Synthesis Project STEP 3

Students are to find sources by Wednesday, but Step 4, the annotated bibliography, won’t be due until Monday, May 13. instructions for that will come later.

Step 3 – Finding Sources-DUE Wednesday, May 8 
The most effective Synthesis Prompts give the test-takers a wide variety of sources to consider. These sources are of various types, various lengths, and various opinions. This diversity allows each test-taker to choose their own individual approach to the assignment, while providing them with the tools to adequately synthesize into their paper.

Therefore, when choosing your sources, keep several guidelines in mind:
1) Choose sources which cover a variety of viewpoints, making sure to keep sides “even”
2) Choose sources from a wide variety of locations and formats. Use the list below as guidance; it is certainly not all-inclusive. Requirements are in CAPITAL letters. Beyond those required types, you may choose the rest of your sources at your discretion.

** ACADEMIC JOURNAL
** DATA (maybe a survey or graph some sort) 
** IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPH or COMIC or CARTOON 

Other suggestions to consider:

Essay by an expert
Field-Specific Magazine
Government Publication
Government Website
Graph
Letter to editor
Local Newspaper
National Newspaper (online or print editions)
Online Article (about.com, Wikipedia, etc.)
Opinion Piece from a Newspaper/Magazine
Poll Results
Popular Magazine (People, Time, Newsweek)
Primary Book Source
Private Web Page
Published letter from an individual of Oral Commentary or Interview

 

3) Consider the validity of your sources. It is okay to have an opinion piece which could obviously be biased, but make sure that sources of that type are in the minority among your others.
4) Remember that ultimately you are going to be taking EXCERPTS, not an entire
source. That means that you should choose your sources even more carefully, considering which PARTS of a source you may want to use.
5) Think “outside the box” when looking for sources. The most obvious choices are not always the best. Consider the example given of using a school’s daily bell schedule. Not an obvious source about individuality vs. conformity, but was still capable of being effectively synthesized into an essay.
6) Have fun! To create an assignment like this is challenging, but can also be very rewarding and is evidence of high-level thinking skills!

Blogs