How to Write a Synthesis Essay :: Synthesis Essays, Argumentative Essays

A synthesis is a written discussion that draws on one or more sources. It follows that your ability to write syntheses depends on your ability to infer relationships among sources - essays, articles, fiction, and also nonwritten sources, such as lectures, interviews, observations. This process is nothing new for you, since you infer relationships all the time - say, between something you've read in the newspaper and something you've seen for yourself, or between the teaching styles of your favorite and least favorite instructors. In fact, if you've written research papers, you've already written syntheses. In an academic synthesis, you make explicit the relationships that you have inferred among separate sources. The skills you've already been practicing in this course will be vital in writing syntheses. Clearly, before you're in a position to draw relationships between two or more sources, you must understand what those sources say; in other words, you must be able to summarize these sources. It will frequently be helpful for your readers if you provide at least partial summaries of sources in your synthesis essays. At the same time, you must go beyond summary to make judgments - judgments based, of course, on your critical reading of your sources - as you have practiced in your reading responses and in class discussions. You should already have drawn some conclusions about the quality and validity of these sources; and you should know how much you agree or disagree with the points made in your sources and the reasons for your agreement or disagreement. Further, you must go beyond the critique of individual sources to determine the relationship among them. Is the information in source B, for example, an extended illustration of the generalizations in source A? Would it be useful to compare and contrast source C with source B? Having read and considered sources A, B, and C, can you infer something else - D (not a source, but your own idea)? Because a synthesis is based on two or more sources, you will need to be selective when choosing information from each. It would be neither possible nor desirable, for instance, to discuss in a ten-page paper on the battle of Wounded Knee every point that the authors of two books make about their subject. What you as a writer must do is select the ideas and information from each source that best allow you to achieve your purpose. Your purpose in reading source materials and then in drawing upon them to write your own material is often reflected in the wording of an assignment.

Obstacles in Mao’s Last Dancer Essay

In Mao’s Last Dancer we are introduced to the obstacles faced daily by a Chinese boy and his family, living in poverty. In Meltdown by Ben Elton, we are introduced to obstacles faced daily by Jimmy Corby. Obstacles we can all relate to in the modern world. This is why I think we should study Meltdown by Ben Elton as well as Mao’s Last Dancer as a core text in the Overcoming Obstacles unit. Meltdown is about City Trader Jimmy Corby. Jimmy was living the life being rich, pampered and spoilt. That is until it all comes crashing down and the Global Financial Crisis hits. He discovers that anyone can handle success, it’s how you handle failure that really matters. We can all relate to these obstacles and the themes of the story. Some themes of the story are money, loss, family and success. All of these themes are somehow incorporated in our life. We all care about money and work for it, we all experience some form of loss during our lives, we all have family who we love and care about and we all hope to be successful in the future. This makes it the perfect book for us to study as a core text. Another reason why we should study this book in the Overcoming Obstacles unit, is we join Jimmy on the journey of overcoming these obstacles. We see how he deals with loss, how he copes with family life, and how he handles failure. Elton, the author of the book, uses various techniques to convey how he overcomes all these obstacles. He uses humour to give us a funny insight on the daily problems. Humour also makes us, as the reader, enjoy the book even more. Lastly, I believe we should study this book as it opens our eyes to real life problems that we all could face in a few years. The Global Financial Crisis is real for all of us. I think that Meltdown is highly appropriate for us to study as it is based around daily struggles faced every day. The main audience of the text are teenagers and young adults making it the perfect book for us. The purpose of the book is to make us realise that there are more important things in life than money. We have to enjoy what we have and not dwell on what we don’t. This is an important message for all of us in life. In Mao’s Last Dancer we focus on the obstacles faced by a Chinese boy living in poverty who is given the chance to make life better for himself and his family. He faces struggles daily and is taught to overcome them. He deals with being alone, a long way from home and his own mental health. We don’t understand these obstacles as much as someone living in poverty would, seeing as we aren’t living in poverty. But then again, someone living in poverty wouldn’t understand the struggles we face daily. Also, by studying Meltdown by Ben Elton as well as Mao’s Last Dancer, We are given two inputs of struggles in the world. We are taught the obstacles faced by someone living in poverty who doesn’t have much money and then is given the opportunity of a lifetime which could give him everything. But then we are also taught the obstacles faced by a man who has money, a house, a healthy family and enough food, but nearly loses it all. We are given two aspects on life. Meltdown is the perfect book for us to study as the obstacles featured in the book are all known to us, we can see and learn how we could possible overcome these obstacles and by studying it along with Mao’s Last Dancer we are given two inputs on life.

Managing Diversity Between Ethiopia And The United States...

Managing diversity in the workplace while working with people that belong to Ethiopian Culture Summary: Working with the same nationals is fairly easy, but, challenges occur when one works with employees that belong to different geographic locations or countries. In this report, the major focus is to analyze Ethiopia’s culture in terms of managing the workplace diversity while having the professional ties with the Ethiopian citizens. This report will highlight how the workplace diversity is managed by working with the natives of Ethiopia. Ethiopia and the United States (US) have very diverse demographics, so this report will analyze how the workplace diversity is better managed by minimizing the differences. Explanation: Ethiopia is an African state that has a culture that is very different from that of the United States. The reason is, the United States and Ethiopia are very different in terms of their geographic locations, their cultures, and their interests. Additionally, the United States is a developed country, while Ethiopia is an under-developed state. Any state, that is under-developed, the citizens of that particular country face certain challenges in their country, i.e. a struggle for better life standards, for a better education, and for the better future. This fact is observed by the report of Royal Oak Interactive Inc (2016), where it is mentioned that people living in Ethiopia receive a very less spending on health care, they earn less money, life expectancyShow MoreRelatedCultural Influence on Organizational Practice5439 Words   |  22 PagesINFULENCE OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON ORGANIZATION CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP. Geert Hofstede’s concept of national culture (Hofstede , 2001) made a great breakthrough in understanding the relationship between organizational behaviour and cultural factors. According to Alion (2008), Hofstede examined differences between national cultures through four dimensions: Power distance, Individualism, Masculinity vs. Femininity and Uncertainty Avoidance. Power Distance is a crucial dimension of national culture thatRead MoreUnited Nations Role in Conflict Management in Africa: a Case Study of Darfur11729 Words   |  47 Pagesand energy consuming, it can be a positive force for change and bring an otherwise stagnant relationship out of dormancy into a new life and vitality. Conflict is therefore an outcome of human interaction as a result of disagreement between individuals, parties or states. A conflict situation is characterized by the inability of those concerned to iron out their differences.2 Human wants are unlimited but the means to satisfy these wants are scarce. There is therefore, an inherent struggle in manRead MoreEssay on Demographic Factors Research3697 Words   |  15 PagesRunning head: DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS RESEARCH Demographic Factors Research University of Phoenix MMPBL 560 Managing in a Cross-Cultural Environment October 19, 2009 Organizations around the world are experiencing the effects of cultural and global diversity. Kellogg, Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Arbor are four companies introduced in this paper. They have been researched in order to identify how each company is affected by demographic factors, how these factors are managed, and what systemsRead MoreAfrican Leaders Established The Organisation Of African Africa8602 Words   |  35 PagesCentury, the African continent leaders wanted to establish a more united continent. It is for this reason that the African leaders established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, with the purpose of eradicating colonialism in Africa, and harmonize and deepen collaboration efforts of member states to achieve a better life for its people. A number of problems emerged such as the 1975 Angolan civil war and the Somalia invasion of Ethiopia 1978, besides most African economies were on the decline, theseRead MoreAn Investigation Into Regional Integrat ion : A Case Study Of The Sudan Conflict4424 Words   |  18 PagesCentury, the African continent leaders wanted to establish a more united continent. It is for this reason that the African leaders established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, with the purpose of eradicating colonialism in Africa, and harmonize and deepen collaboration efforts of member states to achieve a better life for its people. A number of problems emerged such as the 1975 Angolan civil war and the Somalia invasion of Ethiopia 1978, besides most African economies were on the decline, theseRead MoreEpidemiology of Hiv14908 Words   |  60 PagesARVs for HIV positive pregnant women is 33% [4] and there is poor coverage in countries with the greatest number of pregnant women living with HIV such as South Africa (50% coverage, [5]Nigeria (3% coverage[5] and Tanzania (15% coverage)[5]. In Ethiopia According to calibrated single point estimates (2007), the national adult HIV prevalence is reported to be 2.1% (7.7% in urban and 0.9% in rural areas). 977,394 Ethiopians are living with HIV/AIDS (41% males, 59% females); an estimated 75,420 HIV-positiveRead MoreEssay on Biodiversity7414 Words   |  30 PagesBiodiversity INTRODUCTION Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystemRead MoreManaging the Unexpected6224 Words   |  25 Pagesorganizations. KEY WORDS: The Unexpected, Organization Foundation, Mindful Management. CONCEPT MAP INTRODUCTION I have a dream, were Martin Luther King Jr. famous words. He was a religious leader who had a dream to make a change in the United States as regards the civil rights for the black Americans. Many leaders too have had dreams; take for example Anita Roddick, founder of the famous cosmetic shop, The Body Shop. She had a dream to make social and environmental changes through her cosmeticRead MoreTony Fernandes6380 Words   |  26 Pagesplatforms at the regional and global level to highlight and advance leading models of sustainable social innovation. It identifies a select community of social entrepreneurs and engages it in shaping global, regional and industry agendas that improve the state of the world in close collaboration with the other stakeholders of the World Economic Forum. Social entrepreneurship is about applying practical, innovative and sustainable approaches to benefit society in general, with an emphasis on those who areRead MoreFleet Management in Dtc9334 Words   |  38 Pagescompletely handling their fleet vehicle management needs for them. All acquisition, disposition, maintenance, fuel, and management reports will be handled by FMS through our network of vendors. Currently Fleet Management Services operates in 13 states, but our network is set up nationwide. We have the leverage needed to negotiate the best deals for our clients, and pass these savings directly to them, without taking rewards or incentives from the vendors we negotiate.\ FLEET MANAGEMENT *