Revising the 2Synthesis paper

In what follows, I explain the connection between the three papers in the course: the 1Report, 2Synthesis, and the 3Research paper. Then I give an example of the synthesis process you should use when writing the 2Syn paper. Finally, I talk about the 2Syn first draft, suggest an organizational pattern for the paper, and give ways to revise and edit your paper for the final draft.

The 2Synthesis paper is a necessary link between the 1Report assignment where you investigated a primary document to arrive at a sense of what the conversation about that topic starting more than 100 years ago--an arbitrary point, to be sure, but a point where our modern world was just appearing. You could see us from there, so to speak. With the 2Syn paper you are attempting to formulate a topic for the 3Research paper which we will start next.

The 2Syn paper is a process paper of sorts. You are asked to take a more modern document in the same topic conversation and read it in terms of the primary document you started with in the 1Report assignment.

A simple way to look at the process of synthesis is to take an idea that both documents are talking about and come up with a third, forth, fifth idea based on those two versions of the idea. I say versions because even though the two documents talk about money and sports, diet, racial discrimination, the nature of serial killing and so forth, they are talking about it in very different ways. You must let these different ways of talking about your topic spark new ideas that you will acknowledge in the 2Syn paper and then take as your research topic in the 3Research paper. Let me give you an example of the synthesis process.

“The challenge is to synthesize information from your research to develop [new] ideas about your topic and then to support those ideas.” –from Synthesizing Ideas

Basic synthesis formula: In the new document, the author discusses X, while the old document also explains X but somewhat differently. When these two versions of X are set side-by-side, I infer from them that . . . [add your new idea here--the product of synthesizing X as it appears in the old and new documents].

Ex. 1:

The comparison: The transcript of the Joe Jackson trial reveals the way money can corrupt sports figures and the game of baseball in general. Here is an example of what I mean. Jackson says: “ . . . . “ The Lewis document about Billy Bean and the A’s also illustrates the power of money when it comes to sports. Lewis illustrates this more prominently, when he explains that Bean “ . . . . “ The difference is that Bean found a legitimate way to work with very little money in an attempt to achieve the same results that more wealthy teams had when it came to hiring and keeping good players. The Black Sox players simply tried to cheat their way to success—success measured in wealth.

The synthesis: These two examples of the influence of money on sports shows how the game of baseball suffers from the tendency by owners and coaches (and some players) to fixate on the money instead of on the pleasure and passion of the players and the fans [synthesis thesis]. In the end, there might not be any way around the power money has to influence sports since no one is going to play at the major-league level for free and the fans want the best team money can buy because they know that’s the only way to win.

Organizing pattern for the 2Syn paper:

1. Introduce the synthesis topic (what the paper is about i.e., How the two documents go together).
2. Give a short summary of the two documents.
3. Provide a forecast of the paper - say what ideas the writer will be working with.
4. State the thesis concerning the ideas under synthesize.
5. Work out each of the ideas in the synthesize (in separate paragraphs) in accordance with the thesis while giving support for the argument by quoting from each of the documents.
6. Write a conclusion that restates the thesis in a different way that indicates what the writer has learned by writing the paper.

Revision

• The paper needs to be about the ideas contained in the documents and not simply about the topic or the writers.
• The synthesis thesis must reflect the process—how comparison and contrast of ideas lead to other ideas. In other words, what new knowledge becomes available when reading the two documents together? What new insights occur for you?
• The ideas you want to use from the documents need to be supported with quotes from the documents (see the synthesis process example above).

Beginnings: Here is an example of how you might begin your essay

• Start: Race has been a contentious factor for as long as the US has been a country and even before. . . . In order to begin to understand what Race means in the US, this paper wishes to present/study/interrogate/analyze some of the ideas on Race found in two very different documents: X and Y.
• [A short summary of each document follows.]
• Forecast: It is our hope that studying these documents will lead to new ideas about the way we view Race in this country. But first we have to see what the documents under review say. The ideas the paper will consider include X, Y and Z. These ideas will be pulled from each document and looked at for their similarities and differences. The result of this process will be new ideas, such as . . . that will then be explored and evaluated. [Note: This paragraph should be written as one of the last things you do in the paper because you can’t forecast something that you haven’t already written.]

Editing:

A sheet on integrating sources into your paper: Integrating sources

Always (in MLA format) refer to what the document says in the present tense. In other words, “the new document says X.” However, if you refer to the writer of the document, then you put it in past tense: “Ida B. Wells explained X to her readers.”

Magazines and books are italicized. Articles are put in quotation marks.

Don’t put ellipsis [. . .] at the beginning or end of a quotation. Use an ellipsis to indicate what has been removed from inside the quotation.