essay #2, Explanatory Synthesis ( work with only DavidSmart )

The Assignment

For the assignment, you will use the following articles focusing on urban renewal/gentrification from the Engaged Reader: Short, 299; McGuigan, 309; Szeman, 321; Piiparinen, 341; Williams, 345; Davidson, 349; Older, 357; Slater, 361; and LaCroix, 401. In your synthesis essay, you must integrate and then cite on your Works Cited page at least SIX of the readings. This is not a research essay, per se; however, if you do conduct research and use any research materials, you must cite them appropriately.

Remember that your purpose determines not only which sources you will use but also which information you plumb from them and how you will relate them to one another.

Here are the general parts/elements of a synthesis that should be apparent in your essay:

• Introduction/statement of the essay’s subject and purpose (at some point indicating the

  essays/sources considered for synthesis)

• A clear thesis that controls the essay and presents the “big picture” about the issue at hand

• Clear topic sentences that support the thesis (each topic sentence will relate a “big idea” inherent in

  the issue)

• Well-chosen and well-synthesized textual support

• Logical organization (remember that explanatory syntheses are organized according to ideas, not

  sources)

• Effective transitions

• An effective conclusion

• Use of your own words

• Use of third-person voice and present tense 

   

  349) http://nymag.com/news/features/gentrification-2014-2/
  345) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/us/cities-helping-residents-resist-the-new-gentry.html?_r=0

  341) http://www.newgeography.com/content/003520-gentrification-and-its-discontents-cleveland-needs-go-beyond-being-creatively-classed

  321) https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/ESC/article/view/10906/8404

  357) http://www.salon.com/2014/04/08/gentrifications_insidious_violence_the_truth_about_american_cities/

  361) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/07/go-forth-and-gentrify