Informative Synthesis

ection Two
Describe how your understanding of your topic has changed since you began. Have you been forced to narrow your topic to fit within the confines of this assignment? What have you found out about your topic? What new questions are being raised as you continue your research? How do you feel about your sources? Are they giving you enough information? Do they agree or disagree with each other on your topic? What particular problems are you encountering in your research and writing? Has your project been difficult of easy or in-between so far?

Section Three—Informative Synthesis
In this section, a kind of short essay, you are to employ the techniques of comparison/contrast in order to analyze the relationship of your sources. The intent is to generate a basis of comprehension of your topic upon which you will later build ideas and a position of your own.

The word “synthesis” is a combination of the Greek words “syn” (in short, a bringing-together), and “thesis” (meaning the central idea of an argument). Basically, a synthesis brings together two or more theses for purposes of discussion.

There are two main types of synthesis: the informative and the argumentative. An independent essay is normally argumentative; this one, however, will be informative.

Your purpose is to inform your readers about the breadth of opinion on your topic. Thus you will not be arguing, for example, for or against an interpretation of a film. In other words, you will be taking a neutral attitude toward your topic. Follow this organizational scheme:

Synthesis Introduction
As you want this paper to be actually useful and interesting to an audience, you will of course need an eye-catching lead-in. This will be the first sentence of your introduction. One way to begin an essay of this type is to ask a provocative question such as “Is Orson Welles the greatest director of all time?” (Naturally, you would only want to ask such a question if Welles’s greatness was the major topic of your sources). The intro should conclude with your thesis statement. The thesis should be comprehensive in nature, informing your audience, in a nutshell, what you intend to tell them of the range of opinion on this issue. Although you might begin your draft with a working thesis that states, in effect, “Some of my sources argue that Welles’s childhood contributed to his ultimate failure; others argued the opposite,” you will want to modify it later to say something about what kind of arguments you found on this topic. An example might be something like “Opinion about the effect of Hildegaard Bibberblatt’s upbringing on her film work are varied. On the one hand are those who see a woman tortured by her father’s philistine choice of soft drinks. On the other are those who see Bibberblat as having transcended her childhood, taking as her topic the ultimate freedom of all humans to determine what kind of soda they prefer, as long as it’s Coke or Pepsi.”

Synthesis Body
The primary content of this section is at least four summaries of the kinds of articles described in “Specifications,” all of which are related to your topic. Each summary will contain at least one quote and one paraphrase. Begin this section, after your introduction, with a summary of your favorite, or most important, source. In each subsequent summary, begin with a transitional statement that links the source in this particular summary with the other sources. For example, you might begin your second summary by saying something like, “unlike my first source, my second source opposes says that Welles was remarkably deficient in his narrative skills.” Or, “unlike my first source, which favored Welles’s directorial skills, my second source takes no position on the matter, emphasizing instead the extraordinary lack of public response to Welles’s oeuvre.

 

Section Four
Conclude your research report with general observations about your topic. Were your sources hard to understand? Was there terminology that you had to do further research on to understand? How do you feel about your topic as you conclude your research?

Specifications:
Double-spaced
12 pt. New Times Roman font
Black ink
Stapled
MLA Works Cited of at least four sources (those with summaries in the report).
Emailed to prof at [email protected] on the same day the report is submitted.