English B50
Synthesis Essay
Your synthesis essay is on Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments. Having read Milgram’s
experiment, Baumrind’s criticism of Milgram’s experiment, and Burger’s replication of
Milgram’s experiment, you must now decide whether you think Milgram’s experiments taught
us anything of value about human nature and obedience or whether they were too flawed to
provide us with any worthwhile knowledge.
Some points to consider:
 The introduction of your essay will follow the structure we’ve already gone over in class:
HIT (hook, info., and thesis).
o Your opening hook is your attention getter
o Your background information should introduce Stanley Milgram and BRIEFLY
summarize his experiments (no more than a couple of sentences of summary
here).
o Your thesis should tell readers your position in the debate over Milgram’s
experiments.
 Each body paragraph of your essay should provide one reason why you feel the way that
you do about the topic. Use our in-class brainstorm and your reading guides for
inspiration.
 You must reference all three of the articles we read in class in your essay
o Stanley Milgram’s “The Perils of Obedience”
o Diana Baumrind’s “Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience”
o Jerry Burger’s “Replicating Milgram”
 You should quote, paraphrase, and summarize passages from these three
articles throughout your essay—they serve as the textual evidence in
support of your argument.
 You must provide an in-text citation for each source reference where you
include in parenthesis the paragraph number where the referenced
material appeared in the original source. We’re using paragraph numbers
rather than pages because you don’t have the original pagination
information.
 You must also include a works cited entry for each of these sources to go
on the works cited page for your essay. We will go over how to do these
entries together in class.
 You must also reference one outside source, a scholarly journal article of your choosing,
which you will obtain from the library database.
o You may choose any article that has relevance in terms of your argument, but it
must be a journal article
o You should also reference your outside source throughout your essay and on your
works cited page.
 Some of the articles will work in support of your position. Some will be opposition.
Thus, it is necessary for you to address and refute the counterargument where appropriate
in your essay
Here is an approximate timeline of events leading up to the final essay:
1. Your source evaluation assignments will be due on Tuesday 2/24. This will include a
copy of the outside source you plan to use in your essay and a written justification of the
source. I will hand these back to you with approval. If your initial choice is declined,
then you’ll need to find another article before you can proceed with the assignment.
2. A completed rough draft will be due in class on Thursday 3/5. We will spend the
duration of that class working with your papers in peer and self-reviews before you turn
them in to me for feedback. It is ESSENTIAL that you have your drafts finished by this
date in order to receive suggestions from me and from your classmates.
3. On Thursday 3/5, you will sign up for one individual conference time slot where you
will meet with me in my office in lieu of class. You will sign up for one day (either the
9th, the 10th, or the 11th). On the other two days, I will be meeting with your classmates,
so we will not have class; rather, you should be working on your final drafts. At the
conferences, I will give you back the drafts of your papers with feedback. You should
bring any questions you have for me to the conference as well.
4. On Thursday, March 12 you will turn in a final Synthesis Essay Packet before taking
your final exam. The packets must be in large manila envelopes, and the y should
contain the following items:
a. Your source evaluation including a copy of your outside source
b. Your rough draft
c. Your peer review
d. Your self-evaluation
e. Your final draft including works cited page
These essays must be at least 1250 words (approximately 5 pages). Your rough and final drafts
must include word counts. Follow MLA guidelines for heading, page numbers, and other
formatting details. Remember that these essays are worth a very large portion of your overall
grade for the course, and you should treat them appropriately. As always, I am happy to help
you with any part of the writing process. Happy writing! 