Explorers

Synthesize material to analyze arguments
Before Columbus, three great explorers traveled thousands of miles and encountered many societies on their trips through the Old World: Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth, and Zheng He in the fifteenth. Controversy confronts each: for two, did they travel as far as they said they did; for the third, did he travel even farther?

For this and the next two assignments, you will read articles and synthesize the material in order to answer the questions asked. You have material on how to synthesize on the home page just before this assignment. This assignment requires an outline; the next two require the essay.

Assignment directions
Read the material on synthesizing (the PowerPoint and the matrix example) included in the course just before this assignment.
Select ONE of the explorers below and read THREE of the related sources.
Answer all parts of the question: Where did the explorer travel to? Whose arguments make the most sense? Explain. 
Identify information from the three articles to answer the question. Identify four points to make and organize the information from the three articles under the four points. Organize by point, not by source. Each article must contribute to at least two of your four points. The matrix can help organize your draft but you submit a written outline of the paper.
You are submitting a detailed outline, not the actual paper. Clearly identify your four points and which information from each article you would use to support each point. Clearly identify whether something is your idea, was said by the author of the article, or was said by someone quoted in the article. 
Use only the information from the three sources you chose (and the Lecture Notes if needed). I want your analysis, not something you found on the Internet on the subject. Work alone.

2-3 pages (in addition to the Works Cited page), 12 point font, 1 inch margin all around, double-space. You don’t need a title page. Include a Works Cited page: author, title, publication, date. Alphabetize by author’s last name. Single-space within entries, double-space between them. Use proper American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphs.