Synthesis in the Syllabus?

Partly as a result of my exploratory essay research and partly, I think, because I’m beginning to realize that my days as a writing instructor are creeping ever nearer, I often find myself thinking about assignments and syllabi these days. Though at this point I’ve got several dozen ideas dancing around in my head (from which I’ll get to choose only a few, I know), I was glad to encounter yet another potentially helpful assignment mold in the Allyn & Bacon chapter on synthesis.

Like several of my classmates who’ve already posted, I’ve worked with many students in the Writing Center who have trouble forming a basic argument, yet alone constructing a coherent synthesis paper. But I think I’m with Sarah B. on this one; I believe that most English 1000 students are quite capable of writing a synthesis essay (though they might not know to call it that) if we can help them get started. I believe the five steps the book outlines—exploring your texts through summary writing, exploring your texts’ rhetorical strategies, exploring main themes and similarities and differences in your texts’ ideas, generating ideas of your own, and taking your position in the conversation—would lend themselves well to individual assignments (perhaps to be assembled ultimately in a portfolio?) in an English 1000 class, and could thus teach students about both the process and the product of writing a synthesis essay.

I’m still undecided about whether or not I’ll actually weave such an assignment into my first syllabus—one semester seems like such a short time to really teach composition, and I know I’ll have trouble taking Boice’s advice to stop before taking on too much— but I do think it’s a viable option to consider. Decisions, decisions… J