Definition and Synthesis

• Format: Typed, double-spaced, submitted as a word-processing document.
  
  12 point, text-weight font, 1-inch margins.


• Length: 1200 - 1500 words (approx. 5-6 pages)


• Value: This project will be graded out of 100 possible points, and will be worth 20% of the grade for the course.
  
  
  
  

 Overview:

In Unit 1, you focused on reading the published writing of other writers critically in order to begin developing your own “invitations” into topics that interest you. You used textual analysis to break down the context, voice, thesis, and other elements of existing written texts. You also used invention strategies to begin exploring specific issues that interested you as you read and reflected. Finally, you exercised your critical literacy skills in order to evaluate the content and context of sources.

In Unit 2, you have been studying ways to define the context for the issue you are writing about in order to help audiences understand why the issue is relevant to their interests. You also have been learning about synthesis: a rhetorical tool for connecting sources and ideas that may initially seem to be unrelated.

For this Unit 2 Assignment, you will practice both definition and synthesis by writing an essay that helps an audience understand the context for your topic and the ways that other people are already invested in the topic.

Assignment:

Write an essay that defines the topic of your research for this course and synthesizes different perspectives on the issue from sources you have read critically. 

Your Definition and Synthesis Essay should

• Clearly define the topic of your essay and the specific issue (or issues) you will address


• Clarify your position: what exactly are you wanting to say about the issue? Why is it relevant? What is at stake, and for whom?


• Connect (synthesize) differing perspectives on this topic and set of issues, and explain how existing perspectives portray the issue in overlapping or contradictory ways


• Revise your research question and research proposal in response to the new sources you have found and the new connections you have made.
  
  
  
  


• Lecture Link: https://youtu.be/4qFETKDrK4E

Objectives:

In this project, you will

• Define the context for the issue you are writing about for this course, framing the significance, relevance, and urgency of the issue for one or more audiences


• Synthesize existing research perspectives on the topic, making connections between sources and analyzing why these connections are important


• Develop a position on the issue you have chosen to write about, a specific perspective, evaluation, or judgment that you can support with evidence and argument

 Grading:

This project will be graded out of 100 possible points, and will be worth 20% of the grade for the course. See rubric below for criteria and scoring.