English: Synthesizing

• Synthesizing


  Pulling together different ideas to come up with a new, bigger idea. It is an on-going process where old and new knowledge, experiences, opinions add up, blend, and fit together to create new understanding.
• Synthesized paragraph

  • Sentence 1 indicates a clear topic in the opening sentence
  • Sentence 2 and 4 present sources of information
  • The paragraph uses transition words and verbs expressing a claim, an agreement or disagreement
  • The paragraph ends with a new thought about the topic
• Summary


  A brief paragraph that is a surface level explanation of what is happening in a text. It uses sentences which are rewritten in your own words. It just simply retells what has been said and does not put your opinion nor make a judgment.
• Summary example


  • Last month, Karen gave her younger sister a smartphone for her online classes. And all applications needed for her assignments were already installed so that she can browse anytime, anywhere.
• Noting details


  A skill that a learner should develop. It is an important reading, writing and study skill. When a learner masters noting details, he/she can perform more difficult comprehension skill like summarizing and synthesizing.
• Noting details example


  • When: October 7, 2007
  • Who: Manny Pacquiao
  • What: Best in the world
  • Where: Las Vegas
  • How: superior hand speed and hard punches
• Paraphrase


  To put a passage from source material into your own words similar in length as the original
• Paraphrase example


  • Original: Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay and they can consume 75 pounds of food a day.

  Paraphrase: A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia leaves and hay every day.
• Analyze


  To break complex topic into smaller parts
• Infer


  To use observation and background to reach a logical conclusion
• RES Method

  • Read two different sources about a topic and jot down important ideas
  • Edit notes and put together similar concepts
  • Synthesize by combining notes with what you already know about the topic
• ADD Method

  • what the student already knows about the topic
  • what the student learned during the reading on the same topic
  • what the student learned during the discussion of the topic
• Venn Diagram


  • Record facts about two topics in the large outer circles and then record overlapping facts and ideas where the circles overlap. They can add information at each step – prior knowledge, reading, and discussion.
• Drawing conclusions

  1. Read the passage carefully to gain a clear understanding of the information presented

  2. Consider what you already know that could be applied

  3. Use active reading strategies, such as asking questions

  4. Bring together, or synthesize the facts, your inferences, and your own knowledge about the subject discussed in the passages

  5. Draw conclusions after synthesizing the information from the passages
• Local synthesis


  Occurs at the paragraph level when writers connect individual pieces of evidence from multiple sources to support a paragraph's main idea and advance a paper's thesis statement.
• Global synthesis


  Occurs at the paper (or, sometimes, section) level when writers connect ideas across paragraphs or sections to create a new narrative whole. In a literature review, this can either stand alone, or be a section/chapter within a capstone, global synthesis in integral for cohesion and flow.
• Steps to help declutter ideas in synthesizing essential information

  1. Organize your sources

  2. Outline your structure

  3. Write paragraphs with topic sentences

  4. Revise, edit and proofread
• Verbs that can be helpful in writing a synthesis

  • asserts
  • highlights
  • illustrates
  • portrays
  • suggests
  • argues
  • conveys
  • contends
  • explains
  • claims