In academic writing, students are often asked to synthesize information. Synthesizing is an essential skill for research essays.
What is Synthesis?
Synthesis is combining information from multiple sources. Successfully synthesizing information involves finding a relationship or commonality in different texts that connects to your own topic.
It helps to remember that all the texts you read are part of a global conversation. Your job as a scholar is to participate in this conversation. To do this successfully, you have to examine what has been said about your topic (both supporting and opposing) and connect it to your own thoughts.
The biggest problem beginning academic scholars usually have with synthesis is misunderstanding the purpose of synthesis. Synthesis is not simply a list of summaries; it is examining what people are saying about a topic and adding your own voice to that conversation. Compare the paragraphs below:
Weak synthesis:
- Maria Popova says that dreaming helps us consolidate memories and resolve emotional problems (2012). B-6 vitamins help us dream (City College of New York, 2002). Snoring may prevent dreaming (Aljuni, 2016).
This sentences are all about dreaming, but any other connection is unclear. The writer has just listed information and has no clear topic.
Strong synthesis:
- While scientists are not in agreement about why exactly people dream, it is clear that dreaming is an important biological function. Some studies have suggested that dreaming may help us consolidate memories (much like defragging a computer system) or help us resolve emotional problems including depression (Popova, 2012). Not dreaming can also be an indicator of health problems. An inability to remember dreams may indicate a deficiency in pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) according to a preliminary study by the City College of New York in 2002. Addressing the old wives’ tale that you cannot snore and dream at the same time, Dr. Steve Aljuni with HealthTap says snoring “usually equates with obstructive sleep apnea” and may prevent dreaming (2016). In cases such as these, the combination of snoring with a lack of dreaming could function as a warning sign to pay the doctor a visit. Overall, it’s clear that while dreaming may never be fully understood, it plays a key role in our health and well-being.
This example of synthesis includes a clear idea (dreaming is biologically important) and uses source information to support the idea.