A couple sources for your synthesis paper

This has been making the rounds on Facebook:

People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
[Expletive] that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.
- Banksy

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 Click here for the "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory" transcript.

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Synthesis Essay on consumerism and Commodification

AP English Language and Composition

Synthesis Essay on Consumerism and Commodification

Consumerism is a term used to describe a social and economic system that encourages the ever-increasing consumption of goods and services. Commodification (or commoditization) is a related term used to describe the process of turning ideas, values, and other entities not normally regarded as a commodities into a commodity ( economic products). 

Imagine that a school district looking to make its curriculum more relevant to life in the 21^st century has asked you to evaluate the role of consumerism and commodification in contemporary American culture. Carefully review the sources I've provided in this unit. Then synthesize information from at least five (5) of the sources and incorporate that information into a coherent, well-developed essay that identifies the key issues associated with consumerism and commodification and that examines their implications for life in the 21^st century.

Make sure that your argument is central; use the sources to illustrate and support your reasoning. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources you are drawing from, whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Cite the sources using the information provided below in parentheses.

Source A (The Ad and the Ego)                      Documentary film

Source B (Daisey)                                            “Mr. Daisy and the Apple Factory” (radio nonfiction story)

Source C ("Psychographic Groups")

Source D (Waterson)                                       The comic in the packet

Source E (Kruger)                                            The art collage in the packet

Source F (Frank)                                              “Dissent Commodified” (commentary)

Source G (Vanderbilt)                                      “The Gaudy and the Damned” (essay)

Source H (McLuhan)                                        excerpt from The Medium is the Massage

Source I (Fortune)                                            excerpt from Working edited by Studs Terkel (oral history)

Source J (Chaddha)                                          “How many Che T-shirts…” (commentary)

Source K (Seel and Wilensky)                          “The World According to Abercrombie & Fitch” (commentary)

Source L (Johnson)                                          “When Teens Talk, Companies Listen” (newspaper feature article)

Due March 2, 2012. Think three to five pages (1000-1500 words) or so.

Here is a link  to an AP English Language and Composition Question 1 (Synthesis Question)

and here is a link to model essays that respond to that the question.

Resources for Argument Essays

In class on Friday we shared and clarified our initial impressions of the concepts in The Ad and the Ego and how they might apply to our own experiences with advertising. Then we selected two to six concepts that we'd like to continue to discuss next week. Finally I asked those of you who will be watching the American football game Sunday night to pay close attention to the advertising through the lens of the concepts we've considered this week.

For the last twenty minutes of class we took a look at argument rubrics and examples. Looking at the examples of 8s and 9s in the links below please pay attention to (1) the ways that the essays build to a bold assertion in the introduction and conclusion, (2) the ways that some of them attack opposing arguments, and (3) the ways that the essays incorporate effective examples and counterexamples to support a position.

2009 Argument Prompt (adversity develops character) last page of the PDF
2009 Argument Rubric, Example Essays, and Comments
2009 Argument Prompt Additional Comments by Graders

2009 Form B Argument Prompt (effects of TV) last page of the PDF
2009 Form B Argument Example Essays

2007 Argument Prompt (incentives for charitable acts) last page of PDF
2007 Argument Rubric, Example Essays, and Comments