What EXACTLY is a synthesis for LRW Forum

[pbarber]

Got a synthesis due for LRW soon and can't really wrap my head around what he is expecting from us. Due to the anonymous grading, he won't look at our papers to even tell us if we r on the right track. If there are any examples on-line that anyone knows of that would be a huge. However ANY AND ALL help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[pbarber]

anyone?

[Redzo]

What did your teacher say that it is?

[pbarber]

Well he doesn't really explain it all, from what I've gathered, it's an explanation for the rule. We have a case, and some precedents. He wants us to pull the rule from the precedents and explain them, but doesn't explain how to go about this exactly. I can explain the rule in one paragraph, and it needs to be a minimum 5 pages

[JazzOne]

Well he doesn't really explain it all, from what I've gathered, it's an explanation for the rule. We have a case, and some precedents. He wants us to pull the rule from the precedents and explain them, but doesn't explain how to go about this exactly. I can explain the rule in one paragraph, and it needs to be a minimum 5 pages

How many cases are there? When you say you can explain the rule in one paragraph, perhaps you are talking about the black letter law? Your job then is to summarize the cases in the form of sub-rules. The cases don't necessarily contain the exact language you need. Rather, you need to synthesize or summarize the holdings of the various cases.

Just for full disclosure, I have no idea what a synthesis is. I'm gathering that your professor wants a rule statement. Still, five pages seems like a bit much for a rule statement unless you are discussing multiple elements or something like that.

[vexion]

If it's five pages, then he wants something like an internal memo that a junior associate would turn in to a partner to explain the state of law on a particular point. So, like, if you were given the facts of a potential burglary and asked to discuss whether it is a burglary under your state's law, you would say, essentially, here's the burglary statute, here are the sub-elements, here are the pertinent facts, here are which facts cut which way, here are some cases that might lean the other way, the facts in our case are more analogous to the facts in X case than in Y case because of Z, here's my conclusion (prediction of which way the facts will turn out).

[pbarber]

Thanks guys, that def helps a lot