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Write an essay of 1300-1500 words that synthesizes two texts:
Both texts can be found on the pdf I have encrypted below.
In the essay, establish and demonstrate a significant connection or relationship between the two texts. You might compare the two texts, exploring thematic or philosophical similarities; you might contrast the two, exploring differences. You might apply a relevant nonfiction text to one of the novellas, using it to analyze the novella and elucidate its meaning. In your thesis statement, clearly state your synthesis — the precise connection you’re drawing between the two texts. In the proof section, use evidence from both texts to demonstrate that connection quoting and using MLA citation. In your conclusion paragraph, explain the significance of the connection you’ve demonstrated — What important insight or truth comes to light after looking at these two texts in combination? |
Below, I’ll describe a few possible approaches to this assignment:
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Synthesizing “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” & “Three Deaths” by Leo Tolstoy: you might answer a questions like, “What do the two texts say about mortality (or morality, or community, or marriage/relationships, or social status, or the law, etc.)? How are the two texts conveying similar (or different) ideas about this theme?”
Pursue interesting, significant connections grounded in interpretation
A main thing you want to avoid in literary synthesis is having just two parallel summaries. Sometimes, an attempt at literary synthesis will end up going something like, “This is what happened in one text, and this is what happened in the other.” To avoid this, you should interpret both texts; identify their meanings and implications. Once you figure out the meaning or message each writer is trying to convey, you can then put them in conversation with each other. Is there some important difference, some tension between the two writers’ implied world-views or philosophies? Is there significant overlap? Some combination of confluence and tension?
Of course, in order for this “conversation” to happen, the two texts need to be “talking about” the same thing. The first step in synthesizing two literary texts is identifying a common theme or subject in both. If you identify that two texts are both saying something about, say, family dynamics, you can then compare what the two texts are saying about family dynamics.
That is, this essay is building on the type of critical reading and critical thinking you did for Essay One. For Essay Two, you’ll interpret both texts in the way that you interpreted a single text in Essay One. Then you’ll explain the relationship between those two interpretations.
What I’ve described so far in this section applies to the synthesis of two literary texts. If you’re synthesizing a Tolstoy novella with a nonfiction text, you probably won’t be interpreting the nonfiction text in the same way you would a literary text. Nonetheless, there should be a strong element of interpretation in your approach to the Tolstoy text, and the nonfiction text will likely clarify or deepen that interpretation.
In the conclusion paragraph of your essay, explain the significance of your synthesis, what new or interesting thing “happened” as a result of it. What important insight was generated by looking at these two texts in combination? If the two texts convey complementary or overlapping meanings, does some richer, more nuanced version of that meaning emerge from the synthesis? If the texts convey conflicting meanings, has the synthesis shown us that one of those meanings is truer or more relevant in today’s world?
Strive for Focus and Specificity
Another common pitfall when writing literary synthesis is trying to compare too many things, resulting in a jumble of unrelated parallels. You’re not comparing everything that happens in one text to everything that happens in another. Instead, you’re examining the specific aspects of the two texts that overlap in an interesting way. (A Venn diagram might be a useful thing to visualize.)
That is, your essay will be cohesive and meaningful if you find a specific point of comparison. As noted above, a good point of comparison is a common theme shared by the two texts. However, you might find it useful to pursue an even more narrowly focused comparison. For example, you could focus on characterization, comparing a character or set of characters from each text. You could compare overlapping symbolic motifs in the two texts; the way the plots are structured; the way in which voice, point of view, or figurative language are used. Remember though, that all these things contribute to a text’s meaning. Pointing out, for example, that Ivan Ilyich has a lot in common with the narrator from “The Semplica-Girl Diaries” would be a great start, but you’d ultimately want to compare these characters in order to elucidate the overlapping (or conflicting) meanings in the two texts.
How to Structure The Essay
There will be more information about how to structure the essay later in the unit, but, for now, here’s a simple outline that should help you to visualize the essay.
| Introduction (1-2 paragraphs): Prepare the reader for the thesis. Provide an introduction to your topic as well as a brief description of the two texts, with an emphasis on the aspects of the texts relevant to your thesis. | ||||||||
| Thesis statement (1-2 sentences): Make a claim about the relationship between the two texts. Embed language in the thesis statement that makes the precise relationship between the texts very clear to the reader. Perhaps the meanings of the two texts contradict one another; perhaps there’s an interesting tension or affinity between them; perhaps a nonfiction text illuminates or clarifies some aspect of the novella, etc. | ||||||||
| Proof (3-4 paragraphs): Demonstrate the relationship you described in the thesis statement. Doing so will entail presenting textual evidence from the text, interpreting the texts, and explaining how the textual evidence and the interpretations represent the relationship described in the thesis. (Use PIE structure for every proof paragraph.) | ||||||||
| Conclusion (1 paragraph): Briefly restate the main points from your synthesis and address the significance of your synthesis.
Example: TWO IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT ESSAY TWO
Essay Two Structure & ComponentsThere is some flexibility in how you can structure this fairly complex essay, but there are also some foundational aspects of essay structure that should be there regardless of what choices you make about how to organize the essay. Here is what should definitely happen in the different components of the essay:
How to Structure the PROOF Section of the EssayIn the proof section, you’ll need to do a few different things. You’ll need to present evidence form both texts, interpret that evidence, and show a relationship between the two texts — all in a way that demonstrates the claim in your thesis statement. This is quite a lot to manage, so you want to be deliberate in how you structure the proof section, so that it communicates everything in a way that’s clear and easy to follow. Below are a few suggestions for how to structure the proof section. (These are approaches that have worked well for students in the past.) You might arrive upon a good structure that doesn’t fit into one of these templates, which is definitely okay.
Proof Section Structure #1 Each proof paragraph presents evidence from both texts, interprets that evidence, and synthesizes those interpretations. Here’s an outline representing what Structure #1 might look like:
Proof Section Structure #2Each connection/synthesis is explained over the course of TWO proof paragraphs. The first proof paragraph interprets one text. The second proof paragraph interprets the second text, and then explains how these ideas relate to the ideas in the first proof paragraph. (The synthesis happens at the end of every other proof paragraph.) You’d likely have two “pairs” of paragraphs in the whole proof section. This is the paragraphing strategy that the example essay uses. Here’s an outline representing what Structure #2 might look like:
Proof Section Structure #3 The first proof paragraph is devoted to interpreting one text; the second is devoted to interpreting the other. The final proof paragraph is devoted to exploring and explaining the relationship between the two texts. The synthesis all happens in one proof paragraph. Here’s an outline representing what Structure #3 might look like:
Evidence & SynthesisYour thesis statement will establish a relationship between the two texts you’ve chosen, but then, of course, you’ll need to demonstrate that connection in the proof section using relevant textual evidence, analysis, and interpretation. Below is an outline of a proof paragraph that provides an example of how to “pair” evidence from two sources. Notice how there’s a sort of “organic” connection between the passages selected from the two texts — the paragraph combines two passages that relate to literal money. This ends up being a good starting point for examining what the two texts say about the topic of “materialism.” As you figure out what evidence to select from each text, and how to pair the evidence from the two texts, consider doing something similar. Look for moments in the two text that have an “organic” connection, that use similar symbols or represent similar experiences. Also pay particular attention to the “explanation” section in the outline below. The red part provides interpretation of the evidence; the purple part synthesizes, explaining the connection. (This paragraph, but the way, uses the “Proof Structure #1” described above.
When crafting your own synthesis, organizing evidence into proof paragraphs, and reviewing your work, ask yourself the following questions about your evidence and synthesis:
The Conclusion ParagraphThe conclusion paragraph should first restate your position, and then address the significance of your synthesis. That is, there should be two parts to the conclusion:
In this (slightly edited) conclusion paragraph from the example essay, the second part, in which the writer evaluates the ideas about community in the two texts, is in bold.
Essay Two Sample OutlineBelow is an example of how an entire literary synthesis essay could be structured. Here the writer is using “Strategy #1” for the proof section.
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Essay Two Goals/Grading Rubric
Below is a list of things you should accomplish in Essay Two. These are also the criteria I’ll be using in the grading rubric for the essay.
- Effective synthesis (critical thinking). The essay clearly conveys a meaningful connection between the two texts. The synthesis is active and explicit — Rather than placing evidence from both texts side-by-side, the writer explains the relationship between the two texts.
- Effective interpretation (critical thinking). The synthesis is based on insightful interpretations of the texts. Rather than comparing surface-level characteristics of the two texts, the synthesis describes a relationship between the texts’ meanings.
- Persuasive evidence. The proof paragraphs persuasively support the synthesis claim in the thesis, using robust, germane textual evidence; interpretation; and thorough explanations of the relationships between the texts.
- Essay unity. Each part of the essay clearly relates to the thesis statement. There are no aspects of the essay that seem irrelevant or unrelated to the central claim in the thesis or the essay’s purpose, which is to prove the thesis.
- Introduction paragraph/s. The first paragraph/s of the essay prepare the reader for the synthesis and does some, if not all, of the following: establishes the theme being explored, introduces the texts, explains why these two texts are worth comparing, defines key terms.
- Thesis statement. The thesis is arguable and focused, responds to the essay prompt, and previews the rest of the essay. The thesis makes a claim about the relationship between the two texts.
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It should make a claim that sets up all of the key ideas in the proof paragraphs, preparing the reader for what’s to come in the essay.
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It should be clear, concrete, and succinct enough that the reader can understand it, hold it in their mind, and use it to navigate the rest of the essay. (The reader should be able to easily and quickly relate each proof paragraph to this central claim.)
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It should be arguable and interpretive. It shouldn’t merely convey surface level observations about the texts. It should convey a claim about their meaning that requires evidence, analysis, and interpretation to support.
For the literary synthesis essay, your thesis will basically be two interpretive claims, one about each text. The thesis will also state the relationship between the two interpretations. Simply put, do the two texts convey similar or different ideas?
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The thesis should clearly answer these two questions:
- What do the two texts say about a shared theme you’ve identified?
- How do these two meanings relate to one another?
If the thesis asserts a difference between the two texts, the differing perspectives should still be related. That is, you’re looking more for an oppositional relationship rather than a simple difference. You want to put the two texts “in conversation” with each other. You want to avoid an essay (and a thesis statement) that simply bundles together two separate “monologues.”
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Remember that a strong thesis statement will be “arguable and interpretive.” That is, in addition to comparing the observable characteristics of the two texts, you want to also compare their meanings. In fact, what you say about the observable characteristics of the two texts should clarify their meanings and how those meanings relate to each other.
For example, in your synthesis essay, you might compare the narrative structures of the two texts; you might compare the personalities and experiences of two characters; you might show that the two communities in the two texts have similar or different values. This sort of synthesis is great, and will likely constitute a lot of the evidence in your essay. But I’d recommend foregrounding an answer to the “So what?” question. If characters from the two texts are different, what does that mean? Are the texts communicating different ideas through those two characters?
That is, in order to get into “arguable” territory, you want to do a bit more than point out similarities or differences between the two texts that most readers could easily see. That’s part of it for sure, but things get interesting when you address the significance of those similarities and differences, the way in which the two texts interact at the level of meaning.
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Two good “literary synthesis” thesis statements
In the examples below, you’ll see that thesis statements make arguable, interpretive claims and establish a relationship between the two texts. The interpretive claims are in blue. The parts of the thesis statements that establishes the relationship (i.e., the synthesis) between the two texts is in red. (The texts in these examples weren’t assigned in this class.)
| Tortilla Flat suggests that a tightly knit community can honor the individuality of each community member; rather than erasing diversity, a community can embrace it. “The Lottery” offers a much more pessimistic view of community, suggesting that any cohesive community is susceptible to conformity and the abolition of diversity. |
Why this works: Notice how there are arguable, interpretive claims about both of the texts. The writer isn’t yet showing how the surface-level features of the texts relate to each other. Instead, they’re saying something about the meanings and ideas represented in the two texts. Tortilla Flat conveys the idea that diversity and individuality can survive in communities, while “The Lottery” conveys the idea that community tends to erase these things. Moreover, the thesis contains a very clearly articulated relationship between theses ideas — they’re opposing, with “The Lottery” conveying a “more pessimistic” set of ideas about community.
| Tortilla Flat represents how a community can only begin to thrive once capitalist values—specifically social hierarchy based on wealth—have been shed. “Battle Royal” provides a similar critique, representing how these same capitalist values are the foundation for corrupt communities. |
Why this works: As with the previous example, we have two arguable, interpretive claims, one about each text. And agin we see a clearly articulated relationship — the two texts convey “similar” ideas. Both texts are, aparrently, critiquing the same thing and the substance of the critiques is similar. It’s worth examining that relationship a bit more closely though. One way to describe it is that the two texts are making the same point “from opposite directions.” To put it simply, Tortilla Flat is showing the reader all the good things that happen when you get rid of certain capitalist values, and “Battle Royal” shows all the bad things that happen when a community embraces these same values. So, even though one is showing something positive and the other is showing something negative, they both ultimately critique that same set of values. The similarities you find between the two texts you choose may be more straightforward, but do keep an eye out for the ways in which the two texts convey similar ideas but with different emphases or from different perspectives.
You might have noticed that these two thesis statements don’t say much about the content of the texts. There isn’t anything about the characters, the plot, the imagery, the narrative structure, etc. Remember that your thesis statement should be reasonably succinct. This can be a challenge with a synthesis, as there’s a lot of information to get across in the thesis statement. The way the writers of these thesis statements have chosen to solve that problem is to focus only on the interpretations, the meanings in the two texts and how those meanings relate to each other. However, elsewhere in the essay the writers would need to, of course, get into the content of the texts. The introduction paragraph/s should orient the reader to what happens in the two narratives, and the proof paragraphs should pair evidence from the two texts in order to demonstrate the claims in the thesis statement. You might end up taking a different approach, saying something about the content of the texts in the thesis statement. This is perfectly fine; just make an effort to keep the thesis from getting unwieldy or cumbersome.
8. Proof paragraphs. Each proof paragraph is focused and fully developed, using PIE structure. Each proof paragraph begins with a topic sentence that supports the thesis and makes an assertion about the text/s (POINT). Each proof paragraph then provides evidence from the text/s supporting the claim in the topic sentence (INFORMATION). Each proof paragraph then concludes with an explanation of why and how the evidence proves the claim in the “point” (EXPLANATION).
Improving your proof paragraphs using P.I.E.
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Nearly every student made a specific-to-general, interpretive claim in the thesis statement, which is great.
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For Essay Two, such a statement would go something like this “These two texts both represent this general principle about status competition (or authority or mortality, etc…).”
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What some students struggled with was making similar interpretive claims in the proof paragraphs. Such claims should happen in the “P” and “E” of a P.I.E. paragraph — that is, in the POINT, the first sentence of the paragraph, and in the EXPLANATION, which comes at the end of the proof paragraph, after the INFORMATION (evidence).
POINTS for Essay Two
The first sentence of a proof paragraph in an academic essay should make a claim, an arguable assertion that supports or echoes the arguable assertion in the thesis statement. This is why, in the P.I.E strategy, this first sentence of a proof paragraph is referred to as a “point” rather than, say, a “topic sentence.”
A common misstep is to start describing evidence at the very beginning of a proof paragraph. In essays about literature, this might take the form of describing some aspect of the story or poem. This should happen in the “information” (I) section, not in the “point.” When you begin a proof paragraph with evidence, the reader doesn’t know what point it’s supposed to prove. So, you want to start each proof paragraph with a point, a claim that the textual evidence and analysis (“information”) proves in the second part of the paragraph.
As noted above, the point should support or echo the arguable claim in the thesis statement. If your thesis statement makes a claim about a work of literature (which it should), then the first sentence of each proof paragraph should also make a claim about that work of literature.
The first sentence of a proof paragraph in an interpretation essay should do something like this: “X aspect of the text represents the general idea I described in the thesis.”
The same basic principle applies to proof paragraphs for synthesis essays. Below are some examples of what POINTS for Essay Two should (and shouldn’t) do.
| SAMPLE THESIS: Both Tortilla Flat and “Battle Royal” suggest that an ideal community can only take shape once materialism and the hierarchies that come with it have been abandoned. |
TWO EXCELLENT POINTS (first sentences of proof paragraphs):
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The Pirate’s bag of money, and the way in which Danny’s friends honor it, is representative of the way in which communities must forgo materialism and individual greed in order to thrive.
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There are vivid examples of actual currency in the two texts—the pirate’s bag of money and the coins on the electrified mat. Both images function symbolically and show that materialism—and the competition and hierarchy that come with it—is destructive to community.
*The claims in the sentences are in red. Notice how the claims line up with the interpretive claim in the thesis (also in red).
*With sentences like these, there’s a claim that sets up what the rest of the paragraph will prove. This helps the reader understand what the purpose of the paragraph is at the very beginning of it.
*A claim (or “point”) at the beginning of a proof paragraph works better than starting a proof paragraph with evidence or a description of something from the text. When you start a proof paragraph with a description of something from the text, the reader doesn’t know what the paragraph is setting out to prove, what the purpose of the evidence is.
TWO NOT-SO-GOOD POINTS/TOPIC SENTENCES:
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Once the Pirate reveals that he is saving money for a noble goal, Danny’s friends protect it, and the bag of money becomes something other than currency for the friends; instead it becomes a representation of their bond.
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Communities can only thrive when they stop being overly concerned with material wealth, and begin to honor more immediate and human values like friendship and loyalty.
*The first one would work well in the INFORMATION section–it describes some evidence, but it’s not making a point; there’s no interpretive claim. The second one doesn’t have a stated connection to the texts.
EXPLANATION for Essay Two
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In Essay One most students did a very good job providing strong summaries of evidence in the proof paragraphs, and insightful commentary about the text, its imagery, the characters and their motives, etc. This is exactly what you want in the INFORMATION section; this is the concrete evidence that proves your point.
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However, at the ending of the proof paragraphs, you also need to provide EXPLANATION, which means drawing a connection between the evidence in the text and the general claim about the text’s meaning in your thesis.
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At the end of each proof paragraph, you should have an answer to questions like this: “What does all of this stuff from the text I just described REPRESENT? How does this prove some part of the general meaning of the text I described in the thesis?”
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If, at the end of the paragraph, you’re still only talking about the text itself, and not what this aspect of the text SAYS ABOUT THE THEME, you’re not finished.
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The EXPLANATION section, for this essay, might also be where you SYNTHESIZE, making a clear connection between the two texts, or articulating the differences.
Proof Paragraph Outline
As noted above, you can use P.I.E. as a way to frame your evidence and explain its meaning. In the “P” and “E” sections, you’re weaving interpretation and synthesis into your proof paragraph. In red, you’ll see where the writing moves beyond textual evidence and analysis and into interpretation (and, at the end of the paragraph, synthesis).
| THESIS: Tortilla Flat and “Battle Royal” suggest that an ideal community can only take shape once materialism and the hierarchies that come with it have been abandoned. |
[Transition: An opposing set of images appears in “BR”]
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9. Conclusion paragraph. The final paragraph of the essay briefly restates the main points of the synthesis then addresses its significance.
10. Source balance. Given that the essay is exploring a relationship between two texts, both texts get roughly equal attention in the essay. The evidence and interpretation related to the Tolstoy novella takes up about the same amount of space as the other chosen text.
11. Quotations and citations. All quotations are accurate representations of the original text, germane to the writer’s interpretation and synthesis, and properly integrated into the writer’s sentences. There are no stand-alone quotations; quotations are appropriately introduced and explained. MLA-style in-text citations are used correctly, and there is an MLA-style Works Cited page
12. Language. The sentences in the essay are clear, grammatically correct, and appropriate to academic discourse.