Synthesis Essays: They Aren't DBQs (C)

     I never loved things like synthesis before this year. They reminded me of the dreaded DBQs that I had to do in APUSH sophomore year. And don't get me wrong, I loved APUSH (shout out to my man Bridgeo), but good lord I really did hate DBQs. I think it was the vast expanse of articles about Old White Men wanting slaves that I found intimidating. Or the lack of time to write about said Old White Men wanting slaves. Just the thought of reading all of those articles and then having to piece together an essay from that had me sweating. I really didn't know where to start just looking at them. It was truly a cruel and unusual punishment brought upon me from the CollegeBoard gods. I was sure they were targeting me. 

     So then AP Lang rolls around and of course, I thought to myself, of course I couldn't escape something like the DBQs. No, not that lucky unfortunately. But I was lucky enough to not start off the year with them. We stayed on rhetorical analysis (A), and then argument (B), and then synthesis. So I got some time to find my bearings before synthesis. I was still a bit shaky when we were assigned the Disability Synthesis though due to my past dislike for similar writings. We were given a series of four articles written by people with disabilities and had to make a synthesis essay in which we analyzed how the texts interacted with each other and then had to develop our own opinion on disability. First of all, heavy topic. Second, four full articles. I looked at the assignment and just thought to myself, "That's a rough go."  

Harriet McBryde Johnson

     As I began reading the articles though, I begrudgingly got into it. I was as surprised as you are.

     Hearing their thoughts on their own disabilities and how they are perceived really opened my eyes. They were interesting. I actually wanted to write about it. I especially like the article written by Harriet McBryde Johnson in which she talked about her conversation with "the man who wants [her] dead". "Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?" is quite the title and the article definitely lived up to it. Her talking about being the "token cripple with an opposing view" and her small section of a Q and A was fantastic to my pea brain. It was powerful, interesting, and opened my eyes to different perspectives. I liked writing about it and incorporating my own ideas into hers. 

     Not to toot my own horn but I think it was the best synthesis essay I've written all year.
     I never knew, while writing the DBQs, how to pull apart a text. I learned that this year (C). So I could finally see what Johnson was actually saying and implying rather than just scratching the surface. I could pick out what they meant and relate the texts through that way. Not that I'm saying this essay was easy, but I knew how to write it when I got to it rather than just shooting in the dark like I would have at the beginning of the year. I could pull out quotes that would assist my argument rather than making my argument and I could incorporate them properly now. 

     Fast forward to today. I love writing synthesis essays. It's one of my favorite types of pieces to write now. Now that I actually learned how to write them. I can look at the packet of articles on windmill farms (as I did on the AP exam), roll up my sleeves, and get to work. I thought the windmill essay was kind of fun too, as weird as that sounds. I at first thought the Disability Synthesis was a fluke because I just liked the topic but it wasn't. I really do just enjoy making an argument with the help of other's points. It's fun and sets guidelines to what I'm writing. I've always liked a blueprint to writing and that's what the provided articles are which I didn't understand before this year. They're just pushing you off in the right direction and you run with it. 
     I bet that if I went into that APUSH classroom today, I would have a much easier time. I could probably write a bomb DBQ on some Old White Men now. 

The Old White Man agrees