This is a synthesis/Analysis paper that must be 100% original because i am turning this into turnitin.com. My chosen TedTalk is “The Pursuit of Ignorance” by Stuart Firestein and my companion article is “Public Education is Failing” by Tom Deweese. Deweese’s article will be attached separately. There must be at least 3 different points that are synthesized from the articles and the main focus should be on the educational system
ENGL 1303 – Prof. Alfred
Major Assignment 2 – An Analysis/Synthesis Essay
For the second major assignment, you’ll build on strategies you developed while crafting the summary/strong response essay. As you discovered when working on that essay, each of the speakers was participating in a larger conversation about a relevant problem or question – the future of online education (Khan), the importance of a liberal arts education in training leaders (Awuah), or the shifting attitudes toward science education (Firestein).
For this essay you’ll put one of the TED Talks from the previous project into conversation with another text of your choice. that also involve a relevant contemporary problem or question – this time one with ethical implications. You’ll summarize and analyze the authors’ purposes and main ideas, create connections between the two texts, and then synthesize them into a new perspective of your own. As the authors of your textbook point out in Chapter 8, analysis/synthesis is an intellectual activity you’ll encounter in many academic settings (181). In fact, the foundation for thoughtful and effective research begins with demonstrating your awareness of a larger conversation and beginning to claim your own place in it.
Instructions:
1. Select a TED Talk from the three we worked on in the previous project (you can either choose a new talk or use your Essay 1 selection).
2. Select a second text that deals with a similar topic thread, or idea outlined in your chosen TED Talk. Here, you might use another TED talk, an online article, a YouTube video, a speech, etc. (the text should be between 4-6 pages). The text might be aligned with, opposed to, or offer a new perspective on the topic, thread or idea at hand.
3. Write a synthesis, where you put the ideas from the two texts into conversation with each other. Do this by summarizing each text briefly and then by writing about the two texts’ likenesses, differences, strengths, and weaknesses/ “holes.”
4. Form an contribute your own perspective to this conversation based on your discussion of the two texts (self-situate).
Successful essays will accomplish the following:
1. Address a synthesis question and make a claim (thesis) about the readings.
2. Summarize and analyze the views of two writers on this question.
3. Show you have wrestled with different perspectives and articulated your own new view of the question. Consider not only how you’d speak back to these texts but how they’re speaking with each other and what ideas, questions, or conclusions that conversation leaves in your mind.
Format
Introductory paragraph should:
• set up the context, problem, and/or topic of your two texts (i.e. what situation and/or problem do the text refer to broadly?);
• introduce the two texts, including information about the speakers/writers, titles, and general arguments by offering brief summaries of each (no more than 100-200 words for both); and
• offer a purpose statement/thesis/”so-what” that indicates that you’ve analyzed and synthesized the text’s ideas in order to form and contribute your own perspective.
You synthesis paragraphs should:
• analyze the major points of each text by thinking about likenesses, differences, strengths, and weaknesses/”holes” of each text; and
• come to a conclusion about the two texts’ arguments.
Your contribution/self-situating paragraphs should:
• offer your addition/contribution to the conversation; and
• clarify where you stand on the topic (do not simply agree or disagree with the texts you need to offer a new angle/perspective to the topics at hand—we’ll talk about what it means to contribute to a conversation).
Your conclusion should:
• wrap up your project;
• give your audiences a clear picture of your texts and your contribution to this conversation; and
• point your audiences beyond your response by offering further implications for, insights into, or applications of the talks.
Note: Allyn-Bacon Guide to Writing, Chapter 8, especially pages 181-90, offers extensive insights into, or applications of the talks.
Writing Studios 2-A, 2-B, and 2-C will support your drafting process. See the class calendar for studio dates; consult your studio space for specific instructions.
Length: 1200 – 1500 words, double-spaced, in standard 12-point font
In-class peer review: Tues. 10/21 – bring 1 copy of your draft to class
Essay Due: Tues. 10/28 11:59 pm – upload through the Turnitin link
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