ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline Assignment

Section 1: Introduction
A. Provide a definition of the research topic that scholars would all agree upon:

Definition Scholars have acknowledged that excessive phone use is prominent

among college students and has the potential to damage one’s overall
health and wellness. However, scholars have not yet agreed upon
whether the behaviors associated with unmanageable smartphone use,
such as uneasiness without one’s phone and the inability to control
usage, should constitute it as a behavioral addiction (Chen, et al.,
Abuhamdah and Naser)
B. Identify the major sub-topics of the research topic:

Sub-Topics Millions around the world use and have access to smartphones (Kuru
and Çelenk 1). College students and adolescents are the common focus
of studies evaluating the causes of smartphone overuse since individuals
of this age group are said to be most susceptible to phone dependence
(Ercengiz, et al., Mohamed, et al.).

C. Identify what your analysis of the scholarly conversation has revealed about the current
areas of concern in the scholarly conversation on your research topic:

Controlling Possible Script: This paper demonstrates that scholars investigating

Idea smartphone use in college students conduct cross-sectional survey
studies, suggest relationships between aspects of social and emotional
wellness and phone use, and debate whether negative characteristics
associated with phone overuse demonstrate an addiction.
 ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline Assignment

Section 2: Body Paragraphs

1 - Study Design and Data Collection: Cross-Sectional Studies & Likert Scale Surveys
A. Describe the main point for section #1 that helps you prove your controlling idea (Issue 1
+ scholars):
Point 1 Studies investigating university students’ phone dependence primarily use a cross-sectional
experimental design and Likert-scale surveys.

B. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:
As Abuhamdah and Naser note, they administered online versions of Kessler’s Psychological
Quoted/ Distress Scale (K10) and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) in their cross-sectional study to
Paraphrased determine the number of Jordanian college students who suffer from poor mental health and
Evidence 1 phone dependence (2-3). This is similar to a cross-sectional study by Mohamed, et al. in which
the Social Phobia Inventory and Smartphone Addiction Scale questionnaires were verbally
administered to female, Arabic-speaking college students to measure their social anxiety and
phone dependence severity (3). Another cross-sectional study by Kuru and Çelenk quantified
mental rigidity and symptoms of two mental disorders in their participants using the Acceptance
and Action Questionnaire-II and Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventories (160). This is
distinct from a study by Liu, et al. that investigated the impact of a short cognitive behavioral
therapy (CBT) session on students’ conscious awareness and phone dependence by using a
factorial design with a control and experimental group; however, as with other studies, data was
solely derived from Likert-scale questionnaires: the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, Mobile
Phone Addiction Tendency Scale, and Self-Control Scale (3-5)

C. Synthesize / explain how the above quoted / paraphrased evidence shows similarity or
difference per your point:

Explanation Among the three sources that employed a cross-sectional design, researchers collected data from
1 participants only once. Across all four studies, scholars quantified students’ mental health,
cognitive abilities, and phone addiction through Likert scale ratings.

1ab - Methods and Data: Differences between Results

D. Describe the main point for section #1a that helps you prove your controlling idea (Issue
1a + scholars):
Point 1a Although the studies have similar methodology and data measurements, interpretations of
participants’ self-reported data is dependent on the purpose of the study.

E. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:
Chen, et al. aimed to determine the difference between the level of smartphone addiction in male
Quoted/ and female university students from China (2). Similarly, Abuhamdah and Naser wanted to
Paraphrased discover the pervasiveness of phone use and mental distress (2). Because the objective of both
Evidence 1a
 ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline Assignment

studies relied on concrete data, the scholars formatted the results of their cross-sectional studies as
percentages. For instance, Chen, et al. state that “the prevalence of smartphone addiction was
30.3% in males and 29.3% in females” based on the 10-item version of the SAS (3). In
Abuhamdah and Naser’s results section, they note that 56.7% of their sample was smartphone
dependent, and they present the varying levels of psychological distress as a pie chart to
demonstrate that roughly 75% of Jordanian college students had a moderate or severe mental
disorder according to Kessler’s scale (5-7).

F. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:
In contrast, other scholars use collected data to suggest potential correlations between phone use
Quoted/ and psychological and social health. Squires, et al. executed a study to further research on the
Paraphrased influence of psychopathology and emotion management on students’ excessive phone use;
Evidence 1b therefore, their results primarily consist of correlation analysis results: “significant positive
associations were identified between psychological distress and problematic smartphone use, c =
.110, t (192) = 4.24, p < .001…and between emotion dysregulation and problematic smartphone
use after controlling for psychological distress, b=.230, t (192) = 3.30, p = .001” (1289, 1291).
Another study by Yang, et al. observed how students’ support systems, kindness toward
themselves, and psychological distress symptoms affect their phone dependence (3-4). Yang, et al.
also referred to statistical analysis in their results section, stating that “perceived social support
significantly and negatively predicted college students’ mobile phone addiction (β = −0.17, t =
−5.19, p < 0.001)” (5-6).

G. Synthesize / explain how the above quoted / paraphrased evidence shows similarity or
difference per your point:

Explanation Therefore, scholars who aim to identify the prevalence of phone use in college students present
1b concrete data, while those who format their results as causal statements create a foundation for
research on the underlying causes of phone dependence.

2 - Relationships between Psychological Health and Phone Anxiety and Dependence

A. Describe the main point for section #2 that helps you prove your controlling idea (Issue
B + scholars):
Point 2 In studies that suggest relationships between multiple variables and phone use, scholars agree that
poor psychological health predicts phone use.

B. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:

Quoted / A cross-sectional study by Ercengiz, et al. found that anxious college students do not cope with
Paraphrased stress effectively, which makes them prone to developing smartphone anxiety (2, 10-11). A study
Evidence 2 by Kuru and Çelenk expands upon this notion by stating that mental rigidity explains the positive
correlation between anxiety levels and uncontrollable phone use (161). Other studies emphasize
 ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline Assignment

how positive aspects of psychological health can reduce one’s inclination to use their phone. For
example, Liu, et al.’s study suggests that short CBT encourages students’ conscious awareness and
increases one’s ability to limit impulsivity, which decreases one’s inclination to use their phone
(9-10).

C. Synthesize / explain how the above quoted / paraphrased evidence shows similarity or
difference per your point:
Despite the differences in variables tested, the consensus is that phone dependence and overuse
Explanation 2 increase as mental health declines.

2a - Theories and Models Used to Justify Correlations between Poor Mental Health and
Excessive Phone Use
A. Describe the main point for section #3 that helps you prove your controlling idea (Issue
C + scholars):
Point 3 Because of the lack of longitudinal experimental designs when investigating relationships between
psychological and social health and phone dependence, scholars cannot definitively justify hypothesized
relationships between these variables; nevertheless, scholars use a variety of theories and models to
strengthen the validity of their causality statements.

B. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:

Quoted / Squires et al. use Billieux’s impulse pathway model to explain their primary finding that students
Paraphrased who demonstrate characteristics of depression, stress, and anxiety have a lower ability to regulate
Evidence 3 one’s emotions, which increases smartphone dependence; Billieux’s model–similar to
Compensatory Internet Use Theory–suggests that people use their phones in excess to avoid
confronting negative emotions (1293-4). Comparably, Yang, et al. found that individuals who feel
that their support system is weak are prone to experiencing symptoms of depression; if the
individual has an overwhelming emotional response to their lack of strong interpersonal
relationships, the compensatory theory and general strain theory suggest that they will suppress
their feelings with an easy fix, like excessive smartphone use (8-9).

C. Synthesize / explain how the above quoted / paraphrased evidence shows similarity or
difference per your point:

Explanation These discussions demonstrate that various educated inferences play a vital role in not only
3 supporting current research but also establish foundational knowledge for future studies that intend
to confirm correlations between social and mental health and phone use.

Issue D
D. Describe the main point for section #4 that helps you prove your controlling idea (Issue
D + scholars):
Point 4 Lastly, scholars studying phone use in university students have not yet concluded whether smartphone
overuse should be classified as an addiction.
 ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline Assignment

E. List paraphrases / quotations + citations from a minimum of two articles as evidence of

the point you are making in this section:
Squires, et al. explicitly address the implications of referring to excessive smartphone use as an
Quoted / addiction in their background section, stating how “researchers have been cautious to label other
Paraphrased behaviours such as problematic smartphone use as ‘addictive’ to avoid overpathologizing everyday
Evidence 4 behaviours and to avoid trivializing the seriousness of established addictions” (1286). In Kuru and
Çelenk’s study, refrain from using the word “addiction” by referring to smartphone overuse as
“problematic smartphone use,” or “PSU.” Liu, et al. used the same term in their research, but they
acknowledged the current discourse to emphasize the need to create a means of intervention to
prevent PSU in college students (2). Other scholars, however, highlight “phone addiction” as the
focus of their study throughout their article and in the article’s title (Chen, et al., Yang, et al.).
Mohamed, et al. establish that smartphone addiction is “one form of technological addiction,” and
Abuhamdah and Naser take an even stronger stance by stating that “[a]ddiction to smartphones is
classified clinically as behavioral addiction resulted from an excessive problematic usage of
smartphones that effect the daily life of the users” (2).

F. Synthesize / explain how the above quoted / paraphrased evidence shows similarity or
difference per your point:

Explanation These differences in terminology between studies demonstrates where researchers’ opinions on the
4 severity of excessive smartphone use diverge.

Section 3: Conclusion
A. Reiterate controlling idea:

Controlling As this paper has shown, there is generally an abundance of cross-sectional survey studies, which
Idea many scholars use to hypothesize relationships between wellness and phone dependence based on
theories and models of other scholars in the field.

B. Addresses the significance of the multiple perspectives on the topic:

Importance Current literature has suggested that poor psychological health is correlated with increased phone
dependence and use as well as smartphone anxiety.

a. Describe what readers should do with this knowledge:

Implications Because of the abundance of research suggesting relationships between various aspects of
wellness and phone use, there is a need for longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies that can
confirm these correlations to raise awareness on the implications of excessive smartphone use in
college students and find an effective means of intervention.