Assignment Description
In this essay, you are going to synthesize the viewpoints of the following authors and their corresponding texts:
- (Required) Sherry Turkle, “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.”Download “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.”
- (Required) Jenny Odell, “Finding Time in the Age of Tiktok”Download “Finding Time in the Age of Tiktok”
- (Optional) Melissa Hogenboom, “The Traits that Make Human Beings Unique”Links to an external site.
The thesis of your essay should identify one major point of comparison between Turkle’s and Odell’s main arguments and assert which of the two texts is more persuasive and why. The essay should have a traditional essay structure, including an introduction, a thesis, well-developed body paragraphs, and a conclusion, as well as a Works Cited page.
As explained by the sources in the Week 4 Materials, writing a synthesis requires you to discuss a specific topic by incorporating ideas from multiple texts in order to show how those texts and their authors are in conversation with one another. In a traditional research paper, you might discuss different texts in separate paragraphs without showing how the ideas from each text relate. In a synthesis essay, however, it is critical that you discuss the texts in relationship to each other, even within each body paragraph. You will compare/contrast the authors’ main ideas, show your readers how the author’s are contributing to the same topic/conversation, and explain which author’s reasoning is more persuasive to you and why.
In order to write an effective synthesis, you will need to become VERY familiar with each author’s main ideas. Determine where the authors overlap in their arguments and where they diverge. Organization in a synthesis essay is critical, so decide which specific topic you want to discuss in each body paragraph, and then identify how each author addresses that topic. You should use specific quotes (but not long ones!) to showcase each author’s ideas, but you must also add your own analysis and commentary to make it clear which argument you find more persuasive and why. You are required to synthesize Turkle’s and Odell’s texts, but feel free to add Hogenboom’s text to your synthesis if you’d like to add more dimension to the conversation.
Since you are writing about multiple authors’ texts, you MUST be sure to use the author’s names in any sentence that describes their ideas. You must also include a Works Cited with a proper citation for the article. HINT: Citations for articles can be found in both the Week 1 and Week 2 Materials pages.
Assignment Goals
- Introduce the overarching topic with your own insights or ideas.
- Present your thesis – State a point of comparison (a specific, similar idea expressed) between Turkle and Odell and make a claim about which of their arguments is more effective and why.
- Body paragraphs should examine separate topics related to technology and human life/human nature.
- Each body paragraph should incorporate the the viewpoints of Turkle and Odell (Hogenboom is optional)
- Explain how each author addresses the topic you are discussing in each paragraph
- Show how authors’ viewpoints are similar and different or how they relate to each other
- Include specific quotes from each author, analyze their meaning, and present reasons why you think one author is more effective or persuasive than the other.
- Conclude the essay in a manner you think fitting for the assignment. Be sure to reaffirm your thesis and consider the goals for the essay.
- Include a Works Cited page. Correct citations are available in the Week 1 and Week 3 materials links.
Guidelines
- Strive to meet all the goals described above
- Submission in .doc, .docx, or .pdf formats
- Minimum 1,200 words (Not including the Works Cited page!)
- Correct MLA formatting
- MLA heading in upper left corner
- Include original title
- Double-spaced lines
- Times New Roman, 12 pt font
- 1″ margins
- Left justified text (Title in center)
- MLA Works Cited citation
- THIS PAPER IS TURNED IN TO “TURNITIN” IT CANNOT BE PLAGIARIZED