For example, if you were researching the pros and cons of encouraging healthy eating in children, you would want to separate your sources to find which ones agree with each other and which ones disagree. Synthesizing occurs when a students merges new information with prior knowledge to form a new idea, perspective, or opinion. When she's not working, she's constantly trying to expand her creativity through music, writing, art, and animation. The summary table gives you a quick overview of the key points of each source. Synthesizing information has nothing to do with summarizing it. But simply finding the trends wasn’t enough. Is the paragraph organized around a single idea? Synthesizing requires critical reading and thinking in order to compare different material, highlighting similarities, differences, and connections. Then, for each source, you summarize the main points or arguments related to the theme. My opinion was formed because of the evidence, not because of my bias. By Shona McCombes, published March 28, 2020. In high school, many of the essays you write will be for English classes. Synthesis is not a summary. Encourage students to share when they hear new or important information. You can also include columns for your own evaluation and analysis. var domainroot="www.simplypsychology.org" Depending on your topic and the type of literature you’re dealing with, there are a couple of different ways you can organize this. If your topic involves a debate between different schools of thought, you can organize it theoretically. Although Perez (2010) expanded on Franz's original study with a larger, more diverse sample... 4 Steps to synthesize information from different sources. How would you synthesize information in a discursive paper? As you incorporate published writing into your own writing, you should aim for synthesis of the material. I know this all sounds kind of ambiguous right now, so let’s give the ideas above some more context. At the very basic level, synthesis refers to combining multiple sources and ideas. Resources/Research: According to Bumgarner , “synthesizing aids reading comprehension because it requires students to put the new material into their own words and combine it with their prior knowledge” (Bumgarner, 2015). That doesn’t mean you just summarize each paper in chronological order; instead, you should group articles into time periods and identify what they have in common, as well as signalling important turning points or developments in the literature. She looked at 42 females and 50 males and found that males were significantly more inclined to use citation software (p < .05). So, mark all the information which is a definition in the same way, then all the examples, then the explanation, etc. Source Used with Permission: The Chicago School. It takes a lot of skill to synthesize. McCombes, S. (2020, March 28). Then you’d use those synthesis muscles to pick out the perfect spot for your interests and budget. The new ideas are the syntheses and are recorded in the “Synthesis” oval. Say you’re writing an essay analyzing the symbolism of Yorrick’s skull in Hamlet. If you’re planning a vacation but don’t know where to go, you’d ask family and friends for ideas, look at information about different destinations, check out airfare and lodging options, etc. Since they are able to put in into their own words and relate to prior knowledge it is more likely that they will recall and understand the information. It’s important to note that, if you’re using other people’s ideas as evidence for your own, you should always cite your sources using whatever style guide your prof requires, such as APA or MLA format. We do it all the time in our personal lives. You wouldn’t come up with the new menu item before you had all of this information. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-medrectangle-1','ezslot_17',199,'0','0']));report this ad, eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-box-1','ezslot_0',197,'0','0']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-box-1','ezslot_1',197,'0','1']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-box-1','ezslot_2',197,'0','2']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-box-1','ezslot_3',197,'0','3'])); .box-1-multi-197{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:5px !important;margin-left:0px !important;margin-right:0px !important;margin-top:0px !important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;text-align:left !important;}, eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-billboard-2','ezslot_4',618,'0','0']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-billboard-2','ezslot_5',618,'0','1']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-billboard-2','ezslot_6',618,'0','2']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-billboard-2','ezslot_7',618,'0','3'])); .large-billboard-2-multi-618{border:none !important;display:inline-block;float:left !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:2px !important;margin-left:0px !important;margin-right:0px !important;margin-top:2px !important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;}, eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-leaderboard-1','ezslot_11',152,'0','0']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-leaderboard-1','ezslot_12',152,'0','1']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-leaderboard-1','ezslot_13',152,'0','2']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'simplypsychology_org-large-leaderboard-1','ezslot_14',152,'0','3'])); .large-leaderboard-1-multi-152{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:0px !important;margin-left:0px !important;margin-right:0px !important;margin-top:75px !important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;text-align:left !important;}, How to Synthesise: a Step-by-Step Approach, Learn how to Synthesise (combine information from sources), “Early research on [x] focused heavily on [y].”, “Several scholars have pointed out the flaws in this approach.”, “While recent research has attempted to address the problem, many of these studies have methodological flaws that limit their validity.”. I sorted through the information to pick out themes and commonalities. Along with her BS in marketing from Florida State University and MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, she has spent the past 7 years learning how best to reach and teach people using the power of words. This is called synthesizing or integrating your sources. 3 Interviewing Interview Questions Generally, the first step is developing a set of questions to guide the interview and make sure key areas of the process are addressed. This is a good approach if your sources tend to have a similar structure – for instance, if they’re all empirical papers. Instead, explain your argument, and use the most compelling evidence you found to support it. //Enter domain of site to search. As you can see, the synthesis skills you learn in school can help you in virtually any aspect of life. You should also consider referencing sources you don’t agree with. 3) Make lists of information which is shared among sources a. Synthesis takes A + B + C, and then derives D, where D encompasses the essence of A, B, and C but also adds something new that resonates deeply with people. Eden Meirow is a full-time copywriter and part-time freelance writer. Instead of just restating the important points from text, synthesizing involves combining ideas and allowing an evolving understanding of text. Synthesizing Sources: Definitions and Guiding Questions 1 What is Synthesis? In order to successfully synthesize your sources, you might begin by grouping your sources by topic and looking for connections. Remember, when you synthesize, you are not just compiling information. And even if you’re not specifically writing a synthesis essay, that doesn’t mean you can’t, or shouldn’t, use your synthesis skills. If the literature covers various different topics, you can organize it thematically. Synthesizing. How is synthesis different from summarizing? That means comparing the different theories that have been developed and grouping together papers based on the position or perspective they take on the topic, as well as evaluating which arguments are most convincing. But let’s look at a couple different professions anyway. It draws on the following skills: Because of all that’s involved, it can take some time and practice for it to feel natural. Is the paragraph directly relevant to my research question or topic? A summary table collates the key points of each source under consistent headings. This is called a topic sentence, and it usually appears at the start of the paragraph. If your sources cover a broad time period, and you found patterns in how researchers approached the topic over time, you can organize your discussion chronologically. Additional writing tips to help you earn the highest possible score on college papers. Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. The social sciences—such as history, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy—rely heavily on synthesis. 6.Model how the new information, combined with what you already know about the topic, begins to change your thinking and new ideas are created. Let’s say you take a completely different route and choose not to work in an office setting. var idcomments_post_url; //GOOGLE SEARCH According to Franz, the evidence suggested that all students are reluctant to learn citations style. Do I discuss more than one source in the paragraph? Perhaps you could say something like, “While Smith argued x, this other evidence suggests y.” This method shows that you truly understand the point you’re arguing and that you’ve considered all angles. Once I had the information organized, I could use the evidence I found from some of the sources to make my case. Among a sample of 50, all females, all confident in their abilities to cite and were eager to write their dissertations. Each row in the table lists one source, and each column identifies a specific part of the source. If you were a restaurant owner, you’d still have to know how to synthesize information. It is something you will be called upon to do in a wide variety of academic, professional, and personal contexts. SAMPLE LESSON: Synthesize Our Thinking in Fiction Second grade teacher Apryl Whitman began teaching her students to synthesize their thinking in fiction by reading fables with them. For each study, you briefly summarize each of these aspects. Synthesis creatively fuses multiple elements, often from different areas, into something new and memorable. Synthesis involves taking information from various sources and drawing links between them. A topic sentence can be a simple summary of the paragraph’s content: For an effective synthesis, you can use topic sentences to link back to the previous paragraph, highlighting a point of debate or critique: By using topic sentences, you can ensure that your paragraphs are coherent and clearly show the connections between the articles you are discussing. Do I mention only the most relevant findings, rather than describing every part of the studies? While we may still talk about essays a little bit here, I’m going to show you how to synthesize information in a way that you can apply in a range of areas. Remember, synthesis is about pulling together information from a range of sources in order to answer a question or construct an argument. Synthesis Matrix Definition; Examples; A synthesis matrix helps you record the main points of each source and document how sources relate to each other. Organizing that information in such a clear and concise was that the readers can easily see the correlation between the ideas those sources share. Is there a logical transition from this paragraph to the next one? I looked at raw data to analyze trends. var pfHeaderImgUrl = 'https://www.simplypsychology.org/Simply-Psychology-Logo(2).png';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})(); This workis licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Synthesis will be ultra important in that process as well. It may involve analysis,as well, along with classification, and division as you work on yourorganization. But it goes beyond that—it helps you stay skeptical, evaluate multiple points of view, build stronger arguments, and be more well-informed. You may have written a few synthesis essays in your English classes, but knowing how to synthesize information has value far beyond your Dracula essay. Synthesize your Information Synthesize: combine separate elements to form a whole. When you write a literature review or essay, you have to go beyond just summarizing the articles you’ve read – you need to synthesize the literature to show how it all fits together (and how your own research fits in). When you met in "expert" groups and discussed the articles, you were evaluating and synthesizing information. When we bake a cake, we combine all of the separate ingredients – eggs, flour, sugar, butter, etc – to make a new thing, a cake! By providing evidence in the form of quotations, testimonials, findings, or statistics from any of the above sources. For example, you might include columns for things like aims, methods, variables, population, sample size, and conclusion. How to synthesize the material you are reading and apply to your paper. The purposes of the table is to identify the common points that connect the sources, as well as identifying points where they diverge or disagree. The topic sentence signals what the whole paragraph is about; every sentence in the paragraph should be clearly related to it. information, but synthesizing details provides a clear, comprehensive view of the process. Once you see common threads in multiple sources, your mind starts piecing the information together, and you can form your own opinion. There are a few different approaches you can take to help you structure your synthesis. Regardless of whether you are synthesizing information fromprose sources,from laboratory data, or from tables and graphs, your preparation forthesynthesis will very likely involve comparison. Goldstein (2012) looked at British undergraduates. Also it is often boring and confusing for the reader. What sets a synthesis apart from a summary is that it combines various sources. When we synthesize, we take what we already know and mix it with what we have learned from reading and discussion to create new ideas and understandings. Synthesis is a way of conveying important information about a specific subject. As you write your paragraphs, avoid quoting directly from sources: use your own words to explain the commonalities and differences that you found in the literature. A synthesis matrix is useful when your sources are more varied in their purpose and structure – for example, when you’re dealing with books and essays making various different arguments about a topic. But that is not synthesis. Into the Book defines synthesizing as “[creating] original insights, perspectives, and understandings by reflecting on text(s) and merging elements from text and existing schema.” Now you should have a clear overview of the main connections and differences between the sources you’ve read. For example, when you report to a friend the things that several other friends have said about a song or movie, you are engaging in synthesis. Summarizing and paraphrasing the information is the first step, but you need to be able to see—and explain—what unifies it. a WRITTEN TEXT presenting or discussing information from several texts or from other type of resources How to synthesize written information from multiple sources. Synthesizing simply means combining. Before you can start writing, you need to organize your notes in a way that allows you to see the relationships between sources. Synthesizing is similar to baking a cake. Perez (2010) also studies undergraduate students. Whether you’re synthesizing literature for an essay, a literature review, or any other paper, you should make sure you can answer yes to all of these questions. All you need to do then is share that opinion in a clear, cohesive way supported by evidence. Fables are a useful genre for introducing synthesizing because of their short structure and straightforward messages. One way to begin synthesizing the literature is to put your notes into a table. If the summary is a summary of information that we have while trying to reduce the information to a bare minimum synthesis for its part is based on the key points on a specific topic. This allows you to group sources by relevant similarities, as well as noticing important differences or contradictions in their findings. that no participants enjoyed learning citation style, Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that all participants Simply Psychology. I’ve worked as a digital marketing analyst, which was almost always synthesizing information. Step 2: Outline your structure. If you are breathing, you are synthesizing. Synthesizing information consists of 3 parts: Accurately reporting information from particular sources, using different phrases and sentences. Learning to synthesize can be challenging for some students, but there are a few different support strategies th… Next, you need to decide how you’ll group them together and the order in which you’ll discuss them. There are so many professions that it’s hard to tell you exactly how to synthesize information in your future job. While the editors at Kibin can’t help you synthesize information in your day-to-day life, they can help you take the first step and do it in your essays. Findings suggest that females might graduate sooner. https://www.simplypsychology.org/synthesising.html. 9. The aim of the Standard is to make sure that people who have a disability or sensory loss are given information in a way they understand, and communication support if they need Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting conclusions regarding relationships between advanced scholarly study and citation efficacy. !!! There were many historians who believed he was “playing the minstrel” and acting on stereotypes. Your synthesis should show the reader where the sources overlap and where they diverge. When you do this on your own, you may feel the urge to just write down all the information you found. Synthesis writing is a form of analysis related to comparison, contrast, classification, division, and arrangement. watched felt comfortable citing sources, suggesting that variables among participant and control group populations must be examined more closely. A synthesis gives enough information about the study for the reader to imagine it. The method you choose depends on which is the best way to make the point you are trying to make in using that particular infor… Although Franz (2008) found But you’d also need to know about trends in the restaurant industry, the cost/availability of ingredients, the amount of time it would take to make the dish, and your employees’ specific talents. Simply writing a detailed summary of one article after another is not a synthesis. A summary may lead to a synthesis, but it’s not where it stops. Knowing how to synthesize information is actually something most people do without thinking about it. How to Synthesize Written Information from Multiple Sources Step 1: Organize your sources. He looked at 17 females and 18 males and found that none of them liked APA. I had personal biases going into the essay because Louis is one of my favorite musicians. Get inspiration from over 500,000 example essays. You can draw on your personal knowledge of the material and of symbolism in general to conclude that the skull is a symbol of death. However, if you read other critiques of Hamlet (and there are countless critiques out there), you may find other meanings, such as Hamlet’s destiny, or that no matter how useful, kind, funny, or charismatic a person may be in life, death and decay make the dead person useless. As a writer, you will use information from several sources to create new ideas based on your analysis of what you have read. While the ideas may seem similar, synthesizing actually takes summarizing a step further. This guide can help all organisations that offer NHS or Adult Social Care and must now follow the Accessible Information Standard by law. For instance, if you wanted to add a dish to your menu, you’d first have to know what people in your area like to eat. Go back to the Synthesis page and look at the examples. If you need help with your academic language or extra feedback on structure, consider using a professional academic editing service. Do I introduce the paragraph with a clear, focused topic sentence? If you’re drawing on literature from various different fields or they use a wide variety of research methods, you can organize your sources methodologically. Communicating and helping the reader better understand the sources, particularly in a greater depth. Do I put the findings or arguments of the sources in my own words? I also had to draw on information from other accounts and on industry knowledge of how digital marketing worked. function Gsitesearch(curobj){ curobj.q.value="site:"+domainroot+" "+curobj.qfront.value }. But once you start getting into synthesis for your essays, it gets much easier to do it in other areas. This skill is used in countless areas—from history to science—and can come in handy in both professional and personal settings. I then found primary sources of his music, as well as interviews and voice recordings from his personal life. How synthesizing looks in essays. Psst... 98% of Kibin users report better grades! Instead of summarizing the main points of each source in turn, you put together the ideas and findings of multiple sources in order to make an overall point. Synthesis involves taking information from various sources and drawing links between them. There are three ways to incorporate information from other sources into your paper: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. When you read the articles and highlighted them, you were analyzing and evaluating information. Like any other piece of academic writing, synthesizing literature doesn’t happen all in one go – it involves redrafting, revising, editing and proofreading your work. Each row is labelled with a specific concept, topic or theme that recurs across all or most of the sources. Synthesizing requires the reader to take that summary or partial retelling and add in their own thoughts, experiences, opinions, interpretations and connections to generate a new, and bigger idea -- it’s going beyond the text. The key to effective synthesis is to collect enough data to understand the fundamental concepts. But I kept an open mind and read many secondary sources on the subject. essay analyzing the symbolism of Yorrick’s skull in. At the most basic level, this involves looking for similarities and differences between your sources. For example, I once wrote an essay about Louis Armstrong and whether he used his music as a subversive force to shake up the status quo and get black musicians (and black people in general) the respect they deserve. In this video, you’ll learn more about synthesizing information. However, others believed that, while he played up some stereotypes to get white audiences to let their guard down, his lyrics and personal philosophies were subversive. var idcomments_acct = '911e7834fec70b58e57f0a4156665d56'; Summarizing and paraphrasing the information is the first step, but you need to be able to see—and explain—what unifies it. If that is too complicated for the text, then mark information that you know is central and information that you are pretty sure is peripheral in different ways. Instead, you might have a general idea of a dish, but you would synthesize this information, balancing the price of ingredients with the demand from your customers, and knowing whether your staff had the time, knowledge, and resources to make it. var idcomments_post_id; 5.Continue reading the text. Do I discuss the similarities or differences between the sources, rather than summarizing each source in turn? Research papers (research essays) must include information from sources. The definition of synthesis; What synthesis means in the context of writing assignments. As students read, they remember familiar information, create new thinking, discover original ideas, and achieve insight to new perspectives. The easiest way to think about this is that each paragraph should discuss a few different sources, and you should be able to condense the overall point of the paragraph into one sentence. We synthesize information naturally to help others see the connections between things. However, that’s not a very good definition because it makes synthesizing too similar to summarizing. Each column in the table lists one source. The questions should be general in Record that information. For shorter papers, your outline can just identify the focus of each paragraph; for longer papers, you might want to divide it into sections with headings. Conclusion of this process. There are a lot of arguments in these fields, so you have a lot of evidence to draw upon no matter what your opinion. That means grouping together studies based on the type of research they did and discussing the findings that emerged from each method. Don’t try to cover every single point from every single source – the key to synthesizing is to extract the most important and relevant information and combine it to give your reader an overall picture of the state of knowledge on your topic.