THE AP ESSAY ADVICE FROM AP SCORERhttp://apcentral.collegeboard.co m/apc/members/courses/teachers_corne r/17306.html SCORERhttp://apcentral.collegeboard.co m/apc/members/courses/teachers_corne r/17306.html

AP Scorer Ms. Connie Shelnut, Lakeland, Florida, advises the following:

1. “DO NOT BEGIN WRITING UNTIL YOU HAVE FULLY COMPREHENDED THE PROMPT.”

2. “WRITE DIRECTLY ON THE PASSAGE AND MAKE QUICK NOTES AND OUTLINES IN THE MARGINS.”

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TP-CASTT – Check it out! s/30738_analysis.pdf s/30738_analysis.pdf zBJk zBJk sonnets/ sonnets/

3. “LACK OF ORGANIZATION IS HARD TO DISGUISE.”

4. “ACTIVE PLANNING COULD TAKE 5 MINUTES OR SO, BUT IT IS WORTH THE TIME.”

5. “AP READERS ARE INSTRUCTED TO READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY TO AVOID BEING PREJUDICED BY WEAK INTRODUCTIONS.”

6. A STRONG INTRODUCTION CAN BE A REAL BOON TO A GRADE, HOWEVER.

Introductions Hear from others out in the trenches: e/view/AP+Literature+and+Composition+ Essay+Writing+Rules.doc e/view/AP+Literature+and+Composition+ Essay+Writing+Rules.doc help/article/developing-opening- paragraph/ help/article/developing-opening- paragraph/

7. Things To Avoid in Introductions: MISPLACED PRAISE (Shakespeare is the world’s greatest writer.) “GENERALITIES THAT HAVE LITTLE BEARING ON PIECE (E.G., ALL PEOPLE AT SOME TIME HAVE BEEN EMBARRASSED BY THEIR PARENTS…)”

8. “AVOID ONE SENTENCE, PERFUNCTORY INTRODUCTIONS, ESPECIALLY ONES THAT REPEAT THE PROMPT.” “SUGGESTS LACK OF EFFORT.” Disregard!

9. “ANSWER THE PROMPT IN THE INTRODUCTION.” SHOWS UNDERSTANDING OF QUESTION. IMPRESSES READER.

10. BE SURE TO USE PARAGRAPHING. INDENT! “PAPERS WITHOUT PARAGRAPHS CONFUSE READER.”

11. WITHOUT PARAGRAPHS, BAD SIGN FOR READER.

12. USE TOPIC SENTENCES. REMEMBER THE FUNCTION OF TOPIC SENTENCES: ONE EYE ON THE THESIS ONE EYE ON THE PARAGRAPH, MOVING THE PAPER FORWARD TO CONCLUSION

Topic Sentences topic sentence- a sentence whose main idea or claim controls the rest of the paragraph the body of a paragraph explains, develops or supports with evidence the topic sentence's main idea or claim. The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of a paragraph, but not necessarily. It may come, for example, after a transition sentence; it may even come at the end of a paragraph.” r/paragraphs.htm

TOPIC SENTENCES Soon after the spraying had ended there were unmistakable signs that all was not well. Within two days dead and dying fish, including many young salmon, were found along the banks of the stream. Brook trout also appeared among the dead fish, and along the roads and in the woods birds were dying. All the life of the stream was stilled. Before the spraying there had been a rich assortment of the water life that forms the food of salmon and trout — caddis fly larvae, living in loosely fitting protective cases of leaves, stems or gravel cemented together with saliva, stonefly nymphs clinging to rocks in the swirling currents, and the wormlike larvae of blackflies edging the stones under riffles or where the stream spills over steeply slanting rocks. But now the stream insects were dead, killed by DDT, and there was nothing for a young salmon to eat. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

12. REFER TO THE TEXT (EXAMPLES) USE SPECIFIC QUOTES TO SUPPORT IDEAS. AVOID LONG QUOTES THAT APPEAR TO BE PADDING YOUR ESSAY

13.FLOATING QUOTES Please read the following handout: quotations.doc quotations.doc

13. AVOID SHORT, CHOPPY SENTENCES. VARY SENTENCE LENGTH AND BEGINNINGS.

14. USE TRANSITION. sitions.html sitions.html

15. BE SURE THAT YOUR VOCABULARY FITS. “SOME STUDENTS SCORE ONLY A 2” BECAUSE OF SUPERFLUOUS OR INAPROPRIATE WORDING.

16. Use active voice! Passive voice is less direct than active voice. Hamlet was written by Shakespeare in Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in 1601.

17. Use literary present tense. AcademicSupportCenter/WritingLab/L6-The- Literary-Present.pdf AcademicSupportCenter/WritingLab/L6-The- Literary-Present.pdf