Synthesis Essays and Classical Arguments

My initial response to the order of these two chapters in The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing was similar to Matthew’s because I was taught how to write a classical argument first and it was not until the third year of my undergraduate career that I knew how to write a synthesis essay. I think it is reasonable to teach classical argument first because the classical argument seems to involve less “delicate” reading and analyzing skills than synthesis essays. In writing a synthesis essay, students have to not only understand other experts’ arguments but also comprehend those arguments to the extent that they find their blind spots, assumptions, contradictions, or implications. Writing a synthesis essay requires close reading and careful analysis to put different arguments in a dialectical debate. It requires students not only to synthesize but also to differentiate various arguments in order to connect or disconnect these arguments.

Compared with synthesis essays, the classical argument involves less gesture of differentiating and screening. It seems to me that writing a classical argument is a process of accumulating. Ramage et al. state that the goal of classical argument as process is “truth seeking.” What students need to do is to offer reasons and evidence that can support their positions. They do not have to deal with contradictions and discrepancy between various arguments. However, does this mean that we should not ask first-year undergraduates to write the synthesis essay because of its complexity? No, I do not think so. I think the point is not to request students to write a perfect synthesis essay but to make them aware of the form of synthesis essay so when they come across this type of essay, they can observe and learn how certain authors discover meaningful connections among various arguments and how they locate themselves in a debate. I am saying this because before I was drawn attention to this type of essay, I could read a synthesis essay without knowing that it was a synthesis essay and missed the opportunity to learn from those texts. Thus, I think it is important to make students aware of different types of arguments and writing.