Essay #2: Analytical Synthesis. 4-6 pages.
Rough Draft due: ____________
Final Draft & portfolio:___________
In this unit, we’re investigating changes and controversies surrounding the institution of marriage. Marriage rates are declining,
divorce rates have gone up, and lifelong single-hood has become a socially acceptable option. Contemporary women face the
challenge of balancing family and career in a post-women’s-movement environment that, according to some, is hostile towards
stay-at-home mothers. Others argue that only the wealthy are economically capable of eschewing career for motherhood.
Furthermore, much of the strain placed on contemporary marriages may be the culmination of relatively recent historical
changes that placed love and personal satisfaction, rather than community obligations, at the center of marriage. Your job in
this essay is to synthesize one or more these trends with a popular representation of marriage.
Write an essay that analyzes the characterization of marriage in a popular film, book, or television show by
synthesizing it with one or more of the critical sources you read for this unit. Use the ideas in the text(s) to establish
and support a thesis that answers the question, “What does the film, book, or show reveal or imply about
contemporary marriage and/or family?”
This essay requires summary and analytical synthesis. You have already practiced summarizing skills in the last paper.
Synthesis appears in much academic and professional writing, and the in-class activities in this unit are designed to help you
practice the intellectual task of drawing connections among different sources. As stated in Writing and Reading Across the
Curriculum, “in a synthesis, you make explicit the relationships you have inferred among separate sources.” Analysis is a type
of synthesis in which you use the principles or definitions presented in one text to understand and interpret the different parts of
an object of study.
I. Introduction: Your introduction should include the movie/show/book title, date of production, starring actors or writer, and,
most importantly, a plot summary. You can transfer the summary skills you developed in the previous unit to summaries of
films or television shows—divide the film or show into sections, and combine short summaries of each. Your summary should
highlight the facets of the film that are relevant to your thesis.
II Bridge (Optional): Prior to your thesis statement, you may find it useful to summarize the text(s) you will be synthesizing
with the film, show, or book. A summary here would allow you to easily refer back to the main points of your readings
throughout the essay rather than summarizing and synthesizing them in each paragraph. It will also prepare the reader more
thoroughly for your thesis and supporting paragraphs. On the other hand, if you’re able to gracefully establish the main points
of the texts in each paragraph as well as synthesize them with the film/book/show, your essay might be more fluid and
economical.
III Thesis: Your thesis should answer the question in the prompt and meet the guidelines for successful thesis statements we
established in the previous unit. Your thesis must establish the synthesis you are drawing between critical source material and
the film/book/show. How do the trends/features of contemporary marriage described in the readings help to make sense of what
the film/book/show has to say about marriage? Your thesis might include the names of the text you will be using, or it may
include the ideas or trends described in the reading, especially if you are working with several related texts.
IV Supporting Paragraphs: Each body paragraph should develop your thesis statement, providing evidence that your analytical
synthesis is in fact valid. Each paragraph should establish and elaborate one specific point in support of your thesis statement,
and stay focused on that point. Think of each body paragraph as one reason your thesis is true. Ideally, each paragraph will
synthesize evidence—quotes or paraphrases—from both the film and the text to demonstrate your point.
Here is one possible organizational option: Have each paragraph take on one specific aspect of the film/book/show—a specific
character or scene, for example, that demonstrates the claim you’ve made in your thesis. Then analyze these aspects and tie
them back to the main point of your thesis using the definitions or principles from the text. A very simplified example—if your
thesis uses “Debunking Myths About Marriage and Family” to suggest that a film perpetuates outmoded myths, you might
devote one paragraph to the role of husbands in the film, one to the role of wives, and one to an idealized nuclear depicted in
the film. Each paragraph would use the definitions of these myths from the text to show that these depictions in the film are, in
fact, myths.
V Conclusion: Your conclusion should strive to answer the question, “So what?” What are the big picture implications of what
you’ve established in your essay? Does this portrayal of family and others like it have a positive or negative affect on the
culture as a whole?
Grading Criteria: 1) A clear, comprehensive introductory summary. 2) A thesis statement that establishes a synthesis between
critical source material and a film/book/show. 4) Focused body paragraphs that support your thesis statement. PIE
paragraphing will be useful. 5) A conclusion paragraph that explores the big-picture implications of your analytical synthesis.
6) Sentence clarity and correctness. 7) Proper MLA citation / Works Cited. 8) At least three well-integrated quotations. 9)
Originality, creativity, thoughtfulness.