Chapter 9 The Essay

THE SAT ESSAY: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The SAT includes an optional rhetorical analysis essay. Your job is to read a text (typically a speech or editorial of some sort) and discuss how the author effectively builds an argument. This might be a familiar task if you’ve done it in school. If not, don’t worry. The format is straightforward, and with some practice, you can learn how to write a good SAT essay. In this chapter, you’ll look at the three tasks you’ll need to complete for the essay—reading, analysis, and writing—and you’ll learn how to approach each task in the most effective way possible.

THE “OPTIONAL” ESSAY

The Essay used to be a required part of the SAT Writing test, counting for about a third of the Writing score. Some colleges found the writing score to be helpful, while others did not, so when the College Board rolled out the new SAT, they made the Essay “optional.” The Essay score is now completely separate from your total score, so the essay has no effect on your 200–800 score. Notice how we’re using quotation marks whenever we say the Essay is “optional,” though? There’s a reason for that: you should consider the Essay to be optional for colleges, but not optional for you.

That’s because some schools require the Essay and others don’t, and you can’t take the Essay independently of the rest of the SAT. In other words, if you opt out of the Essay and later you realize you need it for your application, you must retake the entire SAT. So go ahead and write the Essay. You’ve already killed a Saturday morning and you’re sitting in the testing room. Just write it. Also, as we’ll show you in this chapter, it’s not so ridiculously challenging to prepare for the Essay that you’ll gain a lot of time from skipping it.

In short, the Essay can make your college application look more attractive. This score appears on every report you send to colleges. So regardless of whether the schools you apply to look at your essay, they’ll at least see that you took the initiative to write the Essay, which is a good thing.

YOUR ESSAY MISSION

The SAT provides you with 50 minutes in which to read a text and write a logical, well-constructed analysis of that text’s argument. The thing to remember here is that the College Board is not asking you for your opinion on a topic or a text. Your essay will be an objective analysis of a speech or argument.

Although the source material changes from test to test, the prompt tends to look something like this:

As you read the passage below, consider how the author uses

evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Write an essay in which you explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience that [author’s claim]. In your essay, analyze how [the author] uses one or more of the features listed above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of [his/her] argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant aspects of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how the author builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience.

In the Essay section, you will have to

carefully read a text.
understand how an author appeals to a reader’s logic, emotions, or morals.
write a logical analysis of an argument.
explain how style choices can affect an author’s persuasiveness.

In the Essay, you will NOT need to

give your opinion about a text.
memorize examples from history or literature.
have previous experience with the text.

Two graders will read and score the essay on a 1–4 scale in three different categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing.

4 = Advanced

3 = Proficient

2 = Partial

1 = Inadequate

Essay Scoring

Each category will receive a total score of 2–8, which is attained by adding the individual 1–4 scores from your two graders.) Each task (Reading, Analysis, and Writing) is scored individually, so a high score in one does not guarantee a high score in another. Your final Essay score will be displayed as x/y/z, in order, for the Reading, Analysis, and Writing domains.

TASK 1: READING

In order to write an essay that analyzes a source text, you must first read the text. Unlike with the Reading passages, there are no tricks to shorten your reading time or cut out pieces of the text. However, knowing what to look for as you read can help streamline the reading process and give you a good start on the second task of analysis.

According to the College Board, your Reading score will be based on your

comprehension of the source text.
understanding of central ideas, important details, and their relationship.
accuracy in representation of the source text (i.e., no errors of fact or interpretation introduced).
use of textual evidence (quotations, paraphrases, or both) to demonstrate understanding of the source text.

When you start the Essay task, the very first thing you have to do is read the text. Obvious, right? But reading for the Essay is more than just pleasure reading, where all you need to worry about is, say, whether Katniss is going to make it. As you read your Essay prompt, you need to consider the central idea (SOAPS) and important details that support that idea (types of appeals and style elements).

SOAPS—Like in the Tub?

SOAPS is an acronym to help you remember the five things you need to look for in order to establish the central idea of a passage or argument.

Speaker

Occasion

Audience

Purpose

Subject

Speaker: Who is speaking or writing?

Knowing whose voice you are reading is a very important part of understanding the text. It will help you understand the author’s motivations as well as the reason he or she is speaking or writing in the first place.

Qualifications

You should always consider what makes a person credible as an author; for instance, an avid vegetarian might have some bias in writing about the five foods you should never eat. However, on the SAT, you will never read something from an unqualified author.

Occasion: What happened that requires this speech or text?

The event that caused the author to want to express his or her thoughts is an integral part of analyzing the work. It might be as simple as the type of event in which the speech was given or it could be something larger such as a significant time in a war. You will need to think about the historical context of the text.

For instance, at a wedding, a minister is likely to be optimistic and cheerful; at a funeral, a minister is more likely to be solemn and comforting. The occasion makes all the difference. Taking note of the occasion will help you understand why the author uses a certain tone and what motivates it.

Audience: Who is the intended audience?

Considering your audience is critical when you are writing a speech. Therefore, it is critical that you consider who the author’s audience is in order to understand the text. What do you know about him or her? What’s the relationship between the speaker/author and the intended audience? What sort of values or prior ideas might the audience have? How might that affect their perception of the speaker/author?

For example, a principal is more likely to be more informal in tone with experienced teachers and provide less detailed information than with new teachers, with whom it’s important to make a good impression and establish a position of supportive authority. With new teachers, the principal will need to give clear information and perhaps repeat that information while filling them in on things that didn’t need to be said to the more experienced group.

Audience can entirely change a work! When reading your source text for the essay, make sure to consider who the audience is and how that affected the way in which the author built his or her argument.

Purpose: What is the author’s or speaker’s intention?

Occasion, Subject, and Audience all contribute to Purpose. What is the author trying to accomplish with this work? Is it an attack? Defense? Persuasion? Does it aim to give praise or blame? Is its goal to teach or is it something else?

Subject: What is the main idea?

Of course, you need to know what the work is about. What is the topic? What is the author’s main point? What are the main lines of reasoning used?

Appeals

A rhetorical appeal is a persuasive strategy that authors and speakers use to support their claims (or, in a debate, to respond to opposing arguments). When a speaker or author wants to convince an audience of something, there are three main types of rhetorical appeals that can be used.

Appeal to Credibility: “Why Should I Believe You?”

This is the author’s way of establishing trust with the audience. We tend to believe people whom we respect, and a good writer knows this! One of the central tasks of persuasion is to project an impression to the reader that the author is someone worth listening to, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect. Remember in SOAPS when we talked about the credibility of the speaker? This is how an author might use that to his or her benefit.

Appeal to Emotion: “Gee, That Made Me Feel All Warm and Fuzzy”

This is when the author tries to appeal to the reader’s emotions. This allows an author or speaker to connect with an audience by using fear, humor, happiness, disgust, and so on. Imagery and language choice are often big components of appeals to emotions.

Appeal to Logic: “Well, This Just Makes Sense!”

This connects with an audience’s reason or logic. This isn’t logic like the formal logic in math, philosophy, or even computer science; it is the consistency and clarity of an argument as well as the logic of evidence and reasons.

Once you find all the SOAPS points and examples of appeals, you’ve got what you need for the Reading task. Remember, for the Reading task, the College Board wants to see that you understand the text, can identify the central idea/theme of the text, and know how details and examples support that central idea.

TASK 2: ANALYSIS

Remember: a good score on one task does not guarantee a good score on another. Doing a good job explaining the main idea of the speech and the details that support that main idea will get you a good Reading score, but now we need to talk about the Analysis Task.

For the Analysis task, you’ll have to determine the pieces of evidence, stylistic elements, or logical reasoning the author uses to effectively achieve his or her objective.

According to the College Board, your Analysis score will be based on your ability to

analyze the source text and understand the analytical task.
evaluate the author’s use of evidence, reasoning, and/or stylistic and persuasive elements, and/or features chosen by the student.
support claims or points made in the response.
focus on features of the text most relevant to addressing the task.

For the second task, you will need to explain the author’s use of specific elements in the essay. It’s not enough to say, “The author uses a quote to appeal to the audience’s reason.” You have to explain how the quote appeals to the audience’s reason. This task is all about the how and why. Look for facts, evidence, literary devices, persuasive elements, and other elements the author has used to form his or her argument.

Here are some common style elements that may show up in the text.

Note: These devices are deliberately used by the author/speaker for a specific purpose. You will need to know the purposes of the devices and their effects on a text, but you will not need to know the specific names.

Spot the Element

Read the following pieces of text and then identify the rhetorical device used in each.

1. “In our kitchen, he would bolt his orange juice (squeezed on one of those ribbed glass sombreros and then poured off through a strainer) and grab a bite of toast (the toaster a simple tin box, a kind of little hut with slit and slanted sides, that rested over a gas burner and browned one side of the bread, in stripes, at a time), and then he would dash, so hurriedly that his necktie flew back over his shoulder, down through our yard, past the grapevines hung with buzzing Japanese-beetle traps, to the yellow brick building, with its tall smokestack and wide playing fields, where he taught.”

—John Updike, “My Father on the Verge of Disgrace”

Rhetorical device:

2. “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”

Rhetorical device:

3. “When he lifted me up in his arms I felt I had left all my troubles on the floor beneath me like gigantic concrete shoes.”

—Anne Tyler, Earthly Possessions

Rhetorical device:

4. “Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue. Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard. People had to wait until sunup to find out what folks were talking about the night before.”

— James MacGillivray, “Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox”

Rhetorical device:

5. “I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth.”

—Senator Barack Obama, speech at a fund-raiser for Catholic charities, October 16, 2008

Rhetorical device:

Answer Key

1. Imagery (visual)

2. Metaphor (beacon of light)

3. Simile

4. Hyperbole

5. Allusion

SOAPS AND APPEALS DRILL 1

See if you can identify the SOAPS and rhetorical devices used in the following prompts.

(John F. Kennedy. September 12, 1962. Rice Stadium, Houston, TX)

1 We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

2 There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

3 We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

4 It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency…

5 To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

6 The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

7 And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City…

8 Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, “Because it is there.”

9 Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.

S: President John F. Kennedy

O: speaking in favor of expanded space travel

A: Rice University and Houston, Texas

P: to persuade the audience to be enthusiastic about space travel

S: difficult goals are still worth pursuing

(John F. Kennedy. September 12, 1962. Rice Stadium, Houston, TX)	*Appeal to Authority:* He’s the President! *Audience:* Rice students, faculty, Houston residents
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.	*Purpose*
Why does Rice play Texas?	*Audience/Allusion:* Rice has an athletic rivalry with the University of Texas. Kennedy is showing that some challenges are inspiring.
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.	*Subject*
I regard the decision to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency…	*Occasion* *Appeal to Authority*
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City…	*Appeal to Logic/Audience:* Here, Kennedy is presenting the rational reasons to support the space industry: it creates jobs. We know that the audience values education and the furthering of science because JFK discusses the benefit to the scientific community as well as the medical community.
ask God’s blessing	*Audience:* many Texans in the 1960s would be religious people who would appreciate this reference.

SOAPS AND APPEALS DRILL 2

Read the following prompt and underline anything that references SOAPS points. Look for rhetorical devices.

Excerpt(s) from THE RAREST OF THE RARE: VANISHING ANIMALS, TIMELESS WORLDS by Diane Ackerman, 1995. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

1 Leafing idly through The Home Planet, I stop at a picture of Earth floating against the black velvet of space. Africa and Europe are visible under swirling white clouds, but the predominant color is blue. This was the one picture from the Apollo missions that told the whole story—how small the planet is in the vast sprawl of space, how fragile its environments are. Seen from space, Earth has no national borders, no military zones, no visible fences. Quite the opposite. You can see how storm systems swirling above a continent may well affect the grain yield half a world away. The entire atmosphere of the planet—all the air we breathe, all the sky we fly through, even the ozone layer—is visible as the thinnest rind. The picture eloquently reminds us that Earth is a single organism. For me, the book contains visual mnemonics of how I feel about nature. At some point, one asks, “Toward what end is my life lived?” A great freedom comes from being able to answer that question. A sleeper can be decoyed out of bed by the sheer beauty of dawn on the open seas. Part of my job, as I see it, is to allow that to happen. Sleepers like me need at some point to rise and take their turn on morning watch, for the sake of the planet, but also for their own sake, for the enrichment of lives. From the deserts of Namibia to the razor-backed Himalayas, there are wonderful creatures that have roamed Earth much longer than we, creatures that not only are worthy of our respect but could teach us about ourselves.

2 Some of those wilds I know personally, at the level of sand, orchid, wingless fly, human being. So each photograph is an album, a palimpsest, a pageant. There is Torishima, the little island south of Tokyo, which is the final stronghold of short-tailed albatrosses. There is French Frigate Shoals, the last refuge of the Hawaiian monk seal. There is Antarctica, home to vast herds of animals. While I look at a photograph of the Hawaiian Islands—puddles of ink on a bright copper sea—I remember the sound and rumble of humpback-whale song cresting over me as I swam. Humpback whales have had a civilization without cities, a kind of roaming culture, for many ages. They live in the ocean as in a wide blue cave. They pass on an oral tradition, teach one another their songs, abandon old versions, use rhyme. Our recordings of them go back to 1951, but after more than forty years, the whales haven’t returned to their original songs of the fifties. Just imagine the arias, ballads, and cantatas of ancient days that have filled the oceans with song, then died out, never to be heard again. Today we can visit the campfires of a few remaining tribes of Stone Age people and hear the stories they tell, stories marvelous, imaginative, and rich with wonder. But we will never know all the lost stories of the cave people. The same may be true of humpback whales. As I page through the book, I feast on habitats far-flung and dizzying. Life haunts every one of them, no matter how distant, dry, hot, salty, or sunless. The photograph of Africa reminds me of the giant animals caged forever in the past. The large animals we associate with Africa—elephants, giraffes, hippos, ostriches, and others—are dwindling remnants of the massive creatures that once flourished…. When I look at the photographs of Borneo, Brazil, and New Guinea, I remember how the dynamic well of the rain forests has generated new life-forms. Our genetic safety net is woven from their biodiversity.

Write an essay in which you explain how Diane Ackerman builds an argument to persuade her audience. In your essay, analyze how Ackerman uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of her argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Ackerman’s claims, but rather explain how Ackerman builds an argument to persuade her audience.

S: Ackerman appears to be a naturalist, though we cannot be sure that she is a scientist.

O: mankind’s current place within environmental history

A: general audience

P: to inspire serious concern regarding mankind’s prospects for extinction

S: We are not special in the grand scheme of history; we, too, are vulnerable.

Leafing idly through The Home Planet, I stop at a picture of Earth floating against the black velvet of space. Africa and Europe are visible under swirling white clouds, but the predominant color is blue.	*Imagery*: While not a developed story, Ackerman’s experience leafing through a book of photographs introduces her inspiration for the essay and personalizes her points. The description she gives of the planet Earth has poetic flourishes, indicating its beauty in the eyes of the author. Throughout this piece of writing, Ackerman’s depictions of the Earth’s beauty shows her reader what is at stake if humans are inattentive.
This was the one picture from the Apollo missions that told the whole story—how small the planet is in the vast sprawl of space, how fragile its environments are. Seen from space, Earth has no national borders, no military zones, no visible fences. Quite the opposite. You can see how storm systems swirling above a continent may well affect the grain yield half a world away. The entire atmosphere of the planet—all the air we breathe, all the sky we fly through, even the ozone layer—is visible as the thinnest rind.	*Imagery and Depth of Observation: Ackerman makes several observations here about how small the Earth is relative to space, and how fragile it is; she also notes that Earth from this distance has no political markings.*
The picture eloquently reminds us that Earth is a single organism.	*Claim/Comparison: Ackerman’s prior statements describing the lack of visible divisions on the face of the Earth lead up to this claim about the Earth’s unity and likening it to a single organism.*
For me, the book contains visual mnemonics of how I feel about nature. At some point, one asks, “Toward what end is my life lived?” A great freedom comes from being able to answer that question. A sleeper can be decoyed out of bed by the sheer beauty of dawn on the open seas.	*Appeal to Emotion: Ackerman shares her feelings as she looks at the photos, as well as a profound question that people ask themselves.*
Part of my job, as I see it, is to allow that to happen. Sleepers like me need at some point to rise and take their turn on morning watch, for the sake of the planet, but also for their own sake, for the enrichment of lives.	*Comparison*: Ackerman here implies that people, including herself, need to take responsibility for the planet’s well-being not only for it but for themselves. She refers to herself and others as “sleepers,” asserting that we need to “wake up.”
From the deserts of Namibia to the razor-backed Himalayas, there are wonderful creatures that have roamed Earth much longer than we, creatures that not only are worthy of our respect but could teach us about ourselves.	*Evidence and claim: Ackerman gives examples of the various landscapes and their inhabitants to which we should be attentive; she reiterates her claim that people need to respect nature and in turn learn about themselves.*

SOAPS AND APPEALS DRILL 3

Again read the prompt and the excerpt, looking for SOAPS and rhetorical devices.

Excerpted from Who grows your food? (And why it matters), an article by Bob Schildgen that originally appeared in the November/December 2004 issue of Sierra magazine. www.sierramagazine.org.

1 We [environmentalists] criticize farmers for the use of polluting pesticides and fertilizers; for robbing wildlife of water by pulling it from rivers and aquifers for irrigation; for damaging streams and causing erosion through bad grazing practices; and for erasing wildlife habitat. We condemn agriculture for poisoning wells in the Midwest and California’s Central Valley, and blame it for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi dumps toxic runoff from a third of the U.S. landmass.

2 Such criticism usually doesn’t sit too well with the farmers themselves. After all, they are feeding us, and doing it as efficiently as they know how. It often sounds as if we’re yelling at them across a cultural gap.

3 Fortunately, some farmers are now bridging this gap, with help from those environmentalists who support sustainable agriculture. Farmers like the Dubas family from eastern Nebraska…are trying environmentally friendly methods and selling their products locally. They’re running a diversified operation, rotating crops, keeping plenty of land in pasture, and raising their livestock without routinely dosing them with antibiotics.

4 The history of the Dubas family is one that has played out across rural America. Ron Dubas’s father made a living on 200 to 300 acres. Today, the family runs 2,000 acres and struggles to keep afloat. Four hundred miles northeast, on the northern edge of the corn belt in Wisconsin’s unglaciated prairie, my grandparents got by on 80 acres. Now farms up there are often five times that size. The number of real producing farms nationwide has shrunk from 3.3 million in 1950 to 750,000 today.

5 What explains this decline? Price, mainly. You can’t afford to stay in business if your costs exceed what you’re paid for your product. In 1998, for example, hog prices plummeted—from 45 cents a pound to less than 10 cents a pound, only one-fourth the cost of production. Customers in the supermarket had no way of noticing: The price of a pork chop fell by only pennies.

6 What’s this got to do with the environment? Well, farmers can cope by producing more, in the hope that volume will make up for low prices. Or they can switch to other commodities, but they’ll likely raise them in high volume to cover previous losses. Either way, they’re forced to resort to more intensive cultivation and more irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides. They have long been encouraged to do this by the agricultural establishment. Universities supplied the research and technical assistance to ramp up production, lending agencies the capital, and government the subsidies. For years the mantra was “Get big or get out,” and Richard Nixon’s agriculture secretary exhorted, “Plant fencerow to fencerow.”

7 But this “efficiency” has a high cost. As production soared, prices generally dropped, encouraging more production. The math is simple. Consider corn. In 1955, a farmer got $1.43 a bushel. Adjusted for inflation, that bushel should be worth over $9 today, but the price hovers around $2 or $3. Although the yield has almost tripled since the 1950s, this increase hasn’t kept pace with rising expenses, like taxes, mortgages, fertilizers, and pesticides. Moreover, half of that increased yield, according to research at Purdue University, has come from increased use of nitrogen fertilizers, a major source of pollution.

8 The biggest beneficiaries of the farmers’ cornucopia are the agribusiness corporations that absorb the glut of cheap raw material and turn it into our dazzlingly diverse (and dangerously unhealthy) supply of processed foods. Take soft drinks made with cheap corn sweeteners. Sixty years ago, each American consumed an average of 60 12-ounce servings of soda a year. Today, we’re guzzling almost ten times that much. Yesterday’s occasional treat has exploded into a regular diet of 64-ounce Double Gulps.

9 As food-processing profits have grown, the farmer’s average share of food income has shrunk. In 1950, farmers got 50 cents out of every retail food dollar; now they receive less than 20 cents. The rest goes to processing, distribution, and marketing. While thousands of farmers take outside jobs to survive, advertisers spend $28 billion a year just to promote food products. To illustrate the triumph of marketing over honest toil: The corn in a one-pound, $4 box of cornflakes costs about four cents. The retailer is paid eight cents to process a coupon for this box. Yes, the farmer gets half as much as the coupon shufflers.

S: an environmentalist

O: the state of agriculture in the modern Western world

A: other environmentalists

P: to explain how farmers have been disadvantaged by modern industrial farming practices and to inspire understanding; also, to show hope for the future (Dubas family)

S: Environmentalists and farmers need a greater understanding of each other’s priorities and challenges. Modern industrial agriculture does not benefit farmers economically and may slow the development of more sustainable methods.

We [environmentalists] criticize farmers for the use of polluting pesticides and fertilizers; for robbing wildlife of water by pulling it from rivers and aquifers for irrigation; for damaging streams and causing erosion through bad grazing practices; and for erasing wildlife habitat. We condemn agriculture for poisoning wells in the Midwest and California’s Central Valley, and blame it for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi dumps toxic runoff from a third of the U.S. landmass.	*Audience:* Schildgen establishes right away that his audience already agrees with a few of the claims in paragraph 1. He is speaking to environmentalists. He is establishing common ground with the audience, but he will later raise issues they may not have considered.
Such criticism usually doesn’t sit too well with the farmers themselves. After all, they are feeding us, and doing it as efficiently as they know how.	*Appeal to Emotion*
yelling at them across a cultural gap Farmers like the Dubas family from eastern Nebraska…are trying environmentally friendly methods and selling their products locally. They’re running a diversified operation, rotating crops, keeping plenty of land in pasture, and raising their livestock without routinely dosing them with antibiotics.	*Metaphor* *Anecdote:* The example of the Dubas family helps to persuade the reader that environmentally friendly changes to agriculture are possible.
Ron Dubas’s father made a living on 200 to 300 acres. Today, the family runs 2,000 acres and struggles to keep afloat. Four hundred miles northeast, on the northern edge of the corn belt in Wisconsin’s unglaciated prairie, my grandparents got by on 80 acres. Now farms up there are often five times that size. The number of real producing farms nationwide has shrunk from 3.3 million in 1950 to 750,000 today.	*Appeal to Logic:* Through specific examples and statistical data, the author persuades us that farming has changed.
In 1998, for example, hog prices plummeted-from 45 cents a pound to less than 10 cents a pound, only one-fourth the cost of production.	*Appeal to Logic*
The math is simple. Consider corn. In 1955, a farmer got $1.43 a bushel. Adjusted for inflation, that bushel should be worth over $9 today, but the price hovers around $2 or $3. Although the yield has almost tripled since the 1950s, this increase hasn’t kept pace with rising expenses, like taxes, mortgages, fertilizers, and pesticides.	*Appeal to Logic:* statistics and comparing time periods to show a general trend
Double Gulps	*Allusion:* to point out the absurdity of the modern food industry?
As food-processing profits have grown, the farmer’s average share of food income has shrunk. In 1950, farmers got 50 cents out of every retail food dollar; now they receive less than 20 cents. The rest goes to processing, distribution, and marketing. While thousands of farmers take outside jobs to survive, advertisers spend $28 billion a year just to promote food products. To illustrate the triumph of marketing over honest toil: The corn in a one-pound, $4 box of cornflakes costs about four cents. The retailer is paid eight cents to process a coupon for this box. Yes, the farmer gets half as much as the coupon shufflers.	*Appeal to Logic:* statistics and more time comparisons to invoke sympathy for the plight of farmers

TASK 3: WRITING

The final task of the Essay test is to actually write the essay. According to the College Board, this requires you to

make use of a central claim.
use effective organization and progression of ideas.
use varied sentence structures.
employ precise word choice.
maintain consistent, appropriate style and tone.
show command of the conventions of standard written English.

This is also where you show your grader that you have read, understood, and analyzed the text.

Essay Template

Introduction

Your introduction needs to do three things:

Describe the text. This is where you’ll bring in the SOAPS points. This can be done in one sentence.
Paraphrase the argument. This is where you’ll show your grader that you understand the text by concisely summing up the main points and the overall message of the text. The Reading score comes from your demonstration of comprehension of the text.
Introduce the examples you will be discussing in the body paragraphs. You will establish a framework in your introduction that you should then follow for the rest of the essay.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs will focus on different appeals or style elements the author uses to effectively communicate the argument. Each body paragraph will need to do the following:

Name and explain the rhetorical device or appeal.
1. Where is it in the text?
2. Use short, relevant quotes to show you understand the text and the rhetorical device, but do not rely on long excerpts from the passage. In order to get a high score, you need to use your words to explain what’s going on.
Identify the effects of the author’s rhetorical choices.
1. Explain the connection between the rhetorical device/appeal and the text, and your argument in general. Do not simply quote chunks of text and then briefly paraphrase. Your goal is to answer the question, “How does this contribute to the author’s argument?”
2. For example:
  1. Do not simply say, “This is an example of imagery.”
  2. Explain why the imagery is effective. Perhaps the author’s descriptions of the beautiful sunset effectively draw in the reader, creating an emotional connection between the author and her audience. This connection may make the audience more sympathetic to the author’s subsequent points because there is an emotional connection now.
3. Explaining how the device or appeal works is how you show your grader your ability to analyze the text.

Conclusion

Restate the goal of the text and briefly paraphrase the elements you discussed in your essay.
Be concise and accurate.

ESSAY CHECKLIST

Check your essay for

An introductory paragraph

Does your introductory paragraph contain a strong topic sentence, one that lets the reader know what the paper will discuss? Does your introductory paragraph mention what examples your paper will include?
Body paragraphs

Does each body paragraph contain a nice clear transition sentence? Does each body paragraph develop one or multiple similar examples? Did you include short quotes?
A conclusion

Your essay has a conclusion, right? Did you restate your main ideas? Did you summarize how your quotes are relevant?

WRITING TIPS!

Maintain a formal style and objective tone. Avoid “I” and “you.” No slang.
Use varied sentence structure.
Write neatly.
Use clear transitions.
Use short, relevant quotes from the text.
Don’t worry about official terms for things. “Appeal to the emotions” is fine instead of specifically referencing “pathos,” and “comparison of two things” is okay instead of referring to a metaphor. If you do know the official terms, though, feel free to use them!

PACING

You have 50 minutes for the essay. Spend the first 5 to 10 minutes reading the prompt and brainstorming examples.

Use the next 40–45 minutes to write your essay. Aim for a five- or six-paragraph essay, with an introduction, three to four body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Stay focused on the topic, and keep things simple.

Take the last five minutes to proofread your essay. Watch out for grammar mistakes—one or two may be okay, but too many of them will hurt your Writing score. If you’re unsure how to spell a word, choose a different one.

The visual appearance of your essay is important as well. While you should avoid double-spacing or otherwise puffing up your essay, it helps to indent your paragraphs, neatly erase any mistakes, and write as legibly as you can manage. If you make the reader’s job easier, you’re more likely to get a better score.