A2: Synthesis Essay Introduction With your annotated bibliography you discovered and described an ongoing debate about media and ideology. But an annotated bibliography is a sophisticated type of note-taking rather than a prose argument. This assignment asks you to take your bibliography and turn it into an argumentative essay where you identify and describe your chosen debate. In academic argument, this particular kind of writing is often called a Lit Review because the writer concisely interprets relevant scholarly publications (academics call this the literature). With this essay your task is to persuade your readers of two things: You have identified a controversial issue within the wide conversation in food studies. To show the issue is controversial, you must be able to provide evidence that there are multiple, credible perspectives. Your controversial issue has real stakes. This means you will need to explain the importance or exigency of your debate. Ultimately, you need to persuade us that exploring this topic or issue is worth our time and attention. Like the annotated bib assignment, this is a descriptive argument. You do not take a side in this paper but rather write to persuade your reader that the debate exists because there are multiple, credible perspectives on your high-stakes issue. You will also need to explain the points that hold a camp together and those that hold the camps apart. What is the source of the camps disagreement? Why cant they come to consensus? Much of this thinking you did in the Annotated Bib. The Synthesis Essays major tasks ask you to 1) move out of individual author lists and into cohesive, argumentative prose and 2) consider the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective you define. In other words it is not enough to define the camps, you need to describe the implications of joining each camp. In writing this prose you prepare a debate description that you can later revise and use in your final essay. We will work on this in class and in low-stakes drafting as well as with peer review and conference. Due Dates Rough Draft: Monday, March 4 (Eli) Intro + First Synthesis Paragraph Final Draft: Wednesday, March 6 Introduction Frame the problem Exigency Research Question Synthesis Paragraphs (Minimum of two camps) Describe the camp Discuss where authors agree (at least two sources) Signal phrases (support) Author + Publication + Info + (par. #). Discuss differences or disagreements Implications of joining this camp (effects)
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