- The article discusses factors that influence community leaders to adopt a low-carbon lifestyle and examines how their choices then impact community members.
- It was written for scientists to understand what motivates low-carbon lifestyles and which community leaders are most likely to adopt them.
- However, the introduction jumps around and lacks a clear thesis. The body also presents information in a disconnected way that is difficult to follow.
The Writing Process Essay
Free Writing Process
My Thesis Statement
Listening Process Essay
The research Process Essay
Synthesis Thesis
Decision Making Thesis
Thesis Statement
Process Essay
Synthesis #1 Assignment SheetOverviewHaving the Critique u.docxmattinsonjanel
Synthesis #1 Assignment Sheet
Overview
Having the Critique under your belt as well as quite a few journal entries must feel pretty good! Use this confidence as we now move into our first long paper of the semester, Synthesis #1. At first, see this paper as an extended argument you make about a particular topic using secondary sources to persuade your reader.
Topic Selection
I really want you to explore a topic that interests you and motivates you to think critically and write persuasively. Do not simply summarize a reading and claim that it is “right” or “wrong.” Instead, you must see connections between readings and extend the thinking here in a way you see fit. Look around the world around you, think of topics you have thoughts about in this and other courses, and also speculate about what would happen if you took the thinking of certain authors further in your desired direction. I only require that your topic must deal in some way with media and pop culture—the theme of our readings in the course thus far. We will spend time in class brainstorming topics as well as looking at sample essays.
What is a Synthesis?
If anything confuses a student when writing an essay like this, it is the actual term “synthesis”. Don’t worry too much about this term; instead, see what you are doing as arguing a position with a variety of sources to help you. What you want to do in this essay is show that you can both sustain a logical and persuasive argument, and control sources and their use to your persuasive end. Try to have your secondary sources have a “dialogue” with each other in terms of what they do and do not agree with in relation to your argued positions. We will practice this in class. As a matter of fact, we have been practicing this since the first week of class in discussion (esp. the lively discussion we have had in class).
Additional Help with Synthesis
It is very important in this essay to “Establish connections among readings”. The more you can have a “dialogue” between your sources, the more credible you will be as an author and the more importance you may place on your assessment of the ideas being discussed.
This is an essay that may really be helped out by using some of the templates from They Say/I Say. I am not going to assign that you use them in a certain order, but I do think that the templates are excellent ways to start “saying something” if you are stuck. Review pages 55-75 in They Say/I Say for some directions.
Required Sources
I am requiring you to use between 4-6 sources to help your write your essay here. I would like you to use at least 2 from the readings in our 102 textbook . You may certainly use more. You may also bring in other sources you find on your own as long as they are credible and work in the assignment. Overall, I think you would be best served using 3-4 sources from the textbook, but I leave it open to you. Please use MLA Style for this essay as well as a Works Cited page.
The Assignment
Compose a 5- ...
Annotated Bibliography Reflection
Writing An Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Essay
Essay On Annotated Bibliography
Examples Of Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography On The Holocaust
Annotated Bibliography On Global Warming
Conducting Annotated Bibliography
Creating An Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Bibliography Of Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Summary And Analysis
Essay On Annotated Bibliographies
Annotated Bibliography On Social Media
Essay On Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Essay
An Annotated Bibliography Of Writing
Technology Bibliography
The Writing Process Essay
Free Writing Process
My Thesis Statement
Listening Process Essay
The research Process Essay
Synthesis Thesis
Decision Making Thesis
Thesis Statement
Process Essay
Synthesis #1 Assignment SheetOverviewHaving the Critique u.docxmattinsonjanel
Synthesis #1 Assignment Sheet
Overview
Having the Critique under your belt as well as quite a few journal entries must feel pretty good! Use this confidence as we now move into our first long paper of the semester, Synthesis #1. At first, see this paper as an extended argument you make about a particular topic using secondary sources to persuade your reader.
Topic Selection
I really want you to explore a topic that interests you and motivates you to think critically and write persuasively. Do not simply summarize a reading and claim that it is “right” or “wrong.” Instead, you must see connections between readings and extend the thinking here in a way you see fit. Look around the world around you, think of topics you have thoughts about in this and other courses, and also speculate about what would happen if you took the thinking of certain authors further in your desired direction. I only require that your topic must deal in some way with media and pop culture—the theme of our readings in the course thus far. We will spend time in class brainstorming topics as well as looking at sample essays.
What is a Synthesis?
If anything confuses a student when writing an essay like this, it is the actual term “synthesis”. Don’t worry too much about this term; instead, see what you are doing as arguing a position with a variety of sources to help you. What you want to do in this essay is show that you can both sustain a logical and persuasive argument, and control sources and their use to your persuasive end. Try to have your secondary sources have a “dialogue” with each other in terms of what they do and do not agree with in relation to your argued positions. We will practice this in class. As a matter of fact, we have been practicing this since the first week of class in discussion (esp. the lively discussion we have had in class).
Additional Help with Synthesis
It is very important in this essay to “Establish connections among readings”. The more you can have a “dialogue” between your sources, the more credible you will be as an author and the more importance you may place on your assessment of the ideas being discussed.
This is an essay that may really be helped out by using some of the templates from They Say/I Say. I am not going to assign that you use them in a certain order, but I do think that the templates are excellent ways to start “saying something” if you are stuck. Review pages 55-75 in They Say/I Say for some directions.
Required Sources
I am requiring you to use between 4-6 sources to help your write your essay here. I would like you to use at least 2 from the readings in our 102 textbook . You may certainly use more. You may also bring in other sources you find on your own as long as they are credible and work in the assignment. Overall, I think you would be best served using 3-4 sources from the textbook, but I leave it open to you. Please use MLA Style for this essay as well as a Works Cited page.
The Assignment
Compose a 5- ...
Annotated Bibliography Reflection
Writing An Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Essay
Essay On Annotated Bibliography
Examples Of Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography On The Holocaust
Annotated Bibliography On Global Warming
Conducting Annotated Bibliography
Creating An Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Bibliography Of Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Summary And Analysis
Essay On Annotated Bibliographies
Annotated Bibliography On Social Media
Essay On Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography Essay
An Annotated Bibliography Of Writing
Technology Bibliography
1. Kali Morrison
English 3366
Case Study One
The article that I selected is Predictors of the Adoption of Low Carbon Lifestyle from the
Arts and Sciences Journal. Its authors explore what factors and influences lead community
leaders to adopt a lifestyle that leaves a smaller carbon foot print. The authors show how when a
community leader either embraces or casts off a low carbon lifestyle the members of their
communities will generally follow their lead, either for or against it.
This article was written primarily for scientists so they can determine what motivates a
low carbon life style and what markers indicate if a community leader will adopt such a lifestyle.
It was also written to increase the body of research on how to contribute to creating green
communities. It also targets those who are trying to encourage the spread of a low carbon
lifestyle. The article focuses on community leaders: their perceptions and if they are innovative
or not; what leads to their acceptance or rejection of a low carbon lifestyle; and how scientist can
predict which communities will be the most receptive to a low carbon lifestyle.
I had high hopes for this article. Its introduction began wonderfully and utilized the
known-new contract in a very effective way. I am by no means a scientist or up to date on what
methods are being explored to spread having a low carbon impact and I appreciated the
background information that the authors provided. As the introduction continued I started to run
into problems. The thesis was presented about halfway through the introduction, then it jumped
back to background information, then it jumped to what the study was looking at. Overall I think
reordering the paragraphs at a minimum would drastically help. The lack of focus and direction
that the introduction evolved into set up the article. In the body of the article information was not
2. presented in an easy to follow way. As the article proceeded the disconnection and lack of
effective direction became more and more apparent.
Some common style techniques that I found throughout the article included using
parenthesis, the use of “i.e.,” commas and semicolons, conjunctive adverbs, and metadiscourse.
These style techniques were overused and at times distracting. Because of the over use of these
techniques it was very difficult to get through some of the passages because I became distracted
by so much punctuation. I believe that the authors used them to try to create coherence
throughout their article, but what they did instead was make the article more difficult to read than
it needed to be.
For the most part they did use parenthesis and i.e. in similar ways – additional
information was presented with i.e. and then parentheses were used to add more information. If
they had spear the use out more it would have been a very useful technique. But, the use of
parenthesis and i.e. occurred very close together. This made several paragraphs difficult to read
because I was unsure of what was important and what was additional information to support the
original claim of the sentence.
The authors inconsistently used semicolons and commas. I think the article would be
much clearer if many of the compound sentences were separated out and developed to be more
complete. I did appreciate the use of semicolons in the lists that were presented. When it was
used correctly it made getting through dense information much easier. The overall use of
commas was very inconsistent. Some lists included the final comma before the conjunction and
others did not. Commas made random appearances where they were not needed and it was
distracting to try to find out why they were being used in such a manner. By being more
consistent in punctuation use I think the article would be much easier to read and understand.
3. My biggest complaint on the style employed is the use of conjunctive adverbs especially
at the beginning of paragraphs and sentences. Out of 84 paragraphs 33 began with a conjunctive
adverb. Of the 51 remaining paragraphs 21 used conjunctive adverbs at some point. The longer
the paragraph the more conjunctive adverbs that were used. Hence and however were used the
most and the others selected averaged 3-4 appearances. I think that for the most part they could
be dropped completely or the sentence revised to be more concise.
My final complaint with the styles used is metadiscourse. Thought out the article firstly,
secondly, etcetera was used. However often a number would be skipped or it would take several
paragraphs to get to the final point. I think the authors attempted to use this style so it would be
easier to follow their points. I found it very difficult because after half a page secondly would
pop up and I would need to go back to refresh my memory with what was going on. I also
struggled with some terms being defined and others not. While I would expect that this would
occur because the target audience should know what a majority of the acronyms are, the use of
defining some and not others became distracting. In looking up some of them I think it would
have been prudent of the authors to define more.
I came to these conclusions by taking note of common themes that I found while reading.
I began the article very excited because information was presented in an easy to follow way, but
as the article continued it got more and more convoluted to where I was reading and editing
sentences so that I could keep up with what information was trying to be conveyed. As I read I
circled, underlined, and took notes on what words were repeatedly used, where I thought
punctuation should or shouldn’t go, where the article was easy to read and where it became more
difficult. Unfortunately, the further into the article I got the more difficult it was to read and
understand. The reasons given above are what I struggled with the most.
4. While I think that there are many ways that this article could be revised to increase
readability and understanding I think the first and most effective step would be to start with the
introduction and continue what it did in the beginning – effective use of the known-new contract.
Had the authors continued with this technique I think that the article would have been much
easier to read and understand.