{"id":191,"date":"2016-07-30T18:04:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/synthesis\/"},"modified":"2018-08-02T07:19:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T07:19:52","slug":"synthesis","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/synthesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthesis of Your Own Ideas"},"content":{"raw":"Professors want to see evidence of your own thinking in your essays and papers. Even so, it will be your thoughts in reaction to your sources:\n\n<ul><li>What was the author really trying to say?<\/li><li>What parts of them do you agree with?<\/li><li>What parts of them do you disagree with?<\/li><li>Did they leave anything out?<\/li><li>What does an author's work lead you to say?<\/li><\/ul>It's wise to not only analyze\u2014take apart for study\u2014the sources, but also to try to combine your own ideas with ideas you found in class and in the sources.\n\nProfessors frequently expect you to interpret, make inferences, and otherwise synthesize\u2014bring 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.)\n\n<div class=\"activity\"><h3><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Creative Thinking<\/h3>Synthesis is a creative act. Are there places, things, activities, or situations that you already use to spark your creativity? Sometimes even simple things can help us be more creative. Take a look at the article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/06\/21\/155369663\/5-ways-to-spark-your-creativity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 Ways to Spark Your Creativity<\/a> for some tips.\n\nThe book <em>Thinker Toys<\/em>, by Michael Michalko, can help you expand your ability to think creatively. The <a href=\"http:\/\/creativethinking.net\/remote-association-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">author's web page<\/a> contains fun but challenging thinking exercises, including this one that lets you practice making associations between seemingly disparate concepts.\n\n<\/div><hr><h3>Getting Better at Synthesis<\/h3>To get an A on essays and papers in many courses, such as literature and history, what you write in reaction to others' work should use synthesis to create new meaning or show a deeper understanding of what you learned.\n\nTo 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 resource\u2014making associations across sources.\n\nSynthesis 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 as you get more experienced at it. So don't be hard on yourself if it seems difficult at first.\n\n<div class=\"example\"><h4><strong>Example:<\/strong> Synthesis in an Argument<\/h4><img src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/paris.png\" alt=\"The Eiffel Tower\" width=\"120\" height=\"233\" class=\"alignright wp-image-189 size-full\">\n\nImagine that you have to write an argument essay about Woody Allen's 2011 movie <em>Midnight in Paris<\/em>. Your topic is \u201cnostalgia,\u201d and the movie is the only resource you can use.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\u2014Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso\u2014that he's now on a first-name basis with. Gil is enchanted and always wants to stay. But every morning, he's back in real time\u2014feeling out of sync with his girlfriend and her parents.\n\nYou'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 \u201cwe have to go back to...,\u201d \u201cit was a better time,\u201d \u201cAmericans used to be able to...\u201d and \u201cthe way it used to be.\u201d\n\nAnd then it clicks with you that the girlfriend's parents are like Gil\u2014longing for a different time, whether real or imagined. That kind of idea generation is synthesis.\n\nYou decide to write your essay to answer the research question: How is the motivation of Gil\u2019s girlfriend\u2019s parents similar to Gil\u2019s? Your thesis becomes \u201cDespite seeming to be not very much alike, Gil and the parents are similarly motivated, and Woody Allen meant <em>Midnight in Paris<\/em>'s message about nostalgia to be applied to all of them.\u201d\n\nOf course, you'll have to try to convince your readers that your thesis is valid and you may or not be successful\u2014but that's true with all theses. And your professor will be glad to see the synthesis.\n\n<\/div>There is a lot more you can learn about creating synthesis in scholarly writing. One place synthesis is usually required is in literature reviews for honors\u2019 theses, master\u2019s 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\u2019s thesis, or Ph.D. dissertation, you will find more help with <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/04\/Susan-Imel-Writing-a-Literature-Review.doc\">Susan Imel's Writing a Literature Review<\/a>.\n\n<div class=\"activity\"><h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Balancing Sources and Synthesis<\/h4>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 you in them.\n\nFor 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? See the bottom of the page for the answer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_190\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1392\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis.png\" alt=\"Three sample showing 1) mostly quotes with little original thought, 2) mostly original thought supported by quotes, and 3) equal split between quotes and original thought.\" width=\"1392\" height=\"411\" class=\"size-full wp-image-190\"> Mocked-up passages showing the division between quotes, <br class=\"mobi\">paraphrases, and summaries and original ideas[\/caption]Source: Joy McGregor. \u201cA Visual Approach: Teaching Synthesis,\" School Library Monthly, Volume XXVII, Number 8\/May-June 2011.\n\n<\/div><hr><div class=\"example\"><h4><strong>Answer to Activity:<\/strong> Balancing Sources and Synthesis<\/h4>The answer to the \u201cBalancing Sources and Synthesis\u201d Activity above is:\n\n<strong>The Middle Sample. <\/strong>\n\nThe yellow-highlighted sections in The Middle Sample show more contributions from the author than from quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of other sources.\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>Professors want to see evidence of your own thinking in your essays and papers. Even so, it will be your thoughts in reaction to your sources:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What was the author really trying to say?<\/li>\n<li>What parts of them do you agree with?<\/li>\n<li>What parts of them do you disagree with?<\/li>\n<li>Did they leave anything out?<\/li>\n<li>What does an author&#8217;s work lead you to say?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s wise to not only analyze\u2014take apart for study\u2014the sources, but also to try to combine your own ideas with ideas you found in class and in the sources.<\/p>\n<p>Professors frequently expect you to interpret, make inferences, and otherwise synthesize\u2014bring 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.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"activity\">\n<h3><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Creative Thinking<\/h3>\n<p>Synthesis is a creative act. Are there places, things, activities, or situations that you already use to spark your creativity? Sometimes even simple things can help us be more creative. Take a look at the article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/06\/21\/155369663\/5-ways-to-spark-your-creativity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 Ways to Spark Your Creativity<\/a> for some tips.<\/p>\n<p>The book <em>Thinker Toys<\/em>, by Michael Michalko, can help you expand your ability to think creatively. The <a href=\"http:\/\/creativethinking.net\/remote-association-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">author&#8217;s web page<\/a> contains fun but challenging thinking exercises, including this one that lets you practice making associations between seemingly disparate concepts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Getting Better at Synthesis<\/h3>\n<p>To get an A on essays and papers in many courses, such as literature and history, what you write in reaction to others&#8217; work should use synthesis to create new meaning or show a deeper understanding of what you learned.<\/p>\n<p>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 resource\u2014making associations across sources.<\/p>\n<p>Synthesis can seem difficult, particularly if you are used to analyzing others&#8217; points but not used to making your own. Like most things, however, it gets easier as you get more experienced at it. So don&#8217;t be hard on yourself if it seems difficult at first.<\/p>\n<div class=\"example\">\n<h4><strong>Example:<\/strong> Synthesis in an Argument<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/paris.png\" alt=\"The Eiffel Tower\" width=\"120\" height=\"233\" class=\"alignright wp-image-189 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/paris.png 120w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/paris-65x126.png 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 120px) 100vw, 120px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Imagine that you have to write an argument essay about Woody Allen&#8217;s 2011 movie <em>Midnight in Paris<\/em>. Your topic is \u201cnostalgia,\u201d and the movie is the only resource you can use.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&#8217;s Paris, a time period he&#8217;s always found fascinating, especially because of the writers and painters\u2014Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso\u2014that he&#8217;s now on a first-name basis with. Gil is enchanted and always wants to stay. But every morning, he&#8217;s back in real time\u2014feeling out of sync with his girlfriend and her parents.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ve tried to come up with a narrower topic, but so far nothing seems right. Suddenly, you start paying more attention to the girlfriend&#8217;s parents&#8217; dialogue about politics, which amount to such phrases as \u201cwe have to go back to&#8230;,\u201d \u201cit was a better time,\u201d \u201cAmericans used to be able to&#8230;\u201d and \u201cthe way it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And then it clicks with you that the girlfriend&#8217;s parents are like Gil\u2014longing for a different time, whether real or imagined. That kind of idea generation is synthesis.<\/p>\n<p>You decide to write your essay to answer the research question: How is the motivation of Gil\u2019s girlfriend\u2019s parents similar to Gil\u2019s? Your thesis becomes \u201cDespite seeming to be not very much alike, Gil and the parents are similarly motivated, and Woody Allen meant <em>Midnight in Paris<\/em>&#8216;s message about nostalgia to be applied to all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you&#8217;ll have to try to convince your readers that your thesis is valid and you may or not be successful\u2014but that&#8217;s true with all theses. And your professor will be glad to see the synthesis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There is a lot more you can learn about creating synthesis in scholarly writing. One place synthesis is usually required is in literature reviews for honors\u2019 theses, master\u2019s 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\u2019s thesis, or Ph.D. dissertation, you will find more help with <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/04\/Susan-Imel-Writing-a-Literature-Review.doc\">Susan Imel&#8217;s Writing a Literature Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"activity\">\n<h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Balancing Sources and Synthesis<\/h4>\n<p>Here&#8217;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 you in them.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s own ideas? See the bottom of the page for the answer.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_190\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-190\" style=\"width: 1392px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis.png\" alt=\"Three sample showing 1) mostly quotes with little original thought, 2) mostly original thought supported by quotes, and 3) equal split between quotes and original thought.\" width=\"1392\" height=\"411\" class=\"size-full wp-image-190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis-768x227.png 768w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis-65x19.png 65w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis-225x66.png 225w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/07\/wt-synthesis-350x103.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1392px) 100vw, 1392px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-190\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mocked-up passages showing the division between quotes, <br class=\"mobi\" \/>paraphrases, and summaries and original ideas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Source: Joy McGregor. \u201cA Visual Approach: Teaching Synthesis,&#8221; School Library Monthly, Volume XXVII, Number 8\/May-June 2011.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"example\">\n<h4><strong>Answer to Activity:<\/strong> Balancing Sources and Synthesis<\/h4>\n<p>The answer to the \u201cBalancing Sources and Synthesis\u201d Activity above is:<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Middle Sample. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The yellow-highlighted sections in The Middle Sample show more contributions from the author than from quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of other sources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-191","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":180,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/191\/revisions\/192"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/180"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/191\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}