Johnson County Community College--Argumentative Synthesis--English 122, Spring 1999

Assignment: Write an argumentative synthesis in which you present your own point of view regarding some aspect of one of the following broad topics: Family, Economics, Media (or pop culture), Science, Technology, Education, Gender. You must incorporate at least three outside sources into your argumentative synthesis assignment, but you can incorporate more if you wish. One of your sources may come from Writing in the Disciplines or one of the sources you have used for another essay, but the other two must come from reliable periodical or Internet sources. In other words, of the three sources you've chosen to include in your synthesis, two of the sources must be new. You may continue to work on the topic that you started with your descriptive synthesis essay, or you may begin a new topic.

While it will be necessary to paraphrase, quote, or summarize information from the three essays you choose to integrate into your paper, the main emphasis of your essay should be your argumentative points. You should use the outside sources to support and to develop the central arguments of your paper. (Using the outside sources to support your arguments does not mean you must find sources that have the same arguments as you do. Often times, it is useful to include a source that argues the exact opposite of what you believe; you may argue against that source in your essay.) You want to develop your argumentative points completely. Don’t just assert your opinion without supporting it with explanation and examples.

Possible organizational and developmental strategies:

• Problem-solution essay. In this paper, you would have two principle goals. First, you want to convince your reader that the problem does exist. Second, you want to convince your reader that your solution is appropriate.

• Persuasive Essay. The above problems-solutions organizational strategy is persuasive, of course, in that you are persuading your reader that your solution is valid, but by just classifying this strategy as persuasive, I’m saying you need not propose a solution. With this method, you attempt to convince me of your position on that issue.

• Analysis Essay. You may want to explore a single problem or issue from one of essays or stories addresses. Using the other sources and your own insight, analyze the pattern and reasons for the problem or issue that you choose to discuss. For example, you could analyze the concept of the American Dream, which would fit under the topic of Social Class.

Requirements:

• Your essay must have a title.
• Your essay should be 3 to 4 pages typed (double-spaced) or at least 750 words.
• Use proper MLA documentation style. Incorporate at least three outside sources into your essay.
• Your essay should contain a "Works Cited" page.

Activities and Due Dates: Below are the activities that I want you to complete and turn in with this assignment. Some of these activities are worth points, so put some thought into them. None of these activities will be accepted late except for the final draft, which will have points deducted if turned in late.

1. April 5, 1999: Discuss argumentative synthesis assignment. Topic is due today. By the beginning of class on Wednesday, you need to submit a short paragraph on the following: What is your argumentative synthesis topic? Which organizational strategy listed above do you intend to use and why? What sources have you found thus far? (Provide the titles and locations.) How do you expect to expand this topic for your research project?  This is homework, by the way; we will not work on these questions in class.  No late paragraphs accepted. You can e-mail the paragraphs to me by the beginning of Wednesday's class as well.
2. April 7, 1999: Short paragraph (see above) due at the beginning of class. Group creation of a persuasive web page using sources from the Internet.
3. April 9, 1999: Drafting workshop for Argumentative Synthesis. Bring all your sources. An outline of your essay is due at the end of class.
4. April 12, 1999: Peer Review Workshop. Bring a complete draft to participate in Peer Review. Note: This is our next-to-last peer review session. A few students have not participated in the previous three peer reviews. If you do not participate in the peer review workshops, you are not fulfilling course objective 1.D., and thus you can fail the course regardless of the points you might have accumulated in class.
5. April 16, 1999: Draft of Argumentative Synthesis due.  This draft is worth 15 points.  To receive the total points possible your essay must fufill the assignment by being argumentative, by integrating at least three sources, and by fulfilling the minimum word length.  Submit copies of your sources along with this draft.

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