Anna Mills, Instructor, English 96

Independent Essay: Summary or Synthesis

For your fifth essay you have an opportunity to choose your own topic related to global warming and to do some investigation on your own. In your essay, you will present your findings either by summarizing one long essay or by synthesizing the ideas in several essays that address the same topic. This is a very common college essay task and one that requires you to hone your reading skills as well as your writing skills. You'll find the best description of summaries and syntheses in From Inquiry to Academic Writing (130-149).

The important difference from the other papers we have written thus far is that you are not writing a persuasive essay where you convince the reader of your opinion. The purpose here is to study another writer or writers' ideas and essay structure so carefully that you understand the workings of their piece and can present an overview of what they are trying to convey.

Requirements:

• The essay or essays you pick should be on a topic of your choice that relates to global warming. 
• If you are summarizing one article or essay, you must choose an essay of at least 4,000 words or 10 printed pages.
• If you are doing a synthesis of more than one article, the articles you choose must total at least 10 printed pages or 4,000 words.
• Whether you do a summary or a synthesis, the key is to find a well-written, informative source or several well-written sources on which to base your paper. You will complete an online library workshop for homework and we will visit the library as a class on November 7th to learn more about how to find good articles.
• A thesis for the paper as a whole. 
• Topic sentences for each paragraph
• An introduction and conclusion
• Summaries: maximum of 3 pages total if you write about only one essay
• Syntheses: 3-6 pages
• Works Cited page
• MLA format
• You may choose to work with a partner and write about the same essay or essays, but you will still need to write separate papers with no four words in a row that are the same.
• You will do a five minute presentation to the class on the same topic as your paper.

Resources:

Global warming links page

Assigned readings on the course schedule from Rules for Writers and From Inquiry to Academic Writing

CompClass resources on the "Course Materials" tab

A few possible topics: Politics

*One of the presidential candidates’ proposed policy on climate change  

*Media coverage of global warming in the presidential race

*The next step after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012

*Legislation on global warming in California

*Your city’s efforts to combat global warming

*One nonprofit organization’s efforts with regard to global warming

*Climate change, war, and peace: How climate change may affect national and international security

Possible topics: Economics

*Specific business opportunities created by global warming or by the development of clean energy

*The advantages and disadvantages of Cap and Trade plans

*Climate change, poverty, and development

Possible topics: Personal

*Choose a country or city outside the U.S. to which your family has ties.  How will global warming affect this place?

*The local food movement, farmer's markets, and climate change

*Vegetarianism and climate change or beef and climate change

*Choose one course of action you are interested in pursuing in relation to global warming, research it, and explain why you have chosen it.

*How carbon calculators like MyFootprint.org estimate each person's impact.

*The advantages and disadvantages of buying individual carbon offsets

Possible topics: Science

*Global warming’s effects on a particular ecosystem, such as a landscape you know

*The effects of global warming on a particular species, i.e. the polar bear.

*The science of climate prediction

Possible topics: Technology

*Solar power

*Geothermal energy

*Carbon sequestration technology

*Clean coal technology

*The debate over nuclear energy

*Fuel efficiency or hybrid vehicles

*Gasoline alternatives such as biodiesel

*Energy efficiency in the home

*Energy efficiency in architecture