Basics of Writing in AP Literature

This is your one-stop shop for putting this paper together. Use it as you need it, but make sure you use it!

Ignorance is NOT bliss.

Table of Contents

• Paper Basics

• The Prompt

• Theme

• Thesis statement

• Topic Sentence Review

• CEW

• ICE

• Integrating Quotes (a must read)

• Example paragraph

• Introductions and Conclusions

Basics• Have a proper heading: Your name, AP English 12-hour, teacher’s name, due

date. THIS IS NOT A HEADER. Upper left corner of paper.

• Have a header in the UPPER RIGHT HAND corner of page (last name and page number) Don’t know how to do this? Ask! YOU WILL NEED TO INSERT A HEADER. IT WILL SHOW UP ON EVERY PAGE.

• 12 point font, double-spaced, 1” margins, readable font (Times New Roman or Calibri are standard)

• Title should be simple and point to thesis directly or indirectly

• Your paper will have several paragraphs and should be about 3-4 pages long.

• Include author and title in the introduction; short story titles go in “quotation marks.”

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Choose ONE prompt

• Your thesis should make it clear WHICH prompt you are answering.

• Throughout your analysis you will make use of the critical literary vocabulary.

• On the following slides, I have given you questions to consider as you put your paper together.

Prompt A

• Prompt A: In the story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison, Twyla and Roberta, casual friends who encounter each other five times throughout the story, confront some difficult socio-political truths. Read the story carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how Morrison portrays these two characters and their complex relationship as friends. You may wish to consider such literary devices as narrative perspective (point of view) and selection of detail.

•  – How would you characterize their friendship? What makes it complicated and

why?

– What is Morrison trying to accomplish through this friendship? Why? What is she trying to get at?

– How does the POV help establish what we understand about the characters? What selection of details are given to us (or not given to us) because of the POV. Why does this matter? What is Morrison up to with these choices?

– Through these relationships, what is her message for the reader?

Prompt B

• Prompt B: The story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison chronicles the relationship between two women – one black, one white – through the social changes of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and early 80’s. Analyze how Morrison uses elements such as point of view, selection of detail, dialogue, and characterization to make a social commentary.

– How would you characterize their friendship? What makes it complicated and why?– What is Morrison trying to accomplish through these encounters? Why? What is

she trying to get at? – How is the POV helping establish what we understand about the characters? What

selection of details are given to us (or not given to us) because of the POV. Why does this matter? What is Morrison up to with these choices?

– Through these characters, what is Morrison’s social commentary? Consider the things that the characters say and do throughout the short story.

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Theme ideas

• Theme is not a word. It is a universal truth that the whole story supports. It is a full statement.

• It is not an absolute, but a generalization.• Once you have gone through your short story,

you should have a few messages to consider for your paper. These will be incorporated in the “so what?” and tie back to the prompt. This is what Morrison is trying to get at. See next slide for some examples.

Example Themes for “Story of an Hour”

• These could all be ideas that Chopin is getting at. These would show up in my paper. All? Some? A few? An overarching idea will show up as part of your thesis.

– Women need an identity to call their own. Living a life for someone else is not fulfilling enough.

– While marriage can benefit a person, it loses its appeal if a person has to forget who they are in the process.

– Sometimes true freedom comes during the greatest crisis. (a little cliché)

– A person doesn’t realize how suffocated she is until it is too late.

– When the moment presents itself, a woman must be able to stand on her own two feet.

– Society’s expectations an play a role in a woman’s oppression and her inability to be her own person.

– True fulfillment is sometimes found is letting go of all that is familiar and comfortable.

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“Rules” for a Thesis

• A thesis is never a question.• A thesis is never a list.• The thesis must advance an argument.• A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.

Avoid being seen as moralistic and judgmental.• An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. Say to

yourself, “Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim.”

• A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms, and abstractions.

• Cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

• Is not a topic; Is not a fact; Is an opinion.

An Effective Thesis:

• It is the MAIN claim. All topic sentences point back to it.

• Has two parts.

• Should declare what will be argued. This is what the author is getting at. This will be an overarching theme idea.

• Should “telegraph” how you plan to argue. What big ideas from the s.s. will you advance in your paper.

• Could declare the particular support to be used to uphold the claim. (The list kind of thesis.)

Example for “Story of an Hour”Prompt A

• In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” the author uses Louise’s complicated relationship with her husband to highlight a woman’s struggle between being the dutiful wife and a free thinking individual who must know who she is in order to be a complete person.

• In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Chopin uses the death of Louise’s husband and her new found freedom to highlight the complexities of marriage and the need to know oneself.

Another variation: Prompt B

• Through her characterization of Louise Mallard in “Story of an Hour” and Louise’s reaction to her husband’s death, Kate Chopin’s argues for the need for a woman to be an individual.

• In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Louise’s ironic reaction to her husband’s death and “miraculous” return highlight society’s oppressive expectations of women.

Thesis Statement Websites

• UNC

• Indiana University

• Northwestern

• Purdue

***If these links don’t work, just Google “writing a good thesis statement” and you will find these sites.

***You must be in View Show mode to get to the links

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Basics of a Topic Sentence:

1. It fits the size of the assignment.

2. It states a single main point or position related to the thesis.

3. It is specific.

4. It is an idea you can show, explain, or prove.

5. It is a forceful statement written with confidence.

6. It is NOT a summary of the short story. It broadcasts something you will prove with evidence. It is a mini CLAIM!

Examples topic sentences “A Story of an Hour”

• Upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, Louise puts on the airs of a dutiful wife which at first makes her look like a woman who is truly devastated at the loss of her husband.

• However, this dutiful wife begins to have stirrings about what life will be like as a free woman showing her deep-rooted desire to be her own person.

• The struggle between what she was and what she could be is seen when she questions her feelings for her husband, but then quickly embraces her new found freedom, allowing her voice to be heard for the first time. She finally gets a handle of what she wants for life.

• Though Louise joyfully embraces her new life, the story ends with a twist that symbolizes her unwillingness to be trapped in a marriage that is suffocating her.

These would be revised to fit my thesis statement. Notice none are a summary. Back to Table of Contents

CEW

• Claim or Thesis (your topic sentences all go back to proving your thesis: think of these as mini claims):

• Opinion, not fact• Debatable• Provable (Reasonable)

• Evidence:• From the text • Specific (needs to say something that supports the claim)• You must cite your source even if you paraphrase or quote directly you must cite your source (See power

point for ICE information.

• Warrant:• Explanation: answers the “so what?”• How and why evidence proves the claim (thesis)• Ties back to your thesis/theme (the overall meaning of the work)• Must explain all the connections in your head.• Pretend you are explaining to someone who has never read the book.• Key to a good warrant: Re-use key phrases from the claim and evidence.

See the next few slides for a basic CEW pattern. This is what you are trying to accomplish in your paragraphs.

What to notice: Claim (topic sentence)

In “Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning, his vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous between two young lovers. The visual and auditory imagery helps the reader envision the night as dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two lines of the poem set up what the night looks like: “The gray sea and the long black land;/And the yellow half-moon large and low.” The reader can see the water gleaming under the light of a large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this image helps the reader feel as though they are watching this scene unfold as they themselves are standing on the beach, “the long black land.” These images are important because they are meant to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and romance. The next lines help the reader hear and see the ocean: “And the startled little waves that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.” The reader can see the movement of the waves as they leap, and the word startled connotes that the waves are frightened by something, giving the reader the sense that the waves are short and choppy as they hit the shoreline.

What to notice: Evidence

In “Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning, his vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous between two young lovers. The visual and auditory imagery helps the reader envision the night as dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two lines of the poem set up what the night looks like: “The gray sea and the long black land;/And the yellow half-moon large and low.” The reader can see the water gleaming under the light of a large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this image helps the reader feel as though they are watching this scene unfold as they themselves are standing on the beach, “the long black land.” These images are important because they are meant to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and romance. The next lines help the reader hear and see the ocean: “And the startled little waves that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.” The reader can see the movement of the waves as they leap, and the word startled connotes that the waves are frightened by something, giving the reader the sense that the waves are short and choppy as they hit the shoreline.

What to notice: Warrant

In “Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning, his vivid use of visual and auditory imagery evokes the urgency of an important moonlit rendezvous between two young lovers. The visual and auditory imagery helps the reader envision the night as dreamy and the lover as bold. The first two lines of the poem set up what the night looks like: “The gray sea and the long black land;/And the yellow half-moon large and low.” The reader can see the water gleaming under the light of a large harvest moon low on the horizon. And this image helps the reader feel as though they are watching this scene unfold as they themselves are standing on the beach, “the long black land.” These images are important because they are meant to create feelings of secrecy, longing, and romance. The next lines help the reader hear and see the ocean: “And the startled little waves that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.” The reader can see the movement of the waves as they leap, and the word startled connotes that the waves are frightened by something, giving the reader the sense that the waves are short and choppy as they hit the shoreline and that the lovers have surprised even the water as they boldly meet at night.

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ICE

• Make sure to see the section on integrating quotes and evidence. It will help vary up your sentences and ideas.

(I)ntroduce

• Introduce the evidence smoothly “According to the author, the night…”

• No matter what, don’t orphan evidence, a direct quote or paraphrase. You must some how set it up. I strongly encourage you to read the slides on Incorporating Quotes.

• This will not be a part of your claim. This will be part of our evidence that comes AFTER the claim.

(C)ite

• For this paper you will simply add the page number at the end of any sentence that contains evidence (direct quote or paraphrase).

• For example:– When Louise finally realizes that her life is her own, the reader is

witness to her first words, “Free! Free! Free!” (2).

– Notice the page number in the parenthesis ( ).

– Notice the PERIOD on the OUTSIDE of the ( ).

– Notice nothing else goes in the ( ).

– This will be enough for this assignment. You must indicate page numbers when using evidence.

Explain

• Explanation = how this piece of evidence helps prove your thesis. This is the warrant in CEW. This is the so what? This is the heart of the analysis. Here you should use key words from the prompt that tie back to technique.

• Back to Table of Contents

Writing & Incorporating Quotes

EffectivelyMini-Lesson

Back to Table of ContentsBack to ICE

• Does the quote strongly support your point or argument?

• Is it something that can't be paraphrased or summarized effectively in your own words?

Reason Is Important

Quotes work when you can’t say it any better and the author’s words convey the idea best.

Jane Smith, a clinical psychologist, claims that cats are better than other pets because "cats are an alien race come to earth, and have much to teach us about our place in the universe" (111).

•In that example, an exact quote works well because the information is specific and new.

Reason Is Important

A word about paraphrasing

•Use it when your own words will be sufficient.

•A paraphrase is changing all the words or rearranging the order of the words to say the same thing, but in your voice. It is about the same length.

•If there are 4 or more words in a row from the original then you MUST use quotation marks. You are not paraphrasing. You are PLAGARIZING.

•You must still cite the page number when you paraphrase.

To avoid confusing your readers, punctuate quotations correctly, and work them smoothly into your writing.

Punctuation shows your readers:•which words are yours•which words you have quoted

Punctuation Is Important

Punctuating Brief Quotations

Quoting a Sentence or Sentences:

Gene begins to reveal his internal war with Finny when he says, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this?” (5).

Notice how my words (Gene begins to reveal his internal war with Finny when he says) lead into the quote I have chosen to use.

Punctuating Brief Quotations

Quoting a Fragment:

Jack is not able to kill the piglet during their first attempt at hunting for food “because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into the living flesh; because of the unbearable blood” (31).

Again, notice how my words lead into the quote.

Quoting A Quotation

Ron said, “Dad yelled, ‘No way!’”

Golding writes, “Jack seized the conch. ‘Ralph’s right of course. There isn’t a snake-thing. But if there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it.’” (36).

Just like Leper in A Separate Peace, my brother Shaun said, “‘You always were a savage underneath.’”

Quotations with Omissions

According to Gene, the faculty at Devon treated the boys differently during the summer session because “we reminded them of what peace was like… of lives which were not bound up with destruction” (10).

(Using ellipses)

Use ellipses when words are omitted from the quotation.

Quotations with Brief Insertions

It is evident that Finny believes in the war before his fall from the tree because he tells Gene, “I’m wearing this [his pink shirt] as an emblem. We haven’t got a flag, we can’t float Old Glory proudly out the window. So I’m going to wear this, as an emblem” (11).

(Using brackets)

Use brackets when you are inserting your own words into a quote in order to make the meaning of the quote more clear.

Quoting Poetry: A Single Line

Caesar is obviously crushed by Brutus’ disloyalty when he states: “Et tu, Brutè? Then fall Caesar” (III.i.78).

Set off the quoted verse from your written prose by using a colon.

For a single line of poetry, use quotation marks.

Include the line number of the verse followed by a period. If from a play, include the Act, scene, and line number.

Quoting Poetry: Two or Three Lines

We know the conspirators feel that they have acted in the best interest of Rome when Cinna cries, “Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! / Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets” (III.i.78-79).

Separate the lines of the quoted verse with a slash / and a space on each side.

Include the line numbers of the verses followed by a period. If from a play, include Act, scene, and line number.

Use quotation marks.

Quoting Poetry: More Than Three Lines

Antony uses the rhetorical devices of repetition and irony in his speech to the plebeians:

Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me;But Brutus says he was ambitious,And Brutus is an honorable man.He hath brought many captives home to

Rome,Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? (86-92)

Include the line numbers of the verses preceded by a period.

Block indent 10 spaces (tab twice) and do not use quotation marks or slashes.

How To Integrate Quotations

When you are using brief quotations, you must integrate them--

work them smoothly into your sentences

show their relevance to your ideas.

and

How To Integrate Quotations

Use TIE to smoothly integrate quotes into text:

“T” tag

“I”    introduce

“E”   embed

How To Integrate Quotations

“T” tag

•"You brute.  You brute," Holden mutters as he leaves the compound where he and Ameera have spent many happy hours.

  •"Secretly, of course--I was all for the Burmese," Orwell confides.

How To Integrate Quotations

“I”    introduce

•As Holden leaves the compound where he and Ameera have spent many happy hours, he mutters , "You brute.  You brute."

  •Orwell confided he "was all for the Burmese." 

How To Integrate Quotations

“E”   embed

•Holden mutters, "You brute.  You brute," as he leaves the compound where he and Ameera have spent many happy hours. •Orwell was "all for the Burmese" and hated working as an agent of the British Empire in Burma.

Not Integrated: Avoid this!

Brinker becomes disillusioned with the war, and Ralph becomes disillusioned with the glory of being chief. “He found himself understanding the wearisomness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one’s walking life was spent watching one’s feet” (76).

Integrated: Do this!

In the same way that Brinker becomes disillusioned with the war, Ralph begins to feel a sense of disillusionment toward the glory of being chief. Golding’s narrator begins to allude to Ralph’s waning enjoyment of being the leader on the island when he states, “He found himself understanding the wearisomness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one’s walking life was spent watching one’s feet” (76).

IntegratedIntroduce quotations using varied wording.

•According to Jane Doe, "..."

•As Jane Doe goes on to explain, "..."

•Characterized by John Doe, the society is "..."

•As one critic points out, "..."

•John Doe believes that "..."

•Jane Doe claims that "..."

•In the words of John Doe, "..." Possible verbs for use in the introduction of quotations:

acknowledges, adds, admits, affirms, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, demonstrates, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, states, suggests, thinks, underlines, writes

Methods For Inserting Brief Quotations

For several reasons, “all of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against an enemy they thought they saw across the frontier…” (123).

Final Position

Beginning Position

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (202), declares Golding’s narrator at the end of his novel.

Methods For Inserting Brief Quotations

In the same way William Golding’s novel has been considered a “body of work that speaks to the tragedy of the human condition,” John Knowles’ A Separate Peace can be considered a work of literature that shines a light into the dark recesses of the human heart.

Middle Position

Interrupted

“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,” proclaims King Lear, “– They kill us for their sport" (King Lear IV.i.40-44). This proclamation by an old king who has just realized that everything he once held dear-- territory and power– has been stripped from him by his own flesh and blood– daughters Regan and Goneril– is said to have inspired the title of William Golding’s Nobel Prize winning novel, Lord of the Flies.

Long Quotations

Long quotations should be set off from the text. Usually "set off" text is preceded by a colon: •George Orwell had a difficult time acting as a police officer in Lower Burma .  As demonstrated in the following excerpt from “Shooting an Elephant,” he was frustrated by his conflicting need to maintain law and order while remaining faithful to the idea that the Burmese had the right to be free:

All this was perplexing and upsetting.  For at that time I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the Better.  Theoretically--and secretly, of course--I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British. (Orwell)

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Example Paragraph: this would be one in a bigger paperTHESIS: In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Chopin uses the death of Louise’s husband and her new found freedom to highlight the complexities of marriage and the need to know oneself.

Upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, Louise puts on the airs of a dutiful wife which at first makes her look like a woman who is truly devastated at the loss of her husband. As Louise “was afflicted with heart trouble,” her sister Josephine and Richards take great care to be gentle in breaking the news of her husband’s death, and Louise responds not “with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” but “with sudden, wild abandonment, [sobbing] in her sister's arms” (1). Right away, Chopin establishes Louise as a loyal wife, naturally devastated by her husband’s death. This public display of emotion, while somewhat vulgar, conforms to society’s and reader’s expectations for grieving widows. We expect Louise to be distraught. However, after she has left Richards and Josephine for the privacy of her bedroom, Louise’s reaction becomes more complex. Chopin takes us further into Louise’s private grief, using the third person limited point of view to show how Louise’s reflections on her husband’s death and its implications might affect her. Chopin writes, Louise was “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul… quite motionless, except for when a sob came up into her throat and shook her” (1). Chopin’s characterization of Louise’s private reaction to the death is more personal, more inwardly emotional. Mr. Mallard’s death has touched something deep in Louise’s soul, and in the privacy of her room and her individual thoughts, Louise’s character and her relationship to her husband become more complex and muddled. Back to Table of Contents

Introductory Paragraphs have three main purposes:

• to capture the reader’s attention, making him/her want to read the essay

• to set the larger context for the essay; begin the paragraph with broad statements and end with specifics. This includes mentioning the author(s) and title(s) by name

• show the plan for the rest of the paper through the thesis sentence. Remember that the thesis has the TOPIC, PLAN OF ORGANIZATION, and SIGNIFICANCE (“so what”)

• Thesis statement is the LAST sentence of your introduction.

When writing an introduction paragraph, follow ANT:

• Attention getter

• Necessary information

• Thesis statement

ATTENTION GETTER – get the reader’s attention.

• With a dramatic incident

• With a contrast

• By telling a story – an anecdote

• By setting the scene

• With a question or problem

• With a description

• With a brief historical background (if applicable)

• With unusual facts and figures

• With a quotation/epigram

• With a definition

• With an idea to be refuted

•  

• Whichever method you decide to use, make sure the attention-getter is relevant to the topic of your paper and not distraction: Here is an example of a distracting introductory paragraph from a newspaper article

NECESSARY INFORMATION WHEN WRITING ABOUT

LITERATURE: • Author’s full name – (use author’s full name the first time

only. After that, use only the author’s last name).

• Title of story – in quotation marks if a short story or poem title; italicized if a novel, play, or epic poem.

• Brief plot summary – in two to five sentences briefly highlight the major action of the story that is relevant to your paper.

THESIS:

• Your thesis should consist of a statement (never a question) that identifies the topic, plan of organization, and significance for the essay (the so what?).

Conclusions

• Don’t:– Simply restate thesis

– Bring in new arguments

– End with what the technique is doing

– Summarize the story or your paper or the prompt

– Get long-winded or repetitive. Keep it to a paragraph

• Do:– Say something thought provoking. So what!?

– Tie it to real world applications

– Leave the reader with something to think about

– Make your voice strong here

– End strongly!

Example Back to Table Contents