ANALYSIS/SYNTHESIS/RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
Choose THREE of the following questions. Select your topics carefully because you want topics that can be easily synthesized together into a unified essay.
The topics cross each other in a variety of ways—historical events, historical figures, tragedies, celebrities, science inventions/discoveries and scientists, science gone bad, politics, religion, literature.
Look up the answer to each question chosen, utilizing a variety of research sources, and write those answers in your own words. You may use the library, textbooks, the internet or other sources. Be sure to answer every question in the larger question, and be sure to identify the sources you have utilized in your work.
Then, once you have done the necessary work on your own topic, put the pieces together into one essay. This will mean writing a comprehensive introduction, which identifies the ideas or events that connect your respective topics together, transitional sections that connect the topics together one to the next within the text of the essay and a comprehensive conclusion that reflects upon and summarizes all that has come before.
The objective of this assignment is to be able to look up material, discriminate between what you need and don’t need, and make appropriate choices to be sure to choose information that is relevant to the question itself, and then to connect all the material together via synthesis into a unified whole with a comprehensive thesis that focuses the answer.
What modern nation was founded in 1948? Why was it founded? What people were involved in its creation? What conflicts continue to hound this nation today?
Who is Galileo? What is he most known for today? What discoveries did he make and theories that he supported that caused him to get into a lot of trouble with the Roman Catholic Church? How did he die? Why?
Who is Dr. Alfred Kinsey? What is he most famous for? What impact did his research have on our world today?
Who is John Calvin? What is the economic/theological philosophy he developed? What effect does his belief system continue to have in the modern world?
Who were the six wives of King Henry VIII? Why did he marry each one? What were his reasons for getting rid of them? How did he accomplish that? What was the historical, cultural and religious significance of the ending of his first marriage, which changed the world.
American Army Colonel Paul Tate and his wife Doris had three daughters. Who was their oldest daughter? What career did she pursue? What is she most known for?
Who is Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko? What name is she more well known by? What career did she pursue? What questions and controversies remain after her death?
In 1956, there was a film made called The Conqueror. What is the stigma attached to this movie today? What happened to most of the people in its cast? Why did this happen?
Who is Nancy Drew? Who created her? How old is she? What are some of the evolutions she has gone through during her long life?
In the early 1980’s, there was a big national medical scare that originated out of Chicago? What was this scare about? Who was behind it? What changes did this bring about, apparent today in grocery and drug stores?
Who is Countless Elizabeth Bathory? When did she live? What did she do? What legend did a particular perversion she engaged in give birth to?
Who is Edgar Allen Poe? How did he live? What all did he do? What problems plagued his life? How did he die?
Who is Helen Keller? When was she born? How did she live? What is she most famous for? What do you think her greatest accomplishment was?
What is the Halifax Explosion? What occurs every year in Boston at Christmas time because of this? Why?
Who is Aaron Burr? What is he most famous for? How did he die?
Everyone has heard the story of the Titanic sinking in the North Atlantic in 1912. What were the immediate changes in maritime policy that came about because of that tragedy?
What is the etymological reason that the phrase “Wicked Witch” is redundant? What political and gender biased history is behind this?
Who is Barnabas Collins? When and how did he become a major television sex symbol?
Who is Karen Carpenter? Who is Mama Cass Elliot? In what ways were they alike? In what ways were they different? What is especially ironic about their deaths?
Who is Karen Silkwood? How did she become famous? In what ways has she been immortalized? Do you believe she was a heroine or not?
What role do the engines and the shape of the body have in allowing airplanes to fly? Please explain as completely as possible.
How many husbands has the Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor had? Why did she have so many? Which one of her marriages caused the most notorious scandal? Why?
How many U.S. presidents have died in office? Who are they? How did they die?
What is the Boston Molasses Disaster? What happened? Why did it happen? What parallels can you find in this event to some of today’s scandals?
Who is Florence Ballard? What happened to her? What life lessons can be learned from her rags to riches to rags story?
Who was Margaret Sanger? What contributions did she make to the world that remain controversial today?
Who is Anni-Frid Lyngstad? What tragedies and triumphs have defined her life? How does her musical legacy continue to live on today?
Who is Dr. John Kellogg? What were some of the ideas and attitudes he was quite vocal about during his lifetime? What invention of his continues to be enjoyed daily by millions?
What percentage of the population is left-handed? What prejudices and difficulties have faced—and continue to face—left-handed people?
Who is Archduke Franz Ferdinand? What global problem was the immediate consequence of his death? How did the world change because of that?
