For your essay at the end of this unit, you will first read and annotate Amanda Mull's "American Shoppers Are A Nightmare." Then, you will write a short essay that summarizes the article. When summarizing sources, you strive to understand the author’s ideas and transmit a condensed version of these ideas in your own words. The essay should be 2 - 3 pages, excluding the works cited page.

Your first step is to carefully read and annotate the article. Once you have thoroughly understood the author’s argument, you may want to follow this recipe for writing your summary:

1. Create an introductory statement by gracefully integrating a paraphrase of the source’s thesis with the title and name of the author of the article.

Example: Janice Tall, former diplomat to Greece, argues in her essay, “The Quiet Waters,” that the U.S. must become more sensitive to how people around the world perceive our policies (11).

Add a sentence that foreshadows the source’s sections or ultimate conclusion.

Example: In her analysis, the author covers both the causes and effects of this problem, arguing finally that we must “double our efforts” to find a solution (333).

2. Create the summary portion of the paper to familiarize your reader with the main points made in the source. As with all summaries, paraphrase the main ideas of the article in a concise manner (leaving out repetition and small details). In addition, arrange the source’s main points in a logical order, use transitions to connect ideas and sentences, and quoting very sparingly.

Note: Because summaries are much shorter than their original source(s), writing one involves making judgment calls about what to exclude as well as what to include. You must decide what information is essential and condense your summary to emphasize only that key information.

3. Wrap up your paper with a conclusion. A good conclusion returns to a broad level of generalization, avoiding specifics and taking a wide view. One way to achieve this goal is to suggest the significance of the issue under discussion: in other words, answer the question, why should we care?

4. Finish your paper with a Works Cited page. Please use Research and Documentation from Purdue’s OWL (online writing lab) as your MLA documentation reference.

Course: Composition (ENGL 1203)
Instructor: Dr. Dan Kostopulos

For your objective synthesis essay at the end of the unit, you will synthesize two opposing views. Synthesizing involves finding relationships between several authors’ ideas and presenting them in such a way that the reader is made aware of a broad range of views on a particular topic. You will organize your paper around that topic, or controlling idea, and use the authors’ ideas to define and clarify the topic as a whole, explaining the minor differences in agreement or disagreement. In this paper you act as referee, an objective observer. Your essay should be three to four pages, excluding the works cited page.

You might follow these steps in synthesizing:

1. Identify points in common between the two essays, and organize your paper around those subtopics.

2. For each subtopic, paraphrase each author’s perspective, presenting the reasoning or evidence the author uses. Note: this is not a comparison-contrast essay; a synthesis differs in that instead of presenting all of one side before moving on to the next, you look at each subtopic in turn, moving between each author’s view several times.

For example, the body of your paper will look something like this:

Subtopic 1: Side A’s view and how it relates to Side B’s view
Subtopic 2: Side A’s view and how it relates to Side B’s view
Subtopic 3: Side A’s view and how it relates to Side B’s view

3. After writing the body paragraphs, write an introduction that introduces and reviews the controversy over your topic and sets up the rest of the paper. To review the controversy, mention the subject and summarize the general approaches to or perspectives on the topic. Include a blueprint, a sentence that mentions the important subtopics you will focus on. The hard part, of course, is doing all of this in a way that doesn’t seem clunky, awkward and obvious.

4. Write a conclusion that rounds out your essay and explains (again, in a graceful and sophisticated way) the significance of your topic, perhaps by relating it to the larger world.

Course: Composition (ENGL 1203)
Instructor: Dr. Dan Kostopulos

For this your essay at the end of the unit, you will summarize author Bryan Caplan's argument about education and then provide your own response, either supporting, challenging, or qualifying his thesis. When summarizing sources, you strive to understand the author’s ideas and transmit those ideas concisely and in your own words. In responding, you should evaluate the author’s ideas and arguments by examining their validity and soundness, then provide your own evidence and/or reasoning to support your position.

NOTE: This is not an opinion essay, so using first person (and second person) would be inappropriate and overly informal. Instead, you are academically evaluating the argument; your audience is an average educated reader.

The essay should probably be around 2-3 pages, excluding the works cited page.

You may want to follow this recipe for writing your summary-critique: 

Create an introductory statement by gracefully integrating a paraphrase of the source’s thesis with the title and name of the author of the article: 
Example: Janice Tall, former diplomat to Greece, argues in her essay, “The Quiet Waters,” that the U.S. must become more sensitive to how people around the world perceive our policies (11).

Add a sentence that foreshadows the source’s sections or stages:

Example: In her analysis, the author covers both the causes and effects of this problem, arguing finally that we must “double our efforts” to find a solution (18).

Inform the reader of your position with a brief thesis stating your position and a hint about why:

Example: Tall’s argument, while compelling, ignores fundamental realities about the ways that geopolitics are implemented.

Create the summary portion of the paper to familiarize your reader with the points made in the source you will critique. As with all summaries, paraphrase the main ideas of the article in a concise manner (leaving out examples and other support). In addition, arrange the source’s main points in a logical order, using transitions to connect ideas and sentences. Use quotes very sparingly. 
For easier reading, insert a transitional paragraph between the summary and response sections of your paper

Add to this summary a critique of two or three of the author’s main points. Remind readers of the point you will critique by briefly restating it. Next, analyze the author’s reasoning and evidence, arriving at a stance that challenges, supports, or qualifies the author’s original point, using your own skills at reasoning. If you wish, you may cite other research to support your position.
Wrap up your paper with a conclusion. A good strategy for this (or any) conclusion is to consider the significance of the subject; in other words, why is this subject worth thinking about?
Finish your paper with a Work Cited page that refers to your parenthetical citations.


You may also find this graphic organizer useful in discussing structure:

Summary-Critique Paper Structure.pdf

Course: Composition (ENGL 1203)
Instructor: Dr. Dan Kostopulos

For your fourth paper we're asking you to write an evaluative synthesis. Like the last paper, this assignment will require pulling together multiple sources into a coherent and cogent argument by addressing common subtopics within the debate. Unlike the last paper, however, this time you will choose and defend a position, persuading your reader with compelling evidence and sophisticated prose.

Note: This unit serves as the culmination of your work in Composition I and will therefore test your aptitude in the key skills we've practiced this semester, including: summary & paraphrase, integration of quotes, evaluation of arguments, transitions, sentence variety, and credible support of your own claims.

Course: Composition (ENGL 1203)
Instructor: Dr. Dan Kostopulos