Mastering the Synthesis Essay

1. Mastering the Synthesis Essay AP Language and Composition Ms. Lydigsen

2. Introduction • You are walking down the street after a long, busy day at work. Malnourished and parched, you look over your shoulder and see one of the greatest revelations in your life – a billboard with a gigantic burrito and those famous arches as the sun halos above it. Advertisements are a great way of informing the public as it is basically another form of teaching, according to Source C. This is why I believe advertisements are a vital part of society.

3. Introduction Is there any one place we can go where there is not a single advertisement in sight? I would not even be surprised that in the most desolate area of a desert, Dove discretely stuck a sign in the sand that posed this question: Are you tired of dry, itchy skin? These kind of advertisements are everywhere. Even in the most estranged places companies are asking us, “Got Milk?” Though I protest, this is not propaganda, but simply an appeal to that one item each one of us must have. It is the way in which we cultivate not only our wants, but our needs as well. And in doing so, we provide and promote free trade and prosperity for the well-being of our society.

4. Synthesizing Sources • Advertisements not only deceive you, but they also play on your intelligence. As supported by this sentence excerpted from Deception Detection written by Jeffrey Schrank, “A person unaware of advertising’s claim on him is precisely the one most vulnerable to the ad’s attack” (Source E). This sentence most nearly means that people who are unaware of advertisement’s techniques or motives will fall victim to the deception.

5. Synthesizing Sources • Advertising also has its negative effects; a major factor is manipulation. Advertisers want its consumers to be lead into thinking that is is “harmless nonsense” (Source E), when in actuality that is a part of the plan to get them to purchase their products.

6. Synthesizing Sources Advertisement in America has reached new heights through newspapers, magazines, and the internet. It has created “a mass market” that has infiltrated every consumer item known to man (Source B).

7. Synthesizing Sources Who knows exactly how to “attract and control consumers of every age, sex, race, and religion” and reinforce “racial, cultural, and sexual stereotypes,” setting the work of brave and passionate men and women back years through their influences (Source F).

8. Conclusion • All in all, advertisement has made up its mind and has planted its tree stud roots into the corporate America. It is here to stay and for those who want it to leave, you should think about advertising the banishment of advertising. “Just as we need the information found in maps, we need the information in ads to buy the necessities of life” (Source C).

9. Conclusion Advertisements are a massive money making scheme that is cheating society out of its health, mind control, and pursuits. Advertisements can spark a fire of jealously easily just by putting people against each other with disagreement about a product. People have been able to make it in life successfully before advertisements and they could do without them if they no longer existed. The world would be a much more intelligent place with more independent and uninfluenced thinkers.

10. What Needs Work • “You” only in the conclusion – call to action • Body paragraphs should be a minimum of 5-7 sentences (excluding quotes). 3 sentences will not cut it • No floating quotes – set up the quotes • Either use author’s last name or Source letter (not both) • No need to mention name of book of article

11. What Needs Work • Improve diction and syntax. I cannot bump you to the next level without an improvement in word choices.