AP Literature and Composition! - Hunterdon Central Regional High ...

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Assignment #1 (20 points)Choose a work from the list below, read it, and take careful notes on the topics as describedbelow.Crime and PunishmentTess of the D’urbervillesLight in AugustSong of SolomonPurchase any edition of the above text that you select. If you cannot purchase the novel, copiesare available for you in the supervisor’s office near room 810. We encourage you to purchaseyour own text because you can write in it.* Please see the note on plagiarism and academic integrity at the end of this document!What to Include:Your notes are like a skeleton of a writing you might do. This means that they should includeaspects of the novel you would mention in an essay. Consider how the following categoriesdevelop the overall themes in the text: Characterization Setting (insofar as it impacts theme and character) Tone (the author’s attitude toward the subject matter) Stylistic elements: the author’s use of dialogue, diction (word choice), figurativelanguage (simile, metaphor, imagery, symbol)When referencing the above categories, make sure you’re connecting them to the overall themesyou’re identifying in your notes. Trace a theme throughout the text and comment on itsdevelopment. It is important to include not only information the author says, but also yourthoughts, analysis, and evaluation of that information. You are expected to take notes on theENTIRE TEXT. Notes that cease well before the end of the novel, or only include 1-2comments for hundred page sections, will be penalized accordingly.What to Avoid:Students often make the mistake of writing their notes as a catalog of events. Try to avoidentries that have no relationship to each other. Avoid taking too many notes from the beginningof the novel, as this means that you will not have enough space to include the latter part of thenovel. Notes that are not as successful tend to use the same kind of commentary over and over;they may refer to the same characters repeatedly, or ask questions about the upcoming events inthe text, but offer little analysis of the text. Poor notes catalogue events from the text withoutcommenting on them or explaining their significance in relation to other parts of the text. Poornotes don’t take the entire novel into consideration, but refer to specific parts, overlooking oreliminating others.
Organization:It is best to read the novel as a whole, putting in handwritten or other notes, and then go back andtake detailed notes. You need to take notes from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel.PACE yourselves.Examples of successful notes (commentary on each note is bolded and in parentheses):15 (page number) Everyone in the city is breaking down—even good wife Katherine Ivanovna“breaks out” and makes stepdaughter suffer (This note makes a general statement about othercharacters in relation to a main character)16 Sonia’s “body and shoulders kept trembling”; she was traumatized probably for the rest of herlife because of her childhood… does Dostoyevsky think childhood determines the future? (Here,she connects Sonia’s experience to one of D’s possible themes; then, explore this theme asyou continue reading).292-293 Here we learn more about Peter. He uses sarcasm when his is addressing Dunia: “I amleaving, madame—but…” Because it is italicized I get the feeling that he doesn’t actually meanit and said it with an attitude. On the next page, the first paragraph tells of his character. Itportrays him as very vain and only loves himself and his money. He never really cared aboutDunia. The most important person to him is himself. (She analyzes D’s use of language andwhat it suggests about Luzhin’s character).475 Water has a negative connotation: “The water did not fall in drops, but lashed the earth intorrents.” This occurs during a shift to Svidrigailov. In relation to him, he is not cleansed by therain, but tormented by its rage against him and his deceiving, blackmailing wishes withRaskolnikov and Dunia (This is an analysis of D’s use of symbol and connects it toSvidrigailov).In summation, with each note you take, make sure that it offers your analysis of the informationor quotations you cite. We are looking for evidence of your thinking about the text, not asummary of what you read in the text. We are looking for evidence of your ability to noticethematic strands they relate to specific elements of the text (character development, setting, andothers listed above).LENGTH: 6-7 pages if typed (see guidelines below), 8-10 sides of a page if handwritten.If you type your response, single-space your commentary and double-space between entries (asshown in the sample above). If you handwrite your notes, write them in PEN. Make them aslegible as possible; if your handwriting is hard to read, then type your notes. The front and backof a page = TWO pages of notes (not one). If your handwriting is very large, make adjustmentsto your notes accordingly. Avoid quoting long blocks of text; if you do this, your analysis of thequote you cite must be twice as long as the quote itself. Your job is to notice the details of thelanguage in the text. Don’t let the quotes you select speak for you. You speak about them!
Page 1: AP Literature and Composition Summe
Page 5 and 6: * Note Regarding Academic Integrity
Page 7: Assignment #2 essays will be assess

AP Literature and Composition! - Hunterdon Central Regional High ...

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