AP Language Summer Reading (Eleventh Grade) Ms. Braham

Braham

11th grade AP

Pg. 1

Over summer you will read two pieces of literature in order to “jump-start” the semester of AP Language. The purpose of this course is to help students “write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives.”

Students will be required to read: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Throughout both pieces of literature students will identify the following literary elements of theme, diction, syntax, tone, symbolism, and rhetorical devices (such as anaphora, parallel structure, allusion, rhetorical question, hyperbole and euphemism.)

Your entries need to be in the correct two column format. Write the quote on the left side of the paper with proper citation (use MLA) and the literary element on the right, along with analysis and explanation. The analysis/explanation should be 5-7 sentences in length. Be sure to identify which element the quote illustrates. The analysis includes the “why(the author would use this element) and “how” this element affects the author’s purpose. Your analysis needs to include whether or not the author is effective convincing his audience of his purpose. Think of it as… what is the purpose of the author’s use of this element? How does the element help the author convince his audience of his over-arching idea? To make sure you are doing this correctly, you should only have two sentences of concrete detail the other five should be commentary.

As always, your quote choices must be spread throughout the book. Find a representative quote for each of the elements. You will complete six dialecticals for each piece of literature. One dialectical for each main element.

*** Both pieces of literature are widely available either online bookstores or through the public library. I wouldn’t suggest reading utilizing a technological device such as Kindle etc. because it will be difficult to find your annotations when you go to do your dialecticals.

Please remember both texts and all dialecticals are due the first day of class. If you have any questions, please email me at . Please state who you are on the regarding line(re:).