Synthesis Essay Reminders

Planning:

  • Figure out what type of synthesis essay it is: Is it a pro/con prompt (like the advertising one) or type that asks you to pick the most important factors to consider (like the museum one)? Remember that the wording is not always the same, so read carefully!
  • Don’t make up your mind before reading the sources: You need to argue what you can support with evidence, not what you necessarily believe! If the good sources are all on one side of the argument, that is the general argument you want to be making.
  • Use appropriate planning. Using a pro/con spectrum and a credibility chart is a good idea for agree/disagree/qualify prompts like the advertising one. If you get a museum-type prompt that asks for the most important issues, make a list of issues and which sources mention the same issues. You can still make a reliability chart, although it will be somewhat less important for this type of synthesis essay.

Some questions to ask when evaluating sources:

  • What information can you glean about the author? Is this person an expert on the topic?
  • Look at the place of publication. Is this from a peer-reviewed academic journal? A personal blog? An encyclopedia?
  • When was this written/published? What is the date? How recent is the information? Is this a topic where information that is 5 or 10 years old will be terribly out of date? Could you use this for a comparison about how much has changed over time? Is this an old source that is still reliable because the issue is still largely the same now?
  • Does the writer have a clear bias and/oragenda? Is he or she trying to inform, persuade, criticize, etc.?
  • Is there evidence to support the claims? Is it reliable? Are you given a source?
  • Is the argument logical? Are the fallacies in the reasoning?
  • When you compare it to other sources, does it agree? Do any of them overlap?

*** You may not be able to answer all of these questions for each source, as you are usually only given small excerpts. Answer what you can, and then ask yourself if you see any reason to doubt the information.

Sample Reliability Chart:

Good / Iffy / Problematic
A
B
E / D (because of date)
F (some bias apparent) / C

* **In this instance, I’d never use C to support my own argument. You could use it as a counter argument (as in, “Some people might argue, as the professor in source C does, that….”)

*** You can use sources D and F to support your argument if you are careful to acknowledge the things that make them iffy. For example, “While source D was published in 1981, not much has actually changed in _____”) or “While source B is clearly biased against ____, the studies mentioned are not tainted by this bias, since they were conducted by….”

Sample pro/con spectrum:

+/- +/- (have evidence for both pro and con)

***If this is the spectrum for the same essay prompt as the reliability chart above, you need to be careful to make your argument somewhere in the moderate con area, as that is where the reliable evidence is. You should be careful to avoid making a strongly pro argument, since you will have very little evidence to support your claims. Note, too, that the more extreme arguments (both pro and con) are less reliable.

  • Don’t spend too long [more than 25 min!] reading, evaluating sources, and planning. Read quickly, look at the citations, use your planning strategies, and move on. No detailed annotation. Brief notes only. Ideally, you’d like to be done reading and planning at the end of the 15 min. reading period, but remember you certainly can take some additional time after the writing section begins.
  • Don’t be hyper critical. Excerpts from books may not include citations for sources (as they may be in the footnotes, which aren’t included in the excerpt). Even iffy or questionable sources can be useful if you are careful. They can be used to establish counterarguments, or can be used to support your points if you are sure to acknowledge the problems (bias, date, etc.) that exist but don’t affect the evidence or basic ideas you are drawing from the source.
  • Think of useful outside information. It must be specific and relevant. Try to avoid personal evidence, which is not likely to be convincing—unless, of course, the prompt specifically asks for it, as happened in 2015.
  • Make sure a pro/con thesis qualifies in some way, but makes clear what it is you will argue. Be specific. Don’t just say “the pros outweigh the cons.” Give us some idea what the pros/cons are. We don’t need all your evidence or points listed in the thesis, but give us the gist.
  • Make some sort of outline to keep yourself on track.

Writing:

  • You need an intro—but keepit short. Establish the complexity of the issue in a sentence or two, and then write your thesis.
  • Use topic sentences that tie back to your thesis. Don’t summarize sources, and don’t let them take over your paper. There should be more of your writing than quoted material.
  • Don’t evaluate sources in the paper unless it is necessary to justify using an iffy source.
  • Don’t tell me what a quotation means. Explain how it proves your claim.
  • CITE your sources.
  • Make sure you are quoting and interpreting accurately
  • Try to avoid quoting from only one source per paragraph. That can lead to summary.
  • Try to use sources in different ways, not just to support your arguments.
  • Anticipate and deal with counterarguments.
  • Say “sources” not “documents.” This is not APUSH. Switch gears. (And quote!)