UNIT 1: COMMUNICATING AN IDEA

Rhetorical Situation: The Writer’s Message
Queen Elizabeth II, History Will Remember Your Actions

Claims and Evidence: The Writer’s Claim
Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies

Reasoning and Organization: Narration and Description
Gary Soto, The Jacket

Language and Style: The Writer’s Tone
Trevor Noah, The World Doesn’t Love You

Putting it All Together: Modeled Text
Noah Spencer, Why I, a Heterosexual Teenage Boy Want to See More Men in Speedos (student writing)

Ideas in American Culture
Colonization and Exploration
William Bradford, from Of Plymouth Plantation
N. Scott Momaday, from The Way to Rainy Mountain

Faith and Doubt
Jonathan Edwards, from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Langston Hughes, Salvation

Composition Workshop: Writing a Narrative
Brighton Earley, Finding the Flexibility to Survive (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Creating a Message
Reasoning and Organization: Creating Unity
Claims and Evidence: Developing and Supporting a Thesis
Language and Style: Conveying an Attitude

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Rhetorical Analysis

Writing and Supporting a Defensible Thesis
Benjamin Franklin, from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, from The Danger of a Single Story

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 2: APPEALING TO AN AUDIENCE

Rhetorical Situation: Considering the Audience
Kamala Harris, I Will Not Be the Last

Claims and Evidence: Relevant and Sufficient Evidence
Steve Rushin, Give the Kids a Break

Reasoning and Organization: Persuasion
Tenzin Namgyak, Why Diversity Is Necessary for Democracy (student writing)

Language and Style: Syntactical Choices for Effect
George W. Bush, Address to Nation on September 20, 2001

Putting it All Together: Modeled Text
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Don’t Understand the Protests? What You Are Seeing Is People Pushed to the Edge

Ideas in American Culture

Reason and Revolution
Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Convention
Harvey Milk, You’ve Got to Have Hope

Patriotism and Democracy
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, Number 1
Donald Kagan, On Patriotism

Composition Workshop: Writing a Persuasive Argument

Kalindi Desai, Phones Create Barriers between Peers (student essay)

Claims and Evidence: Selecting Relevant Evidence

Rhetorical Situation: Appealing to an Audience

Reasoning and Organization: Developing a Line of Reasoning

Language and Style: Creating Emphasis Through Syntax

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Argument

Establishing a Line of Reasoning

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 3: UNDERSTANDING CONTEXT

Rhetorical Situation: The Rhetorical Context
William McRaven, Make Your Bed

Claims and Evidence: Sources of Evidence
Bryan Stevenson, Mockingbird Players

Reasoning and Organization: Exposition: Process Argument
J.J. Goode, Single-Handed Cooking

Language and Style: Transitions
Emma Chiu, Driving: Its Going Out of Style (student writing)

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Chris Daly, How the Lawyers Stole Winter

Ideas in American Culture
The Individual and Nature
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature
Rachel Carson, The Obligation to Endure

The Individual and Society
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
E.B. White, Walden

Composition Workshop: Writing a Process Argument

Alex Kucich, It’s Time for America to Start Feeling the Love for Ultimate Frisbee (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Establishing Context

Claims and Evidence: Establishing a Purpose

Reasoning and Organization: Explaining Relevance

Language and Style: Using Transitions

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Synthesis

Incorporating Evidence From Sources: Work Experience for Teens

Source A: Jessica Dickler, Why So Few Teenagers Have Jobs Anymore
Source B: Helen Thomson, Why Adolescents Put Themselves First
Source C: Abigail Hess, Young People Are Less Likely to Hold Summer Jobs Now—Heres What Theyre Doing Instead
Source D: Grace Chen, Should Public Schools Provide Students With Vocational Opportunities

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Wendell Berry, from The Agrarian Standard

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 4: ANALYZING PURPOSE

Rhetorical Situation: Multiple Purposes
Patrick Wang, Why We Should Teach the Truth about American History (student writing)

Claims and Evidence: Function of Evidence
Alyssa Biederman, Melina Walling, and Sarah Siock, Meet Gen Z Activists

Reasoning and Organization: Exposition: Definition Argument
Hector St. John Crevocoeur, What Is an American?

Language and Style: Eliminating Ambiguity
Amy Harmon, They Is the Word of the Year, Merriam-Webster Says, Noting Its Singular Rise

Putting it All Together: Modeled Text
Barack Obama, 2008 Election Victory Speech

Ideas in American Culture
Division and Unity
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman, from Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

Equality and Social Discontent
Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Barbara Kingsolver, #MeToo Isn’t Enough: Now Women Need to Get Ugly

Composition Workshop: Writing a Definition Argument

Zoie Taylore, Redefining Ladylike (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Connecting Audience and Purpose

Reasoning and Organization: Explaining Significance

Claims and Evidence: Selecting Purposeful Evidence

Language and Style: Eliminating Ambiguity

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Rhetorical Analysis

Writing Commentary
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Testimony before House Judiciary Committee

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Colin Powell, Address at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the US Diplomacy Center

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 5: CREATING COHERENCE

Rhetorical Situation: The Writer’s Exigence
PINK, MTV Video Music Awards Speech

Claims and Evidence: Unity and Coherence
Kendrick Lamar, He Was Telling a Different Kind of Truth Statement Dictated to Paper Magazine

Reasoning and Organization: Causal Arguments
Melena Ryzik, How Sesame Street Started a Musical Revolution

Language and Style: Syntax for Emphasis
Narain Dubey, Breaking the Blue Wall of Silence: Changing the Social Narrative about Policing in America (student writing)

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Madison Moore, Tina Theory: Notes on Fierceness

Ideas in American Culture
Place and Values
Mark Twain, from Life on the Mississippi
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, from Harlem is Nowhere

Opportunity and Oppression
Upton Sinclair, from The Jungle
J.D. Vance, from Hillbilly Elegy

Composition Workshop: Writing a Causal Argument

Keegan Lindell, Why I, a High School Football Player, Want to see Tackle Football Taken Away (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Writing an Introduction

Reasoning and Organization: Unifying an Argument

Claims and Evidence: Connecting Relevant Evidence

Language and Style: Using Subordination and Coordination

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Argument

Creating Unity and Coherence

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Corrie Ten Boom, from The Hiding Place

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 6: ESTABLISHING AND EVALUATING CREDIBILITY

Rhetorical Situation: The Writer’s Credibility
Tre Johnson, Black Superheroes Matter

Claims and Evidence: Strategic Evidence
Dan Barber, What Farm-to-Table Got Wrong

Reasoning and Organization: Exposition: Classification/Division Argument
Mindy Kaling, Women in Romantic Comedies Who Are Not Real

Language and Style: Precision of Language
Richard Wright, A Hunger for Books

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Greta Thunberg, Speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit

Ideas in American Culture
Endurance and Expression
William Faulkner, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
Lin Manuel Miranda, What Artists Can Do

Wealth and Poverty
Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth
Christian H. Cooper, Why Poverty Is Like a Disease

Composition Workshop: Writing a Classification/Division Argument

Josh C., A Massacre of Art (student model)

Claims and Evidence: Synthesizing Evidence

Reasoning and Organization: Arranging Reasons and Evidence

Rhetorical Situation: Establishing Credibility

Language and Style: Using Precise Diction

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Synthesis

Synthesizing Evidence from Sources: Citizen Journalism

Source A: Jason Tanz, Journalism Fights for Survival in the Post-Truth Era
Source B: Tony Rogers, Understanding Citizen Journalism
Source C: Chris Hogg, Is There Credibility in Citizen Journalism
Source D: Gracy Olmstead, Verifying Content on Facebook Is the User’s Responsibility
Source E: Pew Research Center, One-Sided and Inaccurate News Seen as the Biggest Problems with News on Social Media (infographic)
Source F: Gary Varvel, Excuse Me (cartoon)

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Franklin D. Roosevelt, The New Deal Speech

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 7: COMPARING PERSPECTIVES

Rhetorical Situation: Nuance, Complexity, and Contradictions
Ryan Kim, This is Us, It Has Always Been: The Myth of American Exceptionalism (student writing)

Claims and Evidence: Qualification and Concession
Tim Sprinkle, Do Robots Deserve Legal Rights?

Reasoning and Organization: Evaluation Comparison/Contrast Argument
Suzanne Britt, Neat People vs. Sloppy People

Language and Style: Syntax for Purpose
Colson Whitehead, The Loser Edit That Awaits Us All

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Tommy Orange, How Native American Is Native American Enough?

Ideas in American Culture
Identity and Identities
Ralph Ellison, from Hidden Name and Complex Fate
Durga Chew-Bose, Tan Lines

Justice and Civil Disobedience
Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail
Edward Snowden, Why I Became a Whistleblower

Composition Workshop: Writing an Evaluation Argument Using Comparison and Contrast

Riley Stevenson, Climate Activists Must Fight for System Change and Individual Change (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Introducing and Concluding an Argument

Reasoning and Organization: Connecting Reasons and Evidence

Claims and Evidence: Qualifying an Argument

Language and Style: Crafting Purposeful Syntax

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Rhetorical Analysis

Explaining Significance
Rosa Parks, Quiet Strength

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Natalie Goldberg, from Writing Down the Bones

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 8: EXPLAINING COMPLEXITIES

Rhetorical Situation: The Dynamic Rhetorical Situation

Preminda Jacob, Banksy and the Art of Destroying Art

Claims and Evidence: Counterarguments: Refutation and Rebuttal
Molly Ivins, Guns: Ban the Things. Ban Them All.

Reasoning and Organization: Evaluation: Problem/Solution Argument
Paul Jankowski, Are We So Connected That We’re Disconnected? Three Ways to Break through the Clutter

Language and Style: Identifying Contrast and Incongruity
Lydia Wei, Trendy Restaurant Menu (student writing)

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Kevin Roose, Dont Scoff at Influencers. Theyre Taking Over the World

Ideas in American Culture
Mind and Matter
Stephen Hawking, Questioning the Universe
Mary Roach, from Stiff

Criticism and Critique
Horace Miner, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
The Onion, Wealthy Teen Nearly Experiences Consequence

Composition Workshop: Writing an Evaluation Argument that Proposes a Solution

Walter Li, Self-Care Alone Will Not Fix The System (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Addressing Complexity

Reasoning and Organization: Justifying a claim

Claims and Evidence: Developing a Counterargument

Language and Style: Connecting with an Audience Through Stylistic Choices

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Argument

Acknowledging and Responding to Opposing Arguments

Multiple-Choice Questions: Reading
Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall

Multiple-Choice Questions: Writing

UNIT 9: JOINING THE CONVERSATION

Rhetorical Situation: Understanding the Rhetorical Situation
Dan Crensaw, Five Lessons That Veterans Can Teach Us

Claims and Evidence: Biases and Limitations of Evidence
Matthew S. Williams, Are Space Habitats the Wave of the Future

Organization and Development: Multimodal Arguments
John Barry, It’s All a Part of the Game

Language and Style: Voice and Complexity
Ingrid Marie Geerken, Once Upon a Falling October (student writing)

Putting It All Together: Modeled Text
Toni Morrison, Be Your Own Story

Ideas in American Culture
Truth and Consequences
Barbara Ehrenreich, In America, Only the Rich Can Afford to Write about Poverty
Scientific American, Truth in Journalism

Technology and Globalization
Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat
Fareed Zakaria, Everyone Seems to Agree, Globalization Is a Sin. Theyre Wrong

Composition Workshop: Writing a Multimodal Argument

Nati Duron, Quiet Confidence: Introverts and the Power of Silence (student model)

Rhetorical Situation: Acknowledging Multiple Perspectives

Reasoning and Organization: Unifying an Argument Across Multiple Methods of Development

Claims and Evidence: Synthesizing Evidence

Language and Style: Establishing a Voice

Preparing for the AP® Exam

Free-Response Question: Synthesis

Demonstrating Complexity: The Value of Liberal Arts
Source A: Lynn Pasquerella, Yes, Employers Do Value Liberal Arts Education
Source B: Robert Reich, A Four Year College Degree is Not Preparing People for Today’s Jobs
Source C: Daniel Bortz, Skills Employers Look For in College Graduates
Source D: Richard Vedder, Jonathan Robe, and Christopher Denhart, The Value of a College Degree is Diminishing Over Time
Source E: Association of American Colleges and Universities, Employer Research Supports High Impact Learning Practices (infographic)
Source F: Committee for Economic Development, Business Supporting College and Career Readiness (infographic)