 Quickly review participation assignment and conceptualize synthesis  Directions for BA 3  Ask any questions you have about synthesis or BA 3.  11:25 Review the third participation assignment (Preparation for BA 4).  11: 40 - Donell Calendar

 This is another assignment specifically developed to aid you in preparing for the literature review. In your literature review, you will need to synthesize the sources you’ve found within the groups.  Since synthesis is more than summary and more than describing one source after another, it’s important to understand how to approach identifying connections and synthesizing the information for your reader.

 BA 3 is a synthesis of three texts from your textbook for this course. Read the directions on RaiderWriter for the assignment now (or you will not understand much of the information presented).  1)Read each article through once so that you understand its scope and the author’s argument. You must read all three essays, and you need to read actively. Highlight important passages and keep track of the themes or points each author is discussing.

(Hint: You may find it helpful to use an organizational tool such as a Venn diagram.) We did something similar in the participation assignment. You will not be able to synthesize all the information in these essays. A KEY PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT IS IDENTIFYING A NARROW COMMONALITY IN THE DISCUSSION.

There will be several possible common themes or ideas for you to choose from. Pick the one that you can develop in the most detail. In the introduction of your brief, remember to introduce the authors’ names and the titles of their essays. The titles of essays should be “Inside Quotation Marks with Every Major Word Capitalized for Correct MLA Format.” Your thesis statement should also appear in the introduction.

What are their similarities and differences? Why are these similarities and differences important to the theme which you are examining? Here are some important notes about synthesis your graders will consider: Though some disciplines may use the terms summary and synthesis interchangeably, in this course summary is only a part of synthesis. It is important for you to understand that you must move beyond just summarizing the sources to providing connections and pointing out the relationship of the common themes and ideas in the sources.

Don’t simply discuss each source in its own paragraph!! This is a red flag to the grader that you have missed the point of the assignment (and will be an even more egregious error if it appears in your literature review).

You will need to provide textual evidence for your assertions with good quotes and paraphrases from the text. Remember that a textual citation needs the author’s last name and the page number (no comma between the two). If you use the author’s name in a signal phrase at the beginning of the sentence, only the page number needs to appear in the textual citations. However, instead of emphasizing the democratizing nature of English, Langford insists “the real issue in the spread of the English language is globalization” (89).

Your works cited list should have three entries and should be titled “Works Cited.” Below is an example of how to cite an excerpt from your textbook. Use this example to craft correct citations. Power, Carla. "Not the Queen's English." First Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines." 4 ed. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing,

C1—Issue Identification and Focus: Does the student focus on a common theme or idea that runs through each article? C2—Context and Assumptions: Does the student show an awareness of the context in which the source was written? C3—Sources and Evidence :Does the student thoroughly explore the relationship/connection between the articles? Does the student use MLA format correctly?

C5—Own Perspective: Is the student’s own voice apparent or does the student just summarize the viewpoints of the authors? C6—Conclusion: Does the conclusion effectively pull the analysis together? C7—Communication:Is the essay organized effectively? How effective is the student’s writing at the sentence level?

The third participation assignment is available on the class website. Please print and carefully read the instructions. This participation assignment is time intensive and will involve lots of research and printing. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time! (Rushing through this will make the literature review more difficult, but taking your time and working hard this week will help make the literature review easier!).

1.) Read the necessary essays and complete BA 3 by Saturday night. 2) Reading 4, due in class next week, is necessary for success on the upcoming assignments. St. Martin's Handbook: Part 3, Sections "Preparing for a Research Project," "Conducting Research," "Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes" (pp ); Part 12, Chapter 59 "Academic Work in Any Discipline" (pp ); First-Year Writing Ch. 2 3) Complete the third participation assignment and bring Parts I and II with you to class next week. Leave yourself plenty of time to research and print for this one.