Writing Mnemonics

Writing the AP Essay

The Truth

The prompt and text will give your essay its shape and direction.  That's it.  No tricks; no gimmicks.

You need to analyze (break into pieces, examine, then relate to the whole).  You need to frame your analysis in the terms appropriate to literary study (terms and rhetoric).  You need to point that analysis through those terms toward a greater meaning (usually the theme).


That said, there are literary terms and sequences of analysis that are common.  You should learn the first two and any others that you like. 

But, again--when you take the exam, begin with the prompt and the text.  Let it guide.  If your mnemonic fits well, great.  If not, that's fine.  The College Board wants you to write your own essay, not follow a recipe (be it TP-CASTT, the Shaffer model, or the five-paragraph form). 


Tricks and Gimmicks

1. My favorite: SOAPSTone (usual analysis reminders, especially for poetry)
(A general writing mnemonic)

• Subject
• Occasion
• Audience
• Purpose
• Speaker 
• Tone

2. SQUIDS (basic composition reminder)
(A reminder of the steps in the process of analysis and commentary)

• S = Select
• Q = Quotation: a specific line (or passage) from the text
• U = Understand
• I = Identify (explain, hold forth)
• D = Define/Describe/Deconstruct (tie to terms) its
• S = Significance

3. TP-CASTT Poetry Analysis (focusing on the shift)

• Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem
• Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words (this not part of the essay!)
• Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal
• Attitude: Observe both the speaker's and the poet's attitude (tone)
• Shifts: Note shifts in speakers and in attitudes 
• Devices that help readers discover shift:
  
• Key words (but, yet, however, although)
• Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis)
• Stanza or paragraph divisions
• Changes in line or stanza length, or both
• Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)
• Structure (how the work is written can affect its meaning)
• Changes in sound (may indicate changes in meaning)
• Changes in diction (ex: slang to formal language)
• Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level
• Theme: Determine what the poet is saying
  

4. DIDLSS (for elements of tone in prose)

• Diction: the connotation of the word choice 
• Consider the following when discussing diction (word choice).
• monosyllabic / polysyllabic
• colloquial / informal / formal
• denotative / connotative
• concrete / abstract
• euphonious / cacophonous
• Images: vivid appeals to understanding through the senses
• Details: facts that are included or omitted
• Language: the overall use of language, such as formal, clinical, jargon, slang
• Sentence Structure or Syntax: how structure affects the reader's attitude
• So what? 

5. STAARs

Aspect           Aspect seen in the example paragraph

Subject   --   the death of a moth

Thematic Subject   --   the author’s observation of a moth fighting to stay alive and its final death

Attitude   --   pensive, compassionate, solemn

Audience   --   educated people

Rhetorical Strategy --   diction: “pity” “helplessness” “animation” “extraordinary”

     Virginia Woolf’s philosophical essay “The Death of the Moth” pensively and compassionately describes the insignificant life of a moth and its struggle to beat a solemn death. In the essay, the author watches the “animation” of a moth and feels “pity” for its “helplessness” and its “extraordinary” struggle against death. The author’s word choice of “animation” creates a feeling of life and energy. It implies the moth living life to its fullest capacity within the boundaries that it has. The author feels “pity” for this moth, explain her benevolence and elevating the moth above humanity. She respects the moth’s hard struggle to stay alive which is something that most people are unaware of and find insignificant. The “extraordinary” struggle describes the remarkable and amazing fight the moth gives at the end, as death gets closer. This fills the author with compassion and respect. The essay describes the wonder of life and the unexpected events that change it and influence our views and emotions in our own lives.

6. SATTT
(For a narrative work)
Ask yourself these questions about what you have read.

• Setting: When and where is the event occurring? Could there be any symbolic significance to the author's choice of setting?
• Action: What is occurring in the passage? Why did the author choose those particular actions?
• Time: How much time elapses? How is the passage of time (if any) depicted? How is it significant to the text?
• Tone: What is the author's attitude toward the subject? What does that suggest about the author? The topic?
• Theme: What message is the author trying to convey? What lesson is being taught?
  

7. SMELL (AP Language)
(Analyzing persuasive texts or advertisements)

• Sender-receiver relationship
• Message
• Effect
• Logic
• Language

8. S.O.L.L.I.D.D. (Analyzing rhetorical elements & author’s style; AP Language)
Syntax: Sentence structure
Organization: The structure of sections within a passage and as a whole.Movement in the
passage between tones, ideas, defining literary/rhetorical strategies
Literary Devices: Metaphor, simile, personification, irony (situational, verbal and dramatic),
hyperbole, allusion, alliteration, etc.
Levels of Discourse: Cultural levels of language act, with attendant traits (does the
narrator’s voice represent a particular social, political, or cultural viewpoint or perspective?)
Imagery: Deliberate vivid appeal to the audience’s understanding through the five senses (visual,
auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)
Diction: Word choice and its denotative and connotative significance
Detail: Descriptive items selected for inclusion. Concrete aspects of the poem or passage. What is
included; what is omitted