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

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!