Activity

You have been writing to demonstrate

your synthesis thinking. Writing often

helps us clarify and examine our own thinking. But

this week you will be analyzing and evaluating the

synthesis thinking of someone else's writing. Read the

paragraph below and evaluate the writing for its

synthesis thinking, accuracy of content and writing

style and effectiveness. Your writing should be in a

tone that would help the writer of the provided

paragraph to better understand what is done well and

what could be improved.

Writing sample-

Sugar is a critical crop in the human food supply and

has been for centuries. The many, many uses for sugar

in all cultures proves it is critical to all of us. I like lots

of sugary foods and I know others do as well. Sugar

also supplies a lot of energy and that is so important

to feeding people. What other crops supply so much

energy to so many? I think that a food that provides

so much energy in a form that we all love is a key

crop. Sugarcane is like other cereals although most

people don't think of sugarcane as a grass (Wikipedia).

The delicious seeds are very profitable as they can

produce ½ pound of sugar per plant. That makes

sugarcane high yielding. And cuttings can be done a

couple of times each season. Lots of sunshine make

the sugarcane more sweet so sugarcane is grown in

tropical locations (our course). America gets its sugar

from Hawaii.

Sugar is used all over the world so it must have a wide

adaptation. Sugar is cheap to produce and store. It

can last a long, long time. Some people may say that

we shouldn't promote sugar but that is not a realistic

premise because people will just use other similar

crops and products if we don't produce and use sugar.

Honey is not a good alternative because the bee

population is being damaged. Sugar beets and

molasses are not as well known so they can't compete

with sugar. I also just like sugar better than all the

alternatives. Sugarcane is a key crop and likely to

continue to be as it is a staple.