The synthesis paper should be 3 - 5 pages, typed, double-spaced, and closely focused around a central theme that you trace through chapters 2, 3, 5, and 6 in Carolyn Nordstrom's Shadows of War: Violence, Power, and International Profiteering in the Twenty-first Century. She's talked about ALOT of things in these chapters. As you review the points, decide what you think is the umbrella under which all of the points fall. In other words, what would you say each of the chapters is, in one way or another, talking about?

Once you decide this, you will have your focus for your synthesis paper. After arriving at your focus, pick out 5- 7 quotes that converge to make your focus clear. Be sure to pick quotes from each of the chapters.

• From your focus and quotes, use a free-association method to begin developing your thinking in more complex and nuanced ways;
• Review your free-associations, quotes, focus point, and the chapters and develop a working thesis for your paper;
• Map the paper -- (or, if you are more comfortable with a traditional outline, use that procedure;
• Draft your paper and get a peer review of your draft

After you have drafted and revised and are ready to do the final editing for your paper, use the methods we have covered in class for editing wordy sentences:

1. Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases
2. Use active voice
3. Keep a clear subject-verb-object order
4. Choose one strong, image-conveying verb action over longer and vague verb phrases.

1. Make sure you have considered word choice. Reread each sentence and ask "Is this what I really mean?"
2. Check for inconsistency--does the paper contradict itself?
3. Check for repetition--has the paper said the same thing too many times in the same way?

Final Project

The final project may (but does not have to) develop your synthesis paper into a longer, more refined analysis that draws on outside sources. You will need 3 - 5 sources from which you think more carefully about your topic. As you are researching for your sources, be sure to assess their credibility:

• Is your source a web page or a journal/article from a database or an online news source?
• Can you define the author?  If so, is the author an authority (and how do you know this?)
• If you cannot define the author, can you define the publishing organization?  If so, what authority does that organization have?
• What is publishing domain (.com,  .org, .edu, .gove)
• Is this a "personal" site?   (personal sites are often indicated with the signs: ~ or %).
• Is a date given for the Web page?
• is dome of the information obviously out of date or biased?
• What is the purpose of the page? (Entertain? Inform? Convince? Sell?)
• Who is the intended audience of the page?  (Determine this based on content, tone, and style.)
• Can you judge the overall valud oe the content as compared with other resources on this topic?
• Do you think your source's information is accurate and reliable?  Does it confirm or contradict other sources you have found?
• Are the grammar, spelling, and mechanics of high quality, and do the links work?

• Which points are repeated between sources?
• Where do your sources conflict?
• What are your own biases and presuppositions, and how does your reading challenge and/or confirm these?

The final project should be a critical analysis of your topic. Critical analysis CAN include biographical information, self-reflection, creative writing, and/or personal interviews (note how Nordstrom combines these in her critical work). An analysis does draw on definition, cause-effect reasoning, comparison and contrast, and, to an extent, classical argumentation.  However, I DO NOT want you to turn in a classic argument in which you argue "for" or "against" something.  In fact, the "for" and "against" polarization is precisely what I want you to deconstruct.  Reach for subtlety, complexity, nuance.

In this project, I am especially interested in your ability to analyze the value systems, power structures, and identity categories inherent in your topic, and in your ability to connect these in a relevant way to your own lives.

Remember, while your final project is a web site, it must also include the crucial elements of good expository writing:

1. A full formal introduction naming the topic and the relevant issues the paper will discuss
2. A clear and specific thesis that explains the project's main points
3. An introductory section that maps the project's points
4. Topic sentences for each link/ section
5. A logical order of presentation
6. Transitions linking ideas within a paragraphs, from one paragraph to another, and from one link to another
7. A works-cited page and appropriate in-text citations