Paper #3 (Synthesis)

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A synthesis is a written discussion that draws on 2 or more sources

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Your ability to write a synthesis depends on your ability to infer relationships among sources (essays, articles, fiction, nonfiction, lectures, interviews, visual media, observations, etc.)

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Real life example: comparing and contrasting the teaching styles between your favorite and least favorite high school teachers

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If you have written research papers before, then you have written syntheses

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For this paper, you will be doing a more complex form of the synthesis

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In a synthesis, you must make explicit the relationships that you have inferred among separate sources

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In a synthesis, you must summarize, although you must go beyond mere summary and make judgments

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Judgments based on you critical reading of the particular pieces: what conclusions have you/can you draw? the quality of the source, whether you agree or disagree with the source(s)

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You must go beyond a critique of individual sources to determine the relationships (similar or dissimilar) among them.

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Is the info from source B an extended illustration of source A or a contrast with A or C, etc. etc. can you infer anything from these several sources? does C say something that A should have?

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Because a synthesis is based on 2 or more sources, you will need to be selective about which sources you use and what info to choose from each source

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What you as the writer of a synthesis paper must do is select from each source the ideas and info that best allows you to achieve your purpose

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Only use small parts/chunks (sentences here and there, a paragraph at most in portions of the source material) in order to fulfill YOUR purpose with YOUR synthesis paper

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Synthesis is all about combining various information and ideas, so you must have some basis on which to combine them (i.e. a thesis statement)

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Some relationship(s) must be present and presented among your sources to make them worth synthesizing

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Use a synthesis when:

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You are interested in exploring a particular subject within a broader topic

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Interested in making a case for one approach or another

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You must decide your purpose before beginning your writing and much of your detailed research:

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Two types of syntheses (explanatory and argumentative)

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Explanatory—a news article (convey information for the most part)

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Argumentative—an editorial (convey an opinion or interpretation primarily)

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Not always exclusive from each other, but each gives you a frame to work within (helps you critically assess your articles, gives you a directive for your researching and writing approach)

Explanatory Synthesis:

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Explains or helps someone understand a topic

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Do not argue a particular point here, rather present facts in a reasonably objective manner

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A thesis for this type of paper is less to advance a particular opinion than to focus the various facts contained in the paper

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Before beginning, don’t focus on the how, but rather the why—what is the purpose in synthesizing these sources—so what? who cares, or why should I care? What will your combination of these sources do to enlighten us about your particular subject??

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Your thesis

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Give your paper focus/direction for your reader, sharpening the focus by narrowing it and formulating it in the words of a clear and concise statement

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Must be obvious (broad enough to encompass the main points of all the readings—don’t limit it to just one or two of the sources!!

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Be clear and thoughtful with the logical flow and order of your information. Make sure to have transitional sentences leading you/the reader to the next set of information—topic sentences and final sentences of each paragraph

– DO NOT organize:

-Thesis

-Summary of source A

– Summary of source B

– Summary of source C

-Conclusion

– DO organize:

– Thesis

– 1st subtopic: discuss appropriate parts of sources A-F (hypothetically) refer to parts of the sources

1(what does each source say about this subtopic…use compare/contrast words, such as Similarly, Conversely, However, etc.)

– 2nd subtopic: SAME AS ABOVE

-3rd subtopic: SAME AS ABOVE

– Conclusion

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You must blend and create dialogue among sources in support of an idea

Your Synthesis Paper—
4-6 different sources required (Must be equal from both sides)—3-4 Pages total