Synthesis Essay

Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______

Synthesis Essay

This assignment is due: ______at the beginning of your class period. It must be typedand printedwhen you submit the paper. If there is any evidence of plagiarism, the entire group will receive a zero.

Synthesis: This question requires you to synthesize a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. When you synthesize sources, you refer to them to develop your position and cite them accurately. Your argument should be central; the sources should support your argument. Avoid merely summarizing the sources.

Question:

Introduction:

Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following: (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. These two goals – one aimed at the betterment of individuals and the other aimed at the betterment of society – might seem at odds with one another. At the very least, these two goals are a cause of much tension within schools at every level: schools want students to be allowed or encouraged to think for themselves and pursue their own interests, but schools also believe that it is right in some circumstances to encourage conformity in order to socialize students.

Assignment:

Read the sources that follow carefully, and consider relevant sources that we have used this term. Then choose two issues related to the tension in schools between individuality and conformity. You might choose issues such as dress codes, mandatory classes, or standardized testing. You do not need to choose an issue that you have experienced personally. Then write an essay in which you use these two issues to argue the extent to which schools should support individuality or conformity. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.

Source List:

Source A: Anthemby Rand

Source B: “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Lake (109-113).

Source C: “Us and Them” by Sedaris (73-78).

Source D: Gatto

Source E: Postman

Source F: Holt

Source D

Gatto, John Taylor. “Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why.” Harper’s Magazine Sept. 2003.

The following is excerpted from an essay by a former high school teacher who advocates educational reform.

Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don’t hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest. Even if they hadn’t, a considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve-year wringer our kids currently go through, and they turned out all right. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever “graduated” from a secondary school. . . . We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of “success” as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, “schooling,” but historically that isn’t true in either an intellectual or a financial sense. And plenty of people throughout the world today find a way to educate themselves without resorting to a system of compulsory secondary schools that all too often resemble prisons. Why, then, do Americans confuse education with just such a system?

Source E

Postman, Neil. The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. New York: Knopf, 1995.

The following is excerpted from a book about education in the United States.

There is, for example, the traditional task of teaching children how to behave in groups. You cannot have a democratic—indeed, civilized—community life unless people have learned how to participate in a disciplined way as a part of a group. One might even say that schools have never been essentially about individualized learning. It is true, of course, that groups do not learn; individuals do. But the idea of a school is that individuals must learn in a setting in which individual needs are subordinated to group interests.

Source F

Holt, John. “School Is Bad for Children.” Saturday Evening Post 8 Feb. 1969.

The following is excerpted from an essay written by an educational theorist.

And so, in this dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful, where everybody is playing a kind of role, as in a charade, where teachers are no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students are free to respond to the teachers or each other, where the air practically vibrates with suspicion and anxiety, the child learns to live in a daze, saving his energies for those small parts of his life that are too trivial for the adults to bother with, and thus remain his. It is a rare child who can come through his schooling with much left of his curiosity, his independence or his sense of his own dignity, competence and worth.

So much for criticism. What do we need to do? Many things. Some are easy—we can do them right away. Someare hard, and may take some time. Take a hard one first. We should abolish compulsory school attendance. At thevery least we should modify it, perhaps by giving children every year a large number of authorized absences. Ourcompulsory school-attendance laws once served a humane and useful purpose. They protected children’s right tosome schooling, against those adults who would otherwise have denied it to them in order to exploit their labor, infarm, store, mine, or factory. Today the laws help nobody, not the schools, not the teachers, not the children. To keepkids in school who would rather not be there costs the schools an enormous amount of time and trouble—to saynothing of what it costs to repair the damage that these angry and resentful prisoners do every time they get achance.

Essay Requirements:

Each member of the group will be responsible for one part of the essay.

Student A: Body Paragraph One
Student B: Body Paragraph Two
Student C: Concession/Refutation & Intro and Conclusion
ALL students will be responsible for the cohesion of the essay as a whole. Remember all students will receive the same final grade. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.

Outline:

Introductory paragraph:

Hook: general statement about individuality or conformity.

Background information: Explain what "individuality" or “conformity” is, how it changes the education system, and the impact that it has on learning. Then identify the issues that you have chosen to explore.

Central idea and thesis:This is the argument that you will prove in your essay. Remember to tie in the two ideas (in order) that you will explore in your body paragraphs.

Body Paragraph One:

TS: Assert premise #1, and give the general reason for how/why this issue has a significant impact on people's educational experiences.

CD: Source 1*

CD: Source 2*

Body Paragraph Two: (same format as body paragraph #1, except here you're focused on the second issue.)** You may use varied or the same source for your argument in a single paragraph, as long as your essay still uses three different sources total. You must embed and cite your CD. You may usepage 7 for some sentence stems. DO NOT SUMMARIZE.

Body Paragraph Three: Concessions and refutations

TS: Introduce possible counterarguments or concessions

CD: Source you disagree with or would like to qualify

CM: Reasoning for disagreement and implications of this stance (the “so what”)

CS: Transition to conclusion

Conclusion paragraph:

Restate the thesis: Restate the thesis and central idea, but not word-for-word.

Reflection: Discuss the evidence and the argument that you have made

Concluding sentence: Wrap up with a closing statement about how/why people need to value and appreciate your argument. This is where you may insert a Call to Action.

They Say/I Say: Three Ways to Respond

Disagree – And Explain Why / Agree – But with a Difference / Agree and Disagree Simultaneously
You need to do more than simply assert that you disagree with a particular view; you also have to offer persuasive reasons why you disagree. After all, disagreeing means more than adding “not” to what someone else has said… / As you are agreeing, it is important to bring something new and fresh to the table. You may point out some unnoticed evidence or line of reasoning that supports X’sthat X herself had not mentioned. You may cite some corroborating personal experience, etc. Whatever mode of agreement you choose, the important thing is to open up some difference between your position and the one you’re agreeing with rather than simply parroting what it says. / This move in academic writing produces a reader-friendly respond that can be tipped more toward agreement or disagreement. You may also express ambivalence in an intelligent manner – “I am of two minds.” Although you never want to be merely evasive, leaving your ambivalence thoughtfully unresolved can demonstrate your integrity as a writer, showing that you are not easily satisfied with viewing complex subjects in simple yes-or-no terms.
Templates for
Disagreeing with Reasons / Templates for
Agreeing with a Difference / Templates for
Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously
I think X is mistaken because she overlooks _____.
X’s claim that _____ rests upon the questionable assumption that _____.
I disagree with X’s view that _____ because, as recent research has shown, _____.
X contradicts herself/can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, she argues _____. But on the other hand, she also says _____.
By focusing on _____, X overlooks the deeper problem of _____.
X claims _____, but we don’t need him to tell us that. Anyone familiar with _____ has long known that _____. / I agree that _____ because my experience _____ confirms it.
X is surely right about _____ because, as she may not be aware, recent studies have shown that _____.
X’s theory of _____ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of _____.
I agree that _____, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe _____.
Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically boils down to _____. / Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that _____.
Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that _____.
Though I concede that _____, I still insist that _____.
X is right that _____, but she seems on more dubious ground when she claims that _____.
Whereas X provides ample evidence that _____, Y and Z’s research on _____ and _____ convince me that _____ instead.
I am of two minds about X’s claim that _____. On the one hand I agree that _____. On the other hand, I ‘m not sure if _____.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They Say/I Say” The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.

Final Notes:

The goal of Synthesis:

The central part of a synthesis essay is your argument. You only use the sources to “talk” to your thesis (It might be helpful to think of your essay like a discussion in a Socratic seminar that you are leading). Sources may corroborate or disagree, but the important part to remember is that your argument should stand on its own, and be clearly different than the sources. If you follow the train of thought that an author uses, not even their words, this is considered plagiarism in the academic field because you have done nothing original. To avoid summary, assume that the grader has read the materials (because I have!).

Citations:

Do not use the terms “Source X” when citing your sources. Cite using the author’s last name and the page number. You may use the page numbers in the novel and in Springboard to cite, and you may use the page numbers in this packet for the other sources. NEVER refer to the author by their first name. You do not need to complete a works cited page.

Cohesion:

Remember that your essay must flow smoothly from one paragraph to another even though there are many writers. Be on the lookout for grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure so that the writing is uniform throughout the essay.

Office 365:

To make sure that your essay works as one, and flows smoothly, use Office Word Online to edit your paper. If you download the paper, and edit offline, it will not save in the cloud and your peers won’t know what you wrote.

Instructions
Go to the Dawson homepage
Click on Office 356
At school, login with your username
At home, login with your username and password
Username will be your login to the computer + @pearlandisd.org
Ex:
Click on the “One Drive” icon (clouds)
The creator of the document will see the essay in their “Files”
Others will see it in “Shared with Me”
When you open the document select “Edit” and be sure you edit in “Word Online”
Word Online saves as you type, so you may simply exit the tab when you are finished.

Rubric:

You only need to turn in one of these. Have one person tear it off and attach to the front of the essay.

Name: ______

Period: ______

Score Description / Score / Grade
Effective: Essay effectively responds to the prompt. Essay develops position by synthesizing in and citing three or more sources, but writer’s own argument remains central and reflects understanding of all perspectives presented in the sources. The evidence and explanations used effectively support the writer’s position, and the argument is especially well developed and coherent. The prose demonstrates a consistent ability to control a wide range of the elements of effective writing but is not necessarily flawless. / 8 / 100
-
97
Essay fits the description for a score of 6 but provides more thorough development, a more complete explanation, or demonstrates a more mature prose style. / 7 / 96 - 94
Adequate: Essay adequately responds to the prompt. Essay develops position by synthesizing and citing at least three sources in an adequate manner, but not necessarily smoothly. The evidence and explanations used generally support the writer’s central claim, but the writer’s own argument is less central or developed, and understanding of perspectives presented in sources may be less comprehensive than essays earning higher scores. The language may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but the prose is generally clear. / 6 / 93 - 90
Essay responds to the prompt. Essay develops position by synthesizing and citing at least three sources but how it uses and explains the sources may be uneven, inconsistent, or limited. The writer’s own argument is generally clear, and the sources develop the writer’s argument, but the links between the sources and the argument may be strained. Writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but it usually conveys the writer’s ideas. / 5 / 89 – 85
Inadequate: Essay inadequately responds to the prompt. Essay develops a position by synthesizing and citing at least two sources, but the evidence or explanation may be inappropriate, insufficient or unconvincing. The sources may dominate the writer’s attempts at development, the link between the writer’s 3own argument and the sources may be strained, or the writer may m2isunderstand, misrepresent, or oversimplify the sources. The prose generally conveys the writer’s ideas but may show inconsistent control. / 4 / 84 – 80
Essay meets the criteria for a score 4 but demonstrates less success in responding to the prompt. The essay may be less perceptive in its understanding of the sources or its explanation or examples may be particularly limited or simplistic. The essay may show less control of writing. / 3 / 79 - 70
Little Success: Essay demonstrates little success in responding to the prompt. The essay may merely allude to knowledge gained from reading the sources but fail to cite any sources directly. The writer may misread the sources, fail to develop an argument, or substitute a simpler task by summarizing or categorizing the sources or by responding to the prompt tangentially with unrelated, inaccurate, or inappropriate explanation. The prose often demonstrates consistent weaknesses in writing, such as a lack of development or organization, grammatical problems, or lack of control. / 2 / 69 – 60
Essay meets the criteria for a score of 2, but is underdeveloped, especially simplistic in its explanation, weak in its control of writing, or do not allude to or cite even one source. / 1 / 60 or lower