14.6 Synthesis

Why do we seek to understand the ways that authors or sources “converse” with one another? So that we can synthesize various perspectives on a topic to more deeply understand it.

In academic research and writing, synthesizing the information from the obtained available resources results in novelty, discovery, reaching common sense on a debatable issue, clarifying the perplexity of the subject under the discussion, or making the point on a controversial topic. Synthesis essays can be applied in multiple ways, your rhetorical goal for writing a synthesis essay will be identified by the given assignment. In academic writing, this understanding of the “conversation” may become the content of an explanatory synthesis paper – a paper in which you, the writer, point out various themes or key points from a conversation on a particular topic.

To synthesize is to combine ideas and create a completely new idea. That new idea becomes the conclusion you have drawn from your reading. This is the true beauty of reading: it causes us to weigh ideas, compare, judge, think, and explore—and then arrive at a moment that we hadn’t known before.

How do you synthesize?

Synthesis is a common skill we practice all the time when we converse with others on topics we have different levels of knowledge and feelings about. When you argue with your friends or classmates about a controversial topic like abortion affirmative action or gun control, your overall understanding of the topic grows as you incorporate their ideas, experiences, and points of view into a broader appreciation of the complexities involved. In professional and academic writing, synthesizing requires you to seek out this kind of multi-leveled understanding through reading, research, and discussion. Though, in academic writing, this is another kind of discussion: you set the goal for the discussion, organize the discussion among the authors of your found researched materials, orchestrate the progress of the discussion, provide comments, and build logical guidance for your audience (readers of your Synthesis Essay), and finally, you draw your conclusion on the topic.

Below are some steps you can use to help you synthesize research:

1. Determine the goal(s) for your discussion such as reviewing a topic or supporting an argument
2. Organize the discussion among the authors of your found researched materials
3. Lead the discussion among the authors of your sources
4. Provide comments and build logical guidance for your audience
5. Summarize the most vivid of the authors’ examples and explanations
6. Finally, draw your unique conclusion on the topic: in fact, the answer to your research question

What synthesis is NOT:

• Synthesizing does not mean summarizing everyone’s opinion.
• Synthesizing does not mean critiquing opinions.
• Synthesizing is not simply comparative texts (unless assigned as such by your instructor). You are neither evaluating nor comparing the effectiveness of the authors’ presentations.

What synthesis IS:

• Instead, synthesis demonstrates YOUR full, objective, empathetic understanding of a topic from multiple perspectives.
• When you synthesize, you “cook” the ideas and opinions of others by thinking, talking, and writing about them, and what comes out is a dish full of many blended flavors but uniquely your recipe.

The previous section introduces you to the idea of synthesis as conversation, and you are given a definition of synthesis throughout this text, but how do you indicate synthesis in your writing? When you synthesize, you are responding to the voices and ideas of others, so you should be as flexible in your written response to them as you would be in a verbal response to those you were having a discussion with about a complex topic. Primarily, your synthesis will indicate agreement or disagreement with your sources, but it may also recognize patterns of thinking, errors in logic, or the omission of important points—whatever it is you are adding to the conversation.

Synthesis that adds to the conversation in other ways:

• While most of the experts on topic X see overfishing as the primary cause of species depletion, only Source D acknowledges that there may be other, environmental causes.
• When I began writing about topic X, I expected to learn reason Y. To my surprise, none of the sources address this reason, which leads me to believe that . . .
• Because Source A is the expert in the field of topic X, most others writing about X accede to A’s authority, but a closer examination of A reveals an important omission about X.

Remember that you are working with multiple sources, so it is important to remember the following:

Consider your audience. They are intelligent readers, and most likely belong to an academic environment; however, they are not familiar with all your source materials, so they rely upon your presentation to get the meaning of the information you have retrieved from your research. Make it clear to your audience what information is taken from which of your sources.

When you synthesize, you are a part of the discussion and a leader of the discussion that you have initiated. You are introducing the voices and ideas of others, so you should be flexible and fair to all participating authors. You should avoid personal attacks, as well as other logical fallacies in your comments on the information borrowed from your source materials.

The Literature Review

Another assignment that you may complete that also applies your synthesis skills is a literature review.  Literature reviews are often found in the beginning of scholarly journal articles to contextualize the author’s research. Sometimes, literature reviews are done for their own sake; some scholarly articles are just Literature reviews.

Literature reviews (sometimes shortened to “lit reviews”) synthesize previous research that has been done on a particular topic, summarizing important works in the history of research on that topic. The literature review provides context for the author’s new research. It is the basis and background out of which the author’s research grows. Context = credibility in academic writing. When writers can produce a literature review, they demonstrate the breadth of their knowledge about how others have already studied and discussed their topic.