Writing the Synthesis Essay*
AP English Language &
Composition - Brunskole
*adapted from Barron’s AP English Language and Composition
The Synthesis (Argumentative) Essay
• You will be given a prompt that requires you to argue a
certain point of view on a given issue
• Along with the prompt, you will be given several sources
related to the issue
▫ Image (photo, chart, graph, table, or cartoon)
▫ Passages (primary & secondary sources) related to the issue
• You must draw supporting facts, ideas, and information
from those sources to support your argument
• You will have 55 minutes to complete this question
▫ 15 minutes to read the sources
▫ 40 minutes to write
• This is basically a short research paper
Reading the Sources
• READ THE PROMPT CAREFULLY. Understand its
subject and your task. Use the prompt as a lens as
you read the resources.
▫ The prompt will ask you to: defend, challenge, or
qualify a claim; develop a position on a given topic; or
evaluate several factors related to a topic. Annotate
the prompt, underline its verbs, be sure you know
precisely what you are being asked to do.
• Read ALL of the sources!!!
• Read sources with an open mind and weigh all of the
evidence before making a decision about your
argument
• Keep these strategies in mind:
▫ Read to understand what the source has to say
 Underline striking ideas, topic sentences, and other key
words and phrases
 Don’t over annotate, though, because it can confuse you
in the end
▫ Read to analyze the author’s position on the issue
 When the author presents evidence in favor of the claim,
put a ✓
 When the evidence opposes it, put an X
▫ Read for evidence and data that help define your
position on the issue
 Make a table of pros and cons if you have to!
▫ Interpret the visual source
 What relevant information does it contribute to the
discussion of the issue?
Assessing the Validity of Sources
• Determine the following when possible:
▫ When it was published
▫ Where it came from
▫ Who its reader were likely to be (intended
audience)
▫ What its purpose was
▫ How objectively it was written
 Examine tone and language
Sample 1:
At 3:30 p.m. on September 21, the Bedford Fire Department received
a call that a residence at 330 Holly Road was on fire. Ten minutes later, the
first fire truck arrived at the site and found a conflagration on an unfinished
porch. Firemen promptly extinguished the fire. Damage was limited to the
wood frame of the unfinished structure. The cause of the fire is yet to be
determined.
Sample 2:
Charlotte Robins, a 36-year-old widow and mother of four young
children wept profusely as she surveyed the charred ruins of the unfinished
porch outside her Bedford home last weekend.
“Poor Fred, he would have been devastated,” she sobbed, referring to
her husband, a disable mechanic, dead only three weeks, whose dream had
long been to build a porch his loving family. “Why, oh, why did this happen
to me?” Charlotte asked, but no one could answer. The cause of the fire
remains a mystery, but the misery and heartbreak it caused for Fred’s
survivors is readily apparent.
Structuring the Argument
• Before you begin to write, make a list of all the
arguments you can to support your view.
Remember: “Fools rush in….” The weaker essays
usually suffer from a problem with thinking, not
writing.
• Quickly outline your main points (shoot for three)
on your planning page. Write it out. Do NOT try to
keep your outline in your head and just start writing.
▫ Rule of thumb: 3 distinct and relevant reasons will
suffice to prove a point. Put your strongest evidence
last – work toward your best point.
• Follow these steps:
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Introduce your position
Support your position
Refute opposing viewpoints
Avoid faulty reasoning
Incorporate sources
Cite sources
Introduction
• Attention Getter Possibilities
▫ Anecdote
▫ Provocative Idea
▫ Quotation from the prompt, from one of the
sources, or from your own reading or experience
▫ Knock down a commonly held assumption, or
define a word in a startling new way
▫ Interesting Question
▫ If you attempt to start with a cheesy rhetorical
question or dictionary definition, there will be
hell to pay!!!
• Brief background information on the topic used to
connect the AG to the thesis. In other words, create
a context for your thesis.
• Thesis Statement
▫ Write your thesis, which should be a clear (generally
one sentence) statement expressing your opinion and
showing what you will argue. Use the prompt to create
your thesis. Stick to the limits of what you are being
asked to do – do not go “rogue” and wander away from
the prompt.
▫ Your thesis should




Be specific enough to be the topic of a short paper
Express the writer’s opinion
Be controversial – worthy of an argument
Address the issue raised by the question
Support Paragraphs
• Support your position with appropriate, relevant
evidence.
▫ Do not merely adopt the arguments you see in the
sources. Consider yourself as a writer who
participates in a conversation with the sources.
Your case should indicate critical thinking on your
part – going beyond what the sources have said.
Your own observations are important.
Counterargument
• There is no right or wrong place to include the
counterargument – see where it makes the best
sense for your paper.
• Avoid “faulty reasoning”:
▫ Irrelevant testimony (Has nothing to do with the
question)
▫ Snob appeal (Don’t try to make something true just
because an elite group of people believes it)
▫ Circular reasoning
▫ Absence of proof
▫ Oversimplification
▫ Telling only half the story
▫ Going to extremes
Incorporating Sources
• Use the minimum number of sources your prompt requires
(usually three or four), but do not worry about having to use
more. You may, but you do not have to and will not lose
points for failing to do so. Citing all of the resources will not
make your paper stronger.
• Do not mindlessly or carelessly blend a quotation from one of
the sources into your argument. Select carefully, remain
faithful to the intent of the speaker, and follow up with your
own commentary. In other words, don’t parrot the material
you cite or quote. Rather, intelligently respond to it. You
might comment on its relevance or merit.
• Identify the speaker’s name and credentials in your sentence.
After all, who said something and what his or her motives may
be is important information. Do not “rip off” a point and drop
it into your argument without additional comment.
• Use direct and indirect quotes, paraphrasing, and
commentary
▫ Direct quotes
 Word-for-word – everything must be perfectly duplicated
from the original
 Cite only what is needed, not more, not less. If you only
need a small phrase from a quotation, use that. Generally
speaking, use direct quotations when you cannot say it
better in a paraphrase than the original.
 Do not awkwardly change the tense of a quote using
parentheses in order to fit your prose. Use paraphrasing
instead.
▫ Indirect quotes
 No quotation marks needed – reports an idea without
quoting it word for word
▫ Paraphrasing
 Restating someone else’s idea in your own words; contains same
information and should be roughly the same length as the original
 When paraphrasing, be careful not to interpret. Shorten the work
with precision, keeping the exact argument intact. Do not
misrepresent evidence to make it fit your thesis. You may even use
some exact words or phrases from the original, but you will be
writing your own statement (with citation, of course!).
▫ Commentary
 Adapt and shape sources to build your main idea
 “The author of Source B offers a short-sighted view of…”
 “To a point, the author of Source B is correct in his assessment.
However, he doesn’t carry his argument far enough. To strengthen his
case, he should have…”
 “Clearly, the author of Source B has a bias against …, a failing that
weakens her argument.”
• End every paragraph with your own sentence, not with a
quote. The essay is yours, so your voice must dominate it.
Even in your conclusion, if you use an engaging quotation,
end with one more sentence of your own prose to signal your
complete ownership of the essay.
Citing Sources
• Beware of plagiarism! You must cite even when
you are paraphrasing!
• Whenever you take words or ideas from a
source, identify their origin inside a pair of
parentheses – this is as simple as (Source A). Err
on the side of inclusion, not exclusion.
• See “Incorporating and Citing Materials from
Your Sources”
Conclusion
• Don’t just summarize – your paper is SHORT
and doesn’t require a ton of review
• Solidify ideas and make your final assertion
Common Problems with Synthesis
• Not taking a clear position or wavering between
positions
• Substituting a thesis-oriented expository
(explanation) essay for an argumentative essay
• Being reluctant to engage in verbal combat because
“everyone’s entitled to his or her own opinion,” so
there’s nothing to argue about
• Slipping out of focus
• Lacking clear connections between claims and the
data, and the warrants needed to support them
• Trying to analyze rhetorical strategies or style
instead of arguing a point