Week 19: Week 19 — The Synthesis Essay
Week of Mon, Jan 25 · week closes Sun, Jan 31
This week's items
Exact due times are in Canvas. Late work accepted at 10% per day; assessed work not accepted late. Vocabulary quizzes are unannounced and cannot be made up.
Know these cold
- A synthesis essay requires reading multiple provided sources, evaluating them for credibility and relevance, and constructing an original argument that integrates evidence from at least three.
- The synthesis essay is not a summary of the sources — it is an original argument that uses the sources as supporting evidence. The writer's own claim controls the essay.
- Source integration requires three steps: introduce the source by credibility (what makes it trustworthy), present the quotation or paraphrase accurately, and explain how it supports the argument.
- Dropping a quotation — presenting it without explanation — leaves the connection between evidence and claim unmade. The most common error in synthesis writing.
- Agreeing with a source is not synthesis. Using a source to complicate, extend, challenge, or support an original argument is synthesis.
- Divergent sources — those that disagree with each other — are often more valuable than sources that all say the same thing. A synthesis essay that addresses real disagreement demonstrates more sophisticated thinking.
- Attribution signals that an idea came from a source: 'According to,' 'X argues that,' and 'As Y demonstrates' are attribution phrases that integrate the source into the argument.
- Annotation is marking a source to identify its claim, its evidence, and its relationship to your argument. Annotating before writing produces a more structured synthesis.
- The AP synthesis prompt labels sources (Source A, Source B). Never treat these labels as titles — describe each source by its actual content and author when introducing it.
- Avoiding plagiarism in synthesis: paraphrase accurately, attribute all borrowed ideas, and use your own analysis to connect each source to your argument.
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 19 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: What is the difference between using sources and being used by them?
En español: ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre usar fuentes y ser usado por ellas?