Synthesis Essay Assignment
Purpose: By this point in the term, you have read several essays about various topics related to our experiences in contemporary culture. In this final paper, then, you will write an essay which brings together ideas and data from multiple sources to inform the audience about a specific topic (listed below).
Writing this essay will require you to 1) look for connections among the ideas in five assigned essays from Inquiry; 2) develop a thesis statement and main points which make an informative claim (based on the assigned essays’ content) in response to your research question; and 3) synthesize information from your sources to support and explain your main points. Your goal will be to effectively and accurately synthesize the source material in order to inform your audience. A secondary goal will be to integrate and document sources correctly.
Topics: Choose one of the following writing prompts:
• Conversations about gender: What messages do we receive about gender, and from where do they come? How do these messages shape our experiences, identities, and world?
If you decide on this topic, you will want to consider how our environment impacts our perceptions of gender as well as our experiences. You might consider the perceptions that our society has regarding gender and how these perceptions compare and/or contrast with the individual experience. You could investigate the various gender roles that are often cultivated by society and perpetuated by the media and/or the range of definitions of femininity and masculinity (including definitions of beauty, strength, power, and weaknesses) found in our society. Once you have considered these various concerns, you might decide to narrow your topic to one of these research areas, or you might decide to cover multiple areas.
• Conversations about race and ethnicity: What messages do we receive about race and ethnicity, and from where do they come? How do these messages shape our experiences, identities, and world?
If you decide on this topic, you will want to consider how our environment impacts our perceptions of race and ethnicity as well as our experiences. You might consider the perceptions that our society has regarding race and ethnicity and how these perceptions compare and/or contrast with the individual experience. You could investigate various definitions and stereotypes involving race and ethnicity as well as the way these might shape an individual’s experience in America. In addition, you may consider how race and ethnicity might influence the ways in which individuals navigate and interact with various American institutions and networks (places of employment, educational institutions, social media platforms, etc.). Once you have considered these various concerns, you might decide to narrow your topic to one of these research areas, or you might decide to cover multiple areas.
• Conversations about class: What messages do we receive about economic class, and from where do they come? How do these messages shape our experiences, identities, and world?
If you decide on this topic, you will want to consider how our environment impacts our perceptions of class as well as our experiences. You might consider the perceptions that our society has regarding class and how these perceptions compare and/or contrast with the individual experience. You could investigate various definitions and stereotypes involving class as well as the way these might shape an individual’s experience in America. In addition, you may consider how class influences the ways in which individuals navigate and interact with various American institutions and networks (places of employment, educational institutions, social media platforms, etc.). Once you have considered these various concerns, you might decide to narrow your topic to one of these research areas, or you might decide to cover multiple areas.
• Conversations about social responsibility: In what ways might we engage in or avoid civic action, and how might these actions shape our experiences, identity, and world?
If you select this topic, you will consider the extent of our social responsibilities as individuals. You may consider the ways in which our behaviors and attitudes might contribute to the health of our planet, the health of humankind, the empowerment and/or oppression of individuals, the strengthening and/or weakening of communities, etc. You could investigate how business and marketing practices as well as the practices of established institutions influence our decisions as consumers and citizens as well as impact the fate of our planet, our health, and our identity. Once you have considered these various concerns, you might decide to narrow your topic to one of these research areas, or you might decide to cover multiple areas.
• Conversations about technology: How does technology shape our experiences, identity, and world?
If you select this topic, you will investigate various technological advances as well as their influences upon our lives. You might consider how technology impacts and/or shapes education, personal relationships, individual identities, communication practices, perceptions of reality, consumption practices, news and information, entertainment, etc. Once you have considered these various ideas, you might decide to narrow your topic to focus on one research area, or you might decide to cover multiple areas regarding technology.
• Conversations about education: What does it mean to be educated, and how does education shape our experiences, identity, and world?
If you select this topic, you might consider the qualities that contribute to a “good” education as well as the purpose of an education. You could investigate who does and does not have access to education as well as what and how we learn about ourselves and the world when we become “educated.” How does being “educated” influence the ways in which individuals navigate and interact with various American institutions and networks (places of employment, educational institutions, social media platforms, etc.)? Once you have considered these various concerns, you might decide to narrow your topic to one of these research areas, or you might decide to cover multiple areas concerning education.
Content:
• Introduction: Your introduction should follow the inverted triangle model in your textbook and should provide a context for the rest of your essay by providing some background of the cultural situation which has precipitated the “conversation” regarding the issue about which you’re writing. That is, it should lead us into the topic as well as provide a context for the topic by explaining the cultural problem to which the academic “conversation” is responding.
• Thesis: Your thesis statement should avoid making a persuasive opinionated claim, and instead should make an informative claim which represents the ideas you’ve encountered in your sources. It should acknowledge agreed-upon components of the academic conversation but also make mention of diverging views (when appropriate). You might use one of the following templates:
o Although scholars do not agree upon ______________, they largely agree that _______________.
o Despite widespread agreement among cultural critics about ____________, they cannot agree upon ______________ .
o Scholars widely agree ______________________ and all point to research which supports the belief that ________________________________________.
o Experts tend to agree that _________________________ impacts ___________ as they work together to present a view that _____________.
o Scholars agree that through _________________________________, the _____________ impacts individuals in a ________________ manner.
Body: This section of your essay should provide any additional background necessary and should lay out the major claims in support of your thesis. Your goal here is NOT to merely summarize each of your sources. Instead, you need to have topic sentences which put forward a point and then use information from multiple sources to help explain and support that point. That is, your topic sentences will put forward overarching areas of agreement or contention you’ve seen across multiple sources (or conclusions about the issue you’ve come to through reading all of your sources), and your paragraph content should explain the topic sentence through providing your own discussion as well as information synthesized from your sources.
Conclusion: Your conclusion should bring appropriate closure to your essay, tying together the claims made in the body, reinforcing the thesis, and perhaps even commenting on the potential furtherreaching implications of this issue for culture.
Additional Content: Either in the body or as part of the conclusion, you might choose to briefly explore issues, counterarguments, or implications the sources failed to address or overlooked.
Source Requirements: Refer to the “Topic Choices and Reading Assignments” handout.
Documentation: Your essay should follow MLA documentation guidelines, including source integration methods, in-text citations, and a Works Cited page.
Formatting: Please use twelve-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and MLA formatting. Length: 5-7 pages, double-spaced (not including the Works Cited page)
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