1. Connections and Argument
I can connect thematic ideas text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self.
I can breakdown an argument prompt and brainstorm

2. Agenda: Rhetorical Device Bell Ringer Notes on AP Argument Prompt
Practice w/ the connections chart
Read Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth and complete the assessment

3. Bell Ringer
Complete the AP Rhetorical Device Bell Ringer

4. Argumentation
A look at the Argument prompt on the AP exam.

5. The Argument Essay
Frequently, the AP exam will present you with a prompt that could be:
A brief excerpt
A quotation
A statement
An anecdote
Then you will be directed to defend, challenge, or qualify the:
The author’s position
The statement’s main idea
The narrative’s main point
OR it could ask you to:
Write an essay indicating which idea among a given set is more valid
Explore the validity of an assertion
Taken from 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language, Edition

6. What does the AP exam expect you to be able to do with an argumentative essay?
Take a position on the issue or situation
Support your position using your own:
Experience
Reading
Observation
Support should be rational and logical, not emotional. It should be objective rather than biased (one-sided). This support can be developed using any of the rhetorical strategies and devices we’ve learned this year.
Taken from 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language, Edition

7. Argument: The Classic Formula*
Present the issue/situation/problem.
State your assertion/claim/thesis.
Support your claim.
Acknowledge and respond to real or possible opposing views.
Make your final comment or summary of the evidence.
* This order is NOT required and should NEVER be turned into 5-paragraph essay format.
Taken from 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language, Edition

8. Sample Argument Prompt
The British author’ Fanny Burney ( ), was noted for being a novelist, diarists, and playwright. She became Mme d’Arblay upon her marriage to a French exile in Known for her social commentary, she wrote in her novel Camilla (1796), “There is nothing upon the face of the earth so insipid as a medium. Give me love or hate! A friend that will go to jail for me, or an enemy that will run me through the body!”
In a well-thought-out essay, evaluate the validity if Burney’s assertion about extremes. Use appropriate evidence to make your argument convincing.
Taken from CliffNotes AP English Language and Composition 4th Edition, Copyright 2012.
What is the prompt asking you to write about?
How do you choose your position?
Where will you get your support from?

9. Let’s walk through it together!
How can the introductory material help guide your ideas?
Fanny Burney was known for social commentary. Although the quotation is more than 200 years old, it is still relevant today.
What is an issue in the prompt?
The author dislikes things that are middle of the road, calling them “insipid.” She prefers people who show extremes such as love and hate. It is likely that she is referring to people being honest and passionate and is claiming that those people are more authentic, and that is a more desirable than someone who is constantly in the middle on everything.
What is your stand on this issue?
I disagree; people who are at the extremes are not as desirable as people in the middle.
Taken from CliffNotes AP English Language and Composition 4th Edition, Copyright 2012.

10. Support
You’ve probably noticed that the most difficult part of the argument prompt is coming up with support from your argument out of thin air while you are under considerable time pressure…
(I mean don’t stress or anything!)
So, how can we prepare ourselves for this difficult task?
We have to make connections!

11. Connections Chart
For each prompt, you can bring in your own knowledge of:
Literature
Popular Culture
History
Current Events
Personal Experience
Sports
Science/Technology
Politics
To begin practicing this valuable exercise, we will be completing a connections chart for arguments prompts.

12. Let’s walk through it together!
What concrete examples can you use? (brainstorm “your observations, readings, and/or experiences”)
History: people with extreme political beliefs have been dangerous in the past (Hitler, Stalin, Kin Jong-Il) because they don’t compromise.
Pop Culture: Celebrities with extreme personalities could be bad role models for young people.
Science: Studies show that humans find people whose faces have been “averaged” more attractive.
Personal experience: At work, one of my coworkers decided he hated me, and it made the workplace toxic. We both became less productive. That never happens with people who are cordial acquaintances.
Current events: In this election, people consider the two candidates extremes, and it is causing turmoil.
How is it best to organize?
Look for patterns of ideas in your brainstorming!
Taken from CliffNotes AP English Language and Composition 4th Edition, Copyright 2012.

13. How is it best to organize?
What concrete examples can you use? (brainstorm “your observations, readings, and/or experiences”)
History: people with extreme political beliefs have been dangerous in the past (Hitler, Stalin, Kin Jong-Il) because they don’t compromise.
Pop Culture: Celebrities with extreme personalities could be bad role models for young people.
Science: Studies show that humans find people whose faces have been “averaged” more attractive.
Personal experience: At work, one of my coworkers decided he hated me, and it made the workplace toxic. We both became less productive. That never happens with people who are cordial acquaintances.
Current events: In this election, people consider the two candidates extremes, and it is causing turmoil.
How is it best to organize?
It is better to organize by IDEA/REASON than it is to organize by CATEGORY OF SUPPORT.
Extremes can be dangerous
Human psychology doesn’t seem to support extremes
Extremes can lead to decreased productivity in society
Taken from CliffNotes AP English Language and Composition 4th Edition, Copyright 2012.

14. Writing Your Thesis for Argument
It is better to organize by IDEA/REASON than it is to organize by CATEGORY OF SUPPORT. NO: People who are at the extremes are not as desirable as people in the middle, and we can see this through history, pop culture, and science. Yes: Extreme people are not as desirable as “mediums” because extreme people can be dangerous, they can cause a decrease of productivity in society, and humans aren’t psychologically programed to value extremes.
Taken from CliffNotes AP English Language and Composition 4th Edition, Copyright 2012.

15. Application
Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth

16. Rhetorical Analysis Practice:
Discuss Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth.
On the organizer:
Determine Carnegie’s main argument
Then, identify the strategies he uses
Finally, explain how each strategy advances his argument.

17. Assessment State YOUR position about his subject.
Use your connections chart to brainstorm supporting details and explain how it would support your position.
Write a thesis statement for the argument essay you would write.