AP English Language · Free-response skill

Use two sources in a line of reasoning, then answer an objection

The move. Sort a set of sources by side, use two sources so that the second adds a step to the first, and answer an objection raised by another source.

How to do it

  1. In synthesis, the sources serve your argument; your argument does not summarize the sources. Start by sorting them: which help your position, and which would the other side use?
  2. Cite each source you use by its letter, and do more than repeat it: say what the source shows and how that point leads to your position. A second source should add something new, not repeat the first.
  3. A source that cuts against you is not a problem to hide; it is a point to answer. Say what it shows, then give a reason your position still holds.
  4. A table is a source too. Read its caption and columns, pick out the numbers that matter, and say in words what they show.

Practice prompt Try it

Original sources written for Peakscor practice. All four sources are invented: the people, places and numbers are illustrative.

The city of Pell Harbor charges library users 25 cents a day for each overdue item. The city council is deciding whether to end late fines.

Source A: The director of the library in nearby Ashbury, which ended late fines two years ago: “Since we stopped charging fines, 1,900 people whose cards had been blocked for unpaid fines have come back and started borrowing again.”

Source B: A table from a regional library group:

Library (ended fines)Active cardholders, year beforeActive cardholders, year after
Millport18,20019,900
Carden6,4007,100
East Ruthven11,50012,600

Source C: Pell Harbor’s budget officer: “Late fines brought the library 42,000 dollars last year. That money paid for most of the children’s summer reading program. If fines end, the program will need another source of money.”

Source D: A librarian in Wendell, a city that ended late fines last year: “Some people now keep the newest books for months. Our waiting lists for new releases have doubled.”

Suppose you are writing an argument that Pell Harbor should end its library late fines. Use the sources to answer each part.

  1. Which two sources support ending late fines?
  2. Give one specific detail from Source A, and explain how it supports ending late fines.
  3. Source A reports on one library. How many libraries does Source B report on, and what happened to their active cardholders after they ended fines?
  4. Which source raises a concern about money, and what is that concern?
  5. Give a reason the lost money should not stop Pell Harbor from ending late fines.

Write each part, then check yourself against the checklist. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Check yourself and see a model answer

Checklist

Our own checklist of what a full answer does, one line per point. Tick each one your response earns.

0 of 8 points

Model answer, annotated

(a) Source A and Source B support ending late fines.

  • Point 1 Names Sources A and B and no other source.

(b) Source A says that after Ashbury ended late fines, 1,900 people whose cards had been blocked for unpaid fines came back and started borrowing again. Fines were keeping those people out of the library altogether, so ending them lets them use it again.

  • Point 2 Gives a specific detail from Source A: 1,900 blocked cardholders came back.
  • Point 3 Explains the link: fines kept people out, and ending them lets them back in.

(c) Source B reports on three libraries. At each of them, the number of active cardholders went up the year after fines ended, for example from 18,200 to 19,900 in Millport.

  • Point 4 States that Source B reports on three libraries.
  • Point 5 States that active cardholders went up at each library after fines ended.

(d) Source C raises the money concern: ending fines would cost the library the 42,000 dollars a year that fines bring in, money that paid for most of the children’s summer reading program.

  • Point 6 Names Source C.
  • Point 7 States the concern: ending fines would lose the 42,000 dollars fines bring in.

(e) The summer program matters, but it can be paid for in other ways, such as from the city budget, and Source A shows that fines can keep people from borrowing at all, which works against the reading the program is meant to encourage.

  • Point 8 Answers the lost money: the program can be funded another way, and fines keep some people from borrowing at all.