When you write your body paragraphs, is there a formula or a go-to method you use when explaining the evidence and connecting those evidence to the audience and purpose?
Hmm, it's been a year since I've thought about this for AP Lang but I'll tell you what I remember about body paragraphs. 1) Get into your evidence quickly. Don't blabber; start talking about what the author is doing ASAP. General guideline is 1-2 sentences max before your first evidence. 2) Use *short* quotes. The best evidence is typically under five words of quoted text. Not only does this save you time quoting, but it forces you to find the juiciest bit of the sentence. If the whole sentence is juicy, quote two words of three parts of it and boom, you have three pieces of evidence to use to elaborate a complex argument. 3) Never say, "which makes the reader feel ...." You don't know how the audience feels. Instead you should talk about what the author is trying to do, how they are trying to do it (why this way and not another?), why they are trying to do it, etc. So if you notice the author use a ten-word-long alliteration, then cut it off abruptly, say something like: "The abrupt end of the alliteration forces the audience to pause to think about the negative moral implications of child labor. The effect is even analogous, at a higher level, to [author]'s call to action about child labor: the alliteration is pleasing, like complacency and inaction; the abrupt end mirrors the jolt [author] wants to impart." You tie in some tiny feature of the text to the author's rhetorical situation. What is the author trying to accomplish? Why did they choose the strategy in the text over others? How mechanically did the author implement that strategy? What is the intended effect and why would that be a desirable effect to accomplish the author's goal? Biggest piece of advice: just write a lot of practice essays. If you're like me, you'll suck at it until you write a few on your own. Find prompts on College Board's website, write yours, then read the top scoring example they supply. You'll get better. Good luck!
Hi Hewan, some of the highest-scoring essays are quite short. I once saw an essay with only three paragraphs that scored a 9 on the old system! What is most important is to identify important choices the author makes, and how those choices further the author's goal within given the context of the piece. Clearly, if you do this outstandingly well, you might only need 1 body paragraph. For us mortals, two or three is a typical amount of space to talk about these choices. If you write only two body paragraphs, make sure each one has quite a few good ideas in it. I also struggled to get enough on the page when I first started in AP Lang, but I can promise you that with practice you will read and write faster. The more successful essays you expose yourself to and write yourself, the faster you will recognize patterns in new pieces that you can write about. Hope this helps, and good luck!
Arongil Productions I figured I was getting nervous when the last minutes came and lost track of my thoughts, revising your vid helped me. I got a 5! Thank you!
Hello, thanks for your videos on self studying, maths and all the topics so far that you've covered like abstract algebra, linear algebra and multivariable calculus etc. Will you be making a video on how you self studied differential equations , ie what resources you used ? Thanks, I really enjoy your videos.
Hi, Fergal. Thank you very much for your kind comment. I don't know whether I'll make a video about self study strategies for differential equations, because I actually took it as a community college course. Nonetheless, I have a number of resources that were helpful for me that I can give to you here: 1. Herbert Gross' Differential Equations MIT lectures. Well-made and direct lectures with plenty of examples, plus a charming professor. Very highly recommended as a primary resource for your learning! 2. Khan Academy's Differential Equations course. No practice, but very useful for learning the concepts the first time around. I also love how Sal systematically derives all the Laplace transforms in unit 3. 3. Any textbook. I don't remember the name of mine, but as long as it has loads of practice problems you're set. I hope this helps! Please let me know if I can help you more, or if you have other video ideas.
@@arongil Thanks for the advice! I've found khan academy quite good in the past, but yes as you say practice is also needed. I think I'll follow the MIT ocw scholar course, it has lots of problem sheets and solutions, so quite ideal. Thanks to you I found out about the MIT linear algebra course and sheldon axlers videos to go along with his book, and also some great resources to use to learn abstract algebra. So thank you very much.
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When you write your body paragraphs, is there a formula or a go-to method you use when explaining the evidence and connecting those evidence to the audience and purpose?
Hmm, it's been a year since I've thought about this for AP Lang but I'll tell you what I remember about body paragraphs.
1) Get into your evidence quickly. Don't blabber; start talking about what the author is doing ASAP. General guideline is 1-2 sentences max before your first evidence.
2) Use *short* quotes. The best evidence is typically under five words of quoted text. Not only does this save you time quoting, but it forces you to find the juiciest bit of the sentence. If the whole sentence is juicy, quote two words of three parts of it and boom, you have three pieces of evidence to use to elaborate a complex argument.
3) Never say, "which makes the reader feel ...." You don't know how the audience feels. Instead you should talk about what the author is trying to do, how they are trying to do it (why this way and not another?), why they are trying to do it, etc.
So if you notice the author use a ten-word-long alliteration, then cut it off abruptly, say something like: "The abrupt end of the alliteration forces the audience to pause to think about the negative moral implications of child labor. The effect is even analogous, at a higher level, to [author]'s call to action about child labor: the alliteration is pleasing, like complacency and inaction; the abrupt end mirrors the jolt [author] wants to impart."
You tie in some tiny feature of the text to the author's rhetorical situation. What is the author trying to accomplish? Why did they choose the strategy in the text over others? How mechanically did the author implement that strategy? What is the intended effect and why would that be a desirable effect to accomplish the author's goal?
Biggest piece of advice: just write a lot of practice essays. If you're like me, you'll suck at it until you write a few on your own. Find prompts on College Board's website, write yours, then read the top scoring example they supply. You'll get better.
Good luck!
@@arongil Thank you! I appreciate the advice
I am not a fast writer so if I used 2 of those paragraphs instead of three, do you think that would form a good essay?
Hi Hewan, some of the highest-scoring essays are quite short. I once saw an essay with only three paragraphs that scored a 9 on the old system! What is most important is to identify important choices the author makes, and how those choices further the author's goal within given the context of the piece. Clearly, if you do this outstandingly well, you might only need 1 body paragraph. For us mortals, two or three is a typical amount of space to talk about these choices. If you write only two body paragraphs, make sure each one has quite a few good ideas in it. I also struggled to get enough on the page when I first started in AP Lang, but I can promise you that with practice you will read and write faster. The more successful essays you expose yourself to and write yourself, the faster you will recognize patterns in new pieces that you can write about. Hope this helps, and good luck!
Arongil Productions I figured I was getting nervous when the last minutes came and lost track of my thoughts, revising your vid helped me. I got a 5! Thank you!
Hello, thanks for your videos on self studying, maths and all the topics so far that you've covered like abstract algebra, linear algebra and multivariable calculus etc. Will you be making a video on how you self studied differential equations , ie what resources you used ? Thanks, I really enjoy your videos.
Hi, Fergal. Thank you very much for your kind comment. I don't know whether I'll make a video about self study strategies for differential equations, because I actually took it as a community college course. Nonetheless, I have a number of resources that were helpful for me that I can give to you here:
1. Herbert Gross' Differential Equations MIT lectures. Well-made and direct lectures with plenty of examples, plus a charming professor. Very highly recommended as a primary resource for your learning!
2. Khan Academy's Differential Equations course. No practice, but very useful for learning the concepts the first time around. I also love how Sal systematically derives all the Laplace transforms in unit 3.
3. Any textbook. I don't remember the name of mine, but as long as it has loads of practice problems you're set.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if I can help you more, or if you have other video ideas.
@@arongil Thanks for the advice! I've found khan academy quite good in the past, but yes as you say practice is also needed. I think I'll follow the MIT ocw scholar course, it has lots of problem sheets and solutions, so quite ideal. Thanks to you I found out about the MIT linear algebra course and sheldon axlers videos to go along with his book, and also some great resources to use to learn abstract algebra. So thank you very much.