3rd quarter book assignment

3^rd Quarter Reading Assignment

Select one of the following books.  Obtain the book by March ____12_______.     

Being a Black Man: At the Corner... by the staff of the Washington Post

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Winter of our Disconnect by Susan Maushart

Sticks and Stones: Defeating... by Emily Bazelon

Overdressed:  The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

       

Independent Book Assignment

1.  Actively read your book.  While your annotations will not be checked, you should always annotate and take notes to aid your comprehension and preparation for testing.  Be prepared for a quiz or assessment at each checkpoint.

2.  For each checkpoint, you will be creating your own synthesis question.   You will write the introduction and assignment and gather 3 documents related to the topic.  The topic must be an idea central to the part of your independent book that you just read, and the related documents can be visuals (pictures, cartoons, ads) or written texts (articles, blogs entries, editorials, passages from books, websites, magazines or journals).   Remember that the ideas in the supporting documents do not all have to have the same viewpoint and they can be loosely related to your topic (the way the rating charts for debates are only loosely related to whether television is good or bad.)  However, at least 2 of your sources each time must be from respectable, credible sources (the 3^rd could be less formal and academic).   Your independent book will not count as one of the 3 sources, because I will assume it is connected.

Requirements for each synthesis question and set of 3 sources

1.  Your synthesis question must be related to that checkpoint in your book – write a sentence or two to explain the connection.

2.  You must include an introduction and assignment section for your question.  The introduction should present both sides of the debatable topic, and the assignment should make it clear what question/task the essay writer would undertake. 

3.  Two of your three sources must be from reputable publications (newspapers/journals/magazines/books).  The third could be a blog, graphic, opinion piece, ad, etc.  ONLY one visual source for each set of 3; the other 2 must be written texts.

4.  You must write a complete Work Cited (MLA style) entry for each of your 3 sources.  Use an online MLA manual to help you do this.  If you cannot find the publication information required, you may not use that source.

5.  Include a summary/paraphrase of your source.  Should be 1-3 paragraphs depending on the length and complexity of the text.

6.  Include a paragraph of explanation about how you might use the text to support/challenge/relate to the synthesis question that you pose.

7.  You don’t have to actually include a print copy of your source, but if I cannot easily find it using your Works Cited information, it will not count.  If you want to include a note about the steps you used to find it, you can.  (If it is from one of the databases, that will be clear in your citation, and I can easily go to that database, type in the author’s name and find the source. )

The following is one sample of a synthesis question introduction and assignment.  Of course there are MANY more examples on apcentral.collegeboard.com.  I encourage you to look at the examples and model your questions off of the types of synthesis questions that you will encounter on the AP test.

Introduction

Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following:  (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. These two goals—one aimed at the betterment of individuals and the other aimed at the betterment of society—might seem at odds with one another. At the very least, these two goals are a cause of much tension within schools at every level:  schools want students to be allowed or encouraged to think for themselves and pursue their own interests, but schools also believe that it is right in some circumstances to encourage conformity in order to socialize students.

Assignment

Read the sources that follow (including the introductory information) carefully. Then choose an issue related to the tension in schools between individuality and conformity. You might choose an issue such as dress codes, mandatory classes, or the structure of the school day. You do not have to choose an issue that you have experienced personally. Then, write an essay in which you use this issue to argue the extent to which schools should support individuality or conformity. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.