Proposed Outline English III Synthesis Unit

Are you ready? Do you have the ability to move forward toward a successful first draft? Your proposed outline is a chance to explain where you started with your thinking, anticipate the direction you are headed with your argument, and consider how you plan to unfold it to your reader.

Title A creative title can be as powerful as a paragraph. “Tip or Die” “Bite-sized Lessons in the Law” “It’s American as Apple Pie” Think about your claim and what tone you’d like to convey. Try to do so in the title. Codeswitching: Why texting and slang are not destroying our language “Whassup? Slang and Swearing Among Schoolchildren” Do not title your essay “Synthesis Essay” or I will scream.

Background—approximately three paragraphs Imagine someone asked you, “So you’ve been studying ____________? What’s that all about?” Think: Summary. Summarizing your conversation and all of its arguments/counterarguments. Show off: You’re becoming an expert, make that clear!

Research Question Make sure to include this in your proposal as well. I’d love to hear how you came to it as well—that metacognitive (thinking about thinking) piece is always enlightening (and persuades your teacher you truly have been thinking.)

Claim – this can and very likely will change State your claim in the form it is in now. Remember: It must be in the form of a sentence, arguable, complex, and focused. Again, if you want to share how to got to this claim, that would be lovely.

Your Approach, a.k.a. Development Ahhh..the key to any good essay. Please explain how you see your essay unfolding.

Outline (headings, topics, subtopics) Mrs. O’Hare thinks this way a lot.Outline (headings, topics, subtopics) Mrs. O’Hare thinks this way a lot. I. Codeswitching in schools I. Source 1’s discussion of how students learn to code- switch I. Direct quotation from teacher (14). II. Source 4’s discussion of how some people no longer code-switch after they become adults I. Paraphrase about swearing III. My discussion: Code-switching is no longer needed as an adult as long as people understand the choices they are making by not code-switching I. Compare and Contrast the effects of using swear words in all contexts (home, professional) and only using it in private.

Narrative (written explanation of the different parts) M r s. M u e l l e r t h i n k s t h i s w a y a l o t. First, I am going to look at Source 1’s discussion of code-switching at school. Specifically, I want to look at the discussion of how children learn to code-switch, and when they end up using the skill. Then, I want to have Source 4 respond to Source 1 by pointing out that many adults do not code-switch when it comes to swearing anymore. Instead, they just keep on swearing. Finally, I want to include my own discussion of how code- switching is a choice, and if adults do not want to make that choice, it is up to them, but they must realize the implications of that choice.

Both ways will show me where you are going and will serve as a guide for you as your write the first draft.

What about that research? Where do you see all that research fitting in? Remember that every essay will have a claim, reasons, evidence, and a counterargument! But how do you structure it?

Training wheels… Rough body paragraph “ingredient” list:  Reason to support your claim  Your own evidence to support your reason  Source cited as evidence to support your reason  Source cited in opposition to your reason and your acknowledgement, accommodation, and refutation of that source  Context of source—compare it to others/explain how it relates to the overall conversation  How your evidence and reasons link back to your claim

But ultimately it’s your decision…. Remember to use your patterns of development to convey your argument as effectively as possible. Narrative, descriptive, cause-effect, definition, process-analysis, exemplification, classification- division, compare-contrast… All of these help your argument! Use them wisely!