Essay #5
Academic Essay: Research Review (synthesis)
Paper Length: about 4-5 pages
Writing Assignment:
As you prepared your Annotated Bibliography, you gathered and evaluated the most appropriate
and credible sources to help you answer your research question. The next step in this process
is to carefully synthesize your research for your readers.
In other words, this is when you will establish that you are an “expert” about your topic, and that
you can synthesize multiple and varying viewpoints to your readers so that they, too, are able to
understand the conversation surrounding your topic.
The critical thing to remember is that your Research Review is not your researched argument.
You are using the same sources, but you are writing for extremely different purposes. That is,
your research review is providing a synthesis– an objective overview of the main conversations
on your topic—and identifying which of your sources agree with each other, which disagree. In
some ways, it helps to think of an academic synthesis essay as a complex form of comparison
and contrast.
EXAMPLE PAPER:
sample review (3) (1).docx
OUTLINE:
Intro (about 1/2-1 page)
• Explain why you are interested in your topic, why your reader should be
interested in this topic (why is it important).
• Share your research question and introduce the sources you will synthesize.
• End your intro with a thesis. A template to consider: “In order to understand
(list your topic), it is important to understand (list the viewpoints you will
synthesize).” Like any good thesis, this one must state the topic of your essay
and your point of view on the topic.
Body (about 2-3 pages)
• Each body paragraph should be organized around one of the viewpoints listed
in your thesis. This topic should be clearly stated in a topic sentence.
• Each body paragraph must contain at least TWO sources (otherwise it is not a
synthesis).
• It is ok if the same source pops up in multiple paragraphs.
• You should focus in summary/paraphrasing over direct quotes. Remember, you
need to cite words AND ideas.
• It helps to consider the relationships between sources: where do they agree?
disagree?
• Remember to use transitions to demonstrate these relationships.
Conclusion (about 1/2- page)
• Share how your thinking about your topic has changed and developed after
synthesizing your research.
• Are there still any gaps in your knowledge?
• Preview the argument that you plan to make in your final essay.
Conventions:
• Your essay should clearly identify the different viewpoints surrounding your issue
• Your essay should be organized around those viewpoints, rather than organized by your
sources
• Your essay should correctly incorporate borrowed material from the 5-7 sources you are
synthesizing, following proper MLA citation rules
• Your essay should use the introduction to introduce the sources it will synthesize:
provide the title and author of each source. You must also share your research question.
• Your essay should feature summary over quotation
• Your essay should contain 5-7 varied and credible sources that you have already
documented with your Annotated Bibliography assignment.
• Your essay should be approximately 4-5 MLA formatted pages
• Your essay should include a works cited page
• Your essay should include an author’s note at the beginning
Grading Rubric: Course outcomes for the Research Review
• Works cited page presented in MLA format; 5-7 credible sources (two sources MUST be
academic); proper in-text MLA citations (signal phrases and parentheticals)
• A thesis statement that clearly states the viewpoints associated with the topic
• Each body paragraph features at least two sources
• Information in the body paragraphs features accurate paraphrasing and summary over
quotations
• Introduction states the importance of the topic, the research question, and introduced
the sources; conclusion does more than summary
• Essay is written in complete, correctly punctuated sentences
SOURCES TO USE LINKED AS FILES
SOURCES:
Flescher, Andrew Michael. The Organ Shortage Crisis in America: Incentives, Civic Duty, and Closing the
Gap. Georgetown University Press, 2018.
Glazer, Sarah. “Organ Trafficking.” CQ Global Researcher, 19 July 2011, pp. 341-66,
library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqrglobal2011071900.
Lewis, Amy, et al. “Organ Donation in the US and Europe: The Supply Vs Demand Imbalance.”
Transplantation Reviews (Philadelphia, Pa.), vol. 35, no. 2, Elsevier Inc, 2021, pp. 100585–100585,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trre.2020.100585.
Cohen, I. Glenn. “Transplant Tourism: The Ethics and Regulation of International Markets for Organs.”
The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 41, no. 1, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2013, pp. 269–85,
https://doi.org/10.1111/jlme.12018.
Statz, Sarah Elizabeth. “Finding the Winning Combination: How Blending Organ Procurement Systems
Used Internationally Can Reduce the Organ Shortage.” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, vol.
39, no. 5, Vanderbilt University, School of Law, 2006, p. 1677–.