Boonton High School
Advanced Placement Language and Composition
2020 Summer Reading Assignment
This assignment is due on the first day back to school. NO EXCEPTIONS! Please submit a hard copy of your writing assignments on this day. The Summer Reading/Writing Assignment is worth 15% of your first marking period grade. Should you have any questions, please contact Mrs. McBride at michelle.mcbride@boontonschools.org.
Assignment:
Much (but not all) of our reading next year will focus on non-fiction texts. For the AP Language and Composition summer assignment, you will need to choose a non-fiction reading book. Requirements for this non-fiction book:
The book needs to be at minimum high school reading level or above and should have 150 or more pages of text.
The book must consist of mainly text. It may not be a coffee table book, DIY book, Self-Help, Cook Book, or Encyclopedia.
The book must have been published within the last 15 years.
After you choose a book to read, you should annotate while you read. Proof of annotation must be clear. If you buy the book, you can write in it. If not, use Post-it notes to note-take. Your annotations should focus on the author’s purpose or central argument.
After reading and annotating your non-fiction piece, you will write a 5 paragraph essay (minimum 2 pages) based on the non-fiction book that you read over the summer. Your essay will be graded according to the attached AP Language rubric and will be due IN PRINTED FORM on the first day of school. Set up your paper according to the MLA guidelines (heading in top left corner, unique title, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 font).
Prompt:
Works of non-fiction, whether implicitly or explicitly, present an argument to the reader and support this argument with different types of evidence and rhetorical techniques. Using your selected non-fiction piece, briefly identify the work’s central argument. Then, analyze the evidence and techniques the author uses to support his or her argument. Finally, in the conclusion, evaluate the argument as a whole. Avoid summarizing the text and focus on analyzing and evaluating the evidence.
AP Language and Composition Essay Scoring Rubric
9=100 8=94 7=90 6=86 5=80 4=77 3=70 2=60 1=50
9 Excellent use of thoughtfully chosen, apt, and specific-to-the-text evidence: concrete details, references and quotes (10 or more). Response to the prompt is a convincing, insightful, perceptive commentary and interpretation, free of plot summary. Personal style is evident in pleasing sentence variety, vocabulary (precise and fresh diction); sentence structure is sophisticated; it has finesse, creativity without going too far. Ideas are expressed with clarity and skill; the paper addresses the what, the how, the why. Well-organized with careful development, excellent thesis, smooth transitions, sound sentence structure, uses literary present tense, no passive voice, no to-be verbs. The conclusion is an epiphany; the reader understands something perhaps never before considered. Virtually no errors exist in spelling, grammar usage, and mechanics.
8 All of the above, but perhaps the style of the student paper is not as evident. There are at least 8 or 9 quotes.
7 This paper has a few minor problems, fewer examples and quotes, but at least 6 or 7. It is less insightful, less developed than an 8/9; it may miss the why of the question. The conclusion is effective. The paper is still well-written, developed and analyzed. There is good control over sentence structure, diction and mechanics.
6 This is a safe paper, carefully done, but it needs more. It uses at least 5 quotes. More than a 5, less than a 7.
5 Superficial, obvious, vague details and quotes (4) from the text, but they are used correctly; commentary is generic, but there is some analysis. The conclusion is only adequate. The paper slips into passive voice or uses to-be verbs. No serious errors in spelling, grammar, usage, mechanics.
4 The supporting evidence of this paper is weak paraphrasing, vague and inaccurate. The analysis and commentary are misguided and unclear. There is plot summary instead of analysis. The writer uses a vague and predictable introductory paragraph and/or a repetitive and weak conclusion. Ideas drift off the topic or prompt. The answer restates the question. This paper lacks transitions. There is repetitive diction and/or awkward diction/vocabulary. The writer uses passive voice and to-be verbs excessively. The writer uses the past tense instead of the literary present. The writer does not imbed quotes. The paper is not minimum 2 pages typed.
3 This paper has weaker writing skills than a 4. It has less organization, more misinterpretations, inadequate development, serious omissions. Quotes are missing. The student uses contractions and/or a chatty, non-academic tone. The writer uses a negative and/or judgmental tone. The writer does not answer all the parts of the question.
There is no conclusion.
2 There are very few, if any, concrete details. Thesis is weak or non-existent. There are distracting errors in sentence structure, diction, spelling, grammar, usage, mechanics. The paper rambles because of a lack of control,organization, and/or development. The writer does not answer all the parts of the question. The paper is illegible.
1 This paper is unacceptably brief or incoherently long, full of mechanical errors. It misses the focus of the topic. The writer does not answer the question. The writer draws or writes silly/cynical things.