Develop your thesis. A thesis statement should be included somewhere in the first paragraph of your essay. This is not simply the subject of your paper, but the approach to analyzing the subject you are taking throughout the course of your paper. For example, your subject would not simply be “The Great Gatsby,” but rather “Morality and the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.”
Write an introduction paragraph. This will help your readers know what the subject of your paper is. It should also allude to the type of information you plan on including to support your thesis. An introduction is also helpful to keep you focused on the thesis throughout the course of writing your paper.
Include body paragraphs that support your thesis. This will make up the bulk of your paper and contain the most important information. When writing your body paragraph, assume that your audience is familiar with the text. Avoid summarizing what happens throughout the course of the piece—detail why these events were of note and how they relate to your thesis.
Use in-text citations where appropriate. These should be used to show your engagement with the text, as well as provide support for your positions. Follow MLA guidelines when formatting these throughout your text.
Write a conclusion paragraph that will sum up your paper. Do not simply restate the points you made earlier in your paper, but rather emphasize how you used this information to support the idea you posed in your thesis. Unless advised otherwise, avoid summarizing the book in the conclusion of your essay.
Format your paper in accordance with MLA style. Unless your AP teacher instructs you otherwise, you want to follow MLA guidelines. For example, your paper must have a proper heading, a centered title, be double-spaced and contain a header that includes your last name and the page number. See below for a detailed list of MLA guidelines.
Include a detailed “Works Cited” page. When writing a strong and well-researched AP language essay, you need to give credit where credit is due. Failing to include a works-cited page can be seen as plagiarism. Again, follow the rules of MLA style to write this page.