AP Language and Composition Blog

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

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.