AP Language and Composition

Dear AP Student:

Welcome to AP Language and Composition, a course primarily designed to teach you the art of rhetoric, a fancy English teacher word for effective persuasive writing and analysis. This class will help you become a student of language, to make you intimately familiar with the various strategies writers use to achieve their writing objectives, strategies you will both analyze and employ in your own writing.

In some ways this is the indispensable class, for it is the foundation upon which the vast majority of academic pursuits are built. Every time you write an essay, explain a problem, or give a presentation, you are using rhetoric. The better rhetorician you become, the greater your ability to chart your own course. To use language well is to provide clearer vision for your dreams, greater advocacy for yourself, and deeper understanding of others.

On top of all this, it’s fun. Movies, memes, and memories all exist in language.

To help get you started on this wonderful journey, outlined below is your summer reading assignment.

Due Date: Second week of school; the specific date will be posted in the Canvas Course at the start of the school year.

Read the first 14 chapters and chapters 20-24 of Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs. (Although the rest of the book is not required for your summer reading assignment, you are encouraged to complete the reading in full; it is an excellent introduction to the foundations of AP English Language and Composition.)

You are encouraged to buy this book “used,” but it is not required. A new edition can be purchased online for less than for less than $20. When you purchase the book, you must make sure that you are purchasing the 4th edition. Below you will find the ISBN for the book so that you can make sure you purchase the correct edition.

Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion.
New York: Three Rivers, 2017. Print. 4th ISBN-13: 978-0-593-23738-0

For the assignment with detailed directions please read the file attached below.

If you have any questions, please feel open to contacting Mrs. Espree, [email protected], or Mr. Nebrida, [email protected].

Looking forward to meeting you all,

Your AP Language and Composition Teachers