings

What does a statement of intent announce?

what the reader intends to say (the goal) and is not a claim

imperative sentence

sentence used to command or enjoin

What are some key questions for the analysis of syntax?

1) What is the order for the parts of the sentence? Is it the usual (subject-verb-object), or is it inverted? 2) Which part of speech is more prominent — nouns or verbs? 3) What are the sentences like? Are they periodic or cumulative 4) How does the sentence connect its words, phrases, and clauses?

What are some key questions for the analysis of diction?

1) Which of the important words in the passage (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are general and abstract? 2) Which of the important words are specific and concrete? 3) Are the important words formal, informal, colloquial, or slang? 4) Are some words non-literal or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors?

As an analyst, what must you do?

1) determine the author's purpose 2) identify the author's rhetorical choices 3) explain the effect the author's choices have on the meaning of the text

What are the traits of an effective thesis?

1) states a claim 2) is focused 3) contains one main point 4) May provide a blueprint for the essay 5) must be well-supported

What form of writing requires a thesis statement?

academic writing

What does effective reading require?

active reading, an exchange between the reader and the text that eventually reveals layers of meaning

What are cumulative sentences?

adding details that support an important idea in the beginning of the sentence

What must you need to convince your reader that you know what you are talking about?

adequate information, examples, details, personal experiences, and reasons

How is a thesis statement focused?

adequately (not too broad, not too narrow)

What does a thesis statement do?

allows both the writer and the reader to find their way through a labyrinth of ideas by following a thread of though

What can many of the same tools of rhetorical analysis and close reading that we have practiced on written texts are also useful for?

detecting how visual texts convey their messages

What must you be able to support your description of tone and mood with?

evidence from the text

rhetorical question

figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer

metaphor

figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as

synecdoche

figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole

archaic diction

old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

asyndeton

omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

antithesis

opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction

oxymoron

paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another

juxtaposition

placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences

What is the first step in writing a close analysis essay?

read, reread, ask questions, and either annotate or create a graphic organizer for the text you will be working with

cumulative sentences

sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on

hortative sentence

sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action

Most importantly, what must a close analysis essay focus on?

the choices writers makes to help them achieve their purpose

Which question does analysis answer?

the "so what" question

What is style?

the author's use of tone, sentence structure, and vocabulary

What is the goal of business writing?

to impart information, either to employees or to customers

How does we use close reading?

unconsciously and instantaneously every day as we response to people and situations

What is rhetorical analysis?

understanding how the author connects the speaker, subject, and audience, and why the author makes the stylistic choices he/she makes

What is one of the biggest challenges when reading a piece? How can we overcome it?

understanding the tone of the piece; by looking carefully at the speaker's choice of words and how those words are arranged we can find plenty of clues

What does a thesis statement require?

you must give reasons for your claim and show that it is worth proving

What is one way to talk with the text?

you must interrogate it and ask questions

No matter what technique you choose, as you interact with the text, what should you keep in mind?

you're not only identifying techniques and strategies, but also analyzing their effect — you're moving from close reading to analysis