synthesis essay as a response to
one or more of the arguments that are contained in the following three
essays. I submitted the file. thank you
synthesis_essay_on_digital_technologies.docx

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Synthesis Essay
(Due on April 3 by Uploading to Blackboard)
In a minimum of 1,000 words, write a synthesis essay as a response to one or more of the
arguments that are contained in the following three essays posted on Blackboard:



“How Computers Change the Way We Think” by Sherry Turkle
“Diagnosing the Digital Revolution” by Alison Gopnik
“Digital Natives and Immigrants: What Brain Research Tells Us” by Nancy K. Herther
All three are presented as if they are expository essays in which the authors are merely
explaining either facts or the results of processes (or both). However, all three essays actually
argue about the ways computers and digital technologies alter cognitive development—both
positively and negatively.
In your essay, you must integrate quotes, paraphrases, and/or summaries from at least one of the
three essays listed above, and you must use proper MLA citation and have a “Works Cited”
page. Remember, the Purdue OWL site is a good resource for using MLA format.
Academic arguments are a conversation between two or more sides discussing a particular
sociopolitical issue. For instance, Alison Gopnik’s “Diagnosing the Digital Revolution” is
mostly a counterargument to Sherry Turkle’s views about how computers alter the way humans
think. Turkle’s and Gopnick’s respective essays can be read as each author’s contribution to the
conversation about computers and digital technologies affecting individuals and society.
Alternatively, in “Digital Natives and Immigrants: What Brain Research Tells Us,” Nancy K.
Herther summarizes two sides of an argument about the generation gap between “digital native”
students and their teachers, and how this supposed technology gap between generations affects
teaching and learning in schools. However, Herther does not merely summarize these opposing
views; she also inserts her own views into the “discussion.”
Thus, in your essay, you cannot simply repeat points other writers have made; you need to join
conversation with your own perspectives.
For instance, if two of your friends were arguing about a movie—such as whether Superman
should ever be presented as killing someone, as was done with the killing of General Zod in
Man of Steel—you would not join the discussion by merely repeating points you heard one of
your friends already make because your contribution would then have no value. Instead, you
might agree with something one of your friends said, but you would then expand upon it or alter
it in some way in order to present additional ideas or a different perspective (et cetera).
As you write your synthesis essay, you should also consult your notes from the class lectures on
how historical changes in “communication technology” have altered society, culture, and human
cognitive abilities over the past 5,000 years:




The oral tradition in communicating long, memorized texts
Handwritten texts that mostly eliminated the oral tradition but that then limited material
to only a few scrolls or books.
The movable type printing press that allowed for the mass production of books—along
with the Protestant Reformation that increased literacy rates among the masses.
Et cetera.

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