AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Overview and Wrap-up

Critical Thinking: The Starting Point Rhetoric as the art of effective speaking

and writing. The importance of assessing opportunity,

audience, and decorum. Reasonableness as the goal for those

who would develop effective mental habits. Standards of Intellectual Inquiry as

essential to the development of the reasonable persona.

Current Issues: Enduring Questions Topics of immediate

and lasting importance to people. Modes of informed

discourse Exposition Narration Description Argumentation

Persuasive Appeals

Methods of Becoming Convinced To character (ethos), or

reputation “I am no orator, but…” (Socrates,

in Apology) To reason (logos), or coherence

“I think, therefore I am” (Descartes, Meditations)

To emotion (pathos), or passion “This was the most unkindest cut

of all!” (JC, 3.2.183)

Critical Reading: Procedures

Important Practices Annotate the text Summarize the main

idea Grasp the gist of the

argument Identify hidden

assumptions

Visual Rhetoric: Images as Arguments “The medium is the

message” (McLuhan)

Moving pictures Still Photography Charts and graphs Cartoons Painting Drawing Sculpture

Critical Writing: Analyzing Arguments Examining a Thesis

Author’s purpose Persuade or report

Author’s methods Present evidence

and proofs Author’s persona

Strategy and distance

Checklist for Analyzing Arguments State author’s claim & grounds. State your position. Identify strong & weak points. Comment on ethos

Author’s character Comment on logos

Argument’s logic Comment on pathos

Appropriateness of emotional appeal Use brief quotations. Evaluate the argument. Establish an appropriate tone.

Developing Your Own Arguments Getting Ideas

Freewriting Think on “paper.” Feel free to write

badly. Listing

Jotting Gisting

Diagramming Clustering Branching Columns

Your First Obligations

Ask questions. State your thesis early. Imagine your audience.

What do we have in common? Have in entertained and informed them?

Imply your thesis in your title. Have I informed them? Have I turned them off?

The Business of Paragraphing Attract the reader’s interest.

State the problem. Prepare the reader’s mind.

State what is to follow; define terms. Show the reader how the essay is

organized. Present the supporting evidence. Anticipate objections. Lead the reader toward a sense of closure.

The Conclusion

Good writers provide a sense of closure by Returning to something in the introduction Glancing at the wider implications of the

issue Illustrating the thesis with a closing

anecdote Summarizing without tediously repeating

the introduction.

A Logician’s View:

Deduction Premises force necessary

conclusion. Socrates’s mortality.

Induction Premises imply a

probable conclusion. The sun rising analogy.

Fallacies Methods of argument that

persuade by deceptive methods (dirty tricks) Distractions from the point.

A Philosopher’s View: Steven Toulmin

Toulmin Procedure

State the problem. State your claim and its

warrants. Support your claim with backup

data. Qualify your claim.

Consider counter-claims. Rebut the counter-claims.

Show how your claim has greater weight than the counter-claim.

A Psychologist’s View: Carl Rogers Argument implies threat and

miscommunication. Become partners, not adversaries. Communication should point toward solving the

problem—not attacking the person or group. Show sympathetic understanding of the

opponent. Recognize what is valid in the opposition’s

argument. Recognize that the most persons in the

opposition are persons of good will.

Rogerian Procedure

State the problem Give the opponent’s

position Grant whatever validity the

writer finds in that position Attempt to show how the

opposing position would be improved if the writer’s own position were accepted.

Moralist’s View: Ethical Analysis

QUESTIONS IN ETHICS

QUESTIONS OF FACT: 'IS'

QUESTIONS OF VALUE: 'OUGHT'

WORTH, GOOD, DESIRABILITY

DUTIES OR OBLIGATIONS

TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD

ONE FIRST HURDLE IN OVERCOMING ETHICAL DILEMMAS IS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN FACT AND VALUE.

'I AM ALIVE' IS A FACT. 'I OUGHT TO LIVE' IS A VALUE.

A Moral Reasoning Checklist

Is the conduct in question limited by a rule? How does self-interest affect the issue? Is the defense of the conduct reasonable? Is the rule for the individual or the group? How the conduct consider the rights of

others? Would the conduct in question imply a

universal rule?

A Lawyer’s View: Civic Literacy Cases fall into two categories

Civil: individual vs. individual A claim of wrongful action is

made against another. Some redress of the grievance is

sought. Relevant evidence is brought to

the case. Criminal: state vs. individual

Felonies: seriously harmful actions

Misdemeanors: lesser harmful actions

Reporting Cases

Holding: the court’s decision It is usually one sentence.

Opinion: the support for the decision It is usually complex and lengthy exposition.

Majority: reasoning of the larger group. Concurring: qualified agreement with majority. Dissenting: disagreement with the majority.

Relevant facts and relevant law are considered.

Balancing and conflicting interests are considered.

A Literary Critic’s View: Literature What is author’s intent?

What we can infer about the author, based upon the work.

What did the author mean? What we can infer from the conscious or

unconscious motives of the author. What does the text say?

Textual, cultural, and historical contexts: the facts.

Interpreting

What does it mean? What evidence

supports your claim? Text Society Biography Psychology History Culture

Judging

What is a good work of art? Complex or unified?

Does it make sense? Wholesome or shocking?

What emotions does it evoke in me?

Original or derivative? Is it new or revisited?

Important or trivial? Is it instructive or

entertaining?

Abortion

What is the right to life? What is a human life? When does life become

human? What is the moral

standing of various life forms?

Affirmative Action

Is it fair? Is it racist? Is it reverse discrimination? Is it intended to last

forever? Are there special victim

classes that deserve certain dispensations?

Do the victimized deserve reparation at the expense of the innocent?

Gun Control

Who should have guns? What kind of guns should

be made, if any? What restrictions should

be placed on gun owners? Does a private citizen

have a right to carry? Should convicted

criminals have a right to own guns?

College Education

What is its purpose? Should everyone go to

college? How should college be

funded? Does everyone have a

right to college education?

Is it a superior education to vocational training?

The Death Penalty

Is it justified? If so, in what cases? If not, how do we treat the

convicted felon? Does cost/benefit analysis

apply? Does it prevent capital

crime? Is revenge just? Does “closure” justify

capital punishment?

Sex Education

Is it the school’s business? What grade level should

teach it? What are the limits of the

education? What is the role of parents? Does it solve the problems

related to it? Does it exacerbate them? Should schools distribute b/c

devices and products?

Drug Legalizaton

Should all drugs be legal?

Should some drugs be legal?

Should the state be in charge of growth and sale of drugs?

Do the punishments fit the crimes?

Illegal Immigration

Should all illegal immigrants be granted citizenship?

Should their children, born in the USA, be granted citizenship?

Should we build a wall and defend it with force?

Should we have open borders?

How do we control illegal immigration?

Intelligent Design

Is it science or religion?

Should it be taught in science class?

Are its claims valid?

Are its supporting arguments sufficient?

Marriage

Is marriage a moral obligation?

Is marriage irrelevant? Is marriage necessary? Is marriage between

same-sex couples right?

Is marriage a divine covenant?

Is divorce too easy?

Sexual Harassment

What is it? Does it apply in the

same way to all people?

Is it warranted in the workplace?

Is it harassment if all parties consent?

Is it indefinable?

Torture

Is it ever justifiable? If it saves lives, is it

permitted? If it causes no

permanent harm, is it justifiable?

If it causes death, is it wrong?

Does the welfare of the many outweigh the pain of a few?

Idealism

What is the ideal society? Which is more important,

the individual or the group?

Is a Constitution necessary?

What controls are needed to maintain society?

Is there such a thing as too much or too little government?

What is Happiness?

Is it equated with pleasure?

Is it equated with morality?

Is it equated with peace of mind?

Is it equated with knowledge?

Is it equated with mindlessness?

Is it equated with compassion?