Synthesis Assignment
“In a synthesis, you make explicit the relationships that you have inferred among separate sources” (Behrens & Rosen 70).
Assignment: to compose a synthetic essay that traces the historical roots of the racial wealth gap in the United States.
- Process: Determine an argument. We have read a number of essays about the wealth gap between whites and people of color in the United States which trace the gap’s origins to public policy dating long before the present. You should be able to articulate this in your own words in a sentence or two.
- Mine your sources. Re-read the relevant texts with an eye toward identifying passages that support your thesis. You may want to highlight them in the articles themselves; you may want to group passages according to the points they support.
- Identify sub-theses. For instance, if you might have a section on sharecropping, one on labor unions, and another on the GI Bill You should articulate these sub-theses in your own words. As you identify them, link them to individual passages you have already isolated, and review the texts again to discover if more emerge.
- Begin to write. In your introduction you should identify your thesis and your sub-theses (the arguments you are going to use to support your thesis). This way you will provide a brief “road map” of the content that follows.
- Follow the road map you have established. If you have prepared properly, the argument should more or less write itself, using the points you have already identified and paraphrases and/or quotations (cited in MLA) format to support them.
- Your conclusion should contain a somewhat more comprehensive (in light of the evidence you have presented) statement of your thesis and one or two of the most essential points.
- Your paper should be TNR, 12 pt., double spaced. You must have a title. “Synthesis” or “The Wealth Gap” is not sufficient. Compose a title that communicates something about your essay.
Resources:
- Hacker: Consult section MLA-3b for strategies to integrate and cite your quotations and paraphrases. Also see MLA-4a for in-text citation and MLA-4b for examples of proper formatting.
