As Dowell notes, "A synthesis is a written discussion that draws on one or more sources. It follows that your ability to write syntheses depends on your ability to infer relationships among sources - essays, articles, fiction, and also non-written sources, such as lectures, interviews, observations. This process is nothing new for you, since you infer relationships all the time - say, between something you've read in the newspaper and something you've seen for yourself, or between the teaching styles of your favorite and least favorite instructors. In fact, if you've written research papers, you've already written syntheses. In an academic synthesis, you make explicit the relationships that you have inferred among separate sources."
⚠ A synthesis is not a summary!
Here are some resources that explain what academic synthesis writing is all about:
| Resource | Comments |
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Introduction to Syntheses - Michigan State University (Dowell) ★★★★★ |
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Help… I've Been Asked to Synthesize! - Bowling Green State University (Clevenger & Warwick) ★★★★★ |
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Synthesis Writing - Drew University (Jamieson) ★★★★☆ |
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