AP Seminar Unit 2 Cheatsheet: Understand and Analyze

Preview & Prioritize

• Skim: read headings, first/last sentences, summaries
• Scan: search for specific keywords or data
• Reread: return to difficult or key passages
• Question: ask what the author is arguing and why

Make Meaning

• Annotate: mark key ideas, tone shifts, assumptions
• Note-take: record main points and evidence
• Highlight: identify thesis, claims, and supporting details
• Read aloud: catch tone, rhythm, and emphasis

Critical reading identifies: main idea, tone, assumptions, context, perspective, line of reasoning, evidence.

Line of Reasoning: one or more claims justified through evidence.

Inductive Reasoning

• Specific observations/data → trends → generalization → conclusion
• Risk: limited data may not support broad claim

Deductive Reasoning

• Broad facts/generalizations → specific conclusion
• Risk: a valid deductive argument guarantees a true conclusion only when all its premises are true (making the argument sound).

Validity Check: Is there logical alignment between the line of reasoning and the conclusion?

Perspective includes:

• Writer's attitude/tone regarding the subject
• Expressed through argument and evidence selection
• Conveyed in written, spoken, visual, or performance texts

Tone signals: word choice, sentence structure, punctuation, repetition, formality level.

Identifying perspective: What does the author believe? What values underlie the argument? Whose interests are served?