<p>I'm getting constant 6's and sometimes 4's on my essays in-class. I need help just overall on the essays.
How do I go about answering the specific questions?
Just any resources on writing AP English Language essays would help. Or any advice.
I seem to struggle with being too complex and not specifically answering the question.
Thank you.</p>
<p>The best advice that I can give is to be as concise and clear as possible. Make sure that your thesis relates back directly to the question and only include information that supports your thesis.</p>
<p>Depends on which essay-type you need help with. Are you having trouble with all of them, or just one or two?</p>
<p>Annotate!!!</p>
<p>I’m having a little trouble with all of them. More or less the rhetoric one. I tend to always say the same thing like “alsdkfjlakjdf” shows an example of alliteration and this helps the reading rhythm. or something stupid like that.</p>
<p>For the rhetorical strategies prompt:</p>
<p>(1) Annotate. Look for the different strategies as you read, and mark them and their examples for later. Try to find three good strategies that the author uses that really add to the appeal of the paper; major ones include satire, parallel structure, and diction/tone. Smaller strategies like alliteration may help, but they are not the most significant strategies.</p>
<p>(2) When analyzing the strategies themselves, analyze them in context. Each strategy is generally used for the same purpose; go further than that. Explain what the author is specifically trying to accomplish with the use of the strategy (ex. don’t say “the parallel structure allows the author to emphasize his statement,” but rather what his/her statement is and how exactly the structure achieves that emphasis).</p>
<p>(3) Relate each strategy back to the prompt, but also to the author’s purpose. Consider his/her audience, and why (s)he might have chosen that strategy to appeal to the audience/work towards that purpose.</p>
<p>what are the different essay types? Synthesis, rhetoric?</p>
<p>The essays are synthesis, rhetoric, and argument.</p>
<p>For synthesis essays, make sure you treat them like argument essays. In other words, the sources should NOT be the basis of your argument. It may be a good idea to have some kind of take on the prompt before reading the sources. Come up with 2-3 concrete examples of your own to support your take on the prompt, and then use the sources to further support either your own whole argument or one of your specific examples.</p>
<p>For argument essays, make sure you write a thesis and then begin each paragraph with an assertion. This assertion must be something that you must prove with details in the rest of your paragraph. Then relate how what you just proved (your assertion) further proves your thesis.</p>
<p>For rhetoric essays, do not say wether or not you agree with the author. It is not an argument essay. You are simply analyzing how the author writes emphasizes his or her purpose. The biggest thing you need to do is identify the author’s claim/thesis/argument in the introduction. Then use body paragraphs to identify specific examples to show how this or that rhetorical device helped the author’s argument.</p>
<p>And for argument/synthesis essays, a refutation paragraph can sometimes boost your score from a 6-7 to an 8 because it makes your essay seem more sophisticated.</p>