Get a Jump Start

Here are some links that will help you to practice for the class. Do not feel like you have to even look at any of these during the summer. I am putting them here just in case.

American Rhetoric: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

Grammar Practice: http://chompchomp.com/

AP Practice Tests: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/prep_free.html#eng

Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Rhetoric: http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html

Fallacies: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/

A Good Example Outline for PowerPoint

Hello,

I cannot upload an example PowerPoint here, so I am putting the outline of it here. This was a PowerPoint some of my students did last year. It is good because it is not a SUMMARY. Please do not give me a summary in your paper or PowerPoint. I want to see how you can think.

Slide 1
The Professor and Madman : The Making of the Oxford Dictionary
BY SIMON WINCHESTER

Slide 2


History of Oxford Dictionary

—originally was a Philological Society project conceived in London by Richard Trench, Herbert Coleridge, and Frederick Furnivall, who were dissatisfied with the current English dictionaries
—12 volumes in the first version
—70 years to complete
—First called the New English Dictionary but later changed to Oxford Dictionary

Slide 3

History of Oxford Dictionary

—1st edition completed in 1928
—5 supplements to 1st edition
—2nd edition, half a century later, integrated everything into a 20 volume whole.

Slide 4


James Murray

—Editor of Oxford English dictionary
—Former Schoolmaster and Bank Clerk
—Born February 1837
—Admires Minor
—Member of a philological society

Slide 5

William Chester Minor


—Former Surgeon and Civil War Veteran.
—Sent to asylum for the criminally insane
—Insanity started during war
—Discharged from army
—Murdered George Merrett
—Tried for murder and found innocent due to insanity
—Enjoyed traveling

Slide 6

Rhetoric


—Definitions: used to emphasize meanings of central themes of plot
—Flash Back: to give audience insight into past and factors influencing current events
—Allusions (Shakespeare, Voltair etc)
—Rhetorical Questions

slide 7

Themes

—Murder
—Insanity
—Life and Death
—Love of Words
—Psychology

Slide 8
TONE AND SETTING


—Tone:
—Critical, Descriptive
—Use of Dialogue to emphasize important events
—Setting:
—London
—Macabre undertones (death, insanity, murder)

Slide 9

STRUCTURE


—3rd person narrative
—Chapters open with dictionary definition
—“Part psychological study, part biography”


Be Creative! This is only an example. Explain the book through its elements, not plot.

What are internal Citations and MLA format?

Internal Citations are ways to support your answer with direct support. Summaries are not support, but trite and not at the AP level. You need to support your thoughts and ideas with the text. To do so you have an introductory phrase the quote or paraphrase the author's last name and then the page number. Below is an example:

The problem with the Cold War was this theory, ""When we react, they react" (Taylor 25).


Or if you already mentioned the author this is another way.

According to Taylor, "When we react, they react" (25).

Using a paraphrase:

The problem with the Cold War was that the Soviet Union was only reacting to the United States threats and vise versa (Taylor 25).



MLA:
This is Modern Language Assocation. This means follow correct grammar rules.

MLA New Rules

MLA Update 2009In Summer 2008, the Modern Language Association released its third edition of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, which publicly unveiled modifications to MLA Style for the upcoming year.These changes go into effect April 2009 with the release of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition). General paper formatting (margins, headings, etc.) and in-text citations will remain the same, but all Works Cited style entries will be different from the 6th edition guidelines.The Purdue OWL will begin listing these changes in all our MLA resources in April 2009. Until then, here are some of the more noteworthy changes to look forward to:• No More Underlining! Underlining is no more. MLA now recommends italicizing titles of independently published works (books, periodicals, films, etc).• No More URLs! While website entries will still include authors, article names, and website names, when available, MLA no longer requires URLs. Writers are, however, encouraged to provide a URL if the citation information does not lead readers to easily find the source.• Continuous Pagination? Who Cares? You no longer have to worry about whether scholarly publications employ continuous pagination or not. For all such entries, both volume and issue numbers are required, regardless of pagination.• Publication Medium. Every entry receives a medium of publication marker. Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers will appear at the end of entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of access.• New Abbreviations. Many web source entries now require a publisher name, a date of publication, and/or page numbers. When no publisher name appears on the website, write N.p. for no publisher given. When sites omit a date of publication, write n.d. for no date. For online journals that appear only online (no print version) or on databases that do not provide pagination, write n. pag. for no pagination.MLA 2009 Sample EntriesBefore the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition) arrives, refer to the following preview. Each entry highlights changes in the new edition.Book Book citations remain largely the same except for the addition of the medium of publication, Print, at the end of the entry.Carré, John le. The Tailor of Panama. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Print.Scholarly Publication (Journal) Regardless of pagination, all scholarly publication citations include both volume and issue numbers. End citations with the medium of publication, Print.Aldrich, Frederick A. and Margueritte L. Marks. “Wyman Reed Green, American Biologist.” Bios 23.1 (1952): 26-35. Print.Online Periodical Online periodicals include both the name of the website in italics and the website publisher. Note that some sites will have different names than their print formats, such as ones that include a domain name like .com or .org. If no publisher is listed, use N.p. to denote no publisher name given. Follow with date of publication, Web as medium of publication, and date of access.Lubell, Sam. “Of the Sea and Air and Sky.” New York Times. New York Times, 26 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2008.Cohen, Elizabeth. “Five Ways to Avoid Germs While Traveling.” CNN.com. CNN, 27 Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Nov. 2008.Online Database Scholarly Journal Article Cite online journal articles from an online database as you would a print one. Provide the database name in italics. Library information is no longer required. List the medium of publication as Web and end with the date of access.Berger, James D. and Helmut J. Schmidt. “Regulation of Macronuclear DNA Content in Paramecium tetraurelia.” The Journal of Cell Biology 76.1 (1978): 116-126. JSTOR. Web. 20 Nov. 2008.Online-only Publication For articles that appear in an online-only format or in databases that do not provide a page number, use the abbreviation n. pag. for no pagination. End the citation with the medium of publication, Web, and the date of access.Kessl, Fabian and Nadia Kutsche. “Rationalities, Practices, and Resistance in Post-Welfarism. A Comment on Kevin Stenson.” Social Work & Society 6.1 (2008): n. pag. Web. 10 Oct. 2008.

Non-Fiction Book Suggestions

You don't have to pick from this list, but here are a few ideas of some good non-fiction books.

Conservationist Manifesto- Scott Russell Sanders
Nonzero- Robert Wright
Moral Animal- Robert Wright
Audacity of Hope: Barack Obama
Bananas: Peter Chapman
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Jean Dominque Bauby
The Professor and the Madman: Simon Winchester
Rogue Economics: Napoleoni
The Communist Manifesto: Karl Marx
Achilles in Vietnam: Sway
Farwell to Manzanar: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Cod: Mark Kurlansky
Three Cups of Tea: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
The Social Contract: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Travels with Charley: John Steinbeck
The Snow Leopard: Peter Matthiessen
How to Read Literature like a Professor: Thomas C. Foster
Angela’s Ashes: Frank McCourt
The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students: Suzanne Jurmain
The Informant: A True Story: Kurt Eichenwald
The Shopkeeper: James D. Best
In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War: David Reynolds
The Year of Yes: Maria Dahvana Headley
Black Elk Speaks: Black Elk
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou
Cotton: Christopher Wilson
Salt: A World History: Mark Kurlansky
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II : Douglas A. Blackmon
The Post-American World: Fareed Zakaria
The Universe in a Nutshell - Stephen William Hawking
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance - Barack Obama
Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women - T. Sharpley-Whiting
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare - Stephen Greenblatt Ph.D.;
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela - Nelson Mandela
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Martin Luther King Jr.; The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945: Saul Friedlander
Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth - Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley - Malcolm X
I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala - Rigoberta Menchu
Outliers: The Story of Success - Malcolm Gladwell
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism - Muhammad Yunus
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. - Luis J. Rodriguez
The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea - JaHyun Kim Haboush
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11: Lawrence Wright Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya: Caroline Elkins Ghost Wars: The Secret History of The CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet by Steve Coll Gulag: A History: Anne Applebaum A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide: Samantha Power Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution: Diane McWhorter Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan: Herbert P. Bix Embracing Defeat: John W. Dower Annals of the Former World: John McPhee Guns, Germs, and Steel: Jared Diamond Ashes to Ashes : Richard Kluger The Haunted Land: Tina Rosenberg The Beak of the Finch: Jonathan Weiner Lenin's Tomb: David Remnick Lincoln at Gettysburg: Garry Wills The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power: Daniel Yergin The Ants: Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson And Their Children After Them: Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam: Neil Sheehan The Making of the Atomic Bomb: Richard Rhodes Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land: David K. Shipler Common Ground: J. Anthony Lukas
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House: Jon Meacham Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father: John Matteson The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher: Debby Applegate American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin De Kooning: An American Master: Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan Khrushchev: The Man and His Era: William Taubman Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Robert A. Caro John Adams: David McCullough W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963: David Levering Lewis Véra: Stacy Schiff Lindbergh: A. Scott Berg Personal History: Katharine Graham God: A Biography: Jack Miles Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life: Joan D. Hedrick W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919: David Levering Lewis Truman: David McCullough Fortunate Son: Lewis B. Puller Jr. Jackson Pollock: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith Machiavelli in Hell: Sebastian de Grazia Oscar Wilde: Richard Ellmann Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe: David Herbert Donald Bearing the Cross: David J. Garrow Louise Bogan: A Portrait: Elizabeth Frank
The Hemingses of Monticello: Annette Gordon-Reed What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848: Daniel Walker Howe The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation: Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff Polio: An American Story: David M. Oshinsky Washington's Crossing: David Hackett Fischer A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration: Steven Hahn An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943: Rick Atkinson The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America: Louis Menand Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation: Joseph J. Ellis Freedom from Fear: David M. Kennedy Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898: Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace Summer for the Gods: Edward J. Larson Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution: Jack N. Rakove William Cooper's Town: Alan Taylor No Ordinary Time: Doris Kearns Goodwin The Radicalism of the American Revolution: Gordon S. Wood The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties: Mark E. Neely Jr. A Midwife's Tale: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines: Stanley Karnow Battle Cry of Freedom: James M. McPherson And Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63: Taylor Branch The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846-1976: Robert V. Bruce Voyagers to the West: Bernard Bailyn The Heavens and the Earth: Walter A. McDougall
The Forever War: Dexter Filkins This Republic of Suffering: Drew Gilpin Faust The Dark Side: Jane Mayer White Protestant Nation: Allan J. Lichtman From Colony to Superpower: George C. Herring
Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Paula Giddings The Bin Ladens: Steve Coll The World Is What It Is by Patrick French--Winner!The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed White Heat by Brenda Wineapple
Why I Came Wes: Rick Bass The House on Sugar Beach: Helene Cooper The Bishop's Daughter: Honor Moore The Eaves of Heaven: Andrew X. Pham My Father's Paradise: Ariel Sabar

Just Some Fun with Gatsby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3Dp6Oh3Fw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Q2sBrFEME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hezrbqv22Ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOcbIbpFVHk

1. What is the American Dream? (Everyone must answer)

What is the American Dream? How does Fitzgerald show the struggle for the American Dream? Who in the book wants it? Who in the book has it?

2. The Great GAPsby Society

Agree or disagree with this cartoon and explain why the artist is making an allusion to The Great Gatsby? What does this say about the importance of the book?

3. Social Rules

What are the social lines that are drawn in the beginning of the book? Explain how this social structure is set up and how the characters fall into each division.

4. Nick Carraway's Sense of Morality

Consider how Nick Carraway's sense of morality changes toward three characters, and explain how this makes him the true hero of The Great Gatsby.

5. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan

Contrast Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. What does each character represent? Who is more noble? More idealistic?

6. POV

From what point of view is The Great Gatsby written, and what effect does that have on the story?

7. Nick's Feelings

What is the progression of Nick’s feelings toward the Buchanans and people like them. What does Nick learn from his summer at West Egg?

8. Social and Moral Behavior

Evaluate the accepted social and moral behavior exhibited by the wealthy people in the novel. What was Fitzgerald criticizing?

9. Symbols

What are the main symbols in the book? What does each one stand for? (Each person should name a different one.)

10. Poetry

Read either Keat’s “Ode to a Grecian Urn” or T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland.” Many critics feel that Fitzgerald was influenced by both of these great poets. Explain whether you agree or disagree with the critics.

11. Tragic Hero

What is a tragic hero? Is Gatsby a tragic hero?

12. Females

Compare the major female characters in the novel: Jordan, Daisy, and Myrtle. How does each act toward men? What seem to be their motivations and goals?

13. Believable?

Is the story of The Great Gatsby believable? Explain why or why not.

14. Climax

Where is the climax of the story? Explain your choice.

15. Archetypes

What are the archetypes in the novel? How do they play the roles?

16. Stereotypes

Are the characters in The Great Gatsby stereotypes? If so, explain the usefulness of employing stereotypes in the novel. If they are not, explain how they merit individuality.

17. The Relationship

Describe Gatsby's relationship with Daisy.

18. Gatsby's Actions

Are Gatsby's actions believably motivated? Explain why or why not.

19. Style

Evaluate F. Scott Fitzgerald's style of writing. How does it contribute to the value of the novel?

20. Gatsby and Tom

Compare and contrast Gatsby and Tom.

21. Compare and Contrast

Compare and contrast Daisy and Myrtle.

22. The Real Daisy

In today’s society who would Daisy compare to? Support your answer.

23. Minor Characters

Explain how F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the minor characters--Owl Eyes, Mr. Wolfshiem, Pammy, Michaelis, and George Wilson in the novel. What does each character add to the story?

24. Title

Explain how the title, The Great Gatsby, is appropriate.

25. Nick's Role

What is Nick's role in Gatsby? What does he add to the story, and how would the story have been different without him?

26. Who was responsible for Gatsby's death.

Who was responsible for Gatsby's death? Explain your choice.

27. Gatsby's Death

Why did Fitzgerald "kill off" Gatsby? What did this plot choice add to the story?

28. Myrtle's Death

What was the importance of Myrtle's death? How would the story have changed if Myrtle had not been killed?

29. How was Nick different

How was Nick different from Daisy, Tom and Jordan?

30. Was Gatsby different

Was Gatsby different from Daisy, Tom and Jordan? Explain your answer.

31. Tom and Daisy

Why do Daisy and Tom stay together?

32. Classic

Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925, and here we are readingit so many years later. Why? What makes this book a "classic"?

33. Rotten Crowd

Explain the following ,"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunchput together." (Nick to Gatsby)

34. Money

Explain the following,"Her voice is full of money." (Gatsby to Nick about Daisy)

35. The Green Light

Explain the importance of the following quotation,"Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of the [green] light had nowvanished forever." (Nick about Gatsby after he had met with Daisy)

36. Gatz

Who is Henry C. Gatz?What is the book Henry Gatz shows Nick? Why is it important to the novel?

37. The Funeral

Why couldn’t Nick get anyone to go to Gatsby’s funeral?

38. The Child

What was Gatsby's reaction to Daisy's child? Why?

39. The Party

What is Daisy's opinion of Gatsby's party? How does this affect him?What does Gatsby want from Daisy?

40. Myrtle

What reason did Myrtle give for marrying George Wilson? What does this say about her social status and the role of women in that social status?