For your culminating assignment on community, you will be working in your already-established groups of 3-4 to craft a synthesis question about community. What, you might ask, is a synthesis question?
In most college courses that require substantial writing, you will be called upon to write researched arguments in which you take a stand on a topic or an issue and then enter into a conversation with what has already been written. You advocate a position about an issue, using other people’s ideas about that issue to advance your own. The synthesis question on the AP Lang exam asks you to do just that, in a controlled, timed setting.
· A successful synthesis depends on your ability to infer relationships and patterns among sources - essays, articles, fiction, and also sources such as lectures, interviews, observations.
· Your ability to infer relationships depends on a clear understanding of what those sources are actually saying, and how they are saying it.
· And after you understand what they are saying, you must make a judgment about each of them, and determine whether or not you agree.
· Finally, you figure out how you can use those ideas, and their relationships, to advance your opinion.
Here is a sample of the synthesis question from 2010:
To successfully tackle the synthesis prompt on the AP exam, it is beneficial first to craft one of your own.
So, for this synthesis assignment, you will work in your group to craft a mock synthesis prompt about community. You must include the following four sections:
1. General directions:
The following question is based on the accompanying eight sources. 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 this argument. Avoid merely summarizing sources. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations.
****This will be the same for all groups.
2. A neutrally-worded introduction to the topic, such as:
Invasive species are nonnative plants and animals that thrive outside of their natural range and may harm or endanger native plants and animals. As producers and consumers in our global society, we affect and are affected by species introduced accidentally or intentionally to a region. Currently, some people argue for stricter regulations of imported species to avoid the possibility of unintended negative consequences. Others, however, claim that the economies and basic resources of poorer nations could be improved by selective importation of nonnative species.
****This will be different for each group.
3. The assignment, which focuses the argument students will be asked to articulate, such as:
Read the following sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then write an essay in which you evaluate what a business or government agency would need to consider before transferring a non-indigenous species to another country. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.
Refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in the parentheses.
****This will be different for each group.
4. The seven sources that will be used to answer the prompt. Sources will include:
ü Three excerpts from the essays in the Community chapter of our textbook. These excerpts should be between 300 and 500 words in length.
ü Two self-selected excerpts from other essays of merit you find about community. (These shall come from scholarly journals or reputable sources.)
ü One image (photo, painting, advertisement, cartoon, etc)
ü One graphic (chart, graph, map, etc)
As you choose your sources, be careful to cover all sides of the issue. You must include articles that provide background, arguments in support of your topic, arguments opposed to your topic, arguments that balance the pros and cons, or articles that analyze the significance of your topic to society. The articles may be factual or opinion-based.
****These will be different for each group.
The readings in the textbook ask you to consider the “double-edged sword” that makes up the relationship between the individual and society; this double-edged sword should be the basis for your thinking about and approach to this assignment. As your starting point, consider the following quote from President Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention:
For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.
If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.
If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent.
If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.
It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: "E pluribus unum," out of many, one.
Introduction
Television has been influential in United States presidential elections since the 1960’s. But just what is this influence, and how has it affected who is elected? Has it made elections fairer and more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues to pursuing image?
Assignment
Read the following sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources for support, take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that television has had a positive impact on presidential elections.