Workshop for draft tomorrow--bring 4 copies 100pts

Synthesis paper assignment sheet.  The paper will be 3-4 pp. double spaced.  Use MLA styling. 100 points.

In a synthesis paper you explore connections and contradictions among a group of texts on one subject: immigration reform.  I want you to use four (4) texts, three of them from your text book:  the blogs written by Dee, Byron Williams and Victor Davis Hansen (pp. 324-328) and one blog of your own choosing.  Each blog is relatively short.

This paper is a practice run for the research paper that will end the semester.

What do these texts have in common and how do they differ?  You might want to make a list before you get started.  Remember to read carefully.  Define any terms you don’t completely understand.

For Monday,  I want you to write an introduction (1 to 2 pp.) that describes the issues and how each writer approaches it.  The introduction should end with a thesis.

Bring 4 copies of the introduction to class for a workshop. 100 points.  Do not miss class.

Writing a thesis for a Synthesis paper.  Your text book offers a low-level, two sentence example of a thesis and a high-level, one-sentence thesis.  (It’s always more difficult to write one sentence than two).

1.  Whereas Ritzer focuses on the way high-tech society makes us homogenous and superficial, Turkle focuses on how the Internet unsettles traditional views of the self.  Although I agree with Ritzer’s argument that McDonaldization is dehumanizing, I think that role-playing MUDs is actually a healthy way to oppose McDonaldization and expresses human desire to be creative, to develop the self, and to make human connections.

2. Ritzer’s attack on technological society and Turkle’s more optimistic belief that it offers opportunity for growth and discovery have together forced me to consider the superficiality and vulnerability of human relationships in our high-tech society. 

Notice how the writer has incorporated his own views into the essay.  You should have some new insights by the end of your paper and be able to share them with your readers.

As in the “Ophelia” paper, your audience is a diverse and educated group of readers, who won’t necessarily have read any of the blogs you are writing about, so you need to describe them briefly.  Use paraphrases and quotes to support your view.

Figure 12.1 on p. 321 of our text offers you two frameworks for a Synthesis essay.  Look this over carefully, before you write anything.