Deconstructing the AP Prompt (AP stands for “Answer the Prompt!”)

Prompts consist of three parts: Background Explicit directions Implicit directions.

Background I know it’s a book. Subject Subject Speaker In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.

Gives reference to the time. Background: If audience and occasion aren’t described in the prompt at the top, they will be located in the footnote at the bottom right of the essay. In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research. The American Scholar, Spring 1999 Gives reference to the time. Hints at the audience.

Explicit Instructions: The word EXPLICIT means that you are told directly what to do. In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.

Explicit Instructions: The word EXPLICIT means that you are told directly what to do. Notice that the prompt asks you HOW the piece is written, not WHAT the piece is saying. You do not need to summarize the essay. A summary does not Answer the Prompt. In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze HOW Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.

Implicit Instructions: Where the fun starts. IMPLICIT means that the directions are implied. They are not directly stated, however you must still address this unstated expectation. In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.

Purpose revealed in Implicit instructions: At least a portion of Barry’s purpose is mentioned. In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research. Purpose

The prompt is IMPLYING that you will describe what YOU have decided is Barry’s view of scientific research, what is the author’s argument. Most prompts IMPLY that you will state what YOU believe is the author’s ARGUMENT. In this case you must decide for yourself, based on the text, what idea Barry has (and wants the reader to have) of scientific research Then write an essay in which you analyze how uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.

What should you do? Read all prompts carefully. Find the verbs in the prompt. They will tell you what you must do (explicit directions). Find the IMPLICIT directions. What must you figure out and explain on your own? Decide what you think the author’s argument is and then chart a PREWRITE.

Spend time Planning You should try to suggest your answer to both the Implicit and Explicit parts of the prompt in your thesis. Ie., go ahead and say what the author’s argument is. Hint, normally the text suggests a multi-layered argument, meaning your thesis could have words like “but,” “and,” “while,” “however,” etc. The rest of your essay provides EVIDENCE of how the explicit DEVELOPS the implicit.