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Synthesis Essay

Added Mar 02, 2014 •

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The last of the three AP essay types!

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high class today we're going to discuss this synthesis essay which is our final essay Style  for the synthesis essay you're going to be given a prompt going to ask you to build an argument but then it's going to give you six to eight sources that you can reference in writing your argument so it kind of like an impromptu research paper and generally the sources will have an objective Morse and then sources presenting opposing views and it will always include some visual so cartoon chart a graph Daniel reference the requirement is at least three at least three of these in making your argument so really it's kind of a combination of argument essay because you're going to argue something about the front and the rhetoric essay because while you do that you might not assess the rhetoric of the sources but you're going to look at what the sources say how they say it and how that lends credibility to their argument or crops doesn't I don't know it's a tornado oh no the wind a tornado when is after the Super LOL so what is synthesis the reason why they're called synthesis essay is because when you synthesize sources it's about putting them together into some sort of sort of Harmony showing how they relate to one another like bringing them together into this beautiful song you're going to take all of these disparate things and make them make sense together so it's beyond classifying it's not just a some people say this some people say this is an argument and salsa Beyond's just comparing and contrasting you're not going to have this side is this site are he's that they're different in this way it's about creating the harmony between them really showing how they relate to one another is 1 + when did explanation of the other does one allow for a concession based on the other and is that Harmony is going to stem from a what's the most important sentence in your paper your thesis so your hole is to look for links between materials for the purpose of constructing a thesis or Theory so see how they relate to one another and further relationship between Source a and Source C and then once you infer them like you doing so many analytical papers you make your inference explicit by explaining it to your reader so you're going to show how these things relate to one another the same way that you do can you bring up concrete details so when an ology is you're having a dinner party and you invited all the sources to the party and you're going to have a big debate know the source plays organ at have their own point of view then they can comments on what other sources say but you're the one in charge of the discussion you're leading the discussion you're pointing out how they relate to one another pretty much you're acting like me in the middle of class when we have a discussion you're the leader of the discussion so you might say person raises this point and that actually connects to what this person said though it seems like they are opposing one another they relate because of this so you're kind of commentating but also orchestrating this entire discussion photo of Leroy now I was looking for him he's not over there  always not upside down either how to write a synthesis essay not at the Peanut Shop the first step is reading the prompt as the prompt often in the white structure that usually two parts one gives you background information and not let you know what the area of contention so that'll kind of do you some say this will other say this so you know what that steak each side kind of has Central to their arguments and here's my recommendation and I know in terms of long research papers or research papers for which you have more time this is not the best approach however For the synthesis this is what I recommend before you read any of this I recommend that you develop a working thesis so I'm thinking phrases what you think your position is now generally when you enter into a research paper you should come in with a really open mind and be willing to have the sources convince you or teach you things that you didn't already know and you should still have that but what I'm asking you to do is recognize your bias at the beginning so that you have a starting point that you're not just jumping into these Waters of all the sources unprepared so I want you to come up with your sources who's the other side then switch it by all means know where you stand and you might even anticipate the proof that you use so pretend an argument and so you might say what you think sources will say and how they might support you and then recommends that you flip back to this title page that has the prompt and kind of indicate which sources you can use  it's so sad so here's an example of a synthesis essay so the introduction offers us backgrounds today almost 70% of Americans play some sort of form of video games and largest in psychologist seem to agree that video games with become one of American teens favorite activity some social critics claim that violent video games are connected teen violence the games are harmless entertainment so we have the point of contention they're violent video games cause violence know the game play this I read the following sources including introductory information carefully then write an essay in which you develop a position on the effects of violent video games on teenagers synthesize at least three that will all requirement you need least 3 for support So after reading the prompt I just jot down my initial reaction which is that video games are really convenience violence permeate society and I can bring up things like television shows movies but I can also talk about the news and how it focuses on violin and I might discuss how ancient video games in ancient literature both we're concerned with war and strategy and so video game are just a new extension of something that's been part of our culture and so maybe do some sort of concession that says it's the responsibility of parents and teachers to Monitor and guide young adults in choosing a verb video games using video games appropriately the next step is reading the sources you read The Source recommend that you take some very brief notes on the page again phrases so a brief summary and by summary I mean video games bad examples of violence or something like that right angle so is it approaching it from a psychological standpoint is it approaching it based on specifically the Columbine shootings so why is it I'm from what direction is it meeting up with this discussion and then help me fit into your argument so this opposition is this some you're going to have to refute is this support what section of your essay might go in if you're supporting and you have like to support paragraphs in this can be the one about positive elements of video games so that sort of thing also the introductory material recommended students read includes where the article came from and so just like when we read how to Mark a book and one was Mortimer Adler with a PhD and when was 5 - Peter and we thought as our seems more credible you're going to do same thing the difference between a Blog and The New Yorker or also it's bias so if you're reading an article from Gamers weekly it's clearly keep pro video games so you might mention that when you're introducing the information so although this comes from Gamers weekly which is predisposed to favor video games interesting point don't say interesting I'm just talking so here's an example of a source and might be as long as it is they're all pretty short this is a rather short one so I looked at it from the American Psychological Association something I know today is longer-term effects are likely to be longer-lasting as well as player learn some practices new aggression related scripts that can become more and more accessible for used when real life conflict situations arise so my nuts here is that psychological study which news Fairly reliable and obviously it opposes my view so does this give me an opportunity if there's something I turn off with to refute that maybe I'll say something like just like those with addictive personality should avoid alcohol so should those play video games  so if people have aggression maybe they shouldn't do video games and then no Relief act to the responsibility of parents and here's another one here's an example of graph and it points to the fact that  there are the first pair are students involved in low hostility fight second pair students involved in high hostility fight and in no those people a little violent games from in terms of percentages seem less likely to engage in either type of fight the how to play video games with a lot of violence and something I might discuss in looking at this first I might report what it says but in terms of refuting it I can talk about this being correlation not cause ality it doesn't prove that playing violent video games makes a difference it shows that people who have a tendency to act more violently are drawings of violent video games it correlates but it doesn't show that one causes the other so I probably repeat this msrc says new study shows violent video games don't video games don't cause violence  and it says we found that most boys 12 14 years older playing batir rated video games to this idea that m-rated games cause shooting their major finals just doesn't hold water explain psychiatrist dr. Cheryl Olson this coming from news broadcast but I'm looking specifically at the quote from this psychiatrist which I'm saying is reliable and the name of the support my claim and be back in for my concession maybe I can talk about violence in specialized cases like I kind of thought I was going to go with in-store speak and say that we should be aware of pain signs but overall is fiction is unnecessary so then step three is to come up with a plan choose which sources you're going to use and return to your face make sure that if you want to change your thesis at this point do so make sure that the body paragraphs are based on your main points not the sources this is one of the most proof steps in a synthesis essay you don't want to organize as Source peace as this next paragraph store Steve says this you really want to show that you have control over the material so think about Ematic  organization and then reference more than one source in a paragraph that's really important because that showing that you're synthesizing the information you're bringing it together you're leading them to discuss with one another you really want to avoid having a paragraph with only one source I'm so you're integrating the sources into your argumentative scheme and you can also organize and terms of structure with possible Sherry in arguments or with the five paragraph essay lifestyle and here's where you're going to consider how this or support one another find the therapy session do they contrast with one extended illustration of another so you're looking at how they relate the same way that when we did the thesis what point we looked at how are different rhetorical devices related to one another to make a stronger thesis  wait I recognize umbrella  so does the Elton John live in Sephora's right important notes this is the I say that you do have to cite so when you use sources or I skipped to my last note but it's important so I wanted to start with it so do you sources you have to cite them so if you look at my last bullet point sorry I went in the wrong order you're going to site even if you paraphrase with me putting in dear I'm worth you if you quotes you put the quotation and then at the end of the sentence even if the quote at the beginning sentence the end of the sentence you can either put they give them letters Source ABC and see tell you the office last name so you can use whichever of those you'd like and if you paraphrase the sentence paraphrase before you get to the. You put a citation otherwise you want to integrate them into that and you can also paraphrase them or if your Instagram and you could quoting them and you want to give a little background on the source itself that makes you appear credible so say where you're getting information from so it's not a matter of your talking and then you drop in someone else's words you need to give them credit for what sad and there you can talk about how you assess their credibility so New York Times and thoroughly Reese star tackle blah blah blah says this it's too high Bed Stuy play stuff on the phone so here's an example this is part of a paragraph So I'm talking blah blah blah which was the think that I'm just going to refute I think I'll Source be so I talked about that and then I say well deals article suggests that video games promote Behavior doctor Cheryl Olson desertion in a television news report that most boys 12 to 14 years older playing mature rated video games reminds concerned parents that dovey play games might trigger negative behaviors in a select few they have not reduced the entire current teenage population to Pistol toting belligerence and then at the end of that sentence I cite my source like so many other products available two teenagers horror movies potato chips literature the internet cold medicine video games to PS2 purple and normal part of life for the majority but might pose problems for a small minority so there I took in just the words but since I had already discussed my source it's okay proper course of action not playing hit demonization of an entire entertainment industry and so after I use the source I returned back to my thesis it's not that I'm just reporting on I first show how Dylan Cheryl stings contract one another I'm not even doing a contrast I'm saying point of these out however in light of this maybe and then I go to my argument maybe we should pay attention to specific people that show warning signs I also bring an other ideas that weren't necessarily in the sources which is totally okay after use three sources but if you think you know potato chips can be dangerous and so can literature you can bring another ideas and your own agency your own voice so those are some of the things that I did in that piece of a paragraph  some things to know if you feel the same razor ideas you won't pass so if you forget to say that sa is going to get a zero or something like that and you must use list three sources so if you only use two sources the highest score you can get as a for so you have to make sure you get through those sources and things that I want you to remember to analyze Source credentials so think about kind of the context questions that we usually ask in a lot of those are entered and answered in the materials and not Center organization around the source that's what I'm saying again within yourself  I can reach him but I can't hold him for Leroy and a high-scoring essay Begins by contextualizing miss you and demonstrating why the audience should read on so that's pretty much background so you talk about what the I hopefully bring up other ideas during not just actually in the prompt why it matters to discuss video game violence thesis does Justice to the issues text Yvonne for sizing the writers position this is the same thing I want you to go for in your argument essays so it's not enough to say this is my point you need to acknowledge the other and how your points relates to it contrasts it how both are valid in some ways but yours holds greater weight some reason should address this so what so where do we go from there with decided this about violent games what's our course of action it can kind of be Haitian like or since we've addressed these issues about violent video games what is that tell us about society as a whole  the knees are quotes from forward are the 8th graders I don't provide an essay provides an extended consideration of the sources they reference I apparently have what type of Metro Beyond merely citing the sources to Asain their significance to the thesis being developed to having really strong commentary every time that you discuss a sore and forging connections between the author's position and that of the author of The Source so showing how they relate and it doesn't necessarily have to be a supportive connection it can be a contrast illustration thing as they enter into conversations with the sources rather than being overwhelmed so you have to remember your voice you're going to be reading these very persuasive articles about that subject and it's probably going to be a subject you don't care shut off violent video games but there are some really weird hear all these people coming up with these ideas that you hadn't even considered and the tendency is to just let them do the speaking but you have to be the one in control you're the one leading the discussion you're the one that invited everyone to dinner so you make sure that they're all discussing the way you want them to discuss and always have your voice it's not just a report some people say that some people say that and then lastly a tribute info rather than appropriating and that means you're going to talk about where your Source comes from all that introductory information what their bias is all of that stuff rather than just putting their words into your sentences with quotation marks around it and and then to the resolution of the Leroy story let's synthesizer efforts what Surfline up to get Leroy your words together they save him I'm not as the power of synthesis so go out there and use rhetoric

Uploaded by Melissa Rhoades-Rudder '01.

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