Synthesis Evaluation Essay
Paper instructions:
Basic Assignment: Using material from your analysis essay, write a 750 word (or so) synthesis essay of Amy Goldwasser’s “What’s the Matter with Kid’s Today?” (pg. 177). Use the MLA style to cite to all the sources you use to write this essay.
Our textbook defines a synthesis essay as one which “involves presenting ideas and information taken from different sources, and it suggest the ways in which those sources relate to one another” (pg. 380).
What this means is that you will take your analysis and expand upon it using at least two other article. In short, you are writing an argument that evaluates Goldwasser’s essay using not only your own ideas but ideas taken from other authors. (Remember that Ch. 13 gives excellent advice on how to craft an effective (persuasive) argument. use the following article: “Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools,” by Nancy Everhart and Joyce Kasman Valenza.
You will need to find at least one more scholarly article on your own (what “scholarly” means is defined on pp. 482 – 487 of our text in Ch. 16 and on the Library Media Center (LMC) website at . The tutorial can help you find that additional scholarly article, as can the other handouts and tutorials found here:
Instructions:
Step 1: Re-read the relevant portions of Chapter 11 and use the sample essay written by Melissa Mae to help you learn how to format, structure, and write a synthesis essay.
Step 2: Review your analysis essay closely and see what you can use from that essay to help you write your synthesis essay.
Step 3: Go the online Library Media Center (LMC) and use EBSCO Host to find this article: “Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools,” by Nancy Everhart and Joyce Kasman Valenza. You will find this document in the “Academic Search Complete” database. You must use this article as part of your synthesis.
Step 4: Locate another scholarly article using your textbook and the advice given on the LMC website.
Step 5: Outline your essay. Create a tentative thesis (using the advice given in our textbook). Create topic sentences that transition smoothly between the points you wish to argue.
Step 6: Write a rough draft off your outline. Do no worry if in the writing you deviate from your outline some. That often happens because, as Chapter 1 tells us on page 7: “It might sound strange, but it’s true: One of the best ways to become a better writer is by writing.”
Step 7: Revise. Revise. Revise. (See pg. 9 of Chapter 1.)
Step 8: Seek help for known problems that you have. For example, if you know you are still struggling with grammar, then get help from a friend or family member (or the Writing Lab if you are on campus this summer) who can “see” grammatical errors.