High School Research Synthesis Paper

In this paper you will explain what school you chose and why. You will also explain why you didnt choose the other two schools. Remember, you are assuming you can attend any school that will allow you. Your familys decision may be different than your choice. Use this information to have good conversations, but do not use this assignment to argue with your guardians. Your paper should be no less than one and no less than two pages long. It must be in MLA format. You should include the following information: 1. A paragraph introducing your project. Your reader needs to know why you are researching high schools. It is not because your teacher told you to. Find a different reason. 2. Include information about why the school is or is not a good choice for you. 3. Include information about the cost of your commute and if that was a factor in the choice you made. 4. You have many choices about how to organize your writing. Make it engaging to read. Below is a rough example of a synthesis paper. This is obviously written by someone who has already attended the school, but you get an idea. She should have included information about the cost of getting to the other two schools. She also didnt mention bus option, but where they lived, busses werent an available, so she didnt mention it. This paper would earn a 4. It is clear they knew about the schools, understood how to get there, and thought about why or why not each school would be a good fit for her.

Andranel Brown Sample Class Period 8 Language Arts December 13, 2013 To Band or Not to Band I was zoned for a small country school. It had 400 students K-12 with an average graduating class size of 40. While the schools basketball team was one of the best in the 2A division, that was about all the school offered besides small classes. Because the school was so small, it only offered Geometry 3rd period, which was the same period as band. I did manage to get enrolled in Algebra II that year, but I knew the problem wouldnt go away. I would need a third math credit to graduate, and Geometry would always conflict with band. As I told the lady who helped me get enrolled, I was not not taking band. To top all that off, our amazing band director had taken a job in Sapulpa, and rumors were circulating that the band program might be cut after that year. I needed a new school. In terms of distance, I had three options, all of them public. My family couldnt afford private school, not to mention there werent any that I was aware of at the time. I could attend one of the following: Drumright High School, the closest at ten miles; Bristow High School, the next closest at 13 miles, and the school my band director was moving to, Sapulpa, at 23 miles. Honestly, the notion that I could convince my dad to let me attend a different school was ridiculous. I didnt have my drivers license, let alone a car, so someone would have to drive me until those things could change. But, I was desperate for a chance to escape the fate of my family, none of whom had graduated from high school, let alone gone on to college. I would figure out a way. Drumright High School was bigger than Olive, but not by much. Their basketball program was one of the worst in their division 3A, and their band program was also barely alive. Not to mention there were several people who went to that school who were known to beat people up behind the Sonic. Drumright was not an option.

Bristow was a little further away, would require mostly back roads (and in my dads eyes a good thing, a safer thing), and their band program was decent. Their basketball team was decent as well, but it was known to be a set thing. It would be hard to break in coming from a 2A school into a small 4A school even if I were a starter, taller than most people, and the runner up in the Elks Club TriCounty Free Throw Contest. Bristow was an option, but I had my eye on a different prize. Sapulpa was a big school one of the largest 5A schools in Oklahoma. For once I could be anonymous not falling under the shadow of my dad who had been class president and the basketball captain. I could be me. The basketball program was excellent, but the band program was one of the best in the state. I wanted to go to Sapulpa. Now, to convince my dad. Getting there was going to be an issue. I couldnt legally drive myself, I didnt have a car, and Highway 33 was the deadliest 2-land highway in the state. My dad agreed to let me move in with my sister during the week. And someone would come get me on Friday night and return me Sunday night. As it turned out, three other people transferred to Sapulpa, and we carpooled. Gas was 78 cents a gallon, and with a commute of 46 miles round trip, It was a good deal to split the costs. I eventually got a 1977 Ford LTD with a 351 V8 engine. It managed an average of 13 miles a gallon, so the commute cost $2.76 a day, $13.80 a week and $55 a month. I agreed to pay for my own gas from VA benefits I earned from my moms Army benefits. In addition to a stellar band program, Sapulpa also offered foreign language classes, Trigonometry, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Honors classes with weighted grades. They even had a football team and I got to participate in marching band.