Ten Years of Rhetorical Analysis Prompts Overview These prompts may be used as practice for students working on understanding rhetorical analysis prompts.
Directions
Find the word that means “analyze.” Underline AFTER “analyze” all the way to the end of the sentence. This is the “command.”
Look for the authorial action verb in the “command” section. This is usually an infinitive that follows the word that asks you to analyze.
THEN, double-underline from that infinitive to the end of the sentence.
Then generate a question beginning with “WHAT.” LOOK ONLY AT THE PART OF THE SENTENCE YOU HAVE DOUBLE-UNDERLINED and ask, "What can't I know until after I have actually read this essay?"
Example: WHAT is Kincaid's attitude toward England?
Example Prompt The passage below is from the opening of an essay, “On Seeing England for the First Time,” by Jamaica Kincaid. Kincaid grew up on the Caribbean island of Antigua before it became independent from England in 1981. Read the entire passage carefully. Then write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England. Command and Conquer
Command Analyze the rhetorical strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England.
Conquer: WHAT is her attitude toward England?
Conquer Answer (Note: You can't answer this without having read the essay first.)
Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., labor union organizer and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez published an article in the magazine of a religious organization devoted to helping those in need. Read the following excerpt from the article carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the rhetorical choices Chavez makes to develop his argument about nonviolent resistance.
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2014 AP
Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
In the following letter, Abigail Adams (1744–1818) writes to her son John Quincy Adams, who is traveling abroad with his father, John Adams, a United States diplomat and later the country’s second president. Read the letter carefully. Then, in a well-developed essay, analyze the rhetorical strategies Adams uses to advise her son. Support your analysis with specific references to the text. ____________________________________ 2013 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
The passage below is from Last Child in the Woods (2008) by Richard Louv. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-developed essay, analyze the rhetorical strategies Louv uses to develop his argument about the separation between people and nature. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.
____________________________________ 2012 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)
On April 10, 1962, as the United States was emerging from a recession, the nation’s largest steel companies raised steel prices by 3.5 percent. President John F. Kennedy, who had repeatedly called for stable prices and wages as part of a program of national sacrifice during a period of economic distress, held a news conference on April 11, 1962, which he opened with the following commentary regarding the hike in steel prices. Read Kennedy’s remarks carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies President Kennedy uses to achieve his purpose. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.
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2011 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) Florence Kelley (1859-1932) was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. She delivered the following speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. Readthe speech carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Kelley uses to convey her message about child labor to her audience. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.
____________________________________ 2010 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, was a farmer, astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, and author. In 1791 he wrote to Thomas Jefferson, framer of the Declaration of Independence and secretary of state to President George Washington. Read the following excerpt from the letter and write an essay that analyzes how Banneker uses rhetorical strategies to argue against slavery.
____________________________________ 2009 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) The two passages below, both written by noted contemporary scientist Edward O. Wilson, appear in Wilson’s book The Future of Life (2002). In the passages, Wilson satirizes the language of two groups that hold opposing attitudes about environmentalism. Read each passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Wilson’satire illustrates the unproductive nature of such discussions.
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2008 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research.
____________________________________ 2007 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) In the passage below from Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, Scott Russell Sanders responds to an essay by Salman Rushdie, a writer who left his native India for England. Rushdie describes the “effect of mass migrations” as being “the creation of radically new types of human being: people who root themselves in ideas rather than places.” Read the Sanders passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the strategies Sanders uses to develop his perspective about moving.
____________________________________ 2006 AP
Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) The passage below is an excerpt from “On the Want of Money,” an essay written by nineteenth-century author William Hazlitt. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Hazlitt uses to develop his position about money.
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2005 AP Question 2 (Suggested time — 40 minutes. This question counts one-third of the total essay section score.) The following article is a mock press release from The Onion, a publication devoted to humor and satire. Read the article carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the strategies used in the article to satirize how products are marketed to consumers.