Okay, I need someone to explain this to me like I'm five. My professor just handed out the prompt for our final paper, and it's called a "synthesis essay." I've written research papers before—you pick a topic, find sources, and make an argument. Isn't that what this is? What's the difference?
I read the prompt like five times, and I think the key phrase is that we have to "bring sources into conversation with each other." In my old research papers, I feel like I just used one source per paragraph. Source A says this. Source B says that. Here's my point.
For a synthesis essay, it sounds like I need to do more. Like, I need to put Source A and Source B in the same paragraph and show how they agree, disagree, or complicate each other. Is that it?
So instead of:
I read the prompt like five times, and I think the key phrase is that we have to "bring sources into conversation with each other." In my old research papers, I feel like I just used one source per paragraph. Source A says this. Source B says that. Here's my point.
For a synthesis essay, it sounds like I need to do more. Like, I need to put Source A and Source B in the same paragraph and show how they agree, disagree, or complicate each other. Is that it?
So instead of:
- Para 1: Smith's argument
- Para 2: Jones's argument
- Para 3: My take
- Para 1: On this subtopic, Smith and Jones agree, but for different reasons...
- Para 2: On this other point, Smith and Jones actually contradict each other, and here's why that matters...