JERICHO
HIGH
SCHOOL
NAME
DATE
____________________________
___________
MRS. MCDERMOTT
ENGLISH II
SYNTHESIS PAPER
Synthesis (noun): the combining of separate material into a single, unified entity.
A synthesis essay is combining different information and informational sources (literature,
nonfiction, video, audio, etc.) into a single, unified paper. You are going to write a literary
analysis paper that synthesizes information from your independent reading book with
nonfiction and other sources.
Source Requirements:
 Integrate at least one article of literary criticism (like the article we read for The Catcher
in the Rye). This is your required scholarly / academic source.
 Integrate information and details from your novel (you will need quotes from the text).
 Integrate information from a third source. This source may be a second article of
literary criticism, another novel (for instance, if you were comparing two coming-of-age
novels), or another source type (for instance, a interview from National Public Radio or a
documentary on your topic, etc.).
Paper Requirements:
 4 double-spaced page, 12 point font, Times New Roman, 1” or 1.25” margins
 A 5th page that will be the Works Cited page
 An authentic, marked-up rough draft must be included with the final paper. The rough
draft must be a complete version of the paper that is measurably distinct from the final
version.
The Topic:
You are going to come up with an original topic that relates to your independent reading book
and will make an interesting, analytical synthesis paper. Each paper will be unique. No two
students will write about the same topic. The topic will be your own brainchild. Make sure you
choose a subject that you are interested in writing about and researching.
Once you have a topic, you will write a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a formal, exact
statement of what your paper is going to be about, a statement which argues a particular
theory, philosophy, or point of view. In other words, you write a thesis statement like a lawyer
making his opening remarks in a court case. In your paper, you will be trying to persuade the
reader toward your point of view by using ideas and information provided from your research.
In an argument of one or two sentences, the thesis statement sets the tone of the paper.
1. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in
your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.
2. Your thesis must be debatable and not a simple statement of fact.
3. Your thesis should outline the major topics you will cover in the paper.
Your topic may change slightly as you write and research, so you may need to revise your thesis
statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.