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How to Teach Synthesis

December 23, 2022 by Beth Hall

Wondering how to teach synthesis essay writing? This blog post contains some examples of synthesis activities that help make writing a synthesis essay more approachable for students.

Synthesis Dinner Party

The synthesis dinner party is a popular synthesis activity among AP ® Lang teachers. It is a great way to introduce students to the idea of having a “conversation of sources.”

Note: The “dinner party” concept came from Kenneth Burke in The Philosophy of Literary Form in 1941.

To prep, you’ll want to make a graphic organizer for your students. I usually make one on Google Slides. I use a rectangle for the “table.” Then I write the prompt in the form of a question in that box. Next, I add squares as seats around the table. If there are 6 sources, I add 6 squares: one at each end of the rectangle and two on each side. Honestly, this does not have to be fancy, but you can add fun graphics if you wish.

First, have your students read the sources independently or as a class. In order to do the synthesis dinner party well, students need to be familiar with the sources first.

Next, explain the premise of a dinner party. While students might not have attended a formal dinner party, they may have some frame of reference for seating at a family gathering or even the high school lunch table.

Explain to students that the sources will be the guests of a dinner party, and they are in charge of making a seating chart. They want to make sure that they seat sources in a way that will lead to “good” or “civil” conversation.

If it is the first time my students have done this activity, I usually draw the seating chart on my white board or display the slides on the TV in my classroom. Then, I’ll tell the students that I want them to fill in the seats at the opposite ends of the table first. I want them to put sources that contradict each other or would not get along in those seats. At this point, I like to ask “why would I put contrasting sources in those spots?” Students then answer that it is because those are the farthest apart.

Depending on the group of students, this may be an opportune time to mention that one of these sources could possibly be used as a counterargument for the other.

The first time students do this activity, it is helpful to let them work with a partner or small group to decide which sources belong on the ends. Then I have groups share out their decision and explain their reasoning.

There is more than one “right” answer. It’s all about being able to defend your reasoning, which means students can practice making claims as they determine their seating chart.

After seating the sources at the end of the table, students can then fill in the other seats. This requires students to think about commonalities between the source’s main ideas or positions. Sources that are seated next to one another may pair well in a paragraph when students write the essay.

Sometimes students may be unsure where to place neutral sources, but the good news is that if the source is neutral, it can pretty much be placed anywhere, so it may help to “seat” them last.

Extension Activity

In addition to having students verbally share their reasoning behind their placement of the “end of the table” sources, I like to have students write a brief paragraph after they have finalized their seating chart. In the paragraph, I ask them to explain their rationale for seating the sources where they did. For example, students might explain what the sources have in common or why a particular source needs to be seated away from another source. As previously stated, this is a simple way to have students practice writing a claim, but it also helps them articulate their line of reasoning for their seating chart.

While I don’t do the dinner party too often, this is a great synthesis activity for students who are unfamiliar with how to synthesize sources.

Synthesis Sources T-Chart

Making a t-chart is simple, but it is also one of my favorite tips for how to teach synthesis. This is a practical synthesis activity students can do on their own on exam day if they’d like to organize their thoughts.

I did this activity recently with my students. Our prompt was “Should kindergarten be transformed into a more academic environment?” After students have read the sources, have them make a t-chart. For our prompt, one side of the t-chart said “reasons kindergarten should be more academic,” and the other side said “reasons why kindergarten should not be more academic.”

Have students work with a partner or small group to add entries to their t-chart. They do not need equal entries on both sides of the t-chart.

It helps if students write the source(s) that correspond with each reason. This will help them if they write the synthesis essay in a future lesson.

Next, ask for volunteers to share out their reasons and make a collaborative t-chart as a class. Encourage students to add to their t-charts as needed.

Making a t-chart can help students identify potential main ideas for their essay. It also helps them realize which sources relate to each other or contradict each other.

Sticky Note Continuum

I like to do this synthesis activity after the t-chart activity. For the “sticky note continuum,” you’ll need sticky notes and a dry erase board or large piece of paper. Personally, I like to use these lined sticky notes.

To prep, draw a continuum on the board or on your paper. If desired, write the prompt in the form of a question above the continuum.

This is a photo of the synthesis sticky note continuum.

Have students work independently, with a partner, or as a small group to write a claim in response to the prompt. If needed, provide students with a sentence frame. I like to have students write their claim on a regular piece of paper first before writing it on a sticky note.

Allowing students to collaborate during this synthesis activity allows them to learn from each other. Have them to focus on the word choice and syntax of their claim.

Once students have written their claim, have them rewrite it on a sticky note. Next, they place it on the continuum where they think it belongs.

Want more tips for teaching AP ® Lang? Check out this blog post.

Looking for more tips for how to teach synthesis? Be sure to sign up for my teacher email list. When you do, you’ll receive my 5 tips for teaching rhetorical analysis. Don’t worry. I send synthesis teaching tips too.

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AP® Lang Teachers

Looking to help your students improve their rhetorical analysis essays?

January 8, 2023 at 9:04 pm

Are the sources for the kindergarten prompt posted anywhere? Thanks!

June 30, 2023 at 10:01 pm

The kindergarten prompt is in AP Classroom. I also add this article from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-joyful-illiterate-kindergartners-of-finland/408325/

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WRITING / Synthesis

Academic Synthesis

 What is  synthesis ?

Synthesis is a key feature of analytical academic writing. It is the skill of being able to combine a number of sources in a clause, paragraph or text to either support an argument or refute it. We also synthesise sources to be able to compare and contrast ideas and to further expand on a point. It is important that the writer shows the reader that they have researched the subject matter extensively in order to not only demonstrate how a variety of sources can agree or disagree but also to present more balanced arguments.

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A short 8-minute video on what synthesis is.

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  Academic Synthesis: synthesising sources

This lesson is designed to support students in their understanding and use of synthesising sources. It includes noticing the use of sources in context, a language focus with examples, two guided writing practice activities, a freer practice paragraph writing task with model answer and teacher’s notes – see worksheet example. Time: 120mins.   Level *** ** [ B1/B2/C1]   TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Paragraph example of synthesis.

Look at this paragraph containing synthesised sources. Highlight the citations / in-text references and their corresponding point made.

Coursework versus examination assessment

Using assignment essays for assessment supports learning better than the traditional examination system. It is considered that course-work assignment essays can lessen the extreme stress experienced by some students over ‘sudden death’ end of semester examinations and reduce the failure rate (Langdon, 2016). Study skills research by Peters et al. (2018) support assessment by assignment because research assignments can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback. They also consider that assignment work lends itself to more critical approaches which help the students to learn the discourse of their subjects. In contrast, Abbot (2008) and Cane (2018) both argue that assignments are inefficient, costly to manage and are the cause of plagiarism problems in universities. A key argument is that “assessment by examination is a clean-cut approach as you obtain students’ knowledge under supervised circumstances” (Bable, 2008, p.20). The weight of evidence, however, would suggest that it is a fairer and more balanced approach to have some assessment by assignment rather than completely by examinations.

Using assignment essays for assessment supports learning better than the traditional examination system. It is considered that course-work assignment essays can lessen the extreme stress experienced by some students over ‘sudden death’ end of semester examinations and r educe the failure rate (Langdon, 2016) . Study skills research by  Peters et al. (2018) support assessment by assignment because r esearch assignments can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback. They also consider that assignment work lends itself to more critical approaches which help the students to learn the discourse of their subjects . In contrast, Abbot (2008) and Cane (2018) both argue that assignments are inefficient, costly to manage and are the cause of plagiarism problems in universities. A key argument is that “assessment by examination is a clean-cut approach as you obtain students’ knowledge under supervised circumstances” (Bable, 2008, p.20) . The weight of evidence, however, would suggest that it is a fairer and more balanced approach to have some assessment by assignment rather than completely by examinations.

Language Focus

The writer synthesises two sources to be able to support their argument for assignment examinations.

It is considered that course-work assignment essays can lessen the extreme stress experienced by some students over ‘sudden death’ end of semester examinations and reduce the failure rate  (Langdon, 2016) . Study skills research by  Peters et al. (2018)  support assessment by assignment because research assignments can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback.

The writer synthesises two connected sources to be show the opposing views to assignment based examinations.

In contrast,  Abbot (2008)  and  Cane (2018)  both argue that assignments are inefficient, costly to manage and are the cause of plagiarism problems in universities.

The writer synthesises another relevant source through quotation to further support the point  against assignment-based examinations.

A key argument is that “assessment by examination is a clean-cut approach as you obtain students’ knowledge under supervised circumstances”   (Bable, 2008, p.20) .

The writer could synthesise a number of sources together to show they have applied comprehensive academic research into the topic.

Study skills research by Jones et al. (2010), UCL (2016), Wilson (2017) and Peters (2018) support assessment by assignment because research assignments can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback.

Study skills research supports assessment by assignment because research assignments can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback (Jones et al., 2010; UCL, 2016; Wilson, 2017 & Peters, 2018) .

Integral and non-integral referencing

When synthesising sources, it is important to incorporate and reference them accurately. This can be done in two ways:

• Integral citations are where the author is the main subject of clause and only the year is placed in brackets. A reporting verb ( argue, claim, suggest etc.) is required to introduce the rest of the clause.

2. In non-integral citations, both the author and year is stated in parenthesis at the end of a clause. There must also be a comma separating the name and year.

Synthesis Practice

Suggested answer

Although the main goal of the World Bank is to reduce poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries (Johnson, 2018) , Williams (2019) highlights that there has been an increase in the level of poverty in Africa.

For a detailed worksheet and more exercises – buy the  download below.

Arnold (2019) asserts that the decline of printed newspapers is mainly due to increased online activity overall. As we spend more time on the Internet in general than we did ten years previously, the more likely we are to search for news stories through search engines or blogs (James, 2020).

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 This is a basic reference guide to citing and creating a reference list or a bibliography. It shows the correct way to create in-text citations and reference lists for books, journals, online newspapers and websites.   Web page link . TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Two part worksheet that is a paragraph and reference list.  Students have to put in the correct in-text reference. The second part is a reference list exercise where students have to put the sections in the correct order. A nice lesson to introduce students to referencing and becoming aware of key referencing principles.  Level ** ** * [B1/B2/C1]  Example  / Webpage link / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Referencing: Harvard Referencing Worksheet 2

This lesson supports students in their understanding and use of Harvard referencing. It contains six worksheets: a discussion on referencing, a noticing activity, a reordering task, an error identification exercise, a sentence completion task, a gap-fill activity and a reference list task.   Level ** ** * [B1/B2/C1]  Example  / Webpage link / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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Two part worksheet that is a paragraph and reference list. Students have to put in the correct in-text reference. The second part is a reference list exercise where students have to put the sections in the correct order. A nice lesson to introduce students to referencing and becoming aware of key referencing principles.  Level ** ** * [B1/B2/C1]    Example   / Webpage link   / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

This lesson supports students in their understanding and use of APA referencing. It contains six worksheets: a discussion on referencing, a noticing activity, a reordering task, an error identification exercise, a sentence completion task, a gap-fill activity and a reference list task. Level ** ** * [B1/B2/C1]    Example   / Webpage link   / TEACHER MEMBERSHIP  / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP

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UMGC Effective Writing Center Write to Synthesize: The Research Essay

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In a synthesis, you bring things together. This combination, integration, or merging creates something new--your synthesis. The action of synthesis is basic to our world. Take, for example, what happens when a single oxygen molecule is combined with two hydrogen molecules. Water is created or synthesized. Hard to get more basic than that.

You also use synthesis to make personal decisions. If two instructors are teaching a class you must take, you may synthesize your past experiences with the teachers to choose the best class for you.

Research Essays:

Thesis driven.

In school, when writing a synthesis from your research, your sources may come from the school's library, a textbook, or the Internet. Here are some important points to keep in mind:

First, regardless of where your sources come from or how many you have, what you write should be driven by a thesis that you devise. After reading and studying your sources, you should form a personal point of view, a slant to connect your sources.

Here's a quick example--Let's say you've read three folktales: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Pied Piper--and now you must write a synthesis of them. As you study the three sources, you think about links between them and come up with this thesis: 

Folktales use fear to teach children lessons.

Then you use this thesis to synthesize your three sources as you support your point of view. You combine elements from the three sources to prove and illustrate this thesis. Your support points could focus on the lessons for children:

• Lesson 1 : Never talk to strangers.
• Lesson 2 : Don't wander from home.
• Lesson 3 : Appearances can deceive us.

This step of outlining your thesis and main points is a crucial one when writing a synthesis. If your goal in writing a research essay is to provide readers a unified perspective based on sources, the unified perspective must be clear before the writing begins.

Once the writing begins, your point of view is then carried through to the paragraph and sentence levels. Let's examine some techniques for achieving the unity that a good synthesis requires. First, here’s an example of an unsuccessful attempt at synthesizing sources:

Many sources agree that capital punishment is not a crime deterrent. [This is the idea around which the sources should be unified. Now comes the sources] According to Judy Pennington in an interview with Helen Prejean, crime rates in New Orleans rise for at least eight weeks following executions (110). Jimmy Dunne notes that crime rates often go up in the first two or three months following an execution. “Death in the Americas” argues that America’s crime rate as a whole has increased drastically since the re-instatement of the death penalty in the 1960s. The article notes that 700 crimes are committed for every 100,000 Americans (2). Helen Prejean cites Ellis in her book to note that in 1980, 500,000 people were behind bars and in 1990 that figure rose to 1.1 million (112).

Sample student paragraph adapted from "Literature Review: Synthesizing Multiple Sources." Retrieved 2011 from https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/items/7dda80e7-b0b3-477c-a972-283b48cfdf5c

This paragraph certainly uses a number of sources. However, the sources are presented in a random, grocery list fashion. Besides the main point at the beginning, there is no further attempt to synthesize. The sources seem tossed in, like ingredients in a salad. Let's examine a possible revision of that paragraph and how an adequate synthesis might be achieved:

Major studies suggest that capital punishment fails to deter crime. Helen Prejean, in "Deadman Walking," reviews decades of statistics that indicate capital punishment does little to lower crime. [Key idea from  topic sentence—"capital punishment fails to deter crime"— echoed in sentence about source–"capital punishment does little to lower crime." Repetition links source to main idea.] Based on this evidence, Prejean concludes “Executions do not deter crime . . . the U.S. murder rate is no higher in states that do not have the death penalty than those who do” (110). ["Based on this evidence" forces  reader to refer back to "statistics" in previous sentence.] Prejean’s point is reiterated from a historical perspective in Dunne's article “Death in the Americas.”  [This sentence provides a thought bridge between two sources.] Dunne first points out that, despite the social and economic upheavals from 1930 to 1960, crime rates were unchanged (2). [Linking phrase:"Dunne first points out"] However, after the reinstatement of the death penalty in the 1960s, “crime rates soared” (2). [Linking phase "However, Dunne notes."]

The result is a matrix of connective devices that unifies the sources around a key idea stated at the beginning. Although this matrix seems complex, it is actually built on a simple three-point strategy.

• Stay in charge . You the writer must control the sources, using them to serve your purpose. In good synthesis writing, sources are used to support what you, the writer, have already said in your own words.
• Stay focused . Your main point is not merely stated once and left to wilt. Your main idea is repeated and echoed throughout as a way to link the sources, to weave them together into a strong fabric of meaning.
• Stay strategic . Notice the "source sandwich" strategy at work. First, the author sets up the source with its background and relevance to the point. After the source comes a follows up in his/her own words as a way to bridge or link to the next part. In other words, the writer's own words are used like two slices of bread, with the source in the middle.

Follow these simple principles when using sources in your writing and you will achieve the most important goal of synthesis writing--to create a whole greater than its parts.

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Module 8: Analysis and Synthesis

Synthesis in practice, learning objectives.

• Demonstrate strategies for synthesis

Professors frequently expect you to interpret, make inferences, and otherwise synthesize—bring ideas together to make something new or find a new way of looking at something old. (It might help to think of synthesis as the opposite of analysis. To synthesize is to combine; to analyze is to break down.)

Getting Better at Synthesis

To get an A on essays and papers in many courses, such as literature and history, what you write in reaction to the work of others should use synthesis to create new meaning or to show a deeper understanding of what you learned.

To do so, it helps to look for connections and patterns. One way to synthesize when writing an argument essay, paper, or other project is to look for themes among your sources. So try categorizing ideas by topic rather than by source—making associations across and between sources.

Synthesis can seem difficult, particularly if you are used to analyzing others’ points but not used to making your own. Like most things, however, it gets easier with practice. So don’t be hard on yourself if it seems difficult at first.

EXAMPLE:  Synthesis in an Argument

In the movie, a successful young screenwriter named Gil is visiting Paris with his girlfriend and her parents, who are more politically conservative than he is. Inexplicably, every midnight he time-travels back to the 1920’s Paris, a time period he’s always found fascinating, especially because of the writers and painters—Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso—with whom he’s now on a first-name basis. Gil is enchanted and always wants to stay in this fantastical past. But every morning, he’s back in the real present—feeling out of sync with his girlfriend and her parents.

For your essay, you’ve tried to come up with a narrower topic, but so far nothing seems right. Suddenly, you start paying more attention to the girlfriend’s parents’ dialogue about politics, which amount to such phrases as “we have to go back to…,” “it was a better time,” “Americans used to be able to…” and “the way it used to be.”

And then it clicks with you that the girlfriend’s parents are like Gil—longing for a different time, whether real or imagined. That kind of idea generation, where you find the connection and theme across related elements of the movie, is synthesis.

You decide to write your essay to answer the research question: How is the motivation of Gil’s girlfriend’s parents similar to Gil’s? Your thesis becomes “Despite seeming to be very different, Gil and his girlfriend’s parents are similarly motivated, and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris’s message about nostalgia can be applied to all of them.”

Of course, you’ll have to try to convince your readers that your thesis is valid, and you may or not be successful,—but that’s true with all theses. And your professor will be glad to see the synthesis.

Synthesizing From Multiple Sources

Below are some questions that highlight ways in which the act of synthesizing brings together ideas and generates new knowledge.

How do the sources speak to your specific argument or research question?

Your argument or research question is the main unifying element in your project.  Keep this in the forefront of your mind when you write about your sources.  Explain how, specifically, each source supports your central claim/s or suggests possible answers to your question.  For example:  Does the source provide essential background information or a definitional foundation for your argument or inquiry? Does it present numerical data that supports one of your points or helps you answer a question you have posed?  Does it present a theory that might be applied to some aspect of your project?  Does it present a recognized expert’s insights on your topic?

How do the sources speak to each other? 

Sometimes you will find explicit dialogue between sources (for example, Source A refutes Source B by name), and sometimes you will need to bring your sources into dialogue (for example, Source A does not mention Source B, but you observe that the two are advancing similar or dissimilar arguments).  Attending to  interrelationships among sources  is at the heart of the task of synthesis.

Figure 1 . A strong argument will utilize many different sources to support itself. Synthesizing by identifying interrelationships among these sources will help to strengthen your paper.

Begin by asking: What are the points of agreement?  Where are there disagreements?

But be aware that you are unlikely to find your sources in pure positions of “for” vs. “against.”  You are more likely to find agreement in some areas and disagreement in other areas.  You may also find agreement but for different reasons—such as different underlying values and priorities, or different methods of inquiry.

Where are there, or aren’t there, information gaps?

Where is the available information unreliable (for example, it might be difficult to trace back to primary sources), or limited, (for example, based on just a few case studies, or on just one geographical area), or difficult for non-specialists to access (for example, written in specialist language, or tucked away in a physical archive)?

Does your inquiry contain sub-questions that may not at present be answerable, or that may not be answerable without additional primary research—for example, laboratory studies, direct observation, interviews with witnesses or participants, etc.?

Or, alternatively, is there a great deal of reliable, accessible information that addresses your question or speaks to your argument or inquiry?

In considering these questions, you are engaged in synthesis: you are conducting an overview assessment of the field of available information and in this way generating composite knowledge.

Remember, synthesis is about pulling together information from a range of sources in order to answer a question or construct an argument. It is something you will be called upon to do in a wide variety of academic, professional, and personal contexts. Being able to dive into an ocean of information and surface with meaningful conclusions is an essential skill.

Synthesis in Literature Reviews

One place synthesis is usually required is in literature reviews for honors’ theses, master’s theses, and Ph.D. dissertations. In all those cases, literature reviews are intended to contribute more than annotated bibliographies do and to be arguments for the research conducted for the theses or dissertations. If you are writing an honors thesis, master’s thesis, or Ph.D. dissertation, you will find more help with  Susan Imel’s Writing a Literature Review .

Showing Synthesis

Some ways to demonstrate synthesis in your writing is to compare and contrast multiple sources. Below are some examples of sentence structures that demonstrate synthesis:

Synthesis that indicates agreement/support:

• Source A asserts that… Source B agrees when he or she states…
• According to both A & B…
• The combined conclusions of sources B & C seem to indicate that…
• The evidence shows that…
• Source B is correct that…
• Source C makes a convincing case when she argues…
• I agree with Source A’s conclusion that…

Synthesis that indicates disagreement/conflict:

• Source A asserts that…Yet Source B offers a different perspective by…
• Source C & B would likely disagree regarding…
• My view, however, contrary to what Source A has argued, is…
• I argue that X & Y are the best solution, though Source B offers a different option.
• In contrast, I would like to offer some objections to the opinions expressed by source C…
• While source A makes an intriguing argument, I would disagree…

What the above examples indicate is that synthesis is the careful weaving in of outside opinions in order to show your reader the many ideas and arguments on your topic and further assert your own. Notice, too, that the above examples are also  signal phrases : language that introduces outside source material to be either quoted or paraphrased, i.e., “contrary to what Source A has argued, source B maintains ___________ .”

Try It: Balancing Sources and Synthesis

Here’s a technique to quickly assess whether there is enough of your original thought in your essay or paper, as opposed to information from your sources: Highlight what you have included as quotes, paraphrases, and summaries from your sources. Next, highlight in another color what you have written yourself. Then take a look at the pages and decide whether there is enough of your own thinking in them.

For the mocked-up pages below, assume that the yellow-highlighted lines were written by the writer and the pink-highlighted lines are quotes, paraphrases, and summaries she pulled from her sources.

Which page most demonstrates the writer’s own ideas?

Source: Joy McGregor. “A Visual Approach: Teaching Synthesis,” School Library Monthly, Volume XXVII, Number 8/May-June 2011.

Answer: The Middle Sample.

The yellow-highlighted sections in the middle sample shows more contributions from the author than from quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of other sources.

signal phrase : a phrase that introduces outside sources material that will be quoted or paraphrased

• Synthesizing Your Research Findings. Authored by : Christine Photinos. Project : Composing Ourselves and Our World . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Synthesizing. Authored by : Melanie Gagich. Located at : https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/introduction-to-writing/chapter/8-1-synthesizing/ . Project : Introduction to Writing in College. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Synthesis of Your Own Ideas . Provided by : Ohio State University Libraries . Located at : https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/choosingsources/chapter/synthesis/ . Project : Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of a stack of books. Authored by : Ulrike Leone. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/books-book-stack-isolated-1931195/ . License : Other . License Terms : https://pixabay.com/service/terms/#license

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148 Synthesis

A synthesis will need to:

• Summarize and analyze.
• Show relationships and make connections.
• Make argumentative points with research.

What do we mean by synthesis? Where analysis calls on us to break an artifact  down into individual parts, synthesis requires us to make connections between those parts or—in most academic writing—among sources, topics, or events (just to name a few possibilities). A common type of synthesis in academic writing, for example, is a literature review in which the researcher-writer collects, compares, and shows connections or differences among different scholarly sources as well as gaps in the research. With academic writing foremost in mind, Lumen Learning defines synthesis as “analysis across sources,” adding that “what you write in reaction to the work of others should use synthesis to create new meaning or to show a deeper understanding of what you learned.” The idea is not just to summarize but to make connections. That feature is what makes synthesis so important: it’s critical thinking in action.

For example, in a movie review, you might first identify, summarize, and analyze key parts of the film, such as genre, plot, and specific techniques like suspense, background music, or humor. You might also find, summarize, and evaluate other critiques of the film. Synthesis relies on these skills, asking you to point out relationships between film elements, compare other critiques, note what’s missing or unexamined, then draw new, hopefully insightful conclusions of your own. Lumen Learning suggests, “… look for connections and patterns …[and] themes among your sources.” The idea is to connect ideas and show relationships from source to source. sources.” In other words, look for similarities, differences, and gaps. What did other critics or scholars say about a particular topic? On what points do they differ? Where do they agree? What have they missed?

In fact, we synthesize all the time but may not realize we’re gathering, comparing, and evaluating sources in this way. For example, imagine this scenario: You and a group of friends want to attend a movie together but cannot decide which one. Each of you makes a recommendation, summarizing key details about your choices (genre, good reviews, compelling plots, and so forth). Together, you and your friends compare the films, discuss each other’s assessments of the options available, and reach a conclusion: you’ll go see the sci-fi flick! That’s synthesis (or “analysis across sources”). In this case, your friends’ individual analyses are your sources; your discussion and conclusion is the synthesis.

For a more academic project, imagine that you need to gather sources, annotate them, then report what connections, differences, gaps, and other relationships you found. That’s one approach to writing a literature review, a common academic genre that synthesizes available research to position the writer to come to a conclusion or a recommendation on a topic. Here’s synthesis in action—in an academic literature review written in APA style:

The emergence of [open educational resources or OER] goes back to 1985, when the Free Software Foundation was founded by Richard Stallman to support the free software movement and to grant a certain freedom to software users (Caswell et al., 2008). In 1994, the term learning objects was introduced by Wayne Hodgins to refer to digital educational resources that could be shared via the World Wide Web (Wiley, 2006). In 1998, the term open content was coined by David Wiley and introduced to the educational community, specifically to the creators of learning objects. (Wiley, 2006)

Did you notice how the authors summarize each source and relate the sources  to one another? Richard Stallman “supported the free software movement.” Wayne Hodgins “introduced” a key concept that was widely shared and evolved into “open content” — the foundational idea for OER. The authors of this paragraph quickly summarize OER history but also show the relationship from one stage to another, and from one person to the next. By the way, analysis lies in the background here; to arrive at this synthesis, the authors had to gather sources, study them, summarize them, then analyze them before arriving at this brief synthesis.

Here’s a less academic example of synthesis that also begins to make an argument:

“While both Jones and Smith question the use of popular music in key scenes, I argue that the background tunes in Movie Z enhance suspense by using the dark sounds of a minor key and a fast, heart-like rhythmic beat.”

In this example, the writer refers briefly to the findings of other critics, demonstrates how or where they depart from those critics, identifies key elements of music in the film (a minor key, a fast beat), and offers an insight or interpretation (“the background tunes … enhances the suspense”). These moves represent a short synthesis. The writer packs a lot of information into this statement. Did you also notice how different it is from the academic synthesis? Like other genres, synthesis varies depending on purpose, audience, and other aspects of the situation.

Here’s another real-world example. Let’s say your chosen topic is “Background Music in the Horror Films Directed by Jordan Peele.” You gather reviews and scholarly articles on Peele, on music in films, on horror films, and so forth. Your goal as a researcher-writer is to summarize those sources for readers, study or analyze them so that you understand them, but primarily to put those sources in relation to each other. That is, you will compare sources, state where you disagree or agree (and why), and possibly point out gaps in the arguments or information supplied by these other sources. Individually, you analyze each source; but cumulatively, you’re using them to move toward your own conclusions.

What are some examples of this genre? 

Attributions

“Synthesis,” Lumen Learning, CC BY: Attribution , https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/chapter/synthesis/

“Synthesizing What You Read,” Excelsior Online Reading Lab, CC BY: Attribution, https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-after-reading/synthesizing/ .

“Synthesizing Your Research Findings,” Christine Photinos, CC BY: Attribution, https://composingourselvesandourworld.pressbooks.com/chapter/20-2-synthesis/#syn .

Reading and Writing in College Copyright © 2021 by Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and TWU FYC Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Synthesize Written Information from Multiple Sources

Shona McCombes

Content Manager

B.A., English Literature, University of Glasgow

Shona McCombes is the content manager at Scribbr, Netherlands.

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Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

On This Page:

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).

Synthesizing simply means combining. 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.

At the most basic level, this involves looking for similarities and differences between your sources. Your synthesis should show the reader where the sources overlap and where they diverge.

Unsynthesized Example

Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. He looked at 17 females and 18 males and found that none of them liked APA. According to Franz, the evidence suggested that all students are reluctant to learn citations style. Perez (2010) also studies undergraduate students. She looked at 42 females and 50 males and found that males were significantly more inclined to use citation software ( p < .05). Findings suggest that females might graduate sooner. Goldstein (2012) looked at British undergraduates. Among a sample of 50, all females, all confident in their abilities to cite and were eager to write their dissertations.

Synthesized Example

Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting conclusions regarding relationships between advanced scholarly study and citation efficacy. Although Franz (2008) found that no participants enjoyed learning citation style, Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that all participants watched felt comfortable citing sources, suggesting that variables among participant and control group populations must be examined more closely. Although Perez (2010) expanded on Franz’s original study with a larger, more diverse sample…

Step 1: Organize your sources

After collecting the relevant literature, you’ve got a lot of information to work through, and no clear idea of how it all fits together.

Before you can start writing, you need to organize your notes in a way that allows you to see the relationships between sources.

One way to begin synthesizing the literature is to put your notes into a table. Depending on your topic and the type of literature you’re dealing with, there are a couple of different ways you can organize this.

Summary table

A summary table collates the key points of each source under consistent headings. This is a good approach if your sources tend to have a similar structure – for instance, if they’re all empirical papers.

Each row in the table lists one source, and each column identifies a specific part of the source. You can decide which headings to include based on what’s most relevant to the literature you’re dealing with.

For example, you might include columns for things like aims, methods, variables, population, sample size, and conclusion.

For each study, you briefly summarize each of these aspects. You can also include columns for your own evaluation and analysis.

The summary table gives you a quick overview of the key points of each source. This allows you to group sources by relevant similarities, as well as noticing important differences or contradictions in their findings.

Synthesis matrix

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.

Each column in the table lists one source. Each row is labeled with a specific concept, topic or theme that recurs across all or most of the sources.

Then, for each source, you summarize the main points or arguments related to the theme.

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.

Step 2: Outline your structure

Now you should have a clear overview of the main connections and differences between the sources you’ve read. Next, you need to decide how you’ll group them together and the order in which you’ll discuss them.

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.

There are a few different approaches you can take to help you structure your synthesis.

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 .

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.

If the literature covers various different topics, you can organize it thematically .

That means that each paragraph or section focuses on a specific theme and explains how that theme is approached in the literature.

Source Used with Permission: The Chicago School

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 .

That means grouping together studies based on the type of research they did and discussing the findings that emerged from each method.

If your topic involves a debate between different schools of thought, you can organize it theoretically .

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.

Step 3: Write paragraphs with topic sentences

What sets a synthesis apart from a summary is that it combines various sources. 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.

This is called a topic sentence , and it usually appears at the start of the paragraph. The topic sentence signals what the whole paragraph is about; every sentence in the paragraph should be clearly related to it.

A topic sentence can be a simple summary of the paragraph’s content:

“Early research on [x] focused heavily on [y].”

For an effective synthesis, you can use topic sentences to link back to the previous paragraph, highlighting a point of debate or critique:

“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.”

By using topic sentences, you can ensure that your paragraphs are coherent and clearly show the connections between the articles you are discussing.

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.

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.

Step 4: Revise, edit and proofread

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.

Checklist for Synthesis

•   Do I introduce the paragraph with a clear, focused topic sentence?
•   Do I discuss more than one source in the paragraph?
•   Do I mention only the most relevant findings, rather than describing every part of the studies?
•   Do I discuss the similarities or differences between the sources, rather than summarizing each source in turn?
•   Do I put the findings or arguments of the sources in my own words?
•   Is the paragraph organized around a single idea?
•   Is the paragraph directly relevant to my research question or topic?
•   Is there a logical transition from this paragraph to the next one?

Further Information

How to Synthesise: a Step-by-Step Approach

Help…I”ve Been Asked to Synthesize!

Learn how to Synthesise (combine information from sources)

How to write a Psychology Essay

• Stay in charge. You the writer must control the sources, using them to serve your purpose. In good synthesis writing, sources are used to support what you, the writer, have already said in your own words.
• Stay focused. Your main point is not merely stated once and left to wilt. Your main idea is repeated and echoed throughout as a way to link the sources, to weave them together into a strong fabric of meaning.
• Stay strategic. Notice the "source sandwich" strategy at work. First, the author sets up the source with its background and relevance to the point. After the source comes a follows up in his/her own words as a way to bridge or link to the next part. In other words, the writer's own words are used like two slices of bread, with the source in the middle.

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Digital SAT Reading and Writing

Course: digital sat reading and writing   >   unit 2, rhetorical synthesis | lesson.

• Rhetorical synthesis — Worked example
• Rhetorical Synthesis — Quick example
• Rhetorical synthesis: foundations

What are "rhetorical synthesis" questions?

• The novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens focuses on the adventures of its title character, David Copperfield.
• David Copperfield is considered a bildungsroman.
• In a bildungsroman, the main character grows, learns, and changes from experience.
• The novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding focuses on the adventures of its title character, Tom Jones.
• Tom Jones is considered a picaresque novel.
• In a picaresque novel, the main character has many experiences but stays fundamentally the same.
• (Choice A)   David Copperfield and Tom Jones are both considered picaresque novels. A David Copperfield and Tom Jones are both considered picaresque novels.
• (Choice B)   Both David Copperfield and Tom Jones focus on the adventures of their title characters. B Both David Copperfield and Tom Jones focus on the adventures of their title characters.
• (Choice C)   David Copperfield was written by Charles Dickens; Tom Jones was written by Henry Fielding. C David Copperfield was written by Charles Dickens; Tom Jones was written by Henry Fielding.
• (Choice D)   In David Copperfield , unlike in Tom Jones , the main character grows, learns, and changes from experience. D In David Copperfield , unlike in Tom Jones , the main character grows, learns, and changes from experience.

Choice A: This choice does not accurately represent the information in the bullet points! Bullet point 2 tells us that David Copperfield is considered a bildungsroman. The next bullet points tell us that in a bildungsroman, the main character changes, while in a picaresque novel, the main character basically stays the same. This means that a bildungsroman can't also be a picaresque novel.

Choice B: This choice emphasizes a similarity and accurately represents the information in the bullet points. Bullet point 1 says that David Copperfield focuses on the adventures of its title character, and bullet point 4 says that Tom Jones focuses on the adventures of its title character.

Choice C: This choice accurately represents the bulleted information, but it doesn't accomplish the goal. It highlights a difference between the two novels—the fact that they have different authors. But we're looking for a similarity.

Choice D: Like choice C, this choice accurately represents the bulleted information, but it doesn't accomplish the goal. It emphasizes a difference between the two novels, but, again, we're looking for a similarity.

How should we think about rhetorical synthesis questions?

Question structure.

• an introduction
• a series of bulleted facts
• a question prompt
• the choices

How to approach rhetorical synthesis questions

Step 1: Identify the goal

Step 2: Read the bullet points and identify relevant info

Step 3: Test the choices

Step 4: Select the choice that matches

Do two "passes" to eliminate choices!

Simplify the goal.

• Choice C emphasizes a difference between the two novels, not a similarity. We can eliminate choice C.
• Choice D also emphasizes a difference between the two novels, not a similarity. We can eliminate choice D.

Ignore the grammar

• Marine biologist Camille Jazmin Gaynus studies coral reefs.
• Coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems that provide habitats to 25% of all marine species.
• Reefs can include up to 8,000 species of fish, such as toadfish, seahorses, and clown triggerfish.
• The Amazon Reef is a coral reef in Brazil.
• It is one of the largest known reefs in the world.
• (Choice A)   Providing homes to 25% of all marine species, including up to 8,000 species of fish, coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems and thus of great interest to marine biologists. A Providing homes to 25% of all marine species, including up to 8,000 species of fish, coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems and thus of great interest to marine biologists.
• (Choice B)   Marine biologist Camille Jazmin Gaynus studies coral reefs, vital underwater ecosystems that provide homes to 25% of all marine species. B Marine biologist Camille Jazmin Gaynus studies coral reefs, vital underwater ecosystems that provide homes to 25% of all marine species.
• (Choice C)   Camilla Jazmin Gaynus is a marine biologist who exclusively studies the Amazon Reef, a coral reef that is home to 8,000 different species of fish. C Camilla Jazmin Gaynus is a marine biologist who exclusively studies the Amazon Reef, a coral reef that is home to 8,000 different species of fish.
• (Choice D)   As Camille Jazmin Gaynus knows well, coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems, providing homes to thousands of species of fish. D As Camille Jazmin Gaynus knows well, coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems, providing homes to thousands of species of fish.
• Choice A doesn't mention the scientist at all. We can eliminate choice A.
• Remember to be strict : the goal is to introduce the scientist AND her field of study. Choice D names the scientist, but it doesn't introduce her field of study (it doesn't say she's a marine biologist). We can eliminate choice D.

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5 Fantastic Strategies for Synthesizing

by Erin | Nov 7, 2019 | Reading , Strategies

In order for a reader to be able to read and understand a text there is a great deal of work that they must do in their head. As shared in The Importance of Strategies , readers use a variety of strategic actions and strategies to process what they are reading.  Synthesizing is one of twelve strategic action we will explore in this Strategic Action Series . 

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful. Visit my disclosure statement for more information. 

Strategies Change Over Time

When young children begin reading, they may use very simple strategies like memorizing or remembering the words in a story and reciting them as they see the pictures. As they learn more about letters, words, and books, they will begin using strategies like:

• Pausing when something doesn’t make sense (self-monitoring)
• Looking at the picture, thinking about the sentence, and looking at the first letters to make sure what they have read “looks right,” “sounds right,” and “makes sense.” (cross-checking sources of information)
• Reread a word to read it correctly when they misread the word the first time. (self-correcting)

As young readers have more and more time to read and experience books, they develop their ability to use more sophisticated strategic actions as they read.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

It is important to note that readers use strategic actions simultaneously. Unfortunately, many children view them as separate actions or even as their goal of their reading. This may be the case if you’ve ever heard your child say, “This week I am inferring.”   This happens when strategies are talked about in isolation or if your child does most of their strategy work with worksheets. Even though we may attempt to strengthen a strategic action by talking about it in isolation, it is always important to remind your child that they use many strategic actions and strategies to understand what we are reading.

Here is an example shared by Fountas and Pinnell in Guided Reading (2e) 

• A child who is automatically solving words and monitoring his comprehension might realize it and pause to reread or search for more information. He might also search his background knowledge, make connections, and, by comparing present knowledge to new learning, synthesize new ideas

Even though these actions are listed in a sequence, many take place simultaneously. Our brains can work so quickly and can do such much.

Now let’s take a look at Synthesizing, a strategic action identified by Fountas and Pinnell ( Literacy Continuum , Expanded Edition, 2017).

Synthesizing

Readers are continually encountering new information and ideas from texts. It is important for them to incorporate new information they gain from the text with they already understand and know. Incorporating this new knowledge with their existing knowledge helps readers think deeper, understand more perspectives, and gain understanding of experiences that they cannot directly experience.

Check out the Reading Level Specific Posts  to see questions you can ask or prompts you can give to support your child’s use of this strategic action.

5 fantastic strategies to encourage synthesizing, 1. look for patterns with characters.

Great for Reading Levels H-M

Strategy Steps

• Look at the character in multiple parts of the text.
• Consider what actions, thoughts, or dialogue repeats across the text.
• Notice if there is a pattern.
• Use that pattern to name a trait.

You can prompt your child to think about the characters by asking the following questions:

• Can you describe the character in the beginning?
• Can you describe the character at this part of the story?
• What character trait could describe the character?
• How is the character behaving over and over?

2. Look for Repeating Words in Nonfiction

Great for Reading Levels A-M

• As you read, pay attention to words or phrases that you see over and over.
• Look at the images and other text features to see if the word or phrase is shown in those as well.
• Consider if there are any patterns in the images and text features.  
• When you find a pattern (repeating word or phrase or in images), ask yourself if it tells you about what the book is mostly about. 

You can prompt your child to look for patterns in nonfiction by asking the following questions:

• Is there a word that repeats on each page?
• What patterns do you notice in the images or text features?
• How do the images/text features support the words in the text?
• Do you notice a connection between the repeating word and the images/charts/graphs?
• What is this book mostly about?

3. Pay Attention to Unusual Behavior

Great for Reading Levels N and up

  Strategy Steps

• As you are reading, pay attention to how the character acts, talks, and responds to others.
• Notice when a character acts in an unusual way.
• Think about what the character is saying and/or doing in this particular scene that is different from past scenes.
• As you continue to read, pay attention to whether the character has changed or if their unusual behavior was temporary (like showing you a glimpse of another side of them).
• After reading, compare the time the character acted in an unusual way to their previous and latter behaviors to form an idea or theory about the character.

You can prompt your child to pay attention to a character’s behavior changes by asking the following questions:

• What’s unusual about the character’s behavior here?
• How is the character acting differently here?
• Do you think the character changed or do you think they are only behaving differently in this moment?

 4.  Going Beyond the Topic

Great for any Reading Levels M and up

• After reading, think about the main topic .

Example: In Face to Face with Lions the main topic is Lions.

• Think about what the author says about the main topic.
• Examine the kinds of words the author uses to describe the topic.
• Next ask yourself why you think the author wrote this particular book or what perspective does this author bring to this topic.
• Put together what you notice in the text and the answer to your question (step 4).

Example: Face to Face with Lions is about the importance of lions and how humans are impacting their survival.

You can prompt your child to synthesize elements of the text by asking the following questions:

• What’s the topic of this book?
• What’s this section mostly about?
• How does the author present this topic?
• What do you think the author is trying to say about this topic?

  5. Nonfiction Structures

Great for Reading Levels M and up

• Read through the text.
• Consider how the information is being presented and the overall structure.
• Think about the information you learned in the text.
• Make a main idea statement including the structure.

This strategy works if your child is familiar with nonfiction text structures:

• Description (main idea and details)
• Cause and Effect
• Compare/Contrast

You can prompt your child to identify the structure by asking the following questions:

• How is the information being presented?
• What’s the relationship between the information being presented?
• (Cause and Effect) Can you include both the cause and effect in your main idea statement?
• (Description) Can you include the theme or lesson learned in your main idea statement?

Check out these posts for more strategies to support strategic actions:

• Searching for and Using Information
• Monitoring and Self-correcting
• Solving words
• Maintaining Fluency
• Summarizing
• Making Connections  
• Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2017).  Guided reading: Responsive teaching across the grades . Heinemann.
• Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (2007). The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-8: Behaviors and Understandings to Notice, Teach, and Support.  Heinemann .
• Serravallo, J. (2015).  The reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled readers  (Vol. 11). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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Synthesis writing

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Synthesis and Making Connections for Strong Analysis

by acburton | Apr 25, 2024 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

If Russian Dolls Aren’t For You, Here Are a Few Other Ways to Think About Synthesis

‘Joining the Conversation’: When we perform synthesis in our writing and engage with making connections, we are joining a wider conversation. We are seeing what has already been said about the topic, seeking out what these many perspectives and viewpoints have in common and/or how they differ, and then interpreting these relationships to form our own input to the conversation. We must directly engage with our sources to draw insightful conclusions and share what we think as a result. ‘Building the Bridge’: Synthesis is building the bridge between your sources for the reader. To synthesize or make connections, we must figure out how we get from one source to the other. In other words, we cannot present our sources in isolation (this wouldn’t help create any new meaning). Instead, we need to build the bridge between source A and source B so that our readers can understand what the two, together, suggest about our understanding of a topic. Then, we build a bridge from this new understanding to source C and source D, and so on.

Start Synthesizing

So you want to synthesize information? To start, review the existing literature on your selected topic. When searching for resources, aim to collect a number from various authors, subjects, and settings to broaden your understanding of the material – giving yourself more information to consider in the next stage. Ultimately, you’ll want to find the main idea presented in each source, as well as how the author supports or argues against it, as well as why.

• Compare and Contrast

Compare and contrast the main idea found in each source reviewed. What does each perspective have in common? What are their differences? Begin to consider how these sources  ‘fit together’ (or, in other words, build the bridge!). During this stage, you may find that some of your collected resources don’t have as much depth or go into as much detail as you’d like. That’s okay, but you’ll want to consider what effect this might have on your ability to draw a meaningful conclusion once synthesized with other source material.

• Ask, What’s the Significance?

By evaluating the quality and significance of each source, you can begin to consider its relevance within the context of your research or in relation to your topic. How does the relationship of one source to another further your understanding of the topic you are focusing on? What is the larger impact of what is being said or argued?

• Infer the Relationship and Draw Conclusions

By this point, you have gone through the existing literature surrounding your subject and compared/contrasted it, finding the main idea of each, as well as their intended purpose, possible criticisms, strengths, and weaknesses. Finally, you have related these ideas to your own research. Although you may have found that your sources agree or disagree on minor (or major) key details, it is the writer’s job to seek the relationship between these sources, put them in conversation together, and draw meaning through analysis. In some cases, you’ll be asked to offer your own perspective or argumentation. Consider, how might you add to the existing conversation?

Synthesis is all about meaningful connections, it is not summarizing sources side by side. Before you make larger claims about a topic, make sure you build those bridges between the sources you found through research. Nestle them together. Move beyond summary. Then, you can create an interesting and compelling argument. For additional help, make an appointment with the Writing Center!

Works Cited

Kourakos, Evanthia J. “The Matryoshka-Doll Effect.”  Medium , Azure’s Whereabouts, 22 Apr. 2016,  medium.com/azure-s- whereabouts/the-matryoshka- doll-effect-be9d2760d2e2 .Acces sed 25 Apr. 2024.

“Libguides: English Research: Synthesizing Information.”  Synthesizing Information – English Research – LibGuides at Aultman Health Sciences Library ,  aultman.libguides.com/c.php?g= 545558&p=7711993 . Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Exploring the Lesson Synthesis: When do I actually teach?

By  Lizzy Skousen,  6–12 Curriculum Writer, IM Certified® Facilitator

During a problem-based lesson, the teacher does a lot of listening while monitoring student learning. When teachers are introduced to a problem-based lesson structure, they may wonder:

“Do we just hope that students will think about what we want?”

“how will students learn the things they need to know”, “when do i actually teach”, “is this doable with the amount of instruction time i have”.

One answer to all of these questions is a well-executed lesson synthesis.

There is an overall structure to an IM lesson. We begin with inviting students to the mathematics of the day, then dive more deeply into concepts and procedures. After the lesson activities and before the cool-down, there is a lesson synthesis when we consolidate and apply the learning. What does it mean to consolidate the learning of the day?

We need to bring together all of the learning that has happened with individuals and groups and make it explicit for the entire class. During each activity, students generate solution methods and then reflect and discuss how they solved the problems. There may be as many different ideas as there are students. Some students or groups will generate strategies or make connections that align with the learning goals of the lesson, but not every student will. Sometimes they may choose a more familiar but less efficient strategy or struggle to make a specific connection.

I like to imagine that teaching is a bit like taking my students for a wilderness exploration hike. I want the hikers to explore, see new things, and get to play, but I also don’t want them to get lost or wander onto a trail going the wrong direction. As the leader of the hike, I need to start by knowing the area. What are the major landmarks? Where do we start, where do we end, and what are some major pitfalls we need to avoid?

In a lesson, I need to know the same things. What is the purpose of the lesson? Where do I want students to end up? What do I want students to be able to accomplish?

The learning goals and cool-downs are really clear signposts to help answer these questions. The learning goals help the teacher know what students should understand and be able to do, and the cool-down shows how students will demonstrate it. With this information, I can go into each activity with a clear idea of where the lesson is going. During the lesson synthesis, I check in to make sure all students have heard the important takeaways of the lesson so I know they are ready to demonstrate their learning on the cool-down.

When students are exploring mathematical ideas, they are not all going to do it in the same way. On the wilderness hike, some explorers will carefully follow a pre-marked path, while others will try hopping on rocks or logs, and still others may follow an interesting bug. During the lesson, some students will want to use a familiar representation instead of trying a new one, others will skip using a diagram at all, and some may get focused on a different approach. One group of students may already be showing that they can meet the learning goal, while another group is still unsure. This is why it’s important to consolidate the learning of the day.

The lesson synthesis gives teachers the opportunity to bring together students’ ideas and focus on the learning goals for the lesson. Targeted questions during the lesson synthesis highlight  the learning that has already happened during each activity and help make this learning explicit for all of the students in the class.

When I have my wilderness explorers hiking with me, I think of myself as a scout leader. We may be exploring and having fun, but there is also an intended direction to travel. With my students, they explore and play with ideas, but there is a mathematical direction in a lesson as well.

The lesson synthesis is a brief but vital component of the lesson where teachers can make sure that students have all heard and seen important vocabulary words, strategies, and connections. In this discussion with the students, the teacher asks targeted questions, and a few students will share their thinking. The teacher may revoice important ideas, highlight strategies that align with the learning goals, and explicitly state an important concept or vocabulary term. Most of the students will be listening during this part of the lesson.

Even on the most relaxed hike, there are time limits. If I know that we have to meet back at camp before sundown, I have to plan ahead to make sure that my hikers all get there on time. Since I’ve already looked ahead at the map, I know about where we should be throughout the day and can set a pace for the hike.

Pacing a lesson can be a challenge. It can seem like there is not enough time in a day to do the synthesis, but the lesson synthesis is critical to student learning. Each lesson synthesis should take about 5 minutes of class time before the cool-down. One way to pace the lesson effectively is to work backwards. Plan for the last 5 minutes of class to be the cool-down, and the 5 minutes before that to be the lesson synthesis. Then look at how much instructional time is left and adjust the pace for the other activities as needed.

Since the lesson synthesis brings together all of the learning that happens in each activity and makes it explicit for the whole class, it’s not necessary for every student to have completed every activity perfectly before moving from one activity to the next.  

Conclusion 

After students complete the cool-down, take a moment to reflect. If most students showed evidence of accomplishing the learning goals, what happened during the lesson synthesis that helped consolidate the learning for all students? If most students struggled with the cool-down, how could the lesson synthesis have gone differently? Connecting the day’s lesson synthesis with the cool-down can help you plan ahead for future lessons.

A well-executed lesson synthesis is essential to accomplishing the learning goals of a problem-based lesson. This is the point where teachers make explicit what students should take away from the lesson and give students the necessary preparation for the cool-down. When preparing for a lesson, make sure to plan time for the lesson synthesis and work backwards from there to pace the other learning activities.

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