PP4 Part 4

Part 4: Synthesis and Conclusions

You’ve been working your way through a hot-button issue, but things are probably still a bit of a jumbled mess. It is time to clean it up, synthesize your research, present your findings, and offer a conclusion. To neatly present your research, the best thing to do is to try to represent the “conversation” going on around your topic. To do so, concisely present each of the “stakeholders” involved in the debate.

Write a couple/few paragraphs focused on each stakeholder that answers: Who are they? What is their argument? Whose lives do they hope to affect? What sort of problems and/or solutions do they identify? What is the evidence that they use to support their argument? Why do they seek the outcome that they seek? As you answer these questions, provide MLA citations on ALL of the information your present!! You may definitely add additional sources, but you don’t necessarily have to. Be sure to follow all integration and citation conventions!

Answer the questions above for ALL of the stakeholders you’ve identified in your hot-button issue; there MUST be at least two, though there may be more. YOU WILL LIKELY REPEAT THINGS FROM YOUR EARLIER SECTIONS – that is very much the point! You’ve been keeping track of what you’ve been doing, finding, and learning; now you’ll transform that existing work into a formal research paper, adding and adjusting where you need to in order to meet the conditions of the assignment.

Finally, now that you’ve shown you have done your “listening” and you’ve earned your spot in the conversation, state your opinion. What have you learned from all your searching? Which of the stakeholders is correct, or most correct? Who do you side with, and why? If you are somewhere in the middle, be sure to clearly explain why.

Word count: 800-1000 words