RESEARCH SYNTHESIS

Topic

Writers such as Don Tapscott, in Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the
Net Generation (1998) have claimed that multitasking produces
effective young learners. Does the material provided below endorse
this claim?

Your task in this assignment is to write a clear, methodical and coherent essay
using research that has already been done. lt is not to conduct your own
research, or to produce some “truth” independent of this research. As you plan
and draft your essay you may use only the material provided below.

You will be assessed on your ability to analyse and synthesise research, as well
as the style and structure of your essay. The content of your essay will be
assessed only to the extent that it fairly represents the information in the articles
provided.

Your two previous assignments concentrated on sentence and paragraph
formation, the basics of essay structure and the demands of formal academic
writing. Here you build on those skills to incorporate research material into a
formal argument, as discussed in lectures and workshops.

To begin, analyse the question and be certain you understand its terms. Then
read the eight extracts below and decide how you will frame your answer. Your
essay should draw from the material provided to address all aspects of the
question, either by paraphrase, by summary, or by direct quotation. You will not
have room to use all of the material – intelligent selectivity is part of the task.
Before you begin to plan your essay, read all the source material thoroughly.
Use a good dictionary or Google to look up words or ideas that you do not
understand, not for further research, but for clarification. Only then select the
points that will help your argument. You should use at least four sources, but
may include more. You may not gather material from elsewhere. You will
be marked down if you do.

Should you express an opinion, make sure that it is supported by evidence from
one or more of the sources. Tell your reader why you think as you do, based
on the evidence.

Do not rely on one or two sources. The task is to present a full and balanced
overview of the material, not to cherry-pick. Think strategically about how you