Several AP students have decided to address the op-ed columnists by using a questioning strategy instead of crafting a letter response. Here is the format for the questioning strategy as requested by AP students:
Practicing Consultative/Formal Registers Outside the School Day:
Look through several newspapers and magazines to find an editorial writer you would be willing to read regularly. Choose someone who makes you think—either in agreement or in disagreement.
For each editorial, do the following:
1. What is the writer’s argument? Summarize the editorial’s argument in a sentence of no more than eighteen words.
2. How does the writer prove it? What evidence does the writer give?
3. How does the writer explain the evidence? What does the writer explain about the evidence that shows how or why it proves the argument?
4. Do you agree with the argument? Why or why not?
5. Write down three things you would like to say to this writer.
6. Find three ways this editorial relates to something you have studied or learned about in school. Write an explanation of how the editorial relates to your class work.
c.Marcy Bowman, 2005 California State University AP Seminar and writingback.org
