II. Writing on Demand: the Timed/In-Class Essay/AP Essay

Pre-AP/AP Writing Guidelines

I. Writing with Time: The Formal Take Home Essay

Argument/Synthesis/Open Prompt / Prose/Poetry Analysis
Introduction / Include:
- a lead or attention-grabber
- author and title if appropriate
- carefully worded claim or thesis statement (usually the last sentence)
- preview of major points / Include:
- a lead or attention-grabber
- author and title in all cases
- carefully worded thesis statement (usually the last sentence)
- preview of major points
Material / Each major point should be clearly and logically explained and supported.
Organization / Each paragraph:
- contains a topic sentence and clearly focuses on the claim.
- has several support sentences that add details, examples, facts or arguments that develop the topic sentence.
Longer paragraphs should have a closing sentence that ties the paragraph together. / Each paragraph:
- contains a topic sentence and clearly focuses on the thesis statement.
- has several supporting details from the text itself
Longer paragraphs should have a closing sentence that ties the paragraph together.
Transitions / Each paragraph should have a transition that ties it to the preceding paragraph.
Conclusion / Doesn’t just restate the claim or summarize key points. Preferably brings essay to a close with an enlightened point which makes the argument worth reading all the way through until the end. / Doesn’t just restate the thesis statement or summarize key points. Preferably brings essay to a close with an enlightened point which makes the essay worth reading all the way through until the end.
Tone / Informal: use of pronouns and contractions is appropriate. / Formal: no contractions, no first or second pronouns, no editorializing about writers’ greatness.
Title / Choose an appropriate, creative title.
Drafts / The paper will go through multiple drafts before being turned in. Sometimes each draft is graded for certain criteria. Typically a paper is revised, peer reviewed, edited and then proofread.
Presentation / The paper is neatly typed following the assigned formatting guidelines. The paper is free of spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors.
Formatting
MLA Heading:
Your Name
Teacher’s Name
Class and Period
8 September 2011 / - Typed: Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced
- One inch margins
- Double space entire essay, including heading and works cited if applicable
- Do not justify/align right margin
- Heading in upper right corner of every page: Last name page number
- 1st Draft must be included with revised 2nd draft; every essay after the first one must have 2 rough drafts with revision and editing
- Stapling order: the newest draft always goes on top, with the other drafts in descending order underneath it, ending with the first draft
- MLA format for citations in research papers
- Indent 5 spaces for each paragraph
- Do not put an extra space after each paragraph
Sample Prompt / Write a researched argument responding to an editorial of your choice. Include the annotated article and three sources. / After reading The Things They Carried, discuss some of the language choices O’Brien uses to convey his feelings about the Vietnam War.

II. Writing on Demand: The Timed/In-Class Essay/AP Essay

Argument / Analysis
Introduction / Get to the point immediately! Don’t worry about the lead. Answer the question or the prompt directly. (Instead of saying, “Cell phone use in public school is beneficial…” say, “The benefits of cell phone use in school are…”) / Get to the point immediately! Don’t worry about the lead. Answer the question or the prompt directly. (Instead of saying, “In this poem the speaker clearly shows his attitude toward love…” say, “The speaker shows a very cynical attitude toward love…”)
Material / Use specific facts, details, and/or reasons to support your general claim. / Use specific references from the text to support your general answer. Do not quote long passages. Include the shortest quotations you can to prove your point.
Organization / Ideally, your paper will be organized this way:
First paragraph: Directly answer the question or prompt Tell me
Body paragraphs: Provide specific details to support your position Show me
Final paragraph: Tie ideas together Tie it together!
Although you would like to set up perfectly logical paragraphs and coherent analysis, time restraints may make this impossible. Try to plan your general structure ahead of time, but feel free to stray from the plan if it’s necessary to cover the material.
Transitions / Try to provide logical flow between paragraphs, but do not be afraid to break the flow if you discover important ideas that need to be added. Here you can use conversational transitions to bring in addition material: “Let me back up for a minute to clarify a point made earlier…” or use arrows to indicate a section you wrote later would be inserted in the appropriate place if you had the time.
Tone / Tone tends to be more conversational. You are trying to show that you understand the question or the prompt.
Title / Not needed. Don’t waste your time.
Drafts / One draft is all you have time to do. Make your writing as legible as is reasonable to expect in the limited time allotted. Do not use valuable time trying to recopy the essay. Be sure to use dark blue or black ink. Do not use White-Out as it takes time and breaks the flow of ideas. Neatly cross out errors and keep writing. Readers will tolerate a few spelling or punctuation errors because of the time restraints. However, if errors are too frequent they will hurt the flow of the reader and give the impression that you have poor language skills. Be careful but not obsessive.
Presentation / Adapt parenthetical citations in synthesis writing to specific requirements instead of MLA. No works cited needed.
Sample Prompt / Consider the implications of a day which no goods are purchased. Then write an essay in which you develop a position on the establishment of an Annual Buy Nothing Day. Support your argument with appropriate evidence. / In the following passage, George Orwell uses the example of Ghandi to make an argument for choosing human imperfection over “sainthood.” As you read Orwell’s remarks, note his choice of details and his tone. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Orwell criticizes Gandhi’s position and assess how effectively Orwell develops his own position.

III. Writing on Demand: The Untimed/In-Class Essay/SOL Prompt

Introduction / The introduction includes a lead or attention-grabber, author and title, a carefully worded thesis statement, and a preview of major points.
Material / Each major point should be clearly and logically explained and supported.
Organization / Each paragraph contains a topic sentence and clearly focuses on the thesis statement. Each paragraph has several support sentences that add details, examples, facts or arguments that develop the topic sentence. Longer paragraphs should have a closing sentence that ties the paragraph together.
Transitions / Each paragraph should have a transition that ties it to the preceding paragraph.
Conclusion / A conclusion reviews the thesis, summarizes key points or preferably brings the essay to a close with an enlightened point which makes the essay worth reading all the way through until the end.
Tone / Formal: no contractions, no first or second pronouns.
Title / Optional
Drafts / You will probably have two drafts, the first of which is carefully revised and edited.
Presentation / Should be as neat as possible, probably handwritten using the guidelines given with the prompt. Each testing or assignment may provide unique guidelines, so follow these carefully. The SOL direct writing prompt will be online.
Sample Prompts / Some young people view celebrities — including professional athletes, actors, and musicians — as role models. Do you think that celebrities are good role models? Explain why or why not.

IV. Scoring

One of the following two types of teacher scoring will be completed with the turned in essays unless the teacher specifies otherwise:

Holistic Scoring
Used for Writing on Demand / Analytical Scoring
Used for Writing with Time
Teacher will use a rubric focused on a few writing skills and the grade will be determined by the student’s effectiveness on those few skills. This is typically but not always completed on timed writes. / Teacher will grade these papers for overall effectiveness in grammar, sentence completion, content and style. Expect teacher marks over the entire paper with comments. This type of grading is typically but not always completed for multiple drafted papers that are untimed.

MLA In-Text Citation Formula

Signal Tag + Source Material + Ending Citation + Sentence of Incorporation = Proper MLA Citation

Signal Tag – The purpose of the signal tag is to alert your readership that source material is coming. There are 4 different types of signal tags: Dialogue, Phrasal, Embedded, Complete Sentence with a colon. Also, the first time you use a source, make sure to give the full name of the author and his or her credentials (See the first example). After you introduce a source for the first time, you can simply refer to the author by his or her last name.

• Dialogue – Noted author and writer of On Writing Well, William Zinsser explains, “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79).

• Phrasal – According to Zinsser, “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79).

• Embedded – Zinsser argues that “[s]urprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79).

• This signal tag could also look like this without the brackets – Zinsser argues that “often a difficult …” (79). The reason for the brackets is to change the capitalization of the word “Surprisingly” to make the embedded signal tag into the source material seamlessly.

• Complete Sentence: – Zinsser’s easy fix for sentences that do not seem to work is to delete them altogether: “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79).

Source Material – This includes quotes, summaries, and paraphrases. Any time you use ideas or words from a source, you should use the citation formula to give credit where credit is due and avoid plagiarism.

• Quotes – Direct quotation from a source.

• Summary – Written in your own words and sentence structure with a focus on the main idea of the cited passage. The summary will typically be much shorter than the passage, chapter, or work being summarized.

• Paraphrase – Written in your own words and sentence structure with a focus on the details of the cited passage. The paraphrase will typically be the same length as the passage being paraphrased.

Ending Citation – The purpose of the ending citation is to direct your readership to the specific author, page number, or source that you are citing. Depending on the information given in the signal tag the ending citation can include several different details.

• If the author’s name appears in the signal tag, then the only information needed in the ending citation is a page number. If the page number is not given, then the next step is to include the title of the work in its proper format:

• Zinsser notes, “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79).Because Zinsser’s name is in the signal tag, there’s no need for the name to appear in the ending citation.

• In an article written by Zinsser, he explains that when writing his own book he had to focus on the basics: “I began by writing brief chapters on fundamental principles, such as clarity, simplicity, brevity, usage, voice, and the elimination of clutter” (“Visions and Revisions”).This article comes from The American Scholar, an online source. Because there are no page numbers given, you will need to use the title of the article. This could also be written this way:

• In the article, “Visions and Revisions,” one author explains, “I began by writing…” (Zinsser).The signal tag only mentions the article title, so the necessary information for the ending citation is the author’s last name.

• As you should always include a signal tag, your ending citations will typically only carry the page number or the work title. However, if you choose to write an ambiguous signal tag (without the author’s name), make sure to include the last name in the ending citation.

• One commentator states, “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (Zinsser 79).

• The ending citation works together with the signal tag to give your readership as much information about the work as possible. Just remember, you must provide some information in both the signal tag and the ending citation; what you choose to place in the signal tag and in the ending citation will be up to you.

Sentence of Incorporation – The purpose of this sentence after your citation is to help your source material flow seamlessly into your essay. Rather than quoting a work and moving on, you are forced to provide at least one sentence that focuses on incorporating that source material into your essay. Rather than simply restating the source material, explain why it is relevant to your topic or your argument.

• Zinsser comments, “Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it” (79). Rather than allow a less-than-perfect sentence cloud an otherwise strong essay, writers should instead decide which sentences are better to leave out.

Works Cited

Towles, Carolyn and Ramona Myers. English 101 Coursebook. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty U, 2014. Print.

Zinnser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. New York: Collins, 2006. Print.

---. “Visions and Revisions.” The American Scholar. Phi Beta Kappa, Spring 2009. Web. 22 May 2015.