how to write a thesis statement in ap lit

How to Encourage Students to Master the AP Lit Thesis

• December 1, 2021
• AP Literature , Writing

For years, I have used a Poem of the Week as part of my poetry instruction in AP Literature .  Last year, because the pandemic resulted in hybrid instruction and only 50% (or fewer) of my kids were in class at a time, I wanted to be sure that I put some significant emphasis on AP Lit thesis writing.

As part of our weekly poem study, the Friday prompt became an AP-style poetry essay prompt.  Students only needed to write a thesis.  And early in the year, it became evident that our thesis statements needed work.

AP Literature Thesis Statements and “The Point”

When the College Board came out with the new rubrics in 2019, they set aside a point that is designated for the thesis.  It’s one point and students either get it or they don’t.  And truthfully, it is not that hard to “get” the point.  Students must simply “provide a defensible interpretation in response to the prompt” which could be supported by the text (for more, see AP Central).  So in other words, students must be able to find *something* in the text that they can write about beyond a summary.

Early on, I observed two things: 1. Not all AP Lit thesis statement are created equal (even if they do earn the point) and 2.  Students needed help moving from making a base claim to making a strong claims that lead to better analysis later in the essay.

AP Lit Thesis Starting Points

At the beginning of the year, my kids were writing things like

• The author uses metaphors to reveal that life gives you new, and endless opportunities each and every day. 
• Merriam’s use of her metaphor for a new day in “Metaphor” reveals her positive outlook on life.
• eve marriam’s use of metaphor shows that she feels that every day is new day to write your own story.
• Love can cause pain
• Lowell uses diction and figurative language to show her intimate and spiritual connection to her partner in the poem
• Through Lowell’s uses of poetic elements and techniques, she’s able to carefully convert the speaker’s complex relationship with whoever they’re addressing. 

While indeed some of these would earn the thesis point, they do no convey the depth that a good, strong AP Lit thesis will.  We want students to address the complexity of the text and these just don’t cut it. 

The Issue of Complexity

So the first step in helping students to develop a strong thesis is to get beyond just repeating the topic with a few elements of author’s craft thrown in.  They have to be sure that they are fully addressing the complexity of the topic highlighted by the task.

The first set of thesis statements above go with Eve Merriam’s poem “Metaphor.”   This is my favorite poem to start the school year with because it reflects where we are.  Each school year is also like a “new sheet of paper.”

We spend the week discussing the poem ( My daily prompts are available here. ) Then on Friday, I present students with the following prompt:

In Eve Merriam’s poem “Metaphor” (1986), the speaker portrays the blankness of a new day.  In a well written essay, analyze how Merriam uses poetic elements and techniques to convey the speaker’s complex attitude toward life.

And while all of the above thesis statements DO say something about her attitude toward life, none of them get to how it is complex.  So the first step is to get students thinking about contrasts within the poem and other elements that help add to the depth of the text.  A good way to do this might be through the Interstate, Microscope and Compass Technique from Gina at Lit and More.

AP® Lit Literary Argument

Once students see complexity in a text, they can move into developing a more complex AP® literature thesis statement. 

It is also important to remind them that the College Board calls these essays “literary argument.”  And an argument is by definition something that has two sides.  When we teach argument writing to our English 11 students in preparation for the New York State English Regents we encourage them to include the counterargument in their thesis.  And although a literary argument doesn’t necessarily have a counterargument, it should have two sides.  In other words, complexity.

In these early stages, it is sometimes useful to give the students complexity starters that they can use as the basis of their thesis statements.  This is a list that I provide to my students:

• even though x, y is also true
• not only j, but also k
• although d, also e
• nevertheless
• notwithstanding
• in contrast

This list along with other helpful tips on writing AP Literature Thesis Statements is included in my AP Thesis Anchor charts here .

AP® Lit Thesis Examples

As we work through the year, thesis statements that once read “love can cause pain” become 

“Even though Edith Matilda Thomas’s poem entitled “Winter Sleep” appears to be a simplistic take about growing old she also uses poetic elements such as symbolism, diction, and parallel structure to convey a complex attitude towards aging as she looks back on her life.” 

“Although the speaker is reflecting on the spring-like happiness of her youth, she understands that death is coming as she moves into the metaphorical winter of her life due to her old age.”

Building on Complexity

The key to helping students earn the thesis point on the AP Literature Rubric is to help them understand that they are writing a literary argument and that an argument by its very nature has two sides or two part.  Then include both of those sides in your thesis.

For more help in AP Lit Writing, be sure to check out these other AP Lit Essay Writing Anchor Charts.  

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Is there a way to get working links. Both the link to the poem and the link to the daily prompts are both broken and give an error message when clicked.

Thank you for bringing that to my attention. These links are fixed now.

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing? 

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples 

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay 

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer,  conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well? 

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis 

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

• Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
• Is specific and precise in its use of language
• Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out 

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

• Choose your evidence first
• Develop your commentary about the evidence
• Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary 

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

• Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
• Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

• Autumn dismantles Summer
• “Stray through stubble fields”
• Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

• Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
• Bright imagery/fallen leaves
• Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
• But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis 

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph 

In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is “romantic imagery” and the second is “hyperbolic imagery.” The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion 

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication 

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

• Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
• Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
• Oversimplifying your interpretation
• Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, she’s held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany’s work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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Seeking sophistication (in an ap lit essay).

Susan’s note: This post is written by  Adrian Nester   who put some thoughts on paper after the pilot reading. I have added a few ideas which are in italics and a teaching point for each path. Before launching into this, I want this sophisticated point (haha) to guide your approach to Row C in the classroom:  Do not worry   about the sophistication point.  Whether they get it or not is a non-issue to me. Of course I want them to do well on the exam and want to prepare them as best as I can, but I will not let myself stress out about it. Nor should you. Teach your students to write essays that explore tensions and complexities within a text, interpret a text within broader contexts, accounts for alternative interpretations, and uses a vivid and persuasive style. If we are teaching these things, our students will not only be prepared for the exam but will more importantly be prepared for future academic writing. My apologies – this was more than one point ;  this is pretty much like a day in my class.

(This post was originally published on APLitHelp.com in February of 2020).

The sophistication point…ah, the pesky sophistication point…do teachers even need to worry about it? Are only the best writers going to get this point? Is trying to teach sophisticated writing a futile effort? Well, honestly, who knows how many sophistication points will be earned on the exam in May, but there do seem to be several entry points to understanding the sophistication point a little more. 

One thing is for sure, to receive the sophistication point, the students have to fully do the work for the reader. It would be hard to get the sophistication point if a writer starts with one thesis and then has a shift in focus to another thesis/claim. This could be an example of the 1-4-0 type of score.

There are four enumerated ways to earn the sophistication point. 

1.  Identifying and exploring complexities or tensions within the poem/passage. 

Paradox, juxtaposition, and irony all seem to be possible vehicles to seeing complexities and tensions in a work. If a student is able to find one of the tensions in a work and fully unpack it they could be on their way to the sophistication point. 

Teachers may want to scaffold students to seeing more complexities and tensions in a work by asking: How does the title/epigraph/last line/shift/etc. complicate the meaning of the text?

This path is the one I struggle with on the sophistication point because a prompt typically asks students to address the complexities within the text. So if students are fully doing this to answer the prompt, does that not fulfill the complexity point? I’ve really got nothing on this path to sophistication and am eager to see more examples of this path at the reading this summer. (I may be wrong because the pilot reading was so fast, but I don’t think I saw any samples for sophistication for this path but am very likely wrong about this). 

Even though we were REPEATEDLY told to go back to the rubric to justify our decisions which we were all very committed to doing, I think this is the type of analysis that when I read it, I want to tell that student, “Just keep doing this and I’m going to stay out of your way.” Or maybe I should say, “ Would you like to teach me how to write?”

My advice may be frustrating for you: look at the samples on  the exam page . that were awarded the sophistication point for exploring complexities and tensions.

• Question 1 – Sample J
• Question 2 – Sample E maybe (wording on this is unclear)
• Question 3 – Sample I
• Question 1 – Sample HH, Sample OO
• Question 2 – Sample GG
• Question 3 – Sample DD, Sample J

Teaching Point: Encourage students to use transitions such as: however, even though, consequently, at the same time, nevertheless, alternatively, in contrast, etc. These words position students to explore complexities and tensions within a passion.

2.  Illuminating the student’s interpretation by situating it within a broader content.

A broad sweeping cliche dropped in at the beginning of a response, such as “since the beginning of time,” is not going to do it here. Random historical references also go in this category. Just because a poem was published in (insert significant historical year) does not necessarily mean that placing it in this historical broader context will work. The context has to “fit”. 

The context must work “in service to” the student’s argument that is developed and sustained throughout. 

The main point about the next three pathways (all of the pathways really) is the additional note at the bottom of the rubric. It reads: “This point should be awarded only if the sophistication of thought or complex understanding is part of the student’s argument, not merely a phrase or reference.” The broader context, alternative interpretations, and vivid and persuasive writing is  part of the student’s argument  (emphasis mine) and not two or three sentences sprinkled throughout or do not advance the argument. 

My students recently wrote on  Under the Feet of Jesus, and I awarded the sophistication point to Sample CC  below. I’ve highlighted the parts of the essay which I thought aided this student getting the point. 

Under the Feet of Jesus  sample –  sophistication with broader context

Teaching Point: Applying different lens from literary criticism is a good way for students to begin to explore works within a broader context.

3 . Accounting for alternative interpretations of the poem. 

Not staking a claim (“The poem could mean this…or maybe that…”) is not the same as accounting for alternative interpretations. 

Well done alternative interpretations will often use conditional language that acknowledges other interpretations while continuing to make a stand. This could sound something like “Some people may see The Landlady as _____________; however, ____________.” or “Perhaps the unnamed landlady __________________.”

There are many rooms in the house of right, but there are some definite wrongs. If an interpretation can be defended with multiple examples throughout the text, it’s most likely valid. If an interpretation is based on a “feeling” that can’t be supported in the text or an interpretation based on one phrase in the text, it’s most likely  garbage  not valid.

Teaching Point: Silent discussions are a great way for students to explore other students’ thoughts and interpretations of a text.

4. Employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive. 

Well, you are on your own teaching this…but I think I know for sure that just using the word “titular” one time in the opening paragraph is not going to do it. (Please don’t take this off your SAT prep list, but readers grew amused at just how many students used this on “The Landlady” as well as so many Q3 responses.)

‘Consistently’ really seems to be a keyword in this point.

These essays are few and far between, and when I read them, I am always amazed at what a student can do on a cold read in 40 minutes. See Sample AA from Under the Feet of Jesus below where I awarded the sophistication point for vivid and persuasive writing.  

Teaching Point: Have students experiment with using figurative language in their writing; this when used consistently – in my humble opinion – makes for vivid writing.

Under the Feet of Jesus  sample –  sophistication through vivid and persuasive writing

At six-years-old  Adrian Nester’s  oldest son was asked to describe what she likes to do for a Mother’s Day project. His response: drink water and grade papers and both of these things are true. Adrian has just completed her 16th year as an educator, but instead of doing the “same-old-thing”, she is ready to throw out the playbook. While Adrian is not drinking water and grading papers, she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, reading, and playing sports. Read more about Adrian’s journey on her blog  The Learning Curve.

Susan Barber  teaches at Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to reading, writing, and investing in the next generation, she loves watching college football with her family especially when Alabama is playing.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing an ap lit literary argument essay: what are the key elements.

Hi! I'm taking AP Lit this year and I need some help with the literary argument essay. Can someone give me some guidance on the key elements I need to include, like thesis statement, evidence, structure, etc., to have a strong essay? Thank you so much!

Hey! Here are some key elements to include in your essay for a strong result:

1. Introduction: Start with a hook to engage the reader. Introduce the work you'll be discussing (including the title and author). Provide any necessary context or background info.

2. Thesis statement: In a clear, concise sentence, state your overall argument or claim. This should appear towards the end of your introduction.

3. Body paragraphs: In each body paragraph, present a specific point that supports your thesis. Begin with a topic sentence, provide textual evidence (like quotes), and then analyze the significance of that evidence. Make sure to connect each point back to your thesis.

4. Structure: Make sure your essay follows a logical structure. Each paragraph should flow smoothly into the next, and your ideas should be organized in a coherent manner.

5. Conclusion: Restate your thesis (in slightly different words) and summarize your main points. Finish your essay with a final thought that connects your argument to a broader context or theme.

Good luck with your essay, and I hope this helps!

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