Synthesis Paper
This paper asks you to read several
outside sources about the topic you have identified and to synthesize the
primary issues/controversies framing our current cultural understanding
of your topic.
To proceed, you will first need to
identify three quality sources. Remember, to assess the quality of
a source you find through Internet research:
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Is your source a web page or a journal/article
from a database or an online news source?
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Can you define the author? If
so, is the author an authority (and how do you know this?)
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If you cannot define the author, can
you define the publishing organization? If so, what authority does
that organization have?
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What is publishing domain (.com,
.org, .edu, .gove)
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Is this a "personal" site?
(personal sites are often indicated with the signs: ~ or %).
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Is a date given for the Web page?
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is dome of the information obviously
out of date or biased?
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What is the purpose of the page? (Entertain?
Inform? Convince? Sell?)
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Who is the intended audience of the
page? (Determine this based on content, tone, and style.)
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Can you judge the overall valud oe the
content as compared with other resources on this topic?
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Do you think your source's information
is accurate and reliable? Does it confirm or contradict other sources
you have found?
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Are the grammar, spelling, and mechanics
of high quality, and do the links work?
Read through each of your sources and
list the primary points. As you are reviewing your sources, ask yourself:
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Which points are repeated between sources?
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Where do your sources conflict?
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What are your own biases and presuppositions,
and how does your reading challenge and/or confirm these?
This paper asks you to synthesize several
sources and develop a 3 - 5 page paper (typed, double-spaced; approximately
750 words) explicating the issues central to your topic. This essay
must analyze your topic. Analysis draws 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 paper 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 paper, 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.
This formal essay must have:
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A full formal introduction naming the
topic and the relevant issues the paper will discuss
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A clear and specific thesis that explains
the paper's main points
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An introductory paragraph that maps
the order in which the paper will make each point
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Topic sentences for each paragraph
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A logical order of presentation
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Transitions linking ideas from one paragraph
to another and points within a paragraph
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A works-cited
page and appropriate in-text citations
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:
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Eliminate unnecessary prepositional
phrases
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Use active voice
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Keep a clear subject-verb-object order
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Choose one strong, image-conveying verb
action over longer and vague verb phrases.
Final reminders:
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Make sure you have considered word choice.
Reread each sentence and ask "Is this what I really mean?"
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Check for inconsistency--does the paper
contradict itself?
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Check for repetition--has the paper
said the same thing too many times in the same way?