1500 word Research Synthesis Assignment and Persuasive Speech

Research Synthesis Assignment

A research synthesis is a paper that tells the “story” of your research process and helps you bring your sources together to construct your argument. It will help you organize your thinking on your research problem and aid you in creating your persuasive speech. This paper should be at least 1,500 words in length, not counting your reference list. Because this is the story of your research, you may use “I.”

This assignment is worth 100 points and is 25% of your course grade. This assignment is due on April 5 and must be submitted to D2L with the following file naming protocol: First Name Last Name Research Synthesis Assignment .

Please proofread carefully as points will be deducted for spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation errors. Additional points will be deducted for mistakes related to APA citations (in text and reference list).

Narrative Organization

Opening: Provide an overview of your topic. You can draw from your background research for this section. You must cite your sources including those not in your source worksheets. This section should be about a paragraph in length.

· What is your research question?

· Why did you choose it?

· How do you know it is an actual problem?

· Why should your classmates be concerned about it?

· What is your THESIS? What is the position you are taking? (INCLUDE THIS OR I WILL HAUNT YOU FOR YEARS TO COME.)

For example: This paper will explain why

….. music education should stay in school because it …1) ….2) and 3) …..

…..people should not drink milk as adults because 1) ….2) …..3) ….

Research Process: Provide a description of how you did your research and how this helped you refine your topic. This should be about a paragraph in length.

· Which databases and keywords did you use?

· How did you limit your searches within databases (e.g., subject guide, timeline, geography, scholarly sources)?

· What assistance did you receive from librarians, peers, or professor?

Evaluation Process: Discuss how you selected your sources, with a focus on evaluation. During your research, you undoubtedly ran across many more articles and websites than you ended up using. Describe how you decided which sources were credible (use the language on the handout from class).

· How did you evaluate your sources in terms of authority?

· How did you evaluate your sources in terms of relevance?

· What other criteria did you use to evaluate your sources?

Research Synthesis: Discuss what you learned from your articles. This should not be individual summaries of your sources, but rather a description of the conversation the sources are having. Imagine that all of the authors are in a room discussing your problem. What would they say? You must include the majority of the sources you used in your worksheets with proper in-text citations. Refer to them by the authors’ names and when two sources agree on a point, then cite both at the end of that statement. For example: Milk can be harmful to the digestive system of adults (Gregor, et al, 2016, Parkingston, 2014).

This section will be the bulk of your paper.

· How are the sources helpful in persuading your audience that there is a problem? (give specific phrases that were compelling to you and therefore may be compelling to your audience)

· How do the sources agree? How do they disagree? Use quotations and paraphrases.

· What is the most persuasive evidence from your sources?

· What are some viable answers to your research question?

Or it might look something like this:

I find it interesting that according Smith (2013), “interesting thing that Smith says” (p. 25). This would seem to be consistent with, “interesting piece of information from another source” (Johnson, 2014, p. 63). However, it would seem that Williams disagrees as he states, “interesting disagreement from Williams” (Williams, 2005, p. 95). This relates to my initial research question because of _____ and _____.

Proposed Resolution: Describe the best answer to your research question. Remember that your personal opinion or “gut feelings” do not matter in a research argument. You are relying on the experts and credible research to guide you to the best solution. This section should be one to two paragraphs.

· Why is your answer better than the alternatives?

· What would need to happen for your answer to be implemented?

· What can your audience (i.e., freshmen college students) do to help solve the problem?

References: Include APA references for every source you cite in your paper Include any other sources you used for background information in your opening. These are on the reference page and listed in APA format and alphabetically. You are required to have a minimum of 8 sources 5 of which MUST be scholarly. You cannot have websites listed as the bulk of your references.