{"id":10301,"date":"2024-09-23T11:44:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T15:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/?page_id=10301"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:07:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:07:55","slug":"synthesis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/?page_id=10301","title":{"rendered":"Synthesis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><b><u>Synthesis (Expository and Argument)<\/u><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Here&#8217;s a <u>colorkey<\/u> I frequently use for any type of synthesis writing \u2014 insisting that students colorcode their writing at various steps along the way, including the finished product:<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10303\" src=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2115\" height=\"1059\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381.jpeg 2115w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-300x150.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-1024x513.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-768x385.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-1536x769.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-2048x1025.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_1381-500x250.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2115px) 100vw, 2115px\" \/><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">As far as teaching <i>line of reasoning<\/i>, I rely heavily on this silly <u>one-page outline<\/u> graphic organizer.\u00a0I find that these one-page outlines are very easy for me to check for solid reasoning (e.g. \u2014 Does she have evidence from more than one distinct source for each supporting idea? Does the commentary actually support the claim?), and its design helps kids of all levels really visualize what their essay should be mechanically\u00a0<i>doing<\/i>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/One-page-outline-TEXTLESS.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"54063d73-3358-4581-8027-fda620d6eba7\" data-linkindex=\"4\">https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/One-page-outline-TEXTLESS.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">The most functionally useful rubric for both argument and expository \u2014 I&#8217;ve found \u2014 is <u>College Board&#8217;s rubric<\/u> for the Synthesis Essay (on the AP English Language exam). While the <a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/SYNTHESIS-rubric.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"b16b3097-ca14-4d5b-813b-67dc44db4329\" data-linkindex=\"0\">official one<\/a> is an absolute eyesore, its Row B is great for working students up the ladder so that their evidence is solid (i.e. \u2014 is specific, comes from at least three of the provided sources, supports their supporting ideas\/r) and so that their commentary is putting in the work (i.e. \u2014 explaining how <i>all<\/i>\u00a0of the\u00a0evidence supports their line of reasoning). Here&#8217;s a <u>far\u00a0prettier one-page version<\/u> that I&#8217;ve used for both argument and expository scoring: <a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Synthesis-Rubric-1pager.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"46631e9c-5518-4ac8-802a-5625395f91df\" data-linkindex=\"1\">https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Synthesis-Rubric-1pager.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">As far as <u>thesis frames<\/u> go, here are what I&#8217;ve used for Synthesis\/Argument\/Expository essay planning: <a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/synthesis-and-arg-2526.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">synthesis and arg 2526<\/a><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">Not to be completely sidelined, here are the <u>state\/official rubrics<\/u> for argument and expository essays:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FAST-writing-rubrics-2425.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"8bf5d123-6b86-41f6-bab1-e445411727f4\" data-linkindex=\"3\">https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FAST-writing-rubrics-2425.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">For an-almost infinite supply of <u>topics for argumentation with accompanying sources<\/u>, I suggest\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.procon.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"6ab2efba-a58e-42c1-b53e-7c736ff20624\" data-linkindex=\"5\">Procon.org<\/a>. However, if most of a class is struggling with basic argumentation, something super simple (e.g. \u2014 cats or dogs, apples or oranges) can work to get them generating their own supporting reasons and evidence.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">And to help students with what synthesis\/argument\/expository evidence actually looks like in the wild, I use this <u>&#8220;Types of Evidence&#8221; classification handout<\/u>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Types-of-Evidence.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-outlook-id=\"929bf2fe-40f3-419e-8b8b-3974a9820e41\" data-linkindex=\"6\">https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Types-of-Evidence.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">If students struggle with writing effective commentary, here are some elaboration sentence starters and language to help with transitions: <a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/transitionsANDelaboration.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/transitionsANDelaboration.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synthesis (Expository and Argument) Here&#8217;s a colorkey I frequently use for any type of synthesis writing \u2014 insisting that students colorcode their writing at various steps along the way, including the finished product: As far as teaching line of reasoning, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/?page_id=10301\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10301","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10301"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10878,"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10301\/revisions\/10878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bentonenglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}