What is synthesis?
If I had a dollar for every time I was asked, “What is synthesis?” I would probably have enough money to retire. Ok…not really, but hopefully you get the point. Synthesis eludes so many graduate students who are writing a thesis or dissertation.
Is it summarizing?
Is it some sort of sorcery?
What IS it?
Well, let me first tell you that synthesis is not…
- Reporting research findings one paragraph at a time
- Summarizing research studies
- Reporting the results of your annotated bibliography in paragraph form
- Letting other authors speak for you (i.e., using quotes with no context or framing)
Synthesized writing offers up new information that you have discovered through reading and analyzing literature. It is your well-reasoned and supported take on the literature. In other words, you are combining various “parts” of the literature to form a “new whole” based on conclusions you’ve drawn from the literature. With that said, different researchers with different agendas might read the same literature and write a different literature review.
Same literature + different researchers with different agendas = different literature review
Features of well-synthesized writing:
- Synthesis statements relate the author’s claims and observations
- Synthesis statements integrate findings from several research studies
- Synthesis statements name trends, patterns, differences, new understandings, and gaps
- Synthesis statements are front and center in the writing
- The author puts studies “in conversation” with each other
- Synthesis statements are relevant:
- to the research agenda (topic, problem)
- to the strand
- to the paragraph
- Synthesis statements are clearly and concisely written.
- The writer draws implications from the studies and relates them to the need for the proposed study
When you synthesize you are integrating studies to make connections and describing relationships between the studies. You can do this by identifying patterns (similarities, trends), differences/discrepancies, and knowledge gaps.
What patterns, discrepancies, and gaps have you noted in the literature?
Are you writing your literature review and still struggling with synthesis? Check out our on-demand course How to Write a Literature Review. This course features four lessons on how to synthesize literature and includes worksheets, templates, and video lessons.