The Synthesis Essay Assignment required us to synthesize different perspectives on a current and debatable topic; we could choose our topic. After analyzing our intended rhetorical situation—audience, purpose, genre—we had to complete some research. In total, we required 3-5 written sources and 2-3 multimedia sources.

I decided to explore the intersection of family expectations, parental involvement, and socioeconomic realities to uncover how they influence immigrant students’ experiences, challenges, and success within the context of education.

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Synthesis Essay

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Similar to our narrative, we also produced several drafts.

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Rough Draft

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Some of the feedback I received for this draft was:

• • • Remember to take your time connecting your sources.

    • Focus on a core audience to really strengthen the focus of your paper

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First Draft

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Some of the feedback I received for this draft was:

• • • The open letter format works well, so I would continue doing this.

    • Don’t be afraid to really put all of your emotion into the letter. Try to think about what kind of tone you want to include and how you will persuade your audience to really listen to you

    • Instead of  “To whoever Wishes to Listen,” think of something more specific and meaningful like “caregivers of immigrant students.”

    • Maybe you can bring your own personal (L&L narrative) story into this letter?

    • Take your time analyzing and synthesizing your sources. If you read it slowly, you notice that it becomes a list of sources instead of analysis and synthesis.

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Second Draft

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Some of the feedback I received for this draft was:

• • • Include a works cited list at the end.

    • I want you to focus on one of the paragraphs with a source and try to personalize it more so that you are addressing your audience directly. The letter still feels like it is half academic article/half letter.

    • If you focus on really engaging with the audience and really adding an emotional core, it would add more weight to your argument.

    • Remember that you are addressing parents as well. Try to revise this paragraph a little so that you spend more time convincing and persuading them. What are the consequences if they don’t engage with parental involvement? (About 4th paragraph)

    • This personalization is really powerful in the letter format. I’d like to see more of that for at least one of the sources you integrated. (About the last 2 paragraphs)