| SYNTHESIS involves incorporating
information from one or more sources into an essay or report.
There are four basic steps involved
in the process:
READ the original articles
to make sure you thoroughly understand the information
and ideas presented there. (If
you are using information from your own experience, make a detailed
list.) To make sure you understand the
information, instructors will often require you to summarize the original
source (see Module #22 on SUMMARY).
However, a summary does not use the skill of synthesis since
a summary is simply a list of the main ideas in your own words. A summary does not pull together
information, which is what synthesis does.
FOCUS on one particular aspect
to handle. For most assignments,you
will have a wide choice of ideas to develop.
For example, if the instructor gives you two original articles
on the unification of East and West Germany, you have a choice of
writing about problems involved in unification, the reasons for unification,
or the probable consequences of unification. You might even come up with other
appropriate ways to handle the topic.
SELECT the facts and ideas
from the sources that "prove" or develop the idea about
the topic that you want to focus on.
Once you have selected the FOCUS for your essay, you will probably
want to reread the original sources to help you select information
that you can use in your essay.
For example, if you decided to write on the reasons for unification
of East and West Germany, you will want to reexamine the two articles
to look for reasons listed there.
There will be a lot of information in the articles that you
can't use in your essay, but that's all right. Just SELECT the information that
fits your FOCUS.
ORGANIZE the information in
any logical manner. There
are so many possible ways to organize information that
there are few guidelines to follow.
If you need assistance in organizing your information, stop
by the Writing Center (Peck 1419) to speak to a tutor.
WRITE the essay as you would
any other essay. However,
as you provide support for your ideas, you will use evidence
gleaned from the articles you read.
Unless instructed otherwise, be sure to indicate the source
of this support in your essay, so that the reader can tell when you
used information from your sources.
If you don't list a source, the reader can assume that the
ideas are your own. |
