Tip #2

How to Recognize Rhetorical Strategies

 
          AP Lang is as much a class about rhetoric, about making and understanding arguments, as any math class is about math, as any history class is about history. AP Lang. Is. Rhetoric. Understanding the rhetoric you read throughout the course, by different authors, is important for when you take the multiple choice portion of the exam at the end of the year, and being able to make your own rhetoric is important for when you write your essays as part of that exam. And an essential part of rhetoric is rhetorical strategies, so an essential part for understanding rhetoric is being able to recognize rhetorical strategies.
          If you can recognize the way that an author conveys his argument, you can often figure out what the author is arguing and why it is effective. Being able to recognize an author's rhetorical strategy can also help you answer many multiple choice questions that straight up ask you to identify how an author makes his argument. There are many reasons why having this skill is important for this course, but overall the skill simply helps you develop your own use of strategies, your own form of writing, and your own method of persuasion.
          And quite frankly, this knowledge is a tool that's easy to achieve. As you start out reading different documents, refer to your notes and handouts on the definitions of different rhetorical strategies; here is an extensive list of strategies and devices that you may use during your time in AP Lang. However, as your progress throughout the year, try to memorize as many terms as you can by studying the vocab; this will help you to easier sort through your "mental list" of different devices. By easily memorizing these terms before I read The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne I was able to much better understand Hawthorne's argument and purpose. This knowledge also helped me perform better on later assessments on the book.
          If you want to succeed in AP Lang, you must be able to recognize the rhetorical strategies of other authors. If you want to be able to recognize rhetorical strategies, you should make sure to memorize your terms and definitions. It really is simple, but you need to do it to succeed.