Summer Homework, 2010

AP® English Language and Composition
Summer Assignment
Questions? Comment below!

Writing Assignment:
Craft an essay that provides your personal answer to the question “What is justice?” You may base your answer on your personal reading as well as events in the news and in your own life. You may consider other questions, such as who deserves justice? Who abdicates their right to justice? Who decides who deserves justice?

This paper is the foundation of this course, and will be revised several times over the year. Please word-process your paper, double-spaced, in a clear, easy to read 12-point font. This paper is due on the first day of class. Students who fail to complete this assignment will be dropped from the course.

Reading Assignment:
1. It is essential for good rhetoricians to be aware of the news of the day. Beginning on August 8th, I would like you to send me weekly e-mails tracking your engagement with the news media. I realize that many families take advantage of the summertime to travel, so consult with your family about your vacation schedule at the beginning of the summer. It is acceptable to begin this assignment early, but you may not end it late. I expect to receive four e-mails (in four different weeks) by the first day of school.

Your e-mails should include the following information:
a. What news stories are you following? What new news stories have caught your eye this week?
b. What sources are you using? Be specific here: give the name of the newspaper, website, blog, television, or radio programs you use to gather information. Feel free to consult multiple sources within a given week and to change sources from week to week. It will be informative to note different perspectives, voices, and approaches used by different media and different media outlets.
c. Who have you talked with about the news of the week? What have you learned from your conversations?

2. Read, or reread, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. As you read, consider Twain’s novel in terms of the two main focuses of this course: the theme of justice and acts of argumentation. Take notes regarding examples of injustice and justice served. Use those notes to track Twain’s arguments about justice (answering – among other questions - who, according to Twain, merits justice? Who is denied justice? How is justice promoted and injustice punished?). Pay particular attention to tone, diction, and the use of satire (the definition of satire can be found online or in any reliable dictionary). I recommend annotating each chapter for easy reference later. Please check out a copy from the OCHS Library so we can all reference the same page numbers.