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MELD 1S03 Winter 2021

MELD 1S03
Synthesis Matrix (4%)

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

The Synthesis Matrix Assignment (4%) is a chance for you to effectively demonstrate your skill in
finding the relationships among ideas from multiple sources and in combining information. You want to
show your ability to identify several themes in the sources by noting how the sources may discuss
similar ideas or deal with different aspects of the topic. You will demonstrate your ability to concisely
and accurately synthesize the information in your own words and to correctly cite the sources in APA
format.

PART 1: READING & NOTE-TAKING

Due Date
Note-taking for the Synthesis Matrix will be done in-class during your 1S03
tutorial session in Week 11 (March 21 – 26).

Location MELD 1S03: Critical Reading, Research and Academic Vocabulary >
Assessments > Quizzes > Synthesis

In-class
Tasks

The in-class tasks include reading the texts, writing point-form notes in your
own words, and identifying five (5) themes.

Content

• Point-form notes for each text
• Paraphrased main ideas and key details
• Correct APA citation for each source

• Five (5) themes

Style

Main ideas and key details must be in your own words unless they are
specialized terms. Any word or phrase (1-3 words only) directly taken from the
sources must be in quotation marks.

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MELD 1S03 Winter 2021

PART 2: SYNTHESIS MATRIX DETAILS

Due Date
The synthesis matrix is due on Monday, April 5th at 11:59 PM ET (Eastern Time).
Late submissions will be subject to a 10% per day penalty.

Location MELD 1S03: Critical Reading, Research and Academic Vocabulary >
Assessments > Assignments > Synthesis Matrix

Length &
Format

This assignment includes five themes, point-form notes, summary statements,
and notes for the critical analysis.

Content

The synthesis matrix should reflect your own point-form notes from the note-taking
activity in Week 11. The matrix should include:

• five (5) themes.
• point-form notes.
• summary statements.
• notes for critical analysis.

Style

Write in a more formal style. Accurately paraphrase information from the texts
and use cohesive language when synthesizing this information. Use
appropriate reporting verbs and correct APA format when referring to the
sources.

Example Synthesis: Organized by themes (no critical analysis included)

Synthesizing – combining different ideas from different sources to show the connections and divergences between the sources and
the writer’s analysis of those key points

Depictions of the Underworld

1 1The portrayal of the underworld in epic tales of ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval
Europe reveals each culture’s complex and divergent beliefs about the afterlife. 2The
works of King (2018), White (2018), and Hall (2019) correspond with one another in that
they each conclude that the Greeks viewed the underworld as a realm to which all
humans descended after death, regardless of their actions during life. 3Romans and
many medieval Europeans, on the other hand, largely considered the afterlife a place
divided according to a person’s behaviour in life. 4The one exception for the Greeks, King
notes, are heroes who are awarded an intermediary position between mortals and gods,
and get a pass from spending eternity in the underworld. 5While King gives a succinct,
cursory description of this midpoint that the Greeks, and, later the Romans, believed in,
White writes extensively of this notion of a halfway point – later tagged as purgatory – in
medieval times because it was a central concept in Christian after-death beliefs.

2 6Hall’s research, in contrast with King’s and White’s, is more contemporary, and contains
fewer biases in its analysis of pre-Christian concepts of faith and the afterlife. 7Hall
explores the similarities between the hierarchy of the underworld in Virgil’s Aeneid and
in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, stating, along with the other two sources, that Virgil’s and
Dante’s images of hell were alike in that there was logic in the way dead souls were
assigned transgression-appropriate punishments – for example, how greedy people were
forced to push great weights (symbolizing the things they wished to hoard). 8Unlike King
and White, however, Hall offers a significant amount of evidence indicating that Virgil
and, later, Dante subjected these souls to torture and misery in various levels of the
underworld as much to make a political point as to fall in line with the religious views of
their respective societies.

Adapted from Zwier, L. & Vosters, M. (Eds.). (2017). University success reading transition level (p. 210).
Pearson.

Author’s topic sentence (theme 1)

Summary statements – indicate what the 3
sources agree on regarding Greek and Roman
beliefs about the underworld

Author indicates how Hall’s views on religion and the
afterlife were more modern

Author notes that King emphasizes a point about Greek
heroes in the underworld while other authors do not
mention it.

Author compares how King & White discuss the
“midpoint” and highlights when and why the concept
was given more importance

Author indicates how Hall differs from other sources by
providing more evidence on how Virgil and Dante
associated the suffering of souls in different underworld
levels with religious and political undertones in their
work

Author points out that the findings of all 3 sources
regarding the similarities between Virgil’s Aeneid and
Dante’s Divine Comedy were the same

Author’s topic (theme 2)

Synthesis Matrix: Complete the synthesis matrix below by making point-form notes in each column. Put a line through any column that should remain blank. Use your own words for the notes, unless they are specialized terms. Any word or phrase (1-3 words only) directly taken from the sources must be in quotation marks.

Write summaries about each theme using appropriate cohesive devices and correct in-text citations. Also, write an analysis/evaluation for each theme in the table.

MELD 1S03 Winter 2021

Source 1

1. Cakes, drinks, biscuits and other sugary snacks will be charged extra sugar tax.

2. The effect of sugar tax policy implemented in Britain is not satisfactory.

3. In the past, the number of patients with obesity has been increasing.

4. In order to protect people’s health and prevent diseases caused by overweight, the World Health Organization (who) recommends that people eat less sugar.

5. Sugar tax revenue is used in education, safety and health and other enterprises or fields.

6。 Another measure is a voluntary sugar reduction agreement to protect people from obesity, but this approach has many limitations.

7. Sugar tax will affect people’s consumption and further reduce the prevalence of diabetes and dental diseases.

8. The implementation of sugar tax is strongly opposed by the food and beverage industry because it affects their interests.

9. The government has simpler and more effective ways, such as labeling and reducing the sale of sugary products through retailers.

10. Industrial groups have also protested against the sugar tax, causing fluctuations in food prices.

Source 2

1. Australian ophthalmologists believe that excessive sugar intake will not only lead to obesity and diabetes, but also lead to blindness.

2. In recent years, many countries in the world have adopted the method of collecting sugar tax, and achieved certain results.

3. In Australia, a 20% sugar tax can earn a $600 million, which can be invested in other businesses.

4. The rich pay 20% more interest, while the poor receive medical savings and welfare. In a sense, sugar tax helps to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

5. The problems caused by the sugar tax in Australia have little impact on employment.

6. More than half of Australians support the government’s strategy of collecting sugar tax.

7. Australian manufacturers will not change because of any measures taken by the government, so during the sugar tax period, people will choose to replace high sugar food with other drinks.

8. Because of the tax problem of sugar tax, it is difficult to buy high sugar food in Britain.

9. The Australian government tried to discuss once again through the National Obesity strategy. Morrison government refused to collect sugar tax.

10. Almost all the sugar in Australia is exported, which explains why the sugar tax has no obvious effect on sugar farmers.

Source 3

1. If the price of desserts is increased by 10%, the purchase quantity will be reduced by about 7%.

2. Levying a tax on sweets will also reduce the sales of their complements.

3. The low-income group will buy more chocolate candy, so once the government starts to collect taxes, the low-income group will be most affected.

4. Scholars from Oxford University found that the sugar content of food is directly proportional to the fat content, so the use of high sugar content of food will have the probability of diabetes.

5. The above research is not successful, because the author ignores a lot of consumption in restaurants

6. There are many ways to change people’s healthy consumption and diet.

7. The research on sugar tax and purchasing power is conducted by the National Institutes of health.

8. There are 13 different ways for British families to spend on video.

9. The promulgation of sugar tax has greatly changed young people’s eating habits.

10. Studies have shown that raising the price of desserts has little effect on high-income people.

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MELD 1S03 Winter 2021

MELD 1S03
Literature Review (4%)

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

The Literature Review Assignment is a chance for you to effectively demonstrate your skill in organizing and
combining the synthesized information from multiple sources and adding your own perspective (analysis) about
the topic. You want to show your ability to concisely and accurately integrate information to produce a more
comprehensive understanding of the topic in your own words and to correctly cite the sources in APA format.
You will also provide a critical analysis of the themes and evidence to demonstrate your views about the topic.

LITERATURE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Due Date
The Literature Review Assignment is due on Monday, April 5th at 11:59 PM ET (Eastern
Time). Late submissions will be subject to a 10% per day penalty.

Location Submit your Literature Review on Avenue to Learn in the appropriate folder:
Assessments > Assignments > Literature Review.

Length &
Format

This assignment should be FIVE (5) paragraphs in length, consisting of an introduction,
three synthesis & analysis paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Your literature
review should be written in 12-point font and double-spaced.

Content

The introduction provides a meaningful background or a general description of the
topic and includes the focus of the literature review and a thesis statement.

The synthesis & analysis paragraphs each contain a topic sentence (general statement)
for the theme, the summary statements (synthesized information from the sources),
and a critical analysis, which may include your own views about the theme and the
evidence (summary statements), connections between the evidence and the theme or
connections between the evidence and the general topic, and implications of the
evidence in relation to the topic.

The concluding paragraph includes a restatement of your thesis statement, a summary
of your main points, and your final insights about the topic.

Structure
The literature review should be organized logically and coherently and includes all the
necessary information.

Style
Write in a more formal style. Accurately paraphrase information from the texts and
use cohesive language when synthesizing this information. Use appropriate reporting
verbs and correct APA format when referring to the sources.

MELD 1S03 Winter 2021

Literature Review

Example Literature Review:

“How Realistic Were Homeric Descriptions?”

Ancient Greece may feel strangely familiar, but this is largely due to Homer’s Iliad and

the Odyssey. The Homeric epics, which detail heroic exploits, war stories, travel accounts, and

gods’ influences on humankind, contain clues about life thousands of years ago in ancient

Greece. However, whether these poems should be seen as credible portrayals of the past is

under debate. Three experts in this field, Painter (2017), Martinez (2018), and Evans (2017) who

have examined the artworks described in Homeric poetry, highlight this dispute. In particular,

the authenticity of artifacts depicted in the poems as well as the texts’ origin is controversial,

but impactful in the modern world.

Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer makes reference to cultural artifacts from

woven textiles to black-figure ceramics. Whether such references are historical or fantastical is

inconclusive. Some scholars say the portrayal of these artifacts offers reliable glimpse into

history (Evans, 2017; Painter, 2017). Painter (2017) claims that Homer’s description of ancient

Greek clothing, battle armor, and architectural features, such as the golden doors of fantastical

palaces, are indeed accurate. Evans (2017) agrees that a number of cultural artifacts depicted

by Homer were historical, and he goes on to highlight the importance of Homer’s description of

methods of metallurgy, which may “assist scholars in identifying pieces of art yet to be

discovered” (para. 8) and in dating these finds. In contrast to Painter (2017) and Evans (2017),

Martinez (2018) maintains that Homer’s accounts of sculptures, weapons, and architecture are

merely “products of Homer’s imagination” (para. 5), which can be described as “mythical,”

“fanciful,” and “romantic.” Although the art in Homer’s epics is contentious, his elaborate

descriptions of artifacts help readers and scholars alike to recognize that the ancient Greek

civilization was vast and complex, yet the specific references to the weaponry, clothing, and

palaces portray life, religion, and culture of that era. In fact, these great epics are more than

just sources of art history, they are pieces of writing that may be equally valued as priceless

works of art, reflecting the creativity and imagination of the author.

MELD 1S03 Winter 2021
Literature Review

The authorship of the epic poems is also uncertain. Homer is generally thought to have

lived around 750 BCE (Evans, 2017; Painter, 2017), but his authorship of the Iliad and the

Odyssey has been questioned (Martinez, 2018). Martinez (2018) explores this doubt extensively

since “The Homeric Question” not only questions the authenticity of Homer but suggests that

the tales are the works of many hands over several generations and “born out of oral tradition”

(Evans, 2017, para. 6). Indeed, Martinez’s (2018) proposal that the Homeric poems may have

had multiple authors strengthens his argument that Homer’s poems are unreliable sources of

artistic depictions. Although the tales’ true authorship continues to be debated, these Homeric

epics are among the most influential works of Classical European literature and the basis of

Classical Greek culture until today.

Through Homer’s texts, the legacy of ancient Greek art and architectural forms continue

to endure from antiquity to the modern era. Whether the objects actually existed or not,

Painter (2017) and Evans (2017) emphasize that the texts still offer vivid descriptions of ancient

Greek art and architecture. They can be valuable sources of art and architectural history for

scholars (Evans, 2017; Martinez, 2018; Painter, 2017) but must be used with caution (Martinez,

2018). Still, they offer an opportunity to appreciate the value of ancient Greek culture, tradition

and aesthetics that are prevalent and visible in the modern world. They likewise strengthen the

connection that exists between the past and the present and link disparate cultures and

principles over time and space.

Clearly, the use of Homer’s epic poetry as a historical reference of art is not agreed upon

by scholars. Nonetheless, his merit as a storyteller is undeniable since his tales have withstood

the test of time.