AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 2015-16

Mr. Norment

Argumentative Essay Assignment (Major Essay 2)

Due: Tuesday, November 3rd, by 3:30

Turn in your prewritings and all other work you’ve done on the essay in a two-pocket folder

Submit your essay to Turnitin.com AND

Email me the draft of your essay. Name your document YourNameArgumentEssay

(BillSnootArgumentEssay) and make sure that it is saved as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file.

Provide the number of the prompt you are answering in your title.

Shoot for at least three and a half full pages and make sure to format according to MLA

guidelines.

Other Considerations

Review “Arguing a Position” (chapter ten) in the Norton Field Guide and review your argument

terms and concepts quiz.

Review the sample argumentative essays we’ve read over the past few weeks:

The comedy routine by George Carlin (handout)

“Politics and the English Language” by Orwell (handout)

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Carr (Norton Field Guide pp.731-45)

“Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization” by Leonard (Norton Field Guide

pp.131-35)

Consider the more “experimental” argumentative texts we’ve read in Ways of Reading:

“Translating the Translation” by Rios (pp.504-508)

“Joyas Voladoras” by Doyle (pp.272-75)

“Voices” by Porchia (pp.475-79)

“Authority and American Usage” by Wallace (pp.622-47)

View the sample intro and body paragraph posted on the course website.

What I’ll Look for in Your Drafts

An evocative intro that makes me want to read your essay. Think about the “power of the

concrete” discussion we’ve been having lately.

A well-written thesis that presents a clear and arguable position.

Body paragraphs that use the Toulmin model of argumentation and that contain appropriate

examples from your experience or reading.

A careful consideration of the rhetorical situation. Develop your ethos (think of the discussion we

had about the Wallace essay and consider how he creates a credible, authentic persona), pathos

(engage your audience on an emotional, human level: see Doyle, Rios, Porchia), and logos

(consider Orwell’s expert use of reasoning, evidence, and logic in making his points).

A presentation and refutation of the counterargument somewhere in the essay.

A structure that reflects one of the three methods we’ve discussed (see the quiz and chapter ten 4

in The Norton Field Guide).

A structure that makes use of useful repetition and transitions (look again at the Orwell essay to

review how he achieves a cohesive, logical structure)

An evocative conclusion that opens the essay outwards (in particular, look at the ending strategies

employed by Carlin, Doyle, Rios, and Orwell. Remember that a “traditional” argumentative essay

ends with an emotional appeal)

(OVER for some points to remember about your language and sentences)

Remember George Orwell’s advice from “Politics and the English Language”:

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

What am I trying to say?

What words will express it?

What image or idiom will make it clearer?

Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more:

Could I put it more shortly?

Have I said anything that is unavoidably ugly?

. . . . .

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday

English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner that say anything outright barbarous.