Advanced Placement Language and Composition Structured ...

Advanced Placement Language and Composition Structured Tutorial: Argument

Preparing for the Argument Question

Defend, Challenge, or Qualify Planning and Prewriting Strategies, Part 1 2009 Form B, #3

Submitted by Beth Priem

College Board Consultant Austin, Texas

AP® is a registered trademark of the College Board. The College Board was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product. © 2010 by Beth Priem. All rights reserved.

Defend, Challenge, or Qualify Planning and Prewriting Strategies, Part 1 Objectives: • To familiarize students with the format and language of defend, challenge, or qualify prompts • To help students deconstruct defend, challenge, or qualify prompts accurately and efficiently • To provide students with strategies for prewriting and organizing a response in the form of an argument Defend, Challenge, or Qualify prompts usually take three forms: • • •

Respond to a relatively brief quotation Respond to a passage of some length Open-ended

The writer’s task in Defend, Challenge, or Qualify prompts may be worded in a number of ways: • • • • • •

Write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies . . . Write a carefully argued essay that agrees or disagrees with . . . Write an essay in which you develop a position on the issue of . . . Write an essay in which you consider the extent to which an author’s observation holds true . . . Write an essay that explores the validity of . . . Write an essay in which you evaluate the pros and cons of the author’s argument. Use appropriate evidence as you examine each side, and indicate which position you find more persuasive . . .

Terminology •

defend =

support

•

challenge =

oppose or refute

•

qualify =

To what extent is the assertion true or untrue? To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Defend, Challenge, or Qualify prompts usually ask you to support your position in one of the following ways: • • • • •

With evidence that is specific With evidence derived from your observation, experience, or reading By drawing on your own knowledge and experience By using your own critical understanding of . . . By using appropriate evidence or support


Prescription for Pushing Up Your Score 1.

Consider your options in terms of responding. You may fully agree with one “side” or the other. Or, you may qualify. Be sure, however, that you have a clear claim supported by appropriate evidence. (In other words, do not provide evidence for both sides without clearly taking a position of your own.)

2.

Consider the many categories of evidence writers may use: examples, reasons, causes, effects, details, facts, figures, expert opinion, quotations, precedents, parallels.

3.

Consider the many areas from which you may choose evidence: history, current events, pop culture, business and industry, the environment, literature, technology, etc. See “specific” evidence below.

4.

Make sure your evidence is specific. Avoid generalizations and absolutes. Use “qualifiers” such as often, in many cases, frequently, sometimes. According to Westwood High School AP teacher Jennifer Cullen, specificity of evidence may be defined as follows” •

Evidence from literature should “zoom in” on one moment with 1-2 character(s) as the focus. The evidence should be so specific that we could point to the page in the work on which the evidence could be found.

•

Evidence from current events or history should be focused on a particular moment or narrowed event (rather than, for example, World War II in general).

•

Evidence from personal experience should be focused on a particular moment that will be taken seriously by your audience. Consider congruity of examples – Going from world war to personal heartache requires a meaningful transition (sometimes several sentences of “buffer”); otherwise, one of your examples may come across as trivial.

•

Evidence from social observation requires specific details in some form to get beyond broad generalizations.

•

Evidence from pop culture must be thoughtful. Movie and book examples should be “weighty” enough that they will be taken seriously by your reader. Cartoon and TV examples are often ineffective unless the prompt leads you to talk about pop culture. Otherwise, they may be perceived as silly in an essay that is supposed to be discussing serious philosophical concerns.

•

Hypothetical evidence is often ineffective. Readers are generally not persuaded by something that has not actually happened.


Formulating an Argumentative Response A. PROMPT DECONSTRUCTION: Argument (1) As you read the prompt, label the TAG (Title, Author, Genre). Also highlight relevant background information such as the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why). (2) If you are asked to respond to a writer’s assertion, your tasks may be categorized as follows: • What is the writer’s position on the issue? • How or in what manner am I asked to respond to it? • What may I use for evidence? (3) If you are asked to take a position on an issue, the tasks may be categorized as follows: • What is the issue? • What stand will I take? • What evidence will I use? B. PROMPT. Follow direction # 1 above to notate the prompt as you read it. The passage below is from The Worst Years of Our Lives by Barbara Enrenreich. Ehrenreich is writing about life in the 1980s. Read the passage carefully and then write an essay in which you support, refute, or qualify Enrenreich’s assertions about television. Support your argument with appropriate evidence. (2009 Form B, #3) C. PASSAGE. Mark the passage for the following: key words or phrases that comprise the essence of the author’s argument; specific evidence offered by the author; transition words that indicate shifts in focus, tone, or view; ideas with which the author does not agree. Only after many months of viewing did I begin to understand the force that has transformed the American people into root vegetables. If you watch TV for a very long time, day in and day out, you will begin to notice something eerie and unnatural about the world portrayed therein. I don’t mean that it is two-dimensional or lacks a well-developed critique of the capitalist consumer culture or something like that. I mean something so deeply obvious that it’s almost scary: when you watch television, you will see people doing many things- chasing fast cars, drinking lite beer, shooting each other at close range, etc. But you will never see people watching television. Well, maybe for a second, before the phone rings or a brand-new, multiracial adopted child walks into the house. But never really watching, hour after hour, the way real people do. Way back in the beginning of the television era, this was not so strange, because real people actually did many of the things people do on TV, even if it was only bickering with their mothers-in-law about which toilet paper to buy. But modern people, i.e., couch potatoes, do nothing that is ever shown on television (because it is either dangerous or would involve getting up from the couch). And what they do do – watch television – is far too boring to be televised for more than a fraction of a second, not even by Andy Warhol,* bless his boredom-proof little heart. So why do we keep on watching? *Artist and filmmaker known for using repeated images and for making movies dealing with time, boredom, and repetition. Reprinted for the 2009 AP English Language and Composition Exam by permission of International Creative Management, Inc. Copyright © 1991 by Barbara Ehrenreich.


D. IDENTIFYING AND SUPPORTING, REFUTING, OR QUALIFYING EHRENREICH’S ASSERTIONS. Use the Graff template below as a systematic method for articulating your response to Ehrenreich’s argument. First, complete the template for what Ehrenreich says . . . Then, complete the template for We say . . . You will work with a partner. One of you should write the Ehrenreich says responses and be prepared to read them aloud to the group. The other partner should write the We say responses and be prepared to read them. Ehrenreich says . . . The general argument made by ______________________________________ in his/her work_________________________ (author’s name) (title) ___________________________________is that ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ More specifically, he/she argues that _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________. He/she writes*__________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________. In this passage, _____________________ is suggesting that _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________. In conclusion, _____________________________’s belief is that _________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________.

We say . . . In our view,________________________ is wrong/right because________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________. More specifically, we believe that__________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. For example, ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________. Although _______________________ might respond or counter that* _________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________, We maintain that ______________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________. * Here you may use paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation. If a direct quotation is used, it may not exceed 6 words in length. AP® is a registered trademark of the College Board. The College Board was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product. © 2010 by Beth Priem. All rights reserved.

The template on the previous page is a “Graff Template” adapted from Gerald Graff, Clueless in Academe (New Haven: Yale UP, 2003), pp. 169-170. Reprinted in Teaching Nonfiction in AP English (A Guide to Accompany 50 Essays) by Renee H. Shea and Lawrence Scanlon (Bedford/St. Martin’s: Boston, 2005), p. 199

Read this response written by a member of the Westwood High School class of 2011 and complete the activities below. Why do we watch TV? Is it the draw to live vicariously through the miraculously genius doctors on House? The draw towards the bad-guy catching FBI agents on Criminal Minds? The attraction towards Anything Else, the interest that we don’t have directly in our own lives? In Barbara Ehrenreich’s The Worst Years of our Lives, this is the question she asks. People on TV, she points out, are never seen watching TV themselves. Modern man (in the 1980s, anyway) has become a couch potato, and she’s completely right. I think we’ve become the type of society that would rather watch a football game, faces full of junk food and soda, than play a football game, all to avoid getting sweaty, or tired, or because it’s painful. Maybe we watch TV because the people on the television are more interesting than we are. They’re definitely more active. An obesity epidemic has gotten celebrity athletes and even the First Lady to speak at schools and encourage an active lifestyle for today’s youth. They’re even asked to consider turning off the TV for an hour every day – one less hour in front of the tube in hopes that the child will spend one more hour in the pool, or on their bikes, or walking (albeit aimlessly) with friends. But few do, not when it’s “too hot” outside and there’s a humming computer waiting in the next room. People in general disagree, Ehrenreich says, “because it is either dangerous or would involve getting up from the couch,” and where would we be? From Ehrenreich’s passage, it’s easy to see that television pulls one in two directions; we’re drawn to it, to the plastic people with plastic smiles and perfect hair, drawn to their more interesting lives, doing everything that we want to but can’t. They don’t watch TV; they fly out towards their special bat-beacon and save the day. On the other hand, we’re lazy. We’d rather watch them save the day because it would be too much of a hassle to go about it ourselves. You’ll never see TV characters “watching, hour after hour” like “real people” because even we, The Coach Potatoes of American and beyond, would be bored. A friend of mine has a little brother, only nine or so, who’s fully content to lie spread-eagled across the floor and watch the flatscreen for hours on end, sun-up to next sun-rise, and it wouldn’t bother him a bit. There are marathons to watch, episodes to catch up on. And if he misses Spongebob, gods help us – he’ll die. I think we – society in general – are raising up the Potato Generation. Like Ehrenreich says, modern people “do nothing that is ever shown on television,” because a video of a person snoring for eight hours would only serve to send us to sleep, and do nothing to up the ratings. It’s the same thing this decade – want to play basketball? No, no, put on your jersey and watch this instead. Hockey? No worries. Cliff diving? Not a problem. Whatever happened to kids jumping from their beds, pretending to be Peter Pan? Oh, that’s right. Cable. Our new couch potato society is fueled by the desire to do nothing, but a stranger desire to see something – and no desire to move our legs. Barbara Ehrenreich’s observations were, though obvious, enough to really see just how Americans were transformed into the “root vegetables” they are today. Couch Potato Syndrome may have been widespread in the 1980s, but it’s still going strong today. As fascinated as we are with the characters of our favorite sitcoms or cartoons, we hardly want to become them. My parents, if given the opportunity to spend one day in the life of Jack Bauer from 24, would politely decline on the basis of wanting nothing to really do with “that sort of thing.” People are content with laziness, happy enough to lay back, relax, and press a button to end up in the Amazon. Modern people, “i.e. couch potatoes,” aren’t necessarily happy with their lives. But I think even Ehrenreich would agree that, come Saturday evening, hundreds of television sets will be switched on, and I will be among the vegetables. Why? Because we’ve nothing better to do. 1. 2. 3.

Reread the introduction. Bracket the context the writer has provided for the argument or controversy. In the right margin, provide a suggestion for improving the clarity of the introduction. Reread the entire essay, underlining each reference the writer makes to Ehrenreich. Return to the essay and highlight or circle all the specific evidence the writer provides (e.g., Spongebob). Make a marginal notation on the type (e.g., pop culture) and specificity (very specific; a proper noun; a particular television program)


4.

In the space below, paraphrase or quote the primary claim that the writer makes in each body paragraph and assess the level of development that follows each idea. See the italicized suggestion under the chart for “ORGANIZING YOUR ARGUMENTATIVE RESPONSE.”

Body paragraph 1 claim: Development:

______ thorough ______ somewhat superficial

_____ adequate ______ very limited

Body paragraph 2 claim: Development:

5.

______ thorough ______ somewhat superficial

Circle the stand the writer takes in this essay:

_____ adequate ______ very limited support

refute

qualify

How persuasive overall is the writer in his support, refutation, or qualification? _____ highly convincing ______ adequately persuasive ______ somewhat limited _____ very limited 6.

Assess the organization and fluency of the essay. Check one for each bullet. •

_____ organized by claims in prompt passage _____ other method of organization – specify: ____________________________________

•

_____ upper half (5-9) organization and fluency in which the writer (rather than the reader ) is doing the work ______ lower half (1-4) organization and fluency in which the reader is doing the work trying to figure out what the writer is saying and where he is heading

7.

Enter a word count for the essay here: ________________

8.

Circle a score “family” for this essay. Consider an 8 as an essay that demonstrates competence, a 6 as an essay that suggests competence, a 4 as an essay that suggests incompetence, and a 2 as an essay that demonstrates incompetence. Top Family (9, 8,7)

9.

Middle Family (6, 5, 4)

Bottom Family (3, 2, 1)

Assign a specific score to this essay. For example, is it at the middle of the Top family (7) or the bottom of the Middle family (4)? Write the score here: _________
