Synthesis Analysis Essay

REQUIREMENTS:

Rough Draft: 2-6 pages typed, double-spaced and due on Monday of Week 5. Please post your rough draft in the “Peer Workshop for Essay Two Rough Draft” discussion forum in the Week 5 Module.

Final Draft with Works Cited Page: 4-6 pages typed, double-spaced and due on Monday of Week 6. Please also include a Works Cited Page with this essay (the works cited page does not count as part of the 4-6 page requirement). Please submit your final draft in the Essay Two assignment dropbox in the Week 6 Module.

ASSIGNMENT:

For this paper, you will synthesize your analysis of primary sources with support from secondary sources. First, find a common underlying social message about gender in Ursula Le Guin’s novel The Left Hand of Darkness and one or more of the following short stories: Leslie F. Stone’s “The Conquest of Gola,” Samuel R. Delany’s “Aye, and Gomorrah…,” Joanna Russ’ “When It Changed,” and/or James Tiptree Jr.’s “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side. You will analyze the patterns of underlying social messages about gender in the novel and short story/stories—these will be your primary sources. Then, you will support your analysis of the novel and short story/stories with one or more of the academic articles on brain and sex/gender (assigned and located in reading assignment two)—these will be your secondary sources.

Please do not use outside sources for this essay or do outside research. Please use the assigned readings stipulated by the assignment. Don't worry--you will do outside research for the next essay!

HELPFUL HINTS:

Introduction and Thesis: Your introduction needs to introduce the novel and short stories with the titles and authors’ names as well as a brief summary. You will also need to introduce the topic of gender—this might be a good place to use a secondary source. Your thesis should make a clear, arguable and specific claim about the pattern of underlying social messages of gender in the novel and short story/stories. Keep in mind that a thesis such as “The novel and the short stories all have a social message about gender” is merely a restatement of the prompt and doesn’t actually make a specific claim about what exactly that social message is. Please look at the following questions to consider to help you narrow down your thesis to something specific.

Questions to Consider:

What are the underlying messages about masculinity and/or femininity in the primary sources? For example, what patterns of behaviors in men and women are evident in the primary sources? What do the primary sources’ depictions of men and women reveal about what is socially valued in men/women? What messages about relationships between men and women are imbedded in the novels?

In what ways do the primary sources’ messages about gender seem to uphold or reinforce stereotypical gender roles/behaviors?

In what ways do the primary sources’ messages about gender seem to challenge or question these gender roles/behaviors?

In what ways do the primary sources’ messages about gender seem to both reinforce and challenge gender roles/behaviors?

Body Paragraphs: Your body paragraphs should support your thesis and should include topic sentences, which clearly assert a point related to your thesis, illustration from the novel, short stories, and academic articles (where relevant) that support your point, and explanation of how your illustration supports your point. Again, an easy way to remember these actions is through the acronym, PIE. Keep in mind that although every point will need at least one quote from the novel and/or short stories as primary source illustration, not every point will require a quote or paraphrase as from the academic articles as secondary source illustration. Use the secondary sources where you feel they best support your analysis. You can also include secondary source support in your introduction and/or conclusion in addition to whichever body paragraphs you feel need secondary source support.

Conclusion: Your conclusion should sum up the points in your paper, re-state your thesis if necessary, and then draw a conclusion from those points. Remember that you can include a secondary source here if you feel it is appropriate.

In-text Citations: Please review this handout on citing quotations from literature: Conventions for Writing about Literature.doc Please also review this handout for citing quotations and paraphrases from academic articles: Integrating Quotes for Nonfiction.doc Keep in mind that both quotations andparaphrasing of the academic articles will require parenthetical in-text citation of the page numbers. Please also use the MLA Citation Guide in the "Course Resources" Module (the last module) for any in-text citation questions that aren’t addressed by the handouts.

Works Cited Page: Don’t forget to include a Works Cited Page; failure to include a Works Cited Page will result in the loss of all your “Research Conventions” criteria points! Please look at this sample Works Cited Page: Sample Works Cited Page.doc You simply need to use this handout as a model for the proper MLA formatting of LeGuin’s novel and the short stories that you use. The academic articles are more difficult to cite, so I have provided the citation for the actual articles rather than a model, so all you have to do is copy the ones that you use and put them in alphabetical order with your citation of the novel and short story/stories. Again, the MLA Citation Guide in the "Course Resources" Module may be helpful here.

Avoiding Plagiarism: Please read the handout on deciding what to cite: Deciding What to Cite.doc Please also read the Avoiding Plagiarism link in the "Course Resources" Module.

Final Hints:

An outline is not required but is strongly recommended. Outline for Cinderella with Secondary Sources.doc

Please look at this sample essay. Sample Essay on Gender in Cinderella with Secondary Sources.doc Please note that this sample essay includes secondary sources but does not have more than one primary source. For a model of synthesizing more than one primary source with secondary sources, you might look at Michelle Chilcoat's article assigned in Reading Assignment Four.

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