Mr. Davis' Class Website

I hope everyone has a relaxing and productive summer. In preparation for next year, please complete the attached assignment by the first day of school.

English 11 Honors Summer Homework-2013

I hope everyone has a relaxing and productive summer. In preparation for next year, please complete the attached assignment by the first day of school.

AP Summer Reading Assignment-2013

Introduction: Establish a Commonplace: Craft a descriptive and engaging opening about a specific type of trash that your audience will instantly recognize and relate to.

Thesis: The goal of your outline is to inform your audience about the disposal stream of a specific type of garbage and ways your audience can reduce its environmental impact.

Narration: Using objective description, provide background on how your chosen product moves from curbside to its final destination at a landfill or a plant to be recycled into a new product.

Confirmation: Deliver the proof, statistics, graphs that will make a logical case for why your audience needs to reduce the waste created by this household item.

Refutation: Anticipate your audience’s objections to changing their behavior by acknowledging why the product still needs to be consumed, and still will produce some waste.

The Conclusion: Revisit the description in your introduction and craft a subjective description on how a slight change in behavior could make a positive impact in the future in terms of our environment, economy, and health. Emphasize how acting locally by reducing household garbage is a win-win for families as well as big business.

From President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first Inaugural Address:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Prompt: Describe a time when fear prevented you from taking the necessary steps towards personal success and explain the lesson you learned from the experience.

Writing Rubric

95: The paper is on topic with an interesting introduction that ends with a thesis that states the main idea and indicates the organization of the essay. The body paragraphs integrate at least three quotes or specific details and follow up each with reflective statements that connect the evidence to the thesis. The conclusion restates the essay’s purpose that gets the audience thinking more deeply about the topic.

90: The paper has an effective thesis and well developed body paragraphs, but either the introduction or the conclusion is flawed in some way.

85: At a minimum, the paper has a strong introduction and thesis. The body paragraphs may be slightly flawed because they fail to use at least two quotes or specific details to support their position. The conclusion effectively restates the essay’s purpose, but may not inspire further questioning on the part of the audience.

80: The paper has a strong introduction and thesis, adequate restatement in the conclusion, but provides no direct references to textual evidence in the body of the essay. The commentary on the essay’s purpose may not consistently connect details to the thesis.

75: The paper creates limited interest in the topic and the thesis may be somewhat unclear or fail to indicate organization for the essay. The body paragraphs are supported by only one specific detail or quote and the essay requires more development to connect support to the thesis. The conclusion also too simply states the purpose of the essay.

70: In addition to creating a simplistic introduction and conclusion, the writer doesn’t clearly define a purpose and fails to document textual evidence to support the thesis. The development of each body paragraph is based on summary statements and reflection only.

65: The paper may create interest in the introduction and clearly state a purpose with the thesis, but the body of the essay seems disorganized and demonstrates limited development of ideas. Some support may even be off topic to further confuse the reader.

50: The paper simply restates the prompt and does not provide any serious or meaningful discussion of the topic.

Synthesis:The process of reading multiple perspectives on a subject to develop an informed opinion.

Bias: A one-sided perspective

Goal of a Synthesis Essay: To use sources to support and illustrate your own ideas and to establish your credibility as a reasonable and informed writer.

Some Things to Consider:
-You will be given at least 6 sources in a variety of formats; Read all of them.
-For visuals and graphs, it is still recommended that you use S.O.A.P.S. to take notes.
-Your objective is to write a balanced, persuasive response to the synthesis question.
-Make sure you cite at least 3 of the sources and have information on both sides of the argument.
-Employ the elements of persuasion to convince your audience of your point of view.
-Consider the effective elements of writing Introductions, Thesis Statements, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions as you draft your response.
-AP Graders will also look carefully at your use of syntax and diction.

Introduction
-What strategy was used to write the introduction?
-Does it introduce the topic and capture your interest?

Body Paragraphs
-Does each body paragraph only focus on one idea?
-Does the writer use transitions and repetition to aid coherence?
-Is each paragraph developed with specific details and description that directly supports the thesis?

Conclusion
-What strategy is used for the conclusion?
-How does the conclusion go beyond a simple summary and bring the essay to a meaningful and thoughtful conclusion?

Documentation
-Is all relevant information from outside sources documented with in-text citations?
-Is there a properly formatted Works Cited page for all sources at the end of the essay?

I typed up a few common entries to help you document your essays.

Common Entries for a Works Cited List

-Begin the works cited list on a new page after the last page of your paper
-Number the works cited page as the next page of the paper
-Center the heading Works Cited one inch from the top of the page
-Do not underline the heading or put it in quotation marks.
-Double Space the list
-List entries alphabetically according to the author’s last name
-Alphabetize unsigned articles according to the first major word of the title.
-Begin each entry flush with the left hand margin.
-Indent second and subsequent lines one half inch or five spaces.
-Separate each division of the entry (author, title, and publication information) by a period and one space.

Introduction: introduces the reader to the subject and often the writer will establish ethos in the introduction.

The Narration: Provides background information and facts on the subject at hand. Generally, writers focus on logos, but may also address pathos in this paragraph as well.

The Confirmation: Generally the largest section of the essay where the writer develops the proof and logical reasoning to make their case.

The Refutation: This section addresses the counterargument.

The Conclusion: The writer appeals to pathos and also reminds the reader of the ethos established in the introduction. “Rather than simply repeating what has gone before, the conclusion brings all the writer’s ideas together and answers the question, so what? Writers should remember the classical rhetorician’s advice that the last words and ideas of a text are those the audience is most likely to remember” (The Language of Composition, 112).