AP English Language and Composition

1. Who is talking, to whom, and why now?

Learning goal: Read the rhetorical situation before naming a single technique.

A rhetorical situation is the set of conditions that make a text what it is: who is speaking, who is meant to read it, what the writer wants to happen, and the moment that pushed the writer to write. AP English Language builds its first skill category, Rhetorical Situation - Reading, on this idea, and the Course and Exam Description (CED) gives that category 11-14% of the multiple-choice weighting.

Beginners often jump straight to "the author uses imagery." That skips the question the technique answers. Imagery for whom, and to make them do or think what? The 2025 Chief Reader report for the rhetorical analysis question says some stronger responses read the situation even though the passage had no obvious audience, and it recommends annotating what the prompt itself reveals about the situation.

Try it on an original case. A parks department posts a sign: "The east path closes Monday for repair. The west path stays open and adds about four minutes." The speaker is an institution, the audience is regular walkers, the purpose is to keep them calm and moving, and the context is a repair they did not choose. Notice that the sign tells walkers how long the detour is. That detail is a choice made for a reader who is deciding whether to be annoyed.

Say the situation in one sentence before you write: "A parks department tells walkers about a closure, so it stresses the short detour to keep them cooperative." That sentence is not your thesis, but it gives every later claim something to answer to.

Worked example

Read this original line from a campus newsletter: "Because the library roof leaks, the quiet floor moves to the annex until April." Describe the situation.

1. Name the speaker: a campus office speaking for the library.
2. Name the audience: students who use the quiet floor and must change habits.
3. Name the exigence: the roof leak forced a move.
4. Combine them: the notice states the cause first so students accept a temporary inconvenience.

Mental model: Say speaker, audience, purpose and context in one sentence before you analyze anything.

Common trap: Treating the person who benefits as the audience when the text is asking someone else to act.

2. The thesis that refuses to echo the prompt

Learning goal: Write a thesis that takes a defensible position instead of repeating the question.

Row A of the free-response rubric is one point for a thesis that presents a defensible position. The CED scoring notes say that a thesis which only restates the prompt, summarizes an issue with no claim, or does not respond to the prompt does not earn that point. A response that says "some say it is good, some say it is bad" is also treated as lacking a position.

The 2025 Chief Reader report describes weaker rhetorical analysis theses that repeated information from the prompt and oversimplified the writer's argument. It contrasts these with layered theses that named the writer's choices and tied them to purpose. The report also notes that many Question 3 responses gave a general thesis such as "extremely valid" without a consistent meaning behind the words.

Test your draft with a doubt question: could a reasonable reader disagree with this? "The speaker uses facts" cannot be argued with, so it is a label. "The speaker uses a repair schedule to turn a complaint into planning" can be argued with, and it forces you to find evidence.

A thesis can be one sentence or two. What matters is that the claim is specific, responds to the task, and leaves room to build a line of reasoning across paragraphs.

Try the doubt test on an invented prompt about a school's phone policy. Echo thesis: "The writer argues about phones in school." Defensible thesis: "By pairing a teacher's frustrated tone with a quiet list of small distractions, the writer persuades parents that the problem is attention, not discipline." The second names choices, links them to a purpose and could be doubted by a reader. Draft yours, then ask whether a thoughtful person could disagree.

Worked example

Prompt: Evaluate how far social media improves friendship. Improve the thesis "Social media has positive and negative effects on friendship."

1. Notice there is no position, only a balance statement.
2. Choose a side with limits: it helps friends stay close across distance.
3. Add the cost: it weakens new friendships built on shared time.
4. Result: Social media sustains existing friendships better than it creates new ones, because it keeps contact easy but cannot replace shared experience.

Mental model: A thesis is a claim someone could argue against.

Common trap: Mistaking a balanced summary for a position.

3. Evidence is a word you can point to

Learning goal: Replace general statements with specific words and details that support a claim.

Evidence on the AP exam means specific words, details or examples that a reader could point to. The 2025 Chief Reader report gives a clear contrast for rhetorical analysis. A weaker response said the author "paints this serene painting" of what being Native American is like, which is a broad statement. A stronger response quoted a specific comparison to apple pie, baseball and muscle cars and then explained what it did.

General evidence is hard to use because the commentary has nothing to hold on to. If your evidence is "he uses imagery," you can only say "imagery is effective." If your evidence is a phrase about a cracked porch step, you can ask why that detail and not another.

Paraphrase and summary are acceptable evidence when they are precise. On the synthesis question the CED says sources may be indicated through direct quotation, paraphrase or summary. The test is not quotation marks. The test is whether the reader can find the exact spot you mean.

When you revise, underline each vague phrase such as "emotional language" or "strong imagery" and replace it with the word, detail or example it refers to.

Practice a replacement drill on an invented passage about a cafe. Weak: "The writer uses vivid imagery." Specific: "The writer lists the chipped mugs, the humming fridge and the damp coats by the door." Now ask the follow-up that evidence invites: why these details, and what feeling do they build? Your answer might be that the clutter makes the cafe feel lived in and welcoming. Do this with three vague phrases from your own practice essays. Each swap gives you something concrete to analyze, and each analysis becomes a sentence of real commentary.

Worked example

Improve: "The speaker uses emotional language to persuade."

1. Find the emotional words: "stolen summers" and "borrowed time."
2. Choose one phrase: "stolen summers."
3. Say what it does: it casts closure as theft, so readers become the victims.
4. New sentence: By calling the closure "stolen summers," the speaker frames readers as victims, which invites outrage instead of calm discussion.

Mental model: Evidence is what a reader could point to.

Common trap: Believing that more adjectives mean more evidence.

4. Commentary is the sentence that does the work

Learning goal: Explain how evidence supports a claim, not just that it does.

Commentary is your explanation of how evidence supports your claim. It is the difference between a quotation dropped into a paragraph and an argument. The 2025 Chief Reader report on synthesis says students who failed to integrate text information often summarized sources without analysis, quoted without introducing or explaining them, or mentioned them briefly without explanation.

Row B of the rubric covers evidence and commentary together, for up to four points. The CED descriptors for the upper levels require specific evidence supporting all claims in a line of reasoning and explanation of how that evidence supports the reasoning. You can score high only if both halves exist.

A reliable habit is to pick a verb of function. Instead of "shows," try frames, narrows, softens, shifts, or contrasts. "The list of repairs softens an expensive request" gives a reader something to check. "The list shows the cost" does not.

Chain your commentary until it touches the thesis. If your paragraph claim is about trust and your thesis is about cooperation, the last sentence should say how trust produces cooperation.

Upgrade a weak commentary sentence in two passes. Draft: "The quotation shows that she cares." First pass, use a verb of function: "The quotation softens the request by starting with thanks." Second pass, tie it to the claim: "By starting with thanks, she lowers the reader's guard, which supports the claim that the letter aims to persuade without confrontation." Notice that the second pass touches the thesis. Practice by taking any paragraph you wrote and making the last sentence name the thesis idea directly, in your own words and without copying it.

Worked example

Write commentary for: The sign says "closed for repair, reopening Monday."

1. Pick the detail: a firm reopening date.
2. Choose a verb: it reassures.
3. State the effect: walkers see the closure as temporary.
4. Link: temporary closures make cooperation easier to ask for.

Mental model: Evidence needs a sentence that says how it works.

Common trap: Believing a quotation explains itself.

5. Sources in conversation, not in a list

Learning goal: Combine at least three sources into one line of reasoning.

The synthesis question gives six sources organized around a topic. Two are visual, including at least one quantitative source, and the rest are text excerpts. The CED asks you to synthesize material from at least three of them and develop your own position. Synthesis is not a book report. It is building a new argument from several voices.

The 2025 Chief Reader report on the space debris question says successful responses used a variety of sources, acknowledged complexity, and included evidence from at least one source in every body paragraph. It also says students often confuse synthesis with summary unless they understand the goal: a thoughtful, original response.

Write relationships, not reports. "Source A says costs rise; Source B says cooperation is hard" is a list. "Source A's rising costs make Source B's call for cooperation urgent" is synthesis, because the verb "make" asserts a relationship.

Cite clearly. The CED allows "Source A" or a short description in parentheses. Make sure a reader could tell exactly which source supports which claim.

Practice with three invented sources on a town's bike lanes: a chart of crash counts, a resident's letter and a business owner's statement. A list says what each source reports. A synthesis says: "The crash chart supports the resident's safety concern, but the business owner's worry about parking complicates the choice, so the town should add lanes where traffic is heaviest and keep parking elsewhere." Each source has a job in the argument, and your position goes beyond them. Check each body paragraph for at least one source and one claim of your own.

Worked example

Combine: Source A says fuel costs rose; Source B says cities want cleaner buses. Write one synthesis sentence.

1. Find the relationship: rising fuel cost gives cities a financial reason.
2. Choose a verb: strengthens.
3. Add your stance: cities should buy electric buses.
4. Sentence: Source A's fuel costs strengthen Source B's push for cleaner buses, so cities should prefer electric models.

Mental model: Synthesis states how sources relate.

Common trap: Treating "synthesize" as "summarize each in turn."

6. Say what your big word means

Learning goal: Fix the meaning of a key term so your evidence can prove something.

Argument prompts often hand you a slogan: "embrace the present moment," "success," "freedom." The 2025 Chief Reader report on the argument question says weaker responses failed to establish what "living in the moment" meant, wrote general theses such as "extremely valid," and then could not connect specific evidence to the claim.

It also says stronger responses did not always define the phrase in the thesis, but their explanations treated it as one consistent thing, such as focusing on immediate surroundings or not being distracted by the opinions of others. Some explored more than one meaning and showed how the meaning shifted.

The fix is cheap. Before writing, finish this sentence: "By ___, I mean ___." Then check whether each piece of evidence fits that meaning. A story about someone who ignored critics fits "not distracted by opinions" but not "paying attention to the room."

Do not let a definition become a dictionary quote. Your definition is a working tool for your argument. One clause is enough.

Practice with the sentence "By ___, I mean ___" on three invented slogans. "Success": by success, I mean meeting goals I set myself. "Freedom": by freedom, I mean the ability to choose among real options. "Community": by community, I mean people who depend on one another locally. Then test a piece of evidence against each definition. A story about winning a trophy fits an external measure of success but not a self-set goal. Seeing the mismatch before writing prevents the floating key term problem and keeps your reasoning consistent.

Worked example

Prompt: "Take risks." Pin the term and test the evidence "Dana quit her job to start a bakery."

1. Pin one meaning: risk means giving up a sure thing for an uncertain goal.
2. Test the evidence: Dana gave up a sure job, so it fits.
3. Test a second example: a student guesses on a quiz. It does not give up much, so it fits weakly.
4. Decide: use Dana as main evidence and drop the quiz guess.

Mental model: Pin a meaning, then test every piece of evidence against it.

Common trap: Writing a large word and hoping readers share your meaning.

7. Stories, stars and what-ifs

Learning goal: Choose evidence types and explain their causal mechanism.

The argument question allows many kinds of evidence. The 2025 Chief Reader report says many responses leaned on personal experience and sports. It adds that anecdotes were most successful when students identified the specific impact of an experience and explained the causal mechanism growing out of the specific context.

The same report says examples from national figures worked when students related specific details of the person's narrative and explained what and how it demonstrated the claim, or a counter to it. Strong hypotheticals were grounded in specific observations about human nature and society. Imaginative texts such as novels and films worked when specific elements and causal relationships were integrated into the line of reasoning.

In every case, the habit is the same: say what happened, then say why that event produces that outcome. "A star athlete lost focus" is a headline. "She watched the scoreboard instead of the ball, so her serve slowed" is a mechanism.

Choose evidence you can explain in detail. A modest personal story you know completely beats a famous example you only half remember.

Convert two headline-style sentences into mechanisms. Headline: "Practice made me a better writer." Mechanism: "Rewriting one paragraph each day forced me to cut vague phrases, so my essays became more direct." Headline: "The leader inspired people." Mechanism: "By admitting a mistake in public, the leader showed that honesty was safe, which led others to report problems early." In both, a specific action leads to a specific result. When you choose evidence, write the because chain before you commit, and drop examples you cannot explain in two or three sentences.

Worked example

Claim: Practice matters more than talent. Evidence: "My cousin got better at piano." Improve it.

1. Find the missing detail: what she practiced and for how long.
2. Add the event: she rehearsed one hard passage for ten minutes every evening.
3. Add the cause: the repetition made the passage automatic.
4. Link to the claim: talent did not change, practice did.

Mental model: Name the event, then the cause that links it to the claim.

Common trap: Using an impressive example that you cannot explain in detail.

8. Counterargument without the bolt

Learning goal: Fold objections into the reasoning instead of attaching them.

Many students learn a formula: add a paragraph that begins "Some people say." The 2025 Chief Reader report describes weaker responses that made a weak attempt at counterargument in an isolated way, then repeated their view and dismissed the objection with minimal explanation.

The report also says stronger responses did not always include an explicit counterargument. They integrated anticipated objections into a broader paragraph on a specific claim, or avoided a binary position. One strong response specified that living in the moment was one aspect of keeping a positive mindset and clarified what was decisive.

Treat a counterargument as pressure that sharpens your claim. If a reasonable reader would object, say what part of the claim survives. "Homework should be capped" faces the objection "some students need practice," so you refine: cap it for most classes and allow optional practice.

A concession is not weakness. Conceding a limit and then defending the core claim shows control, and it gives you a more precise position.

Practice integrating an objection. Claim: schools should start later in the morning. Objection: later starts disrupt after-school jobs and sports. Refined claim: schools should start later, with flexible after-school schedules where jobs and teams need them. The objection did not vanish, but it made the claim more exact. Write the objection as pressure on one specific part of your thesis, and then say which part holds up and which part you change. This approach reads as thoughtful instead of formulaic and does not need a separate paragraph beginning "Some people say."

Worked example

Claim: Schools should end all homework. Weave in the best objection.

1. Find the strongest objection: students need practice for skills such as math.
2. Concede the true part: practice helps retention.
3. Separate the issue: nightly worksheets are not the only practice.
4. Refine: replace nightly worksheets with short in-class practice and optional extras.

Mental model: Use the objection to sharpen the claim.

Common trap: Believing every essay needs a separate "other side" paragraph.

9. Complexity is not a decorative sentence

Learning goal: Earn the sophistication point by making complexity part of the argument.

Row C is one point. The CED rubric says it is awarded for demonstrating sophistication of thought or a complex understanding of the rhetorical situation or issue, and it adds that the point should be awarded only if the complexity is part of the student's argument, not merely a phrase or reference.

That rules out a closing line such as "this issue is complicated." Complexity must change what you say. The 2025 Literature report names common paths to this point, and the same ideas apply here: explore tensions, place the thesis in a broader context, or consider alternatives. In argument, the Language report praises responses that did not reduce the topic to a simple solution and that explored conflicting benefits.

Try a tension question: what is true about the opposite view, and how does my claim survive it? Then write that tension into your thesis or a body paragraph, with evidence.

Do not hunt for complexity at the end. Sophistication usually appears as a sustained habit: precise terms, honest limits, and reasoning that explains why one factor outranks another.

Practice with an invented thesis: "Social media harms friendships." Add a tension: it also helps distant friends stay in touch. Revised thesis: "Social media weakens close friendships by replacing conversation with quick reactions, even though it helps distant friends stay in touch." The revision makes the complexity part of the claim and shows which factor outweighs the other. Then write one body paragraph that uses a specific example to defend the main claim and acknowledge the benefit. Avoid ending with a vague sentence about complexity. The point of the exercise is to let the tension change what you argue.

Worked example

Thesis: Cities should add bike lanes. Add complexity that changes the claim.

1. Name a tension: lanes help safety but remove parking.
2. Check who bears the cost: small shops.
3. Decide: prioritize lanes on streets with crash history.
4. Revised thesis: Cities should add bike lanes first where crashes cluster, because safety gains outweigh parking loss there but not everywhere.

Mental model: Sophistication changes the argument.

Common trap: Adding a complexity phrase at the end.

10. Read the score map without over-reading it

Learning goal: Use real exam facts to plan your preparation without treating averages as predictions.

The CED says the exam is 3 hours 15 minutes with 45 multiple-choice questions (45% of the score) and three free-response questions (55%). The free-response section includes a 15-minute reading period. The three essays are synthesis, rhetorical analysis and argument, each scored out of 6.

The 2025 Chief Reader report gives these facts for English Language: 617,689 students were scored, 3,121 readers took part, and the global mean was 3.19 on the 1-5 exam score scale. The mean scores by question were 3.45 for synthesis, 3.30 for rhetorical analysis and 3.64 for argument. They are useful context, not a ranking of how hard each essay will be for you.

Use the report as a list of habits rather than predictions. The report names these gaps again and again: restating prompts, general evidence, missing commentary, floating key terms and isolated counterarguments. Each of those matches a lesson in this module.

Plan by essay type. For rhetorical analysis, spend your first minutes on situation and choices. For argument, pin the key term. For synthesis, choose three sources that talk to each other. In every case, spend time on the line of reasoning, because that is the pattern across all three questions.

Turn the facts into a practical plan using the stated timing. The total exam time is 3 hours 15 minutes, which includes a 15-minute reading period for the free-response section. In a practice session, mark the first minutes of each essay for planning: situation and choices for rhetorical analysis, a key term for argument and a source map for synthesis. After each practice essay, check it against the five habits named above and write down which one you missed most. That list shows what to work on next. Avoid treating averages as predictions of your own score.

Worked example

You have 3 free-response essays, each scored 0-6. What is the maximum free-response score before weighting?

1. One essay has up to 6 points.
2. Three essays are scored.
3. Multiply: 3 x 6 = 18.
4. Remember the points are raw and are weighted into the exam by the College Board.

Mental model: Use means as context, not prediction.

Common trap: Treating a published mean as a forecast.

11. Three verbs that climb: Lincoln at Gettysburg

Learning goal: Analyze how word choice and repetition build a speaker's argument in a short passage.

Rhetorical analysis starts with the words on the page. The Library of Congress transcription of the Nicolay copy of the Gettysburg Address gives a passage that rewards slow reading: "But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow, this ground." Lincoln has just said that the audience has come to dedicate a portion of the battlefield. Now he denies that they can do it.

Look at the three verbs. Dedicate, consecrate and hallow are all about making a place sacred, and they rise in solemnity. The repetition of "we can not" three times in a row sets up a pattern of denial. Notice that the verb "dedicate" has already appeared earlier in the speech: the nation is "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal", the audience has come "to dedicate a portion" of the field, and Lincoln ends by urging that "we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us". The repeated root links the nation's founding, the cemetery and the audience's future work.

The next sentence supplies the reason. "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract." The speaker reduces the power of his own audience ("our poor power") and raises the soldiers' action. Then comes an antithesis: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here." Two clauses with parallel structure set "what we say" against "what they did".

To turn these observations into analysis, state the effect on the audience. Humbling the speaker and the crowd shifts attention to the soldiers and invites the audience to take up "the great task". Name the device, quote the smallest piece, and say what it does in this situation. Avoid lists such as "he uses repetition, antithesis and diction" without the quoted evidence.

Worked example

Write a two-sentence analysis of the clause "we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow, this ground" in its context.

1. Quote the evidence: the three verbs, each introduced by "we can not".
2. Name the device: repetition with rising solemnity, in a speech that has just said the audience came to dedicate the field.
3. Explain the effect: it denies the audience's power to make the ground sacred, so that the soldiers' action becomes the true source of its sacredness.
4. Link to purpose: this prepares the call that the living be "dedicated to the great task remaining".

Mental model: Quote the smallest piece of text, name the device and explain its effect in context.

Common trap: Listing devices without quotations or effects.

12. Even-handed grammar and a gentle ending

Learning goal: Track a shift in tone across a speech and explain how syntax creates it.

Tone is the speaker's attitude toward the subject and the audience, and it can change inside one text. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, delivered on March 4, 1865 and published by the National Park Service, shows a clear movement. The speech opens in a plain, modest voice: "there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first." He says that after four years of public declarations, "little that is new could be presented." The tone is reserved and deliberately small.

The middle of the speech looks back to 1861. One sentence stands out for its balance: "Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish." The grammar is parallel. Two clauses begin with "would", two end with a verb of survival or loss. The parallel structure sounds even-handed, but the verbs differ: one side would "make" war, the other would "accept" it. Parallelism carries a judgment about responsibility. A careful analysis notices both effects: the form is balanced and the word choice is not.

The closing sentence changes the tone again. "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds." The word "with" begins three clauses in a row, a series with anaphora, and the verbs that follow are about care and repair, such as "bind up". The tone moves from reserved to conciliatory.

When you analyze a shift, name the before and after, quote each, and say what causes the change. Do not claim a shift without evidence from two places in the text, and do not describe the tone with a single word such as "serious" when the passage shows movement.

Worked example

Explain in a short paragraph how the sentence "Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish" balances form and judgment.

1. Form: the clauses after "but" are parallel, each with "would" and "rather than let", which sounds even-handed.
2. Word choice: one side would "make" war and the other would "accept" it, which differs in agency.
3. Context: Lincoln is describing the origin of the war in 1861.
4. Effect: the sentence sounds fair but assigns responsibility for starting the war, which prepares the later call for charity without denying the cause.

Mental model: Tone shifts need two quotations, the change between them and the technique that causes it.

Common trap: Calling a whole speech by a single tone word.

13. Quote, name, explain: the commentary habit

Learning goal: Write a body paragraph in which each quotation is followed by its device and effect.

A body paragraph in a rhetorical analysis has a repeating pattern. State a claim about what the writer does, quote the evidence, name the technique, and explain the effect on the audience in the writer's situation. The pattern is short, and each step has a job. The claim says what you will prove. The quotation shows the reader the words. The name of the technique gives you a precise label. The effect links the technique to the purpose.

Here is a model using the Gettysburg Address. Claim: Lincoln lowers his own authority to raise the soldiers. Evidence: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here." Technique: antithesis in parallel clauses. Effect: the contrast between "say" and "did" makes the audience see that action outweighs speech, which supports his call to finish "the great task remaining".

Check three common problems. First, the quotation should be short. A long block makes the reader do the work. Quote the phrase that proves your point and paraphrase the rest. Second, a technique name without an effect is not analysis. "He uses antithesis" has no claim about meaning. Third, an effect without evidence is only opinion. If you say the tone is humble, point to the words "our poor power".

Also keep the time and place in mind. The audience stood at a battlefield cemetery in the middle of a war, so a statement about the limits of words had a specific force there. Link the effect to the occasion and the audience, because the rhetorical situation is what makes a technique work. Finish each paragraph with a sentence that ties back to your overall claim about the speech, not a repetition of the same words.

Worked example

Turn this weak sentence into a strong one: "Lincoln uses repetition."

1. Choose a quoted phrase: "we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow".
2. Name the technique precisely: repetition of "we can not" with three rising verbs.
3. Explain the effect: it denies the audience's power to make the ground sacred.
4. Tie to purpose: this shifts honor to the soldiers and prepares the call to take up "the great task".

Mental model: Claim, quotation, device, effect, tied to the occasion.

Common trap: Naming a technique without saying what it does.

14. From a list of devices to a defensible thesis

Learning goal: Replace a device list with a thesis that makes a claim someone could dispute.

A thesis for a rhetorical analysis must say something an informed reader could challenge. A common weak thesis only reports that the writer uses devices: "In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln uses repetition, antithesis and diction to convey his message." Nobody can dispute that sentence, and it does not tell the reader how the speech works.

A defensible thesis makes a claim about how the choices serve the purpose in the situation. For the Gettysburg Address, a stronger version might read: "By denying that the audience can consecrate the ground and crediting the soldiers instead, Lincoln turns a dedication ceremony into a call for the living to finish the nation's unfinished work." This names a strategy (denial and credit), connects to the occasion (a dedication) and states a purpose (a call to work). A reader could argue that the central strategy is something else, which is a sign of a real claim.

The parts of a good thesis are simple. State the writer's move, using verbs about what the writer does. Show how the move works, with the key strategy or contrast. Connect to purpose and audience. You do not need to list every device, and you should not promise more than the essay can prove.

Test your thesis in three ways. Could a smart classmate disagree? Does it contain a verb of action, not "uses"? Would your quotations from the text prove it? If the thesis fits many speeches, it is too general. If it mentions only one detail, it is too narrow. Revise until it is specific to this text and this occasion, then use it to decide which quotations deserve a body paragraph and which can be dropped.

Worked example

Revise the thesis "Lincoln uses repetition in the Second Inaugural" into a defensible claim using the closing sentence.

1. Find the pattern: three clauses begin with "with" in "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right".
2. Find the effect: the series moves the speech from explaining the war to a plan of repair.
3. Add purpose: it asks the audience to treat reconciliation as the next task.
4. Revised thesis: By ending in a rising series of "with" clauses, Lincoln shifts a speech about blame into a call for reconciliation.

Mental model: A defensible thesis names the writer's move, how it works and why it matters in the situation.

Common trap: Using a list of devices as a thesis.