English 200 Argumentative Synthesis
DeAloia

Length: 3—4 pages, formatted according to MLA style
Audience: College-level reader familiar with the work of Frederick Douglass and of Erich Fromm at a general level

Purpose: In this assignment you will use three skills fundamental to academic writing—summarizing, analyzing, and synthesizing. These skills will also help begin to build our theme, the tensions and complexities involved in the struggle between free will and obedience.

Points: 100

Due Dates: 11:00 p.m., February 10: Send thesis paragraph & outline of rough draft—as a Word document formatted according to MLA style*—to instructor via UD email attachment Optional: on your own and as you wish, arrange to exchange rough drafts with a peer for feedback via Isidore Chat, visit the Write Place, and/or visit DeAloia during office hours with your questions*

11:00 p.m., February 12: Instructor provides feedback on thesis paragraphs & outlines of rough drafts via UD email attachment

11:00 p.m., February 14**: As an attachment in Word, submit final draft of Argumentative Synthesis to Isidore Assignments, “Argumentative Synthesis”

*NOTE: For additional information on how to prepare a paper for submission, see Module 0, Resources, “Procedures for Paper Assignments.” For a student example of a paper formatted according to MLA style, also see pages 502 to 511 of The Everyday Writer.

**NOTE: Students have a two-day grace period to submit final drafts—in the case of this assignment, that means you have until 11:00 p.m., February 16, to submit your final draft. The grace period’s purpose is to provide time to address any technical problems or mistakes in submitting the correct draft to the correct assignment. Do NOT come to regard this grace period as your “real” due date; it is not.
Citation Requirements:
NOTE: The explanatory PowerPoint for this assignment directs you to use page numbers for Douglass—please use paragraph numbers for both authors.

Since we are all using the same readings from the same sources, works cited sections are unnecessary. Instead, please do the following: • For the Douglass reading, following the passage you have summarized, paraphrased or quoted, if your own sentence has included Douglass’s name, in parentheses place the paragraph number where that passage is located. If you have not included Douglass’s name, in parentheses place Douglass’s last name and the paragraph number where that passage is located. Examples: o Douglass tells his readers, “I
met
with
one
of
Sheridan's mighty speeches on behalf
 of
Catholic
emancipation” (para. x).
 o When he is just a boy, he becomes enthralled with “one of Sheridan's mighty speeches” (Douglass para. x). • For the Fromm reading, following the passage you have summarized, paraphrased or quoted, if your own sentence has included Fromm’s name, in parentheses place the paragraph number—preceded by “para.”—where that passage is located. If you have no—preceded by “para.”—where that passage is located. Examples: o Fromm tells us that “Human history was ushered in by an act of disobedience” (para. x). o But if “human history was ushered in by an act of disobedience” (Fromm para. x), what role does obedience play?

Assignment: Compose a response to the following question:

(Choose Option A OR Option B)

Option A: How does one key idea or how do two related key ideas in Erich Fromm's "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" help explain one interpersonal relationship or two interpersonal relationships dramatized in "Learning to Read and Write"—chapter seven of Frederick Douglass's memoir A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave? And, in a larger sense, how does your analysis of that one relationship or those two relationships in Douglass’s life say something significant about slavery in general? (You may wish to use your answer to this last question as a way to conclude your paper.)

Option B: This paper may take you in another direction as well. You may decide that, upon close consideration, Fromm’s ideas about obedience and authority are in some ways inadequate to explain the relationship or relationships in Douglass’s life about which you have chosen to write. In such a case, the paper’s focus would be on how Fromm’s ideas are inadequate to explain the Douglass relationships and why the fact that they are inadequate is significant. And, in a larger sense, how does your analysis of that inadequacy say something significant about slavery in general? (You may wish to use your answer to this last question as a way to conclude your paper.)

As you write, remember: • Effective summary briefly and accurately restates a main point of a reading—and, in this assignment, you will be summarizing at least two main points (one from the Fromm reading and one from the Douglass reading). • Successful analysis concisely and clearly explains a text or—in our case—part of a text by breaking down (analyzing) the text in light of some overriding analytical principle—in our case, ideas set forth by Fromm. • Successful synthesis combines two or more texts to create a coherent whole. In Option A of this assignment, you will use the Douglass reading and the Fromm reading to better understand some of the dynamics of slavery by—in the case of Option A above—applying Fromm’s ideas regarding obedience and authority or—in the case of Option B above—showing how Fromm’s ideas are inadequate to explain some relationships engendered by the institution of slavery.

Writing Tips: • In your analysis, you cannot include all the points of the Douglass excerpt or all the points of the Fromm essay. • Therefore, as you come to see what your purpose is in writing your paper, select the elements of the two works most appropriate to your purpose. (Please see next bullet point.) • Unless your paper focuses on the passing of time in the Douglass excerpt, do not fall into a trap of organizing your paper by following the works chronologically. • As you write, keep in mind your audience.