times new roman 12 pt W r i t i n g

Format

Length: 3-4 pages, typed, double-spaced

Documentation style: MLA format, Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1” margins

Purpose

This assignment is designed to facilitate the following skills:

Using inquiry to guide research

Conducting adequate research to produce multiple viewpoints on one topic of inquiry

Identifying, evaluating, and making connections between sources

Integrating sources through summary, paraphrase, and quotations

Assignment

You will begin to research the topic you have chosen to write about. This is the point at which you will gain a larger and deeper understanding of your topic. You should continue reading and researching until you have acquired 4-5 clear, useful sources, each of which adds a different viewpoint to the conversation. 1-2 primary sources (interviews), and 3-4 secondary sources (you can use google scholar to locate scholarly sources and simply google to identify reliable popular sources). Your essay should introduce the conversation surrounding your topic, place the sources you have found into that conversation, and clearly and thoroughly summarize and paraphrase those articles in a cohesive, logical analysis. Your purpose is mainly to connect the sources in order to provide an overview of the larger topic that you have selected for the semester; the synthesis essay is mainly trying to answer “what” the issues pertaining to your topic are, rather than ask why it is a problem (academic argument) or how it may be resolved (public argument). Remember, this is the first of three assignments based on your topic; through the synthesis, you will not only learn but also explain the background information to your readers.

Structure

You are starting the semester with clear guidelines to engage in academic writing. Your essay should begin with an Introduction in which you set up the general context of the issue. You will not introduce your sources in the introduction, but provide an overall background of the subject, which will help you lead into the thesis statement.

You will follow that introduction with several body paragraphs, each of which will incorporate PIE.

Point: Each body paragraph should begin with a Point, or a topic sentence, that makes a claim about how the authors of the articles approach a particular element concerning your topic.

Illustration: each Point should be followed by 2-3 direct quotes or a paraphrase from the source(s) that illustrates the claim you made about that viewpoint in the Point.

Explanation: Each Illustration should be followed by an Explanation of how the quotes or paraphrased materials act an example of or illustrate the Point. The Explanation is your own interpretation of the borrowed material and it should also help you transition from one viewpoint to another.

The essay will end with a Conclusion in which you will briefly sum up the issues that you have discussed in the body paragraphs and dwell on the larger implications of the study that you have conducted. You can focus on its significance as well as make recommendations for further studies (which you will end up conducting in the academic argument).