TOWARDS A DOCUMENTED ESSAY Eng 102 Course Book Pg. 91

Definition A documented essay is a research or library paper that integrates paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from secondary sources with the writer's own insights and conclusions. Such essays normally include references within the paper and, at the end, a list of the books and articles cited.

Text A In today’s business world, many managers are only interested in profit. They reduce their workforce with no consideration for the problems this causes those who become unemployed. Steven Davis, Trends in Business, Stalwart Press, Manchester, 2000, p. 56 Text B The only way to run a successful business in today’s world is to downsize the workforce in order to be more efficient and profitable. This is the only way to ensure a successful business and be able to continue to offer jobs. Rudolph Gibson, Downsizing, Caber Publications, Glasgow, 2002, p. 31 Text C Although employers and shareholders benefit from downsizing, employees suffer from reduced working hours and pay or loss of employment. Businesses need to remember how things were during the Great Depression. Alec Stanford, Moral Economics, Solis Press, Bristol, 1999, p. 102

What do students need to be able to do?

1.Think about the topic – do they agree / disagree? 2.Understand the text 3.Find the important words and main ideas 4.Summarise each main idea 5.Synthesize the summaries

Suggested procedure for synthesising three paragraphs by different writers Decide the position of the writers Summarise the arguments Group writers: for, against, neutral Decide on the order you want in your synthesis Briefly state your position Paraphrase, using words which make your position clear Make the relationships between ideas clear with linking words Make sure that you attribute ideas to writers, ie use citations

Checklist for synthesising The extracts from other writers you choose, the order you present them and the language you use to introduce them will depend on your argument, your thesis. Therefore there can be many ways of synthesising. Synthesis is used to support an argument, therefore is much more subjective than paraphrasing and summarising, which aim to reproduce the original as objectively as possible. Thus, synthesizing is a much more complex task, although it uses both paraphrasing and summarising.

Checklist for synthesising The language used when synthesising has connotations which show the author’s attitude towards the sources used, especially the introductory verbs eg claims, asserts, shows, implies, insinuates, refutes. Linkers show the relationships between different writers cited in the synthesis, eg However, similarly, whereas, Both... and.... agree that....