How to Write a Defensible Thesis for a Rhetorical Analysis Essay | AP Lang Q2 | Coach Hall Writes
Summary
TLDRIn this educational video, the host guides viewers on crafting a defensible thesis for AP Language's rhetorical analysis essay. The introductory paragraph is dissected into three parts: the hook, context, and thesis, with the latter being crucial for setting direction. The thesis should identify the author's strategies or choices and their purpose, potentially considering the audience's response. The video offers a checklist for creating a strong thesis, emphasizing specificity, avoiding prompt restatement, and ensuring prompt response, ultimately aiming to strengthen the essay's argument.
Takeaways
- 📝 The video discusses crafting a defensible thesis for an AP Lang rhetorical analysis essay, focusing on the second question.
- 🔍 An introductory paragraph should be structured like an inverted triangle, with a hook, context, and thesis statement.
- 📌 The thesis can be placed anywhere in the essay according to the College Board's rubric, but placing it at the beginning helps provide direction.
- 👉 The context should identify the specific passage, including title, author, genre, tone, speaker, occasion, audience, and exigence.
- 📖 A defensible thesis should include the author's strategies or choices and their purpose for using them in the argument.
- 💡 Adding the effect of the strategies on the audience can strengthen the thesis, considering why the author made specific choices.
- 📑 The example provided shows how to integrate context and thesis in a single sentence, using the author's full name and article title.
- 📝 The thesis should be specific, avoiding restating the prompt and instead offering the student's interpretation of the passage.
- 🔑 To make the thesis stronger, consider using verb forms that convey action, such as 'defines' instead of 'definition'.
- ✍️ The video emphasizes the importance of answering the prompt directly and ensuring the thesis is not just a restatement of the prompt.
- 👍 The video concludes with a checklist for creating a defensible thesis, including identifying strategies, adding specifics, and answering the prompt.
Q & A
What are the three parts of an introductory paragraph for a rhetorical analysis essay?
-The three parts are the hook, the context, and the thesis.
Can the context and thesis be combined into one sentence in the introductory paragraph?
-Yes, technically, the context and thesis can be combined into the same sentence.
What should be included in the context portion of the introductory paragraph for an essay or article?
-The context portion should include the title, author, genre, and tone of the essay or article.
What elements should be considered for the context of a speech or letter?
-For a speech or letter, the context should include the speaker, occasion or exigence, audience, and tone if possible.
Where can the thesis be placed according to the College Board's rubric?
-The thesis can be placed anywhere in the essay, not necessarily in the introduction or conclusion.
Why is it recommended to restate the thesis in the conclusion of the essay?
-Restatement of the thesis in the conclusion, even if worded differently, helps to reinforce the argument and increases the likelihood of earning the thesis point.
What should a defensible thesis for a rhetorical analysis essay include?
-A defensible thesis should include the author's strategies or choices, the author's purpose, and potentially the effect on the audience.
Why is it important to specify the argument or message in the thesis?
-Specifying the argument or message in the thesis provides clarity and ensures that the reader understands the focus of the analysis.
What is a way to make the thesis more complex and potentially stronger?
-Adding another layer to the thesis by considering the effect on the audience can make it more complex and strengthen the argument.
What is the purpose of changing the verb in the thesis statement?
-Changing the verb in the thesis statement, such as from 'develops' to 'furthers', adds specificity and shows the writer's interpretation rather than just restating the prompt.
Why is it crucial to answer the prompt in the thesis statement?
-Answering the prompt in the thesis ensures that the essay is focused on the specific question being asked and demonstrates that the writer understands the task at hand.
Outlines
📚 Mastering the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay
This paragraph introduces the topic of the video, which is crafting a defensible thesis for an AP Language and Composition (AP Lang) rhetorical analysis essay. The speaker explains the structure of an effective introductory paragraph, using the metaphor of an inverted triangle to describe the progression from a broad hook to a specific thesis. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of including the context of the passage and the thesis statement, which should be a clear and defensible claim about the author's strategies and purpose. It also touches on the flexibility of thesis placement according to the College Board's rubric and suggests restating the thesis at the end of the essay for clarity and emphasis.
🔔 Stay Updated with AP Lang Tips and Tricks
The second paragraph serves as a call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications to receive regular updates on content related to AP Lang, including tips and strategies for excelling in the AP Lang exam. The speaker encourages viewers to engage with the channel to benefit from the ongoing series of educational videos aimed at improving their writing skills and exam performance.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Thesis
💡Rhetorical Analysis
💡Introductory Paragraph
💡Hook
💡Context
💡Strategies
💡Purpose
💡Defensible
💡Audience
💡Argument
💡College Board's Rubric
Highlights
Today's video focuses on earning the thesis point for AP Lang question 2.
Learn how to write a defensible thesis for a rhetorical analysis essay.
The introductory paragraph should be structured like an inverted triangle with three parts: hook, context, and thesis.
The context includes identifying the specific passage's title, author, genre, and tone.
For speeches or letters, look for the speaker, occasion, audience, and tone.
The thesis should be placed at the beginning of the essay for a stronger direction.
Restate the thesis differently in the conclusion for a more defensible claim.
When reading and annotating the passage, look for the author's strategies or choices and their purpose.
A defensible thesis should address strategies, purpose, and the effect on the audience.
The thesis should be specific and not just a restatement of the prompt.
Use verbs like 'defines' or 'contrasts' instead of generic terms to strengthen the thesis.
Example given of combining context and thesis in the same sentence.
The author's full name should be used the first time and last name thereafter.
The article's title should be in quotation marks with punctuation inside.
The thesis should specify the author's argument or message for clarity.
Adding a dependent clause can enhance the thesis by analyzing the effect on the reader.
A quick checklist is provided to ensure a defensible thesis includes strategies, purpose, and answer to the prompt.
The video offers tips for passing the AP Lang exam and encourages subscribing for more content.
Transcripts
yeah as welcome back to coach all rights
in today's video we're going to be
talking about how to earn the thesis
point for AP Lang question 2 so
basically how do we write a defensible
thesis for a rhetorical analysis essay
for an introductory paragraph think
about it like an inverted triangle there
are three parts the hook the context and
the thesis now technically speaking you
can actually combine the context and the
thesis into the same sentence but the
idea here is to start from the most
broad and then narrow down to the most
specific the context portion of the
introductory paragraph you can actually
combine that with the thesis itself and
so the context portion is just when you
identify the specific passage that
you're talking about so if it is an
essay or an article you're gonna be
looking at the title author genre and
tone and then if it's a speech or letter
you're gonna be looking for the speaker
occasion or exigence
and the audience you would include tone
here as well if possible the final
portion of an introductory paragraph is
the thesis now I should mention that
according to the College Board's rubric
the thesis can happen anywhere in the
essay it does not have to be in the
intro or even in the conclusion however
I find that students who put the thesis
in the beginning of their essay tend to
write a stronger paper because they have
more of a direction I do however
recommend restating your thesis in your
conclusion just worded a little bit
differently that way you have it in the
beginning and the end so you can be more
likely to earn the thesis point because
you are more likely to have set a
defensible claim as you read and
annotate the passage you're going to be
looking for either strategies or choices
these are things that the author does in
order to develop his or her argument it
could be anything from juxtaposition to
an appeal to emotion perhaps the use of
flattery or even criticism so as you
decide what you want to talk about in
your essay these choices or strategies
need to be present in your thesis a
defensible thesis also needs to mention
author's purpose so if the choices and
strategies are what the author does then
the purpose is why the author does it
why does he or she use these strategies
or make these choices and why did he or
she write this piece to begin with in
order to be defensible a rhetorical
analysis thesis should address
strategies and purpose however if you
want to make it a little bit more
complex you can add another layer which
is to consider the
on the audience now this is not
mandatory nor is it always appropriate
to do so however sometimes students want
to strengthen their thesis and this is
one way to do that so think about why
the author made the choices that he or
she did that's purpose but also
sometimes we have to realize that
speakers tailor their choices to their
audience so what is the effect of these
strategies is it trying to get the
audience to think a certain way to act a
certain way there should be an effect of
these strategies because if they chose
these strategies for a reason they're
trying to elicit a particular response
let's take a look at an example where we
have the context and the thesis in the
same sentence so we're gonna lead in
with the context so here we have the
author's full name because the first
time that you reference the author you
want to use his or her full name and
then after that you refer to them by
their last name and then we've got
passionate article so passionate is
describing article here so we have that
as our tone and then lastly we have the
name of the article
America needs it's nerds and notice that
because it's an article we put it in
quotation marks and the punctuation goes
inside the quotation marks this is the
actual thesis portion so this is the
part that is defensible so we need to
have strategies and purpose notice that
we're using the verb form of strategies
here so instead of definition we have
defines and instead of juxtaposition we
have contrast works just fine also the
prompt asked about how the author used
certain strategies to develop his
argument so we have that phrase in here
to make sure that we're answering the
prompt however we don't just stop with
the word argument or message we want to
actually specify what the argument or
message is for clarification purposes to
make your thesis even stronger you can
add on another layer and that is
basically the effect on the reader or
the audience so this can be done by
adding a dependent clause to the end of
your sentence or by simply starting a
new sentence and just analyzing the
effect that way now that we understand
the different parts of a defensible
thesis statement for a rhetorical
analysis essay let's just go over a very
quick checklist here so first of all you
need to identify the strategies or
choices and the purpose you also need to
make sure that you're not just restating
the prompt you need to add specifics and
if possible change the verb for instance
instead of saying develop his argument
you could say furthers his argument you
want to make sure that you're not just
restating the prompt word
forward because that's not defensible
that's the information that's already
provided they want your interpretation
of the passage and then lastly you want
to make sure that you're answering the
prompt now that might seem really
obvious but sometimes students actually
forget what they're supposed to be
looking for because they're so wrapped
up in just finding strategies and
purpose and they don't realize they're
looking at perhaps an introduction of
something or a conclusion of something
and so you need to really think about
what you're being asked and there you
have it guys those are my best tips for
coming up with a defensible thesis for
AP lank you to the rhetorical analysis
question if you are interested in
finding out more tips on how to pass the
AP leg exam please don't forget to click
Subscribe and also turn your
notifications on because I'm going to be
posting more content every week on this
channel until next time guys happy
writing
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
Stable Wording for AP Lang Prompts Starting with the 2020 Exam | Coach Hall Writes
How to Write the ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY FRQ for AP Gov
How to Write an Essay: Introduction Paragraph (with Worksheet)
The BEST Way to Write about Personal Experience in an Argument Essay!
The ONLY WAY to Make YOUR Argument Thesis COMPLEX!
The BEST Way to Break Down the Argument Prompt!
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)