Class Session: October 29, 2020

Agenda

Free Write

Please go the this DISCUSSION PAGE to do a 10 minute free write. Instructions are on that page.

Synthesis – What is it?

VERY basically, synthesis is when you bring a source/text into your writing so that you may comment on it. Your comments can be in “agreement”, “disagreement”, be undecided, etc. You are looking to bring in outside sources so that you may present them to your reader as you get the sources to serve your thesis/argument/investigation.

From the SYNTHESIS HANDOUT ( Word | PDF )

Synthesizing sources involves weaving summaries, paraphrases, and quotations from two or more sources alongside your own knowledge and claims. While summaries and paraphrases rephrase a source’s main ideas, and quotations reproduce a source’s exact language, syntheses strategically combine these techniques with your analysis to drive and support your thesis. Synthesis is thus distinct from “stacking” evidence to support claims; synthesis instead “weaves” evidence together.

To synthesize source material, you must discover, within often seemingly unrelated sources, important connections that tie the sources together. The first step in synthesizing material is to determine how your sources connect (and/or don’t connect) to one another. As you identify connections between one source and another, you will then need to determine and make clear where you stand on the subject as compared to your sources.

In academic contexts, synthesis is valued because it shows readers a more dialogic/conversational relationship across sources, which better represents how the circulation of knowledge actually works. Synthesis demands more critical thinking from writers using sources, and it can lead to more nuanced arguments. Thus, synthesis can strengthen your academic writing abilities.

Please read the rest of the handout for further information (Tips for synthesizing).

Resources

From “Synthesizing Ideas”

ENTERING THE CONVERSATION – page 406 (PDF)

As you read and think about your topic, you will come to an understanding of the concepts, interpretations, and controversies relating to your topic — and you’ll become aware that there’s a larger conversation going on. When you begin to find connections among your sources, you will begin to see your own place in that conversation, to discover your own ideas, your own stance on your topic. This is the exciting part of a research project, for when you write out your own ideas on the topic, you will find yourself entering that conversation. Remember that your STANCE as an author needs to be clear: simply stringing together the words and ideas of others isn’t enough. You need to show readers how your source mate-rials relate to one another and to your thesis.

SOURCE: The Norton Field Guide to Writing, 3rd Edition, Richard Bullock

Synthesis practice (worksheet) ( Word )

We’re only going to review this in class and look at how it can be a very useful guide in approaching how to synthesize a text (or texts) into our work – AND with our stance/commentary/reflections on the topic. Please review the worksheet carefully on your own and keep it handy as you write – it can help you put the texts you are reading into YOUR context/stance and help move your paper forward.

The worksheet is similar in function to the “Rhetorical Situation Worksheet” in that it asks you to consider your texts with a guided approach, and it asks pointed questions on WHAT YOU SEE. From these, you can draft body paragraphs for your essay.

I will not be assigning this as homework, but you should try to work this worksheet into your writing practice for this essay.

Tone and language choices – “IS THIS STANCE???”

Here we want to consider the tone and language choices of our essay.

HOWEVER – it important to note something here.

In our class, we are practicing the “academic” genre of writing, and writing in this genre is often done in what is called the “academic register.” (You could say that our “rhetorical situation” is the “academic paper”.) With this register, there is a general expectation that the language choices (tone and style) will be somewhat calm, respectful, sober, scholarly, even a bit detached. (Feel free to add your own adjectives here!!)

BUT – we also know that a theme of our class is the “politics of language” – meaning that we are free to interrogate these expectations and resist what might be the unnecessary, gratuitous, or gate-keeping effects of these expectations.

Is there a middle ground? Can we write in a tone and style (voice) that allows us to be ourselves, yet also says “I understand the expectations, and I will meet you “this far” in those expectations.” It is also important to remember that many of us come form different language backgrounds with different rhetorical traditions, and some of you may choose to incorporate those – however you define them.

But also note that you are perfectly free to write in the customary “academic register” – there’s nothing wrong with that either. I myself like that register when it is appropriate.

MOVING ON….

Let’s look at “tone and language”, but let’s look at it from through the lens of “STANCE.”

Our language choices can often indicate to our reader our stance (or position or attitude) on our topic. But our STANCE also can also inform (and SHOULD inform) how we synthesize our chosen texts with our own commentary in the body paragraphs of our essay. So let’s take a closer look at some guidance on STANCE.

NOTE!!!!! While I find the advice below from The Norton Field Guide to Writing 2nd Edition helpful, DO NOTICE the emphasis on “appropriateness”. This is something you will encounter through out your academic career. I, myself, am somewhat divided on this topic, but we should note where this – let’s call it a gentle coercion – is happening. Awareness is key if we are staying aware of the “politics of language.”

SOURCE: The Norton Field Guide to Writing 2nd Edition

Identify your stance. What is your attitude about your topic? Objective? Critical? Curious? Opinionated? Passionate? Indifferent? Your stance may be affected by your relationship to your AUDIENCE. How do you want them to see you? As a colleague sharing information? As a good student showing what you can do? As an advocate for a position? Often your stance is affected by your GENRE: for example, lab reports require an objective, unemotional stance that emphasizes the content and minimizes the writer’s own attitudes. Memoir, by comparison, allows you to reveal your feelings about your topic. Your stance is also affected by your PURPOSE. Your stance in a piece written to entertain will likely differ from the stance you’d adopt to persuade. As a writer, you communicate your stance through your tone.

Tone is created through the words you use and the way you approach your subject and audience. For example, in an academic essay you would state your position directly — “America’s Next Top Model reflects the values of American society today”— demonstrating a confident, assertive tone and stance. In contrast, using qualifiers like “might” or “I think” can give your writing a wishy-washy, uncertain tone: “I think America’s Next Top Model might reflect some of the values of American society today.” The following paragraph, from an essay analyzing a text, has a sarcastic tone that might be appropriate for a note to a friend, but that isn’t right for an academic essay:

  • In “Just Be Nice,” Stephen M. Carter complains about a boy who wore his pants too low, showing his underwear. Is that really something people should worry about? We have wars raging and terrorism happening every day, and he wants to talk about how inconsiderate it is for someone to wear his pants too low? If by that boy pulling his pants up, the world would be a better place and the Iraq War would end, I’m sure everyone would buy a belt.

This writer clearly thinks Carter’s example is trivial in comparison with the larger issues of the day, but her sarcastic tone belittles Carter’s argument instead of answering it with a serious counterargument. Like every other element of writing, your tone must be appropriate for your rhetorical situation.

Just as you likely alter what you say depending on whether you’re speaking to a boss, an instructor, a parent, or a good friend, so you need to make similar adjustments as a writer. It’s a question of appropriateness: we behave in certain ways in various social situations, and writing is a social situation. You might sign an email to a friend with an x and an o, but in an email to your supervisor you’ll likely sign off with a “Many thanks” or “Regards.” To write well, you need to write with integrity, to say what you wish to say; yet you also must understand that in writing, as in speaking, your stance needs to suit your purpose, your relationship to your audience, the way in which you wish your audience to perceive you, and your medium. In writing as in other aspects of life, the Golden Rule applies: “Do unto audiences as you would have them do unto you.” Address readers respectfully if you want them to respond to your words with respect.

TIPS: Thinking about Stance

SOURCE: The Norton Field Guide to Writing 2nd Edition

  • What is your stance, and how can you best present it to achieve your purpose? If you’re writing about something you take very seriously, be sure that your language and even your typeface reflect that seriousness. Make sure your stance is appropriate to your PURPOSE.
  • What tone will best convey your stance? Do you want to be seen as reason- able? Angry? Thoughtful? Gentle? Funny? Ironic? What aspects of your personality do you want to project? Check your writing for words that reflect that tone — and for ones that do not (and revise as necessary).
  • How is your stance likely to be received by your audience? Your tone and especially your attitude toward your AUDIENCE will affect how willing they are to take your argument seriously.
  • Should you openly reveal your stance? Do you want or need to announce your own perspective on your topic? Will doing so help you reach your audience, or would it be better to make your ARGUMENT without say- ing directly where you’re coming from?