Chapter 3 - Synthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation

Synthesizing

- Researching and reading sources so you can develop your own informed opinion, a measured response that considers multiple perspectives and possibilities.

Seabiscuit - Laura Hillenbrand

-About a champion racehorse who beat the odds. -Hillenbrand validates her statements by identifying her sources at the end of the book. -She never gets lost in the sources or allows them to overwhelm her ideas.

Incorporating Sources: Inform Rather than Overwhelm

-After formulating thesis, you will develop your ideas by incorporating sources in your essay. -Don't summarize a series of texts, but cite sources (directly quoting or paraphrasing) to help your argument. - Don't represent ideas as your own if they are not (give credit)

"The Clan of One Breasted Women" - Terry Tempest Williams

-Author writes about the effect of nuclear testing on the health of citizens. -Has a personal viewpoint as many women in her family have been diagnosed with breast cancer. -By using full information about her sources, the author guards against being accused of exaggerating information. -William includes references for the sources she cites in the text. -Sources should enhance and not replace your argument. -While sources inform your own ideas, support them, or demonstrate your understanding of opposing views, what you have to say is the main event. -Your position is central.

Source 6 (Volunteer Cartoon)

-Emphasizes a try it you'll like it advertising claim. -Could be interpreted as questioning the motive for performing community service.

Renée Shea, "Travelling Worlds with Edwidge Danticat"

-From a piece in a literary magazine for writers. -Audience expects a more formal approach. -Type of evidence the author uses is more formal and has a wide range. -Cites information from publications including newspapers, magazines. -Her documentation style is more formal as well (Uses in-text documentation that includes titles and dates for her sources)

Valérie Loichot, "Edwidge Danticat's Kitchen History"

-From the academic journal Meridians: feminism, race, trans-nationalism -Her audience is scholars and researchers. -Author chooses scholarly works as her sources and documents them thoroughly. (Provides parenthetical documentation and a lengthy end-note offering further commentary on a key point the author is making.

Source 7 (Youth Attitudes toward Civic Education and Community Service Requirements Graph)

-Raises questions about required community service. -Graph 1 shows support for requiring community service is weak among those currently in school and evenly split among those above 21. -Graph 2 shows that young people with greater levels of education (BA or some college work) are more likely to support community service requirement in high schools.

Synthesis Essay

-Requires you to use outside sources that have been assigned to you. -Goal is to use the sources to support and illustrate your own idea. -Another goal is to establish your credibility as a member of the academic community that values the "conversation" created by different voices. -Must document sources to give credit where it is due.

Source 5 (Mandatory Volunteerism)

-Research that shows requiring activities that should be voluntary discourages future involvement in those activities, making it less likely that community service will be a lifelong habit.

Quantitative Data

-Statistical information. It's more than just numbers. -Statistics, trends, rates, variables -You should cite where you found this information

Formulating Your Position -What to do before? -What do questions help with.

-Take stock of the issues by asking yourself questions to clarify issues, define terms, etc. - The questions illustrate the complexity of the issue and ensure that your argument is not one-sided or a yes/no one - With the questions/issues you can now formulate a thesis/claim that captures your position on the topic. It's a working thesis that will require revision.

Types of Support

-The more specific the more convincing - Facts, Anecdote, Expert Testimony and Quantitative Data

Before Reading Texts

-Think about how the sources will help you -Sources can illustrate or support your ideas -Do not reject texts that don't support your position or that are not relevant to it. (You can use them as a counterargument, and then concede and refute it.) -Keep an open mind so your thesis shows you understand the complexity of the subject.

Identifying the Issues: Recognizing Complexity -Difference in a written argument and compelling argument

-To engage audience, present position as reasonable and valuable, in a voice that is reasoned, sincere, and informed using ethos, pathos, an logos. - Written argument is not going to change reader's view but a compelling argument leaves the reader thinking, questioning.

Qualified Argument -What does a reasonable voice recognize?

-To write one you must anticipate objections to your position and recognize and respect complexities of your topic. -Reasonable voice recognizes more than pros and cons but recognizes multiple perspectives.

Anecdote

-Type of Support -Brief story that illustrates a point you are making. - Can be about a personal experience or about something that happened to someone else.

Facts

-Type of Support -Information that is verifiable through general sources, such as an encyclopedia, a history book, or a biographical dictionary. -Do not require you to state where you located them

Expert Testimony

-Type of support -Quoting the expert directly or paraphrasing their words. ( logos) -Documenting these establishes ethos -By using these you demonstrate a serious approach to the topic at hand. Shows that you understand the conversation in process.

Process of Writing a Synthesis Essay

-Understand the assignment -Analyze a series of readings -Write an argument

Paul Moses, "Haitian Dream, Brooklyn Memory"

-Written for a general audience (interested in personal information about Edwidge Danticat) -Quotations are from interviews conducted with her and with people who have known her rather than statistics or more formal evidence. -Author's in-text citations include enough information about sources to show they have credibility.

The Relationship of Sources to Audience

A writer must analyze there rhetorical situation in order to determine what is appropriate when it comes to sources and documentation. (Rhetorical Triangle)

The Cheating Culture - David Callahan

Argument - "In one area of American life after another - sports, business, law, education, science, medicine - more people seem to be cutting corners." - Cites an anecdote about LeBron James - Supports Callahan's argument that cheating is pervasive. - Facts ( James got a Hummer) & Quantitative Data (Cost of the Hummer): Logos (Middle Class not being able to afford it) - Pathos (Possibility that James cheated, is likely to evoke an emotional response from readers) - Ethos (Supporting evidence)

Source 4 (In the Good Name of Community Service)

Counterexample to source 3. -Reports on suspicious attitude of students who do community service to help their college applications.

Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich - How do the sources support her position on "the blindness of the affluent"?

Discusses difficulty that rich people have understanding what it takes to live on the minimum wage. - Cites 2 articles from NY Times, including 1 from an expert. - Both make her argument credible and by using direct quotations, Ehrenreich shows that it's not just her personal viewpoint but one that is supported with other findings. - Documenting sources and providing statistics (94 percent) adds authority and strengthens her appeal to ethos and logos.

Document

Giving credit to the sources where you find information

Source 2 (Community Service Mission Statement)

Mission statement from a private school, offers an argument based on a sense of responsibility and belonging to a community. -Since it's from a private school it could influence wider application

Nuestro Himno - Domenek Hawkins

On a controversial topic: the Spanish version of the U.S national anthem. -She doesn't have formal in-text documentation as her teacher is already familiar with the 3 sources she was given, but she does list her sources at the end. -Her own ideas dominate the essay, the sources just support and do not overwhelm. -She used all 3 sources to add authority, and still emphasized her personal experience. -Opens with an anecdote on her heritage, which leads to her thesis. -Second paragraph she presents objections to her position. -Opens the third paragraph by conceding one of the points of a counterargument. -Uses it to develop her argument (Spanish version helps non-English speakers understand the spirit of the anthem. -Returns to personal experience in conclusion.

Source 1 (Millennials Rising)

Points out that legislation supports "the integration of community service with academic study." -Raises the question of whether it should be part of a student's course work.

Source 3 (Volunteer Work Opens Teen's Eyes to Nursing)

Positive and persuasive if you support community service. -But it's from an experience of a 7th grader might not be relevant to high schools