Synthesis

Before reading this content page, pull up EasyWriter and read Lunsford's explanation of synthesis on pages 98-99.

Lunsford explains that synthesis is the process of "grouping similar pieces of information together and looking for patterns--so you can put your sources and your own knowledge together in an original argument" (98). The process of synthesizing sources requires you to explicitly tell your readers what your sources have in common with one another. While stating it like that makes it seem easy, synthesis requires a lot of careful planning and reading on your part to pull out relevant information to demonstrate those patterns.

Where Synthesis Happens

For your upcoming annotated bibliography, synthesis will happen in the form of a literature review, which I'll introduce at the end of this week. This is a place early in your work to build your own credibility and show your readers that the sources you read during this unit are helpful and related. Remember that we've been talking about finding a "scholarly conversation" for some time now. The sources you picked should already be inherently similar to one another if you have carefully selected search terms that are focused and related.

By synthesizing your sources early on in your writing, you show readers the voices that you are aligning yourself with and you provide them with context for your own study. Effective synthesis can allow you to build your credibility, which makes convincing readers of your own arguments that much easier. However, ineffective synthesis can leave readers feeling uncertain about the points you provide later in your writing.

How to Synthesize Sources

To help you synthesize, you should fill out the following chart as you read each new article. For now, fill out the first three rows, which ask you to identify (1) what search terms you used to find the source, (2) a brief summary of the article, and (3) a justification for why you picked it and found it useful. You will fill out the final row after you have all of your sources collected.

Below is the synthesis matrix that you must fill out by Sunday, 26 September. To access a downloadable version of the worksheet, click here. Notice that the goal here is to start pairing sources together that are related in specific ways. For example, if I am filling this out and I have four of my sources already found, but nothing seems to relate to Source #2, I might take that as a sign to go and find another similar source to relate later.

Synthesis Matrix
Write article title and author names here -->	Source #1	Source #2	Source #3	Source #4	Source #5	Source #6
What search terms did you use to find this source on the database?
What is this article about? What topics did they study? What arguments did they make? What findings do they present? Do they make any suggestions for future research?
Why did you choose this source?
Name at least one other secondary source this article relates to, and explain why. Use the content from the rows above to help you see what sources overlap or are “speaking” to each other.