Synthesis/Analysis Assignment (Paper 2:  25/100 points)

Due Dates:
Rough draft (x2): M 02/22
Peer review (x2): W 02/24
Final draft (w/ rough draft attached): M 03/08

Briefly put, the Synthesis/Analysis assignment requires you to analyze a number of distinct 
arguments and to synthesize a coherent description of an issue/problem/question from the 
elements of those arguments.  It might help you to think of this task as one in which you will first 
“map out” the various positions on the issue/problem/question and then give your reader a guided 
tour of this map, noting how and in what ways the various positions “speak” to each other.  

Notice that I use the term “positions” and not “texts”: this is not simply an exercise in comparing 
and contrasting texts like you might have done in high school.  Organize your paper around an 
issue/problem/question and how individual positions relate to it as well as to the other positions.

I)  For your synthesis/analysis paper, you will need to choose one of the 
issues/problems/questions that arises in the arguments we have read and use it as 
the focus of your analysis and synthesis.  In your analysis and synthesis, you will 
need to include all five of the arguments we have read (F. R. Leavis, J. Holloway, R. 
Gilmour, D. Sonstroem, & S. Connor).
 
  How to find a suitable issue/problem/question?  Recall that in our class discussions and 
work with grids and common points of discussion, we have identified a number of 
issues/problems/questions.  How?  By formulating common points of discussion we have 
created a number of claims to which the authors might be said to respond and on which at 
least two authors might be said to disagree. Therefore, in doing so we have identified 
some issues—or points of tension (major or minor)—within the community whose 
“conversation” we have been listening to.  Hence, if you wish, you may choose to work 
with one of the issues/problems/questions in this basic set, or, if you prefer, work with one 
you have identified on your own.

II) In your synthesis/analysis paper, you should do the following:

a)  In the introduction, you should identify and describe the issue/problem/question you 
plan to focus on and make the case that the issue/problem/question exists and is 
significant enough to deserve the attention of an interested community.  

  Note: you will use this description of the issue/problem/question as the basis for 
you analysis of each author’s approach to and position on the issue, and, therefore, 
the description will need to be broad enough to be relevant to every author’s 
position, yet specific enough to allow the concrete analysis of each author’s 
position.   
 
b)  Next, on the basis of the authors’ approach to and position on the 
issue/problem/question, you should group the arguments into 2 or more general 
categories (in KGN parlance, named approaches).  

Pointers:
  In your paper, it is generally best to first describe the approaches and give 
these approaches names (e.g., the “analytical approach,” the “historical 
approach,” etc.), and then specify what authors (positions) are associated with 
each approach.  
 
  It’s best to introduce these named approaches early in your paper—as part of 
the introduction or in the paragraph that follows.  Make sure that you describe 
each approach in a way that clearly distinguishes it from the other approaches.   

c)  Next, you should in your synthesis/analysis paper analyze and evaluate the approaches 
and the positions within each approach in terms of how well they (the positions and 
the approach) address the issue/problem/question in question.  That is, your analysis 
should not only describe the positions and approaches but state specifically the 
strengths and weaknesses of each (that is, the strengths and weaknesses of each 
position in particular and of the approach in general). 

  Be sure to justify your appraisal of the positions and approaches with some sort of 
support: tell your reader why you think a particular feature is a strength or 
weakness. 
 
  Also, in analyzing an author's position, carefully consider the assumptions that 
seem to underlie his or her position and try to think of counterexamples (from your 
experience or from another author's argument) that challenge a claim or conclusion 
made by that author.

d) Finally, you should conclude the paper by describing a conclusion or position you have 
come to through your analysis and, on the basis of that conclusion, a direction you might 
explore to develop a line of argument of your own.

III) Notes:

a) *Length:  Plan on writing approximately 5-6 double-spaced pages with one inch 
margins.  

b) In analyzing your five articles you will rely on the strategies presented in Units I and II 
as well as those presented in Chapters 9-12.  More specifically, you will:

* identify, explore, and summarize central problems, questions, and problem  cases 
(e.g., specific passages from Hard Times or Dickens’s other writings, or other 
historical materials such as those pertaining to the Birkbeck schools, etc.).
* examine and evaluate solutions to problem cases
* explore, formulate, and test problem definitions
* formulate conclusions
* practice and refine your critical reading and summarizing skills
* practice and refine your skills in synthesizing major perspectives on an issue 
* continue increasing your knowledge and expertise on the literacy issue 
*begin formulating and stating your own approach to the literacy issue
76-101		Synthesis/Analysis Assignment

 

76-101		Synthesis/Analysis Assignment