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Student Learning Services | University Library

TipsforWri*ngaSynthesisHeatherMcWhinney,2017

Student Learning Services | University Library

Synthesizing

o Synthesizingiskeytoagoodpaper.Asynthesisiden*fiesandinterpretsthemes,trendsandrela*onships.

o Asynthesisrevealssimilari*esanddifferencesandshowshowtheliteraturesupportsyourthesis.

o Yourpaper’sparagraphsshouldbeginwithatopicsentencethatmakesageneralpointorclaim.

o Thebodyoftheparagraphshouldsynthesizeevidencefromyoursourcestosupportyourtopicsentence.

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TheSiloApproach

o Whenwri*ngaboutsources,studentsoDenusea“siloapproach”ratherthanasynthesis.

o Theywritetheirfirstparagraphaboutonesource,theirsecondparagraphaboutanothersource,theirthirdaboutathirdsource,andsoon.

o Thepurposeofapaperistypicallynottoanalyzeeachsourceseparately,buttoshowhowtheevidencefromthesourcesrelatestooneanotherandtoyourownthesis.

Student Learning Services | University Library

SiloVersusSynthesis

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Student Learning Services | University Library

SiloApproachVersusSynthesisSilo Synthesis

Eachsourceisdiscussedseparately.Comparisonsarenotmadeandrela*onshipsnotdrawn.Eachparagraphbeginswithadifferentauthor’sname.

Nosourceisdiscussedinisola*on.Evidencefromsourcesiscomparedandrela*onshipsdrawn.

Norela*onshipsaredrawnbetweenthestudentwriter’sownsclaimsandtheevidencepresentedintheparagraph.

Thestudent’sownpointorclaimisthefocusoftheparagraph.Thispointorclaimismadeinthetopicsentence.Evidencefromdifferencesourcessupportsthepointorclaim.

Individualsourcesarereferredtoonlyonce.

Individualsourcesmaybereferredtoseveral*mesindifferentpartsofthepaper.