An In-Depth Look at the Synthesis Essay Question

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An In-Depth Look at the Synthesis Essay Question

• Preparing for the AP Language and Composition Exam

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Introduction to the Essay Questions

• At first you will receive only the green booklet,
  and you will get 15 minutes to read the material
  and plan your essays.
• Spend your 15 minutes well.
• At the conclusion of the 15 minutes, you will be
  given a pink booklet.
• At this point you have two hours to write three
  essays
• AP said starting this year you will get both
  booklets at the same time.

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Scoring/Rubric

• To simplify the rubric, the graders are primarily
  looking for three elements
• Did the student answer the question? Did the
  student use examples?
• Did the writers point remain clear?

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Did the student answer the question?

• Make sure to address the prompt.
• Just because it is eloquently written does not
  guarantee you staying on topic.
• Be vigilant of this

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Did the writers point remain clear?

• There should be no confusion or uncertainty
• Your argument should be clear from the first
  point through the conclusion.
• Be wary of fancy words. Graders prefer a good
  idea that is expressed with the diction most
  relevant to the essay.

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Did the student use examples?

• You absolutely must include a minimum of three
  specific references or quotes in the synthesis
  essay.
• If you do not have specific examples, your essay
  will receive no more than a lower half score (1-4)

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Scoring

• In addition to those three essential elements,
  there are two more
• Grammar
• Graders expect you to be grammar fluent (but not
  necessarily perfect)
• Voice
• Avoid dull writing
• Have your own style, but dont become so fixated
  on the beauty of your essay that you forget to
  answer the question

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The Synthesis Essay

• The synthesis essay has a triple purpose.
• It examines your ability to consider and support
  a rational argument.
• It also seeks to evaluate your ability to absorb,
  understand, and employ several sources on the
  same topic.
• It tests your ability to correctly cite the
  sources you have quoted or paraphrased in your
  argument.

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The Process

• It is strongly recommended that you use the 15
  minute reading period to immediately look at the
  synthesis passages.
• If there is time left over, read and make notes
  on the rhetorical analysis piece and argument
  question.

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The Process

• Read the initial question page carefully. There
  are three sections.
• (1) Direction in this section you will find this
  crucial sentence Your argument should be
  central the sources should support this
  argument. Avoid merely summarizing sources.
• Your opinion is the most important aspect of this
  essay (therefore form one!)
• The sources you present in your argument are
  there to support and sustain your own ideas.
• Lets look at your page for how to develop the
  synthesis. Use the two handouts you got today.

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The Process

• Beware
• If you simply repeat what the sources had to say
  about the issue, you will always earn a
  lower-half score (1-4).
• This means that bringing your own examples to a
  synthesis essay is a good idea.
• Its not essential, but it does help demonstrate
  to the reader that you are presenting your own
  argument.

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The Process

• Read the initial question page carefully. There
  are three sections
• (2) Introduction its purpose is to get you
  thinking about the issue by making general
  statements about the topic.
• The introduction is not the prompt
• (3) Assignment this is where you will find the
  prompt. The topic is hi-lighted in bold print.
• Additionally, the assignment (prompt) will state
  that you must synthesize at least three of the
  sources for support.
• Lets do 1-5 on the worksheet with the prompt
  given to you. I will use http//apcentral.collegeb
  oard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_frq_eng_lang.p
  df

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Dealing with the Passages and Visuals

• Identify certain elements right away such as
• Is the source biased?
• You can determine this by looking at the source
  itself an article from Christian Century will
  have some inherent biases.
• Does the sources date of publication have an
  effect on the relevance of the argument?
• A passage written in 1975 about advertising is
  likely to be out of date today.
• What position does the author hold?
• Determine if the author is for, against, or
  neutral about the topic.
• For what audience is the author writing?
• Identify the target audience for the piece
  women, men, businesspeople, etc.

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Dealing with the Passages and Visuals

• You should critically mark and annotate the
  passage by identifying three things
• What is the point of view, thesis, or information
  offered?
• Are there any quotables particularly succinct
  (short concise) or stimulating phrases you can
  use?
• Do you plan to use the piece or a portion of it
  to support your argument in some way?
• You may decide this question after reading all or
  most of the passages you are looking for three
  good ones.

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Strategies for Approaching the Sources

• Remember your time constraints have a plan!
• One approach might be to mark portions of the
  sources with plus or minus signs to indicate
  pro and con arguments.
• Mark only those statements, ideas, or
  observations that strike you as particularly
  weighty or important so that you will be able to
  access them quickly as you write (i.e., dont
  mark everything).

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Strategies for Approaching the Sources (contd.)

• Use a star or asterisk to mark the
  super-important elements that you dont want to
  forget to cite.
• You do not need to cite every source and, in
  fact, should not.
• Be careful with charts, graphs, and other visual
  representations they can be tricky to evaluate.

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Strategies for Approaching the Sources (contd.)

• A visual representation may look like it supports
  your position, but look at it very carefully to
  be sure.
• Consider questions that are not adequately
  addressed in visuals such as adequate sample
  size, exclusion of important segments of the
  population, and so on, which might skew the
  results shown in the graphic.
• Dont take visuals at face value Be prepared to
  evaluate them critically.
• Also, be attentive to the ways that one source
  can inform or undercut another.

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The Visual

• It may take the form of a chart, table,
  photograph, political cartoon, or painting.
• You should follow the same steps for analyzing
  the visual as you do when annotating the
  passages
• Look for bias
• Datedness
• Position
• Audience
• Point of view
• And usefulness to
• your argument

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Political Cartoons More Than Meets The Eye

• How to Interpret the Basic Elements of Political
  Cartoons

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What Are Political Cartoons?

• Art form that serves as a source of opinion on
  society
• Express viewpoints on political, economic, or
  social issues
• Make use of humor, symbolism, historical events,
  and stereotypes

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How To Read Them?

• Artists viewpoint
• Symbols
• Captions
• Humor and Satire
• Historical Images

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Artists Viewpoint The purpose of any political
cartoon is to express an opinion

• What subject or issue is the artist commenting
  on?
• How is the subject portrayed?
• What feelings are suggested by the images?

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What is the artists viewpoint of this cartoon?
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What is the artists viewpoint of this cartoon?
Voter apathy People who dont vote will be in
trouble with society.
Heitzmann, W.R. (1980) Political cartoons
Scholastic social studies skills. New York
Scholastic, Inc.
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Use of SymbolsImages that stand for something
else

• Symbols can stand for objects, places, groups of
  people, beliefs, character traits, or ideas
• Common symbols for our country
• Uncle SamUnited States
• Set of ScalesJustice or court system
• Dollar billMoney
• Animals used as symbols
• Donkey the Democratic Party
• Elephant the Republican Party
• Dove Peace
• Fox Sly or untrustworthy

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What Do These Symbols Mean?
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Captions

• Can help the reader understand the message, even
  if the symbols arent familiar.

http//www.intoon.com/cartoons.cfm
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Humor and Satire

• Humor creates interest
• Caricature overemphasis of a persons features
• Irony saying the opposite of what was really
  meant
• Satire the portrayal of a wrongdoing to that it
  becomes the object of ridicule
• Stereotype an oversimplified judgment of a group
  of people or objects

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Humor and Satire
Heitzmann, W.R. (1980) Political cartoons
Scholastic social studies skills. New York
Scholastic, Inc.
http//www.comics.com/editoons/ariail/archive/aria
il-20070919.html
Heitzmann, W.R. (1980) Political cartoons
Scholastic social studies skills. New York
Scholastic, Inc.
Hakim, J. (1993). A history of us An age of
extremes. New York Oxford University Press.
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Historical Images

• Artists include historical or literary images to
  help express viewpoints on current issues
• Recognizing the historical or literary images is
  necessary to understand the meaning of the
  cartoon

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How Will We Use Cartoons?

• Understand public opinion of a particular time
  period
• Examine opposing views
• Compare historical and contemporary issues
• Look at the visual on the back of your prompt.
  Could you use it? Would it support your idea?
  How? Discuss. Directions on next slide

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Practice Activity

• Write a short response to your graphics
  addressing the following
• What is the claim or point being expressed in
  this visual?
• Evaluate its effectiveness in making that point?
• Are there any inconsistencies or fallacies?

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Using Opposing Passages

• It is always a good strategy to use passages that
  disagree with your point of view, especially if
  you are dealing with an agree, disagree, or
  qualify prompt.
• Qualifying an argument allows room for
  reflection and interpretation and is crucial to
  creating a strong ethos.
• Categories of qualification
• Quantity many, most, some
• Frequency often, usually, frequently
• Probability probably, unlikely
• Proof suggests, indicates, points to

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One More Warning

• Beware do not put in so many quotes that the
  grader cannot find your argument.

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Incorporate Citations Smoothly

• Avoid stilted or awkward citation of sources.
• Keep rules of sentence formation in mind when
  quoting sources (think about how you do this in
  your précis).
• Do not paraphrase the sources use them to
  support your position.
• Think about how you can weave attribution of
  sources into your essays.

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Incorporate Citations Smoothly (contd.)

• Weak Source A says, Women should be required
  to register for the draft. I agree with this
  statement.
• If your essays thesis is strong, there should be
  no need to say explicitly that you agree or
  disagree with any of the sources.
• Avoid writing in first person.
• Also, try to avoid says, What is the author
  doing? Is he explaining? Arguing? Giving an
  example?

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Incorporate Citations Smoothly (contd.)

• Weak Source A says, Women should be required
  to register for the draft. This is a valid
  point.
• This is choppy and unsophisticated.
• Slightly improved Source A says, Women should
  be required to register for the draft, a valid
  point that emphasizes the inequality
• Saying Source A says still lacks
  sophistication and interest.

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Practice Activity

• With your partner, write three different
  sentences in which you incorporate a direct
  citation of the following sources without
  beginning a sentence with Source A says or any
  version thereof.
• On the topic of gun control laws
• Eleven years after Columbine, and Congress has
  failed to close the gun show loophole that made
  the carnage possible. (NY Times editorial,
  4/17/10)

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Example

• However, even second amendment proponents have to
  admit that we still have problems with gun
  control. A New York Times editorial highlights
  the gun show loophole which allows people to
  purchase firearms without background checks (
  Source C).

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• On the topic of school sex education
• According to a nationwide survey taken by the
  Alan Guttmacher Institute of school
  superintendents35 of school districts require
  abstinence to be taught as the only option for
  unmarried people, while either prohibiting
  discussion of contraception altogether or
  limiting discussion to contraceptive failure
  rates (Collins, Alagiri, Summers)

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• On banks targeting college students with offers
  of credit cards
• Credit card abuse has become such a problem
  that, in February 2010, the federal government
  recognized the importance of protecting college
  students from the consequences of misusing credit
  cards. They enacted legislation changing how
  credit card companies can do business with
  students. (www.College Board.com)

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Solid body paragraph from a 7 last year