Summer Assignments
AP English 11
Summer Reading 2012-2013
Your Summer Reading:
We live in a world of facts.
For example, with only minor efforts, we can learn many things about the weather, approaching storms, appropriate weather-related technical terms, and other things which allow, seemingly, young children to talk with knowledge heretofore available only to students in college classes in meteorology.
Facts can be fascinating bits of knowledge (like all those things you know from reading the Harry Potter stories); facts can help understanding why you have allergies or why your knee hurts. Facts can inform (like all the reasons why you can’t go to college in Hawaii or why you cannot have a new car).
But facts can weigh down the readability of material assigned for class.
Rhetoric means “the study of effective, persuasive language use.” Aristotle used the word rhetoric to describe the “available means of persuasion.” We will use the word rhetoric many times in AP English 11, and rhetoric is the key term in the College Board’s definition of what AP English 11 is about.
Your summer reading assignment will be an opportunity for you to understand how the use of facts can help or hinder the readability of material. Too many facts can, indeed, ruin the effectiveness of the rhetorical nature of print material.
You will need to read a portion of your summer reading book (Bill Moyers’ book Moyers on Democracy. ISBN: 978-0-307-38773-8). We will use most of the remainder of this book for classroom enrichment throughout the school year.
You will also need access (print or on-line) to a reputable news magazine from which you can find an article in which there is an abundance of facts.
THE ASSIGNMENT
Compare how the use of facts can aid the effectiveness of the presentation of an author’s thoughts.
*Read Moyers on Democracy:
Chapter 6: In this material, from a speech made at West Point, Moyers uses factual examples to develop his topic. He uses facts gathered from his TV documentaries, from his readings, and from his knowledge of history,
Chapter 8: In this material, from a speech made to college registrars, Moyers uses many numbers—the ultimate example of factual information.
*Read an article from a reputable news magazine in which facts are used in abundance to convey the author’s purpose.
Print-out or copy this article, and attach it to your final paper.
Develop your list of 3 to 5 purposes which are shared in common(in the above 3 works) to make the use of facts effective in conveying the authors’ purposes in writing. For example, you might find that facts serve the purposes of providing a foundation for the reader’s understanding, documenting the process by which something happened, or some other reasons which YOU believe are shared in the resources you have read.
This assignment should be 5 pages long (no longer than 7 pages), should be in correct academic form (double-spaced, Times Roman type, 1-inch margins on all sides, etc.) You should document direct quotations and paraphrases used in your paper. Plagiarism will result in a grade of zero. Documentation should be MLA in-text format used on your research paper.
Come to one of the “study sessions” during the Summer. Specific dates and times will be given when the calendar for the Summer is approved.
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Summer Assignments Documents |
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